{"id":558,"date":"2026-05-21T18:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/?p=558"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:14:34","slug":"man-jailed-for-posting-trump-meme-wins-835000-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/?p=558","title":{"rendered":"Man jailed for posting Trump meme wins $835,000 settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Larry-Bushart-via-FIRE.jpg-1152x648-1779285875.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Seemingly, Weems hoped the threat of arrest would pressure Bushart into removing the post, but Bushart refused to be censored.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/GWCOvcS7aQw\">Video<\/a> from the arrest shows that Bushart told the arresting officer he never made such a threat, and some cops at the jail seemed similarly confused about the basis of his arrest. In one exchange caught on footage <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/30\/larry-bushart-tennessee-free-speech-charlie-kirk-meme\/\">reviewed by The Intercept<\/a>, Bushart even shared a laugh with an officer over how silly his arrest seemed to be:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust to clarify, this is what they charged you with\u2014Threatening Mass Violence at a School,\u201d a Perry County jail officer told Bushart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a school?\u201d Bushart asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ain\u2019t got a clue,\u201d the officer responded, laughing. \u201cI just gotta do what I have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been in Facebook jail, but now I\u2019m really in it,\u201d Bushart said, joining him in laughing.<\/p>\n<p>Weems later admitted that \u201che knew at the time of the arrest that Larry\u2019s Facebook post was a pre-existing meme that referred to an actual shooting that took place in a different state, over 500 miles away,\u201d FIRE said. But he arrested Bushart anyway, violating Bushart\u2019s \u201cconstitutional rights in retaliation for his protected speech,\u201d FIRE said.<\/p>\n<p>FIRE noted that Bushart is one of 600 people that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/investigations\/charlie-kirk-purge-how-600-americans-were-punished-pro-trump-crackdown-2025-11-19\/\">Reuters found<\/a> were punished for making controversial online statements about Kirk\u2019s death, following a government-backed campaign targeting political speech. Bushart\u2019s win shows that the First Amendment can stand up to censorship attempts, FIRE staff attorney Cary Davis suggested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhen government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. Our hope is that Larry\u2019s settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2026\/05\/man-wins-835k-after-sheriff-jailed-him-for-a-month-over-charlie-kirk-post\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seemingly, Weems hoped the threat of arrest would pressure Bushart into removing the post, but Bushart refused to be censored. Video from the arrest shows [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fluffyworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}