Two British tourists were arrested after Homeland Security didn’t get their Family Guy Twitter jokes:
Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to ‘destroy America’ and ‘dig up Marilyn Monroe’.
Leigh Van Bryan, 26, was handcuffed and kept under armed guard in a cell with Mexican drug dealers for 12 hours after landing in Los Angeles with pal Emily Bunting.
The Department of Homeland Security flagged him as a potential threat when he posted an excited tweet to his pals about his forthcoming trip to Hollywood which read: ‘Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America’.
Despite telling officials the term ‘destroy’ was British slang for ‘party’, they were held on suspicion of planning to ‘commit crimes’ and had their passports confiscated.
Leigh was also quizzed about another tweet which quoted hit US comedy Family Guy which read: ‘3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!
Federal agents even searched his suitcase looking for spades and shovels, claiming Emily was planning to act as Leigh’s ‘look out’ while he raided Marilyn’s tomb.
Later, the piece quotes a reference on Bryan’s charge sheet to his “tweeter account.” The whole thing is beyond parody.
I think this needs to be a part of a series called, “Today in We Are So Boned.”
I could see parroting lame sitcoms on Twitter being justly called a form of criminal mischief. Deal with the problem at its source: Deport Seth MacFarlane and his writers.
geyser for President!
Yes, this was a pathetic overreaction by HS, but still it was kind of dumb of him to put something like that out in social media…come on. @2 pretty much, yeah.
Can we get some people working for the government that have even a rudimentary understanding of modern life? Might help, just sayin’.
@Never Alone….good luck. There is a reason the jobs recruit the way they do.
Of course one has to wonder, if these two were foolish and stupid enough to acknowledge a legitimate desire to ‘destroy’ America wouldn’t authorities have come across a couple of surface to air missiles in Ms Banting’s handbag? Then again, for someone who has spent a considerable time in the UK, the term ‘destroy’ is often used as an affectionate adjective to party the town. Not that you would know if haven’t spent time in the UK. Yep, Dept of Homeland Security outdoing itself once again….
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2012/01/br…