A jury in Ohio has convicted DJ Byrnes, a political blogger and owner of The Rooster, of telecommunications harassment. The charges stemmed from an incident in May involving Republican state senator Jerry Cirino, who had recently withdrawn from the race for Senate president.
According to reports from the Columbus Dispatch, Byrnes sent Cirino a text message containing an explicit image of the animated character Shrek. Accompanying the image was a message reading, “Good to see you finally made your humiliation public, Young Mussolini! THE PATRIOTS CAUCUS sends its regards!!!!!!!!!!”
Cirino subsequently filed a police report regarding the incident. On Friday, a judge sentenced Byrnes to pay a $200 fine as part of the conviction.
Shrek is forever, but apparently so is the legal system when used this poorly.
Does anyone else find it wild that a state senator is reporting text messages about animated frogs?
Honestly, though? ‘THE PATRIOTS CAUCUS sends its regards’ is the funniest part of this whole disaster.
I can’t believe people still treat this as funny. Harassment is harassment, no matter the meme.
A $200 fine for a Shrek image seems harsh, but the ‘Young Mussolini’ comment really escalated it.