Larry Bushart, a Tennessee man, spent 37 days in a county jail after a sheriff’s office charged him with “threatening mass violence at a school” for sharing a Charlie Kirk meme on Facebook. The post referenced a shooting over 500 miles away, and Deputy Weems admitted the meme existed before the arrest. The sheriff’s office later apologized, but the jail time had sparked national attention.

Video from the arrest shows Bushart telling the officer he never made a threat, while the jail staff appeared confused about the charge. In a half‑hearted exchange, the officer laughed, saying he had to “do what I have to do,” and Bushart replied, “I’ve been in Facebook jail, but now I’m really in it.”

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) resulted in a $835,000 settlement, ruling that the sheriff violated Bushart’s constitutional rights in retaliation for protected speech. The case is one of roughly 600 similar prosecutions uncovered by Reuters targeting commentary on Kirk’s death, and it reinforces the First Amendment as a check on local law enforcement.