In the wake of Cory Monteith's shocking death on Saturday, July 13, it turns out that the bigger surprise is that not everyone is in mourning. The Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas-based extremist group known for its very vocal anti-gay sentiments, announced plans to protest the Glee actor's funeral in a series of disturbing, vicious tweets on Tuesday, July 16.
"PRAISE GOD ALMIGHTY for killing Cory Monteith — a wicked f– enabling sinner!" the church wrote on its Twitter account. "Westboro Baptist Church to picket his funeral."
The group also included more homophobic messages, chastising Monteith, who "taught millions to sin," for being a part of a show that featured several homosexual characters, and for supporting his openly gay costar Chris Colfer. (31 years old at the time of his death, Monteith was straight — as was his series character, Finn.)
"Westboro praises God for his righteous judgments," the church tweeted. "Hell won't be gleeful for Cory Monteith."
The extremist group even went so far as to suggest that Monteith's real-life girlfriend Lea Michele should "kill herself." "Then the wedding can go on as planned IN HELL! — invites for all their fans!" the offensive tweet said.
This isn't the first time the Westboro Baptist Church has threatened to protest funerals in the name of anti-gay self-righteousness. Just last month, the group vowed to protest the funerals of the 19 firefighters from Yarnell, Arizona, who had died fighting a wildfire.
"They died because after many years of refusing to hear the faithful warnings of Westboro Baptist Church, Arizona is full of fornicators, adulterers, baby-killers & f–s stem to stern," the groups said in a statement at the time. "GOD ALMIGHTY created the wildfire, made it spread & finally caused that fire to suddenly consume those 19."
According to The Christian Post, no members of the church showed up to the funerals.
The Westboro Baptist Church also drew links between homosexuality and the school shooting in Newton, Conn. last December, and planned to stage a protest at shooting victim Principal Dawn Hochsprung's funeral, blaming the national tragedy on the passage of same-sex marriage legislation.
Good Samaritan motorcyclists lined up on the day of the funeral to thwart the protesters.
