News
Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Cory Monteith's Funeral
At least, according to their protests. And the Kansas church — which has become rightly reviled for its homophobia and general terribleness — has announced their latest picketing plans. Westboro Baptist Church protest the funeralwill of Glee star Cory Monteith, who passed away Saturday in Vancouver at 31 years old. According to the church, Monteith was "a wicked f*g-enabling sinner" for supporting Chris Colfer's Kurt Hummel, who struggled with his sexuality on the series. But Monteith is hardly the first target of Westboro's irrational ire — read on to see who and what else the group has protested.
Westboro Baptist Church Hates Everyone
At least, according to their protests. And the Kansas church — which has become rightly reviled for its homophobia and general terribleness — has announced their latest picketing plans. Westboro Baptist Church protest the funeralwill of Glee star Cory Monteith, who passed away Saturday in Vancouver at 31 years old. According to the church, Monteith was "a wicked f*g-enabling sinner" for supporting Chris Colfer's Kurt Hummel, who struggled with his sexuality on the series. But Monteith is hardly the first target of Westboro's irrational ire — read on to see who and what else the group has protested.
Taylor Swift
Westboro announced in June that it planned to protest Taylor Swift's concert, labeling the singer "a proud whore." We can't wait to hear what kind of song Swift writes about them in turn.
Roger Ebert
We all gave two thumbs down to Westboro's 2013 announcement that it would picket the late film reviewer's funeral, calling Ebert a "f*g enabler" who mocked the group in previous tweets. However, they failed to follow through — Westboro skipped Ebert's funeral, which made us give two very big thumbs up.
Kansas City Chiefs Football Games
Yes, the Westboro Baptist Church also hates football, which really means it also hates apple pie and America.
The Laramie Project
Westboro went international in 2009, traveling to the U.K. to picket a youth performance of The Laramie Project, the play based on the murder of gay youth Matthew Shepard. Which left us wondering two things: 1) Why is Westboro so terrible?, and 2) How can it save enough money for a trip overseas when we're still scrounging up to pay this month's rent?
U.S. Marines
Not only did Westboro picket the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq, but it also protested the Marine Corps as a whole in 2008 in North Carolina, inviting a counter-protest.
Michael Jackson
Not surprisingly, Westboro picketed the embattled singer's 2009 funeral. More surprisingly, Westboro also released a single based on Jackson's "We Are the World" called "God Hates the World." They were listening to a lot of Weird Al that year.
Ronnie James Dio
Heavy metal was too heavy to squash at the 2010 funeral for the metal musician, even though Westboro tried. Protesting the funeral because it felt Dio released pro-Satan material, Westboro was overshadowed by over 1,200 fans who chanted Dio's name. How metal.
Christina Green
Westboro's plan to picket the Tucson, Ariz., shooting victim's funeral — claiming God had sent the shooter to punish a moraless American in 2011 — prompted legislation to keep protesters back at least 300 feet from the service. Luckily, Westboro, never one to shy away from publicity, agreed to back off in exchange for radio time.
Sandy Hook Elementary Victims
Probably the most difficult protest to reconcile, in 2012, Westboro announced it would picket funerals for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in Newtown, Conn. The justification? God, angered by homosexuals, ordered their deaths. The announcement, however, didn't come without repercussions — hacker group Anonymous posted personal information of church-goers online following the disgraceful announcement.
Steve Jobs
iRage. That's what we felt learning in 2011 that Westboro would picket the funeral of the late Apple founder, who the church claimed didn't use his platform to promote God. Still, it was hard for us to bite into the fact that Westboro was picketing Jobs' technological efforts, especially when the tweet announcing the protest was sent from an iPhone. Oops.
Boston Marathon Bombing Victims
In 2013, following the fatal Boston Marathon bombings, Westboro claimed God had ordered the bombs set off, and planned to picket the victims' funerals. A petition was circulated to keep them from doing so, but failed to keep them from attending victim Krystle Campbell's funeral.
Moore, Ok., and Joplin, Miss., Tornado Victims
Westboro was denied entry into the memorial service for the deadly 2011 Joplin, Miss., tornado, but tried, tried again in 2013 following the Moore, Ok., twister. But they failed, failed again when the group attending the funeral of one victim managed to block them from the service.
Memorial Day
Who could possibly hate a holiday that gives us a Monday off? The Westboro Baptist Church, that's who. The group protested the holiday at Arlington National Cemetery in 2011, inspiring a counter-protest involving the Ku Klux Klan.
Arizona firefighters
Following the tragic deaths of 19 Arizona firefighters, who Westboro claimed god killed in 2013 because of gay marriage, the church announced plans to picket their funerals.
Foo Fighters
When protesters showed up to picket the band's concert, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl spoke out in support of tolerance, and performed "Keep It Clean," a song which comes complete with gay references. Good to see the Foo Fighters fighting the good fight.
Vacuums
Vacuums should really know better than to be Swedish. The church picketed a nearby appliance store in Topeka, Kan., for selling vacuums from Sweden, which has recently prosecuted a pastor with homophobic views. Why Westboro didn't go to IKEA — which would have offered easy picket poster assembly — is beyond us.
