Reverend Billy faces year in jail for JPMorgan Chase toad protest

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Reverend Billy faces year in jail for JPMorgan Chase toad protest

John Vidal
theguardian.com, Monday 25 November 2013 12.28 GMT

An actor who uses comic theatre and music to persuade corporations to address climate change faces a year in prison after the largest bank in the US took offence.

In June, Billy Talen and eight members of the Church of Earthalujah choir walked into the lobby of a Manhattan branch of JPMorgan Chase in New York.

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As the choir sang, Talen, who impersonates a Baptist preacher as "the Rev Billy", then delivered a short sermon about climate change and Chase's record in financing in some of the world's most fossil fuel intensive industrial projects. The bank is one of the largest funders of mountaintop removal mining and other major fossil fuel projects around the world.

Talen and choir director Nehemiah Luckett were later arrested and charged with riot, trespass, unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct. The New York prosecutor called the performance a "criminal stunt" and demanded that Talen go to prison for a year. The trial starts on 9 December.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/25/reverend-billy-jpmorgan-chase-toad-protest-talen

[jollyreaper2112]

1. Meanwhile...

No CEO's are in jail for perpetrating the financial crisis.

[hatrack]

2. JP Morgan Chase might want to consider growing a sense of humor

OTOH, they may not care about how thin-skinned, hypocritical, arrogant and out-of-touch they look, given who they are and what they do.

Witness their recent experiment in social media "outreach" via Twitter, which did not end well . . .

[pscot]

3. K&R

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Um ..... a "riot" ?

A laff riot is not a criminal offense.