Bad spelling or a shout-out to an Eagles cover band: you decide. (Photo by Christian Alexandersen from the Carroll County Times and Baltimore Sun Media Group)
July 17, 2014 – Misspelled graffiti on a a former Army Reserve Center building proposed as housing for immigrant children in Westminster, Md., made national news last night when Anderson Cooper featured the story in his “Ridiculist” segment. The spray-painted graffiti – “NO ILLEAGLES HERE NO UNDOCUMENTED DEMOCRATS” – is being investigated as a hate crime (a misdemeanor punishable by up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine) by Maryland State Police. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initially considered using the center for children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, but have now dropped the idea.
Eagles cover band “The Ill-Eagles.”
The host of Anderson Cooper 360 facetiously suggested that the graffiti could be a reference to a real Eagles tribute band called The Ill-Eagles. Like most of his “Ridiculist” segments, Cooper’s attempt at humor fell flatter than Kansas.
Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist”
The segment did, however, bring attention to two unfortunate realities: 1) some people in Westminster are prejudiced illiterates, and 2) there is an Eagles cover band (isn’t one Eagles group bad enough?)
