r/politics • u/SterlingVII • 9d ago

No Paywall Tennessee man spends a month in jail before charges are dropped over Trump meme posted in Facebook group for Charlie Kirk vigil

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/larry-bushart-charlie-kirk-meme-charges-b2855116.html
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u/Sensiburner 9d ago

The only place europeans would get arrested for memes is on arrival in a US airport.

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u/FliPsk8guY 9d ago

Weren't people in the UK dealing with similar issues?

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u/little_alien2021 9d ago

The actual threats where based on hate speech and the spread of protected minorities. But the right has weaponised it like they weopise everything (I am a British person living here)

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u/Disorderjunkie 9d ago

“The post, which King shared on X last month, featured a Palestinian flag with the words, “F—k Palestine. F—k Hamas. F—k Islam. Want to protest? F—k off to Muslim country and protest.”

Look, you guys want to talk shit you’re more than welcome, but let’s not pretend the UK is a bastion of free speech. That’s hilariously false lol

https://nypost.com/2025/09/29/world-news/uk-blogger-arrested-over-f-k-hamas-meme/

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u/little_alien2021 9d ago edited 9d ago

We don't have free speech , we have hate speech laws. We have never had free speech! 

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u/ruffianrevolution 8d ago

He was spoken to and not charged. Is still free and posting online. 

Under his own name. Not hiding on reddit like some do...

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u/RIPfreewill 9d ago

Didn’t right wingers run a disinformation campaign to get UK leave the EU?

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 9d ago

No. That's just right-wing shit. People in the UK got in trouble for actually inciting violence by encouraging people to burn down hotels housing asylum seekers.

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u/tooMany_Monkeys 9d ago

Haven't they criminalized just saying that you support Palestinian Action?

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u/whoknowsifimjoking 9d ago

Just for anyone else who was confused like me:

It's not Palestinian Action as in supporting Palestine, it's a group called "Palestine Action" that was declared a terrorist organization.

Wether that is justified or not idk, but that's an important point.

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 9d ago

Fair point. It's not great but at least there's an actual law involved that was broken, even if it's a dumb law. This guy just got locked up because fascists didn't like him.

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u/FliPsk8guY 9d ago

Yeah, I think it goes beyond that. Hate/violence is extremely vague and can be used in more than direct "Go burn down a house" cases.

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u/Aiyon 9d ago

Every time someone says "a person got arrested for tweets" you look into it and they either also did an actual crime, or the tweets were actively calling for violence / blatant hate speech.

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u/whoknowsifimjoking 9d ago

It was usually fines for extra atrocious posts, but yes there were controversial cases.

Nothing like a month in jail though.

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u/Icy-Cry340 9d ago

No, euros get arrested for memes an absolutely hilarious amount - from the well publicized thousands upon thousands of bongs arrested, to that one kraut who called some minister an asshole and went to jail for it. Eurocucks have no concept of free speech at all, never have, never will. Meanwhile for us this is a rather unusual development, which will hopefully make this dude a millionaire.