Man Criticized For Violent Political Halloween Decorations
You're reading Man Criticized For Violent Political Halloween Decorations, posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm in U.S. News, on BrainBloggers at the World News blog. More after the jump.
It looks like the Presidential election inspired people when it came to how to decorate their yard for Halloween. One person put up an effigy of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin hanging from a noose – which naturally drew a lot of negative criticsm from his neighbors. Authorities said that they weren’t able to do anything because of the citizens rights to free speech.
The man placed a mannequin that was dressed as Palin and hung it by the neck from the eaves of his home in West Hollywood. On top of the roof was a mannequin of presidential candidate John McCain – which stuck up from the chimney and had flames surrounding it.
“We have been getting some phone calls complaining about it but if (the homeowner) isn’t in violation of municipal code we have no reason to cite them,” West Hollywood spokeswoman Helen Goss said. “People have First Amendment rights (to free speech),” Goss said. “I would speculate that if it’s part of a Halloween display then its political satire.”
The mastermind behind the effigy – Chad Michal Morisette – told local KCAL-TV that the whole thing was ‘art’ and that people would have thought it was worse if it was Barack Obama. “I know if we had done Barack Obama, people would have probably thrown things through our windows,” Morisette said. “The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman for our country, the history of our country.”