Salman Rushdie Says America Is ‘Having a Very Difficult Moment’ With Free Speech as He Accepts Liberatum Award: ‘The Burden of Proof Must Always Lie on the Censor’

Variety

Variety

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July 9, 2026

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lean left
Salman Rushdie Says America Is ‘Having a Very Difficult Moment’ With Free Speech as He Accepts Liberatum Award: ‘The Burden of Proof Must Always Lie on the Censor’

Salman Rushdie warned that free expression in the U.S. is under sustained pressure from the Trump administration as he accepted the Liberatum Cultural Honor at Camden Town Hall at King’s Cross in London, the same building where he once worked on community relations before becoming one of the world’s most recognized novelists. The conversation was []

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