Photo via @tobymorton/Twitter
July 15, 2021, 1:47 pm
Rep. Lauren Boebert is becoming increasingly upset with the exploits of comedy writer Toby Morton following a confrontation between the two after she confronted him for filming a construction project across the street from her Colorado restaurant and doing interviews for his upcoming documentary. Her latest stunt is to threaten him with legal action unless he takes down a parody website that works to expose her as one of the worst Republicans currently in office.
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“This website … needs to be taken down since the photos on here are copyrighted property of the U.S. Federal Government,” the email he received from a Boebert representative reads. “They are property of the office of Congressman Lauren Boebert, and your use of them is unauthorized and illegal.”
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“Additionally, the entire website is a defamatory impersonation, and it goes against relevant terms of service and U.S. law. Please remove immediately or face further action.”
We can only assume that “further action” refers to getting a real lawyer rather than a press secretary to contact Morton who might know something about laws. Official government photos such as the ones used on TheLaurenBoebert.com are public domain, meaning nobody needs permission to use them, and certainly not for parody, which is protected under First Amendment rights.
Morton himself responded by posting a photo of the poor stooge Boebert got to send the email referring to her as “Congressman Lauren Boebert” and pointing out that he’s not even a lawyer.
This move by Boebert seems even stranger when you consider the fact that her office had already sent a cease and desist order to Morton in May, which was ignored because the South Park writer knows his rights.
Morton launched the parody website as part of his work on an upcoming documentary on the congresswoman, “The Real Lauren Boebert.” He has clearly successfully caught her attention, gaining some great footage for the project after Boebert started yelling at him for filming the construction in Colorado until she crossed the street to film him, informing him that she had called the cops on him and accusing him of casing the site to rob it.
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Morton was unable to get a straight answer out of Boebert as to why her filming him was perfectly legal but him filming a construction site with the permission of the company warranted a call to the police. This along with the legal threats appear to be part of a larger attempt to intimidate Morton into shutting up, but it seems to be having the opposite effect, judging by his most recent tweet on the subject.
*First Published: July 15, 2021, 1:47 pm
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