Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican from Shaler, said plans had been in the works for months for him to introduce Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at the annual Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Long before a gunman assassinated conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last week on a college campus in Utah.
That incident heightened the importance of Wednesday’s summit.
“We need to be talking about the issue of hate,” Corbett, 76, said before taking the stage at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
“The issue is, there’s no filter to the hate anymore,” said Corbett, who served as governor from 2011 to 2015. “People who are online have no limitations (as to what they can and cannot say). The First Amendment really doesn’t affect them at all. It’s unbridled. That’s the part that’s accelerating now.”
“It’s going to be very difficult to get the genie back in the bottle,” Corbett said.
Corbett was scheduled to introduce Shapiro shortly after 11 p.m.
Shapiro, a Democrat, survived a violent attack in April. He and his family had been sleeping inside the governor’s residence on the first night of Passover in April when, authorities said, an intruder firebombed the home in an arson attack.
No one was injured in the attack, but the fire caused significant damage. A 38-year-old suspect is awaiting trial on charges including attempted homicide, terrorism and arson.
Shapiro has repeatedly spoken out against the assassination of Kirk and rising political violence in the United States over the past week.
This story will be updated.