A Tennessee man was awarded a sweeping settlement after he was targeted for posting a controversial meme following conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year.
Larry Bushart was jailed for 37 days, and his bail was set at $2 million before authorities dropped a felony charge against him in October, over a month after he posted Facebook memes about Kirk’s killing. Advocates argued the punishment was illegal, as controversial and hate speech is protected speech under the First Amendment. Critics said they interpreted one of the posts as a threat against a local high school and feared a mass shooting.
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Bushart filed a lawsuit in December against Perry County, Sheriff Nick Weems, and investigator Jason Morrow, who obtained the arrest warrant, alleging they violated his constitutional rights. Bushart secured a win this week, after Tennessee officials agreed to pay him $835,000 in exchange for dropping the lawsuit.
“I am pleased my First Amendment rights have been vindicated,” he said in a statement announcing the settlement on Wednesday. “The people’s freedom to participate in civil discourse is crucial to a healthy democracy. I am looking forward to moving on and spending time with my family.”
The controversy sparked last fall, when Bushart posted a meme in a Perry County Facebook group that referenced a quote President Donald Trump made after a mass shooting in Perry, Iowa, in 2025. “We have to get over it,” reads the meme, alongside a photo of Trump.
The meme appeared to link Trump’s sentiment to Bushart’s indifference to Kirk’s assassination.
“This seems relevant today,” the meme reads, referencing Trump’s quote.
Some residents interpreted the meme as a threat to shoot up Perry County High School, a local school in Linden, leading Weems to arrest Bushart for threatening to commit an act of mass violence at the school. District Attorney General Hans Schwendimann declined to prosecute the case and dropped the charges in October. Before the charges were dropped, Bushart was held for 37 days, as he was unable to pay the $2 million bond.
Weems said Bushart’s post caused “multiple, reasonable citizens to be in fear of their children’s safety at school,” and claimed that the man was given, but declined a chance, to clarify his posts before authorities moved in for an arrest, according to News 2.
In comments to NewsChannel 5 Investigates, Weems said he knew Bushart was not referencing Perry County High School in the highlighted post.
“You also knew this was an existing meme that was already out there on the Internet,” the outlet pressed the sheriff. “It’s clear that he’s not talking about Perry County High School.”
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“Correct,” Weems agreed.
“We knew,” the sheriff said. “The public did not know.”
