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The tragic and untimely death of Academy-Award winning star Robin Williams has been seized on as a new target by the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, who have announced they intend to “picket” the comedian’s funeral.
The church, best known for its anti-gay demonstrations at US soldiers’ funerals – and its tagline ‘God Hates Fags’ – alleged on Twitter that Williams ‘decided to use his considerable talent to push filthy lifestyles, flagrant debauchery and hedonism.’
The opportunistic Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) attacked Williams’ memory shortly after he hanged himself on Monday, following the actor and stand-up comedian’s long standing problems with alcoholism and chronic depression.
Precise details of the method of Williams’ suicide were announced in the US last night, although partly due to PCC and Ofcom guidelines – but primarily out of respect and good taste – Vada Magazine will not be publishing these.
Other online news media outlets in the UK have flouted these rules, giving frank descriptions of the manner in which the initial coroner’s report reported the circumstances of the much-loved film actor’s suicide.
However, the Westbro Baptist Church was quick off the mark to denounce William’s career as ‘an abomination’ partly due to his sensitive and sympathetic portrayal of gay men in movies such as The Birdcage and Boulevard.
On the WBC’s official twitter site, one of the organisation’s tweets read:
https://twitter.com/WBCSays/status/499012907020341248
Another said:
https://twitter.com/WBCSays/status/498971613036302336
A number of photo-shopped and animated graphics were also created and released yesterday on the web by the WBC, whose founder – Fred Phelps – died in March this year.
These portrayed highly offensive images and comments about Williams’ career and alleged ‘crimes against Jesus’.
Williams, who was heterosexual, used many of his stand-up performances to denounce homophobia and ridicule those opposed to same-sex marriage.
The WBC is not recognised by any other Baptist denomination, and has been harshly critcised by Baptist churches in both the US, the UK, and around the world.
