Baskin Robbins Justice Warrior
The Baskin Robbins Justice Warrior is one name for an image that "went viral" showing an American protesting COVID 19 counter-measures outside of a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop.[1][2][3] The protester, flouting the counter-measures, by not wearing a mask, held up a sign that said "Give me liberty, or give me death!"[4]
In April 2020, shortly after the picture was snapped, commentators, like late night host Jimmy Kimmel, used her protest to mock those unprepared to follow COVID 19 counter-measures.[4][5] The Washington Post called the protester "the week's most absurd extremist."[6]
The image was taken by photojournalist Jamie Lee Curtis Taete.[7] The photograph was discussed in The Art Newspaper, in an article about photographers finding that they lose income when images and video they took "goes viral". He said that it was his most widely published images, that year, and yet he only received $300 in licensing fees.
In an essay entitled "Give me liberty, or give me death!" scholar Lee Grieveson asserted that the protests of which this sign was an examples, "were orchestrated by a complex bloc of libertarianism, radical right and white nationalist groups."[1] Grieveson noted that one re-user of the image, seeing the protester also held a drink, retitled the image "Give Me a Mango Temptation Big Gulp, Or Give Me Death". Grieveson called the image a "node in a complex history of a radically liberal project of mediation to degrade government ostensibly in the interests of individual liberty."
Jimmy Kimmel returned to the image in his monologue, on March 10, 2025.[8] He mockingly honored the courage of the protester, calling her "our own little Baskin Robinhood". He added that, sadly, she was now dead. In fact, it does not seem that the protester's identity is known.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lee Grieveson (November 2022). "'Give me Liberty, or give me death'". Lockdown Cultures: The Arts and Humanities in the Year of the Pandemic, 2020-2021 (PDF). UCL Press. pp. 39–40. doi:10.2307/j.ctv2hvfjf7.12. ISBN 9781800083417. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
- ↑
Teo Armus; Jennifer Hassan (2020-04-20). "'Go to China if you want communism': Anti-quarantine protester clashes with people in scrubs". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
Over the weekend, photos emerged of a woman outside a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store near Los Angeles, carrying a sign that read “Give me liberty or give me death.” The image was snapped by Jamie Lee Curtis Taete in Huntington Beach CA.
- ↑
Will Bunch (2025-03-05). "Trump, Fox News are trying to gin up a new tea party to distract you from their deadly failures". The Keene Sentinel. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
One carried a sign with Patrick Henry’s famed Revolutionary-era quote — “Give me liberty or give me death!” — and parked herself in front of a shuttered Baskin-Robbins to show her determination to risk everything for the freedom to go down that Rocky Road one more time.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
Adrian Horton (2020-04-21). "Jimmy Kimmel on Trump's protest praise: 'Irresponsible to the most unbelievable degree'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
Kimmel highlighted a few of the more outrageous examples – a woman demanding 'give me liberty of give me death' outside a Baskin-Robbins in California, signs that read 'I want a haircut!' and 'Jesus is my vaccine' and a standoff in Denver in which a protester shouted 'go to China if you want communism' to an angry healthcare worker in scrubs.
- ↑ Jimmy Kimmel’s Quarantine Monologue – Trump Encourages Stay at Home Protests. Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel. Retrieved 2025-03-11 – via YouTube.
- ↑
Brian Klaas (2020-04-22). "I live in Britain. Thank goodness there's no Fox News here". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
In a battle for who was the most absurd extremist last week, another brave “patriot” in Huntington Beach, Calif., stood in front of a Baskin-Robbins with a homemade sign reading, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
- ↑
Annie Armstrong (2020-09-18). "Photographers fear steep costs and little payment for covering protests". The Art Newspaper. Archived from the original on 2021-11-18. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
Taete’s most widely seen photo from this year is of an anti-lockdown protest, where he captured a woman shrieking outside of a Baskin Robbins ice cream shop while holding an American flag and a sign that read, “Give me liberty or give me death”. The viral image was shown on the late-night TV programme "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" as well as used in publications such as The Washington Post and Newsweek, yet Taete reports he has only received about $300 for the image in licensing.
- ↑ Trump Spins After Musk & Rubio Blowup, Pentagon's War on Woke & Jimmy vs Daylight Saving Time. Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel. 2025-03-10. Retrieved 2025-03-11 – via YouTube.