Artist threatens to sue Steve King for civil war meme unless he apologizes

[Borealis]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/02/an-artist-is-suing-steve-king-his-civil-war-meme-unless-congressman-apologizes/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4b068865245c

At best, King’s critics said, the image he shared on Facebook in March was an off-color joke about the country’s deep political divide. But for many, the Iowa Republican has lost the
benefit of the doubt, and the meme that appeared on his official campaign page was decried as a “treasonous” endorsement of a second American civil war — with a side of
transphobia.

Now, the artist who created the image stolen for use in that meme plans to sue King for copyright infringement — unless the congressman apologizes. “The point is to hold people
accountable for the things they post — especially when you’re a public figure,” said Paul Bain, an attorney for the illustrator Yarek Waszul, who originally crafted the image for a 2013
New York Times book review.

The post appeared on a Saturday and was deleted by Monday. At a town hall last month, King addressed the controversy, saying he wasn’t the one who shared the meme. He didn’t
know about it until after it was posted to his page, he said. “I don’t manage that Facebook page,” he said. “I could control it, but I don’t manage it . . . I wish it had never gone up.”

Bain sent King’s office a letter on Friday, giving the congressman until April 5 to prove he had destroyed the offending material and to issue “a full written apology and retraction” on all
his social media accounts. Bain said he has not received a reply. A spokesman for King did not respond to a request for comment.

[Curls]

now I want him to double down, regardless of how retarded he'll sound

[ZombieDawgs]

Regardless of political affiliation suing somebody over a meme seems rather pretentious and sets a standard we were just complaning about with Article 13 the other week.

[Redcoat893]

For a moment I read it as Stephen King and got very confused when they started talking about campaigns.

[TornadoAP]

People forget that memes are messages just like any other. It's why "meme magic" is real in a really stupid way, because humans are more likely to receive and memorize information if they hear it more than once, especially in a humorous way, and memes are fucking perfect for that.

The problem here is that it's a politician sending a message that they endorse and are enthused by the idea of a civil war in a country, which is just the opposite of what you want a politician to do.

[I_v]

same I thought Stephen King had started making memes or some shit now. I do like the thought of Stephen King having a twitter and just posting random original well written jpg'd memes though

[Scratchcat]

"The point is to hold people accountable for the things they post — especially when you’re a public figure"

Seems more like the point is to prosecute wrongthink. Never buckle to the constant encroachment of censorship. Give an inch and they'll take a mile.

[Reg]

That is a pretty despicable meme for a public official.

[AxeI]

I don't think it's necessarily bad to hold politicians to higher standards.

[EcksDee]

Article 13 doesn't affect memes and I don't see how mentioning it applies here

[myxo]

whom amongst us doesn't remember the chapter in Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Four where congressman winston smith is censored for advocating for violent civil war and how much he also hates trans people.