New York Artist Satirizes Westboro Baptist Church Leaders In Painting

Artist Scott LoBaido has found a way to get a message through to the Westboro Baptist Church.
Using his talents, he has painted a satirical portrait of Fred Phelps, his daughter Shirley,
and The Devil.

The artist describes himself as a patriot; he said he likes to travel the country,
painting American flags and supporting U.S. troops.



LoBaido said the painting will be sold on ebay with proceeds going toward Homes for Heroes -- an organization that helps veterans find housing.

Leaders of the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church have repeatedly skirted the law by maintaining a legal distance while picketing military funerals. This weekend, a New York artist attempted to beat the church at its own game by creating a satirical painting of Pastor Fred Phelps Sr. across the street from the organization's headquarters in Kansas.

Scott LoBaido traveled to the church's compound in Topeka, where he parked his truck across the street and painted a portrait depicting Phelps in a carnal embrace with the devil. The painting also lampoons Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper. (The story was first reported in the Topeka Capital-Journal.)

A native of Staten Island, LoBaido said in a phone interview Monday that he wanted to use the church's own tactics against it by maintaining a legal distance from the property. "I'm trying to alert the creative masses to use their 1st Amendment rights," he said. LoBaido said the church had hung numerous upside-down U.S. flags outside its compound on Sunday. latimesblogs.latimes.com...

Whether you agree with the artist or not, at least he is peaceful, and I must say...

What an exquisite way to exercise his First Amemdment Rights!

bahahahahaha is all I can say

reply to post by here4awhile


I personally think this is awesome!

I support him, I think its great that the police left him alone and he was able to display his painting!

I think its time someone gave that WBC a dose of their own!

Whatever you think them to be, whether it be a cult or a PsyOps ( I lean towards that thought)
I hope this painting gets a lot of publicity, and sells for a fortune!

reply to post by burntheships


I don't understand why anyone cares about these wacos...

Why do you think they are psyops??? That is army MOS. CIA/NSA etc maybe but why think this at all?

I've just ignored them, not looked into it at all.

reply to post by pianopraze


Yeah, they have a way of getting under peoples skin.

I find their protests at funerals to be of the utmost disrepect!

Their public displays of hypocritical self righteous contempt are anything but genuine.

Skyfloating has a thread on the PsyOps angle...found here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Love the painting! I would bet it sells for a prettttty penny! You just got to admire the hell out of the man!

That guy is going to make a HELL of a lot of money

reply to post by grumpydaysleeper


I think this painting is going to sell for top dollar, and its a worthy cause to boot!
Kudos to him!

Originally posted by bdb818888
That guy is going to make a HELL of a lot of money

I commend his work and think he is a talented artist doing a nobel thing.

He is just like the majority of people who are sick of these freaks protesting at funerals.

reply to post by bdb818888


I can see people bidding on it now...and knowing that he is donating the proceeds of the sale to
veterans makes it all the more sweet!

reply to post by redzareptile

Originally posted by redzareptile

Originally posted by bdb818888
That guy is going to make a HELL of a lot of money

I suspect that his intentions are more towards the side of proving a point to these WACKOS!!!. I hope that he would send any money made from these paintings to a veteran widdo's group or something along those lines.

Thats exactly what he plans to do Its a win win the way I see it!

reply to post by burntheships


It seems to be a cult. The media are paid to paint christians as psychos, so it's easy to do with this group.

Anyone with a grain of sense will see through that charade.

The CIA did use cults for experiments in MK ULTRA in the past, no clue if this is case here. They also used them from getting children for their experiments.

Publicity sells. I think both the artist and the church are using this. I question the motives of both.

Sadly hatred and fear are easier to use to unite humanity than peace and love. The best thing we could do is ignore these wacos and let local law enforcement deal with any crimes or CPS with children mistreatment.

I think the secondary motivation of the media is to stir hatred and fear.

reply to post by pianopraze


Yes, I see the media as intensly involved with this continuing saga...

However, I do question many aspects which I outline in skys thread...

Its possible that the painter has motives seeking notoriety, my guess is most aspiring artists do,
which I dont have any problem with at all.

The problem I have with Fred Phelps is he claims to be annointed, a good shepherd,
a "man of God". I am just not buying that....

reply to post by burntheships


Hating those that do evil, just brings upsettedness to our own hearts and shatters our own peace.

The obvious cult is full of sick people. We should pity them and pray their hearts to heal.

Holding anger, because of their sickness... just spreads anger and hatred.

This accomplishes the opposite of what you want.

reply to post by pianopraze


I dont hate the WBC, or Fred Phelps...not at all.

And I really dont see this as a religious issue, as I dont think that Phelps, or
his followers actually believe what they say. I think its all a show, a scam done
with the intent to provoke people into a emotional response, potentially landing
Phelps a lawsuit in which he profits.

ETA: and an opportunity by which the media can use to protray them as "Christians" and
thereby stir the hatred and angst.

this is even more epic than the giant koran they made to protest this in the middle east.

btw is it just me or this asswipe smell like psyops I mean dudes a nobody can barely get a hundred people in his church while his face is plastered all over the news. Then they tell us they killed those UN workers in Afgan cause of him... bs no one there watches our news heck we dont watch it here and afgans hate the UN Nato and the usa because they've been bombing them killing thousands of their innocents civilians. Just like those 9 kids that got taken out while they were gathering wood so they could have a hot supper...
crazy we're the ones who took out their gas lines and power in the first place. they were better off with the taliban and cant wait to go back.

reply to post by UcDat


Its full of questions for sure. I smell something...rotten.
I have explored the PsyOps angle, there could be something to it for sure.

What I find really suspect is that the WBC is always afforded protection of speech,
whereas people have been arrested and beaten by authorites for much less.

But these folks, for all these years...well they always walk away without a hitch.
Thats kind of strange...

LOL I bet they will say its defaming them.....

reply to post by HomerinNC


They actually hung the United States Flag upside down as a show of protest!
Can you imagine! They love it when they can abuse people with "free speech"
but let an artist render a satire...and all of the sudden they protest?

Satire -a centuries-old type of literature that uses humor and imitation to
attack and ridicule individuals’ moral and character flaws...

Satire and parody have served for generations as a means of criticizing public figures, exposing political injustice, communicating social ideologies, and pursuing such artistic ends as literary criticism. Satirists usually find themselves subjected in turn to criticism, contempt and, sometimes, lawsuits.

The First Amendment protects satire and parody as a form of free speech and expression. Questions that have arisen in case law concerning libel, emotional distress and copyright infringement are discussed in the relevant cases below. www.firstamendmentcenter.org...

They cant take it, but they can dish it out!

S&F for you OP! This is brilliant!

Very provocative painting too... I would love to see the artist do an entire WBC exhibition. Have others benefit from WBC notoriety for once.

reply to post by burntheships


Exactly!!!!
I want that pic!!!