Members of the Westboro Baptist Church said Monday they plan to protest film critic Roger Ebert's funeral in Chicago.
The Kansas-based group released a statement published by the Hollywood Reporter saying they will picket "in lawful proximity" to the funeral at Holy Name Cathedral. Ebert passed away last week at the age of 70 after a decade-long battle with cancer.
Why the protest?
The church said in the statement Ebert used his Twitter account "to mock the faithful servants of God at Westboro Baptist Church," according to the Hollywood Reporter. The group also called Ebert a "f-g enabler" and "entertainment industry publicity leech."
Newser points out Ebert called the group “odious" in a past tweet and at one point tweeted a link to a Salon story featuring an excerpt from the book "Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America" in which the author spent a day at Westboro.
Ebert's funeral begins at 10 a.m. Hundreds are expected to mourn the influential critic whose work won him a Pulitzer Prize.
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