Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 for jailing man over Charlie Kirk meme
Local officials in Tennessee will pay $835,000 to a man imprisoned for a month last year for posting a meme about the death of Charlie Kirk, according to the man’s lawyers.
The announcement comes one day after the Trump administration announced the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to financially compensate people who it says were victims of a weaponized federal government.
A shocking death, and calls for punishing people over public statements
Kirk was a conservative activist, a Trump ally and the founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA. Kirk’s death led to an outpouring of sympathy from supporters and critics. Officials in the Trump administration sought to punish people who posted critically about the death of the president’s ally.
Vice President JD Vance called for people celebrating Kirk’s death to be driven out of their jobs, the Washington Post reported. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told officials to find and punish members of the military who mocked Kirk, NBC reported earlier. And the State Department revoked visas for six people over comments they made following Kirk’s death, Reuters reported.
There was even a “coordinated online doxxing campaign” that was “targeting academics, teachers, government employees and others” who posted critically about Kirk, Al Jazeera reported days after his death. The website, which had claimed to have reviewed 20,000 submissions, was taken down after posting the names of 41 people, Fast Company reported at the time.
One person who posted about Kirk was a retired police officer in Tennessee.
A retired police officer posts about Kirk
Ten days after Kirk’s killing, Bushart posted a meme about Kirk. At 11:14 the following night, Lexington Police arrested Bushart, according to a lawsuit Bushart later filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Tennessee, Jackson Division.
Bushart, “would remain incarcerated for 37 days, unable to pay the $2 million bond that a court imposed on him,” which, according to his lawsuit, was “based on the false claim” by local law enforcement that Bushart “had threatened mass violence at a school.”
Representing Bushart in his lawsuit were the nonpartisan organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and Phillips & Phillips, PLLC, who also announced the settlement.
“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” Bushart said in the statement. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.”
“No one should be hauled off to jail in the dark of night over a harmless meme just because the authorities disagree with its message,” senior attorney at FIRE, Adam Steinbaugh, said in a statement. “We’re pleased that Larry has been compensated for this injustice, but local law enforcement never should have forced him to endure this ordeal in the first place.”
Fire earlier posted the arrest warrant and police body-camera video from the night Bushart was arrested. The warrant refers to “Threatening Mass Violence at School.”
In the video, a police officer can be heard saying he was told “that there was some concerning posts that were made” on Facebook. Bushart replied incredulously: “And they sent you guys?” When the officer says he was told there were social media posts “insinuating violence,” Bushart replies, “No, it wasn’t,” and “I’m not going to take it down. Go look.”
Ultimately, a prosecutor in Tennessee decided not to pursue the charges, Straight Arrow reported at the time.
News Channel 5 in Nashville reported that as part of the settlement, Bushart agreed to drop the federal civil rights case against Sheriff Nick Weems, investigator Jason Morrow and Perry County.
Compensating victims of government misconduct
Bushart is the latest person to be compensated after facing retribution over their comments following Kirk’s death, a Daily Beast reporter noted. A professor who was “briefly” fired by Austin Peay State University in Tennessee in January settled his lawsuit against the school for $500,000 and got his job back, the Times reported. And earlier this month, the state of Iowa agreed to pay a public defender who was terminated for comments she made about Kirk last September, the Gazette reported.
The settlements are the latest examples of what Bursharts’ lawyers described as politically motivated curtailments of free speech. “It’s in times of turmoil and heightened tensions that our national commitment to free speech is tested the most,” FIRE staff attorney Cary Davis said in a statement announcing the settlement. “When government officials fail that test, the Constitution exists to hold them accountable. Our hope is that Larry’s settlement sends a message to law enforcement across the country: Respect the First Amendment today, or be prepared to pay the price tomorrow.”
Trump pursues his critics, and may reward allies with taxpayer funds
Though Trump campaigned against the weaponization of government and defending free speech, he has targeted several of his critics over their rhetoric since returning to office.
Trump repeatedly called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be taken off the air following a remark he made about Kirk’s killer being a Trump supporter. The Late Show host Stephen Colbert ended his years-long run this week following a merger, approved by the Trump administration, allowing a Trump ally to purchase CBS, the network where Colbert appears, a CNN host said.
Both had used their weeknight monologues to lampoon Trump’s administration and the president personally. ABC, where Kimmel appears, resisted calls to oust the host. After several days off the air, Kimmel returned to his show with a tearful apology. Last month, Kimmel made another joke about Trump and his wife that drew the ire of the president. CBS said its decision to end Colbert’s show was made for financial reasons.
The president sued his own administration, and struck a settlement agreement
To settle a lawsuit President Trump filed while in office against the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who claim to have been victims of what the Wall Street Journal described as “so-called weaponization by the government, a move that could lead to payouts to Trump allies.”
Among the people considering seeking compensation from the fund are participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capital following Trump’s election loss, the New York Times reported.
The settlement, which was not authorized by a court, also includes an agreement for the IRS to “permanently drop tax claims” against Trump, The Associated Press reported. Trump had sued the IRS for $10 billion following the unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns in 2024.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
