Robin Williams Dead: Westboro Baptist Church Threatens To Picket Actor's Funeral

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, known for its anti-gay vitriol and picketing funerals of American soldiers, is threatening to picket the funeral of Robin Williams, claiming the late actor “decided to use his considerable talent to push filthy life styles [sic], flagrant debauchery and hedonism.” WBC announced its plans on Twitter, using the hashtags #MustPicketFuneral and #PicketFuneral.

Williams died at his home in Northern California on Monday and is believed to have committed suicide. A forensic examination is scheduled for Tuesday, followed by toxicology tests.

Among the numerous tweets the church posted on Williams was a link to a bit from his HBO special, “Weapons of Self-Destruction,” in which the comedian and actor rips the Catholic Church and mocks religions’ views on homosexuality. The WBC also called him “evil.”

The WBC is already planning to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Williams made his home, before the funeral. The group announced it was picketing the headquarters of social media sites Pinterest, Facebook, Reddit and Instagram as part of WBC’s “God Hates the Media” campaign. The group accused Instagram of having a history of removing pictures and even accounts when they contain too many "Bible words,” and claimed Facebook “utilizes every opportunity to aggressively publish and promote fag propaganda” and slammed the Mark Zuckerberg-run company for backing same-sex marriage.

“Westboro Baptist Church will use the Reddit platform, which is usually filled with vanity, science falsely so-called, and other sundry lies; to instead preach righteousness & spread the gospel,” the group said in a news release.