What started out as a routine question-and-answer session on Reddit, the social news site, turned into an unplanned fight Tuesday against the Westboro Baptist Church.
Josh, who goes by theronin23 on Reddit, is a large-framed fellow who has earned a modicum of Internet fame when two of his photos, Fat Emo and We Eat Batman, became visual memes. Last year, without his permission, his Fat Emo photo was used in a Westboro Baptist Church video titled “God Sent the Shooter,” which focused on Arizona Rep Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting.
The Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for its deliberately offensive protests—for example, waving antigay signs at military funerals—and other publicity stunts.
Josh described his infamy in the IamA as “a really weird mixture of horror, shock, amusement, and leeriness” and called it a “one of those little badges of honor.”
However, when the Westboro Baptist church video went public last year, with his photo included, Josh wrote, “There was a [Facebook] page about it that had 300k+ likes and they were passing around my personal info.
“I didn’t find it funny at all,” he said.
It was here that redditors, with their special do-gooder brand of social justice, stepped in. Redditors encouraged Josh to report the video, and then went ahead and did it themselves.
The video has since been flagged and removed, because it violated YouTube community guidelines on hate speech.
“This outpouring of love from Reddit is fantastic,” Josh said in an interview on Kansas City’s 96.5 The Buzz this morning. A lawyer had contacted him through Reddit, he said, regarding the Westboro Baptist Church video and the use of his photo, and he is currently deliberating taking further legal action.
Josh said he’d already sent a cease-and-desist letter to the controversial church, but got no response. A representative for the church had promised to appear on air with Josh, but canceled at the last minute, according to the show’s host.
And since Josh’s appearance on Reddit, another photo has joined Fat Emo and We Eat Batman in his memetic repertoire.
“This is amazing. I frontpaged twice in 12 hours and now have my third meme. I love you Reddit,” wrote Josh in a comment on the new meme photo of himself.