Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in May 2021.
A billboard near the intersection of Route 4 and Bowie Shop Road in Huntingtown, Calvert County, has sparked controversy.
The sign shows President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in cartoon feces, and reads, “DON’T BLAME TRUMP! YOU ARE STUCK WITH THESE TWO (expletive) HEADS!!!”
Photo Credit: Fox 5
Jeanette Flaim, chair of the Calvert County Democratic Central Committee, said: “It’s just vulgar. Kids are going to school, and they’re going by it every day, and parents are driving their kids. We just don’t think kids should have to see that or parents should have to explain that.”
According to Calvert Recorder and Southern Maryland News, county commissioners stated that they may not have a choice, and cited the 2015 Reed v. Town of Gilbert Supreme Court Decision.
Buddy Hance, president of the Board of County Commissioners, said: “There is nothing that we as county government can do for language that’s on a legal sign. You know this country was built on the foundation of free speech, and sometimes we like what that free speech says and sometimes we don’t.”
However, Flaim stated that in her opinion, it was not just a free speech issue. She told Fox 5 that there have been pro-Trump and anti-Biden billboards in the same spot for years, and that her issue is with the language and imagery of the latest billboard. She stated that she was hoping for a public pressure campaign calling for the removal of the sign.
Photo Credit: Fox 5
“We have not complained about any other signs,” she said. “It’s this sign we think is, again, damaging to all of us, all of us in Calvert. The GOP, the Independents, everybody.”
The person behind the sign has yet to be reached for comment.
Sources: Fox 5