When Christian Nationalist Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) visited George Washington University (GW) yesterday to complain about a pro-Palestinian encampment there, students repeatedly shouted “Beetlejuice!” at her. The jeer referenced the time she was kicked out of a theatre during a performance of Beetlejuice: The Musical after she was caught vaping, groping her date, and flipping off an usher — and it’s not the first time critics have used the incident to mock her.
Boebert toured the university’s Washington D.C. campus on Wednesday to view the encampment alongside other House Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds (FL), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), and James Comer (KY). Students from GW and other D.C. area colleges and universities established the encampment last week.
During the visit, Boebert tried to tear down a Palestinian flag hanging from a statue. She told others to remove the flag, because the statue is federal property. Addressing a group at GW, Boebert referred to the encampment, saying, “If [GW doesn’t] want to do something to address this? Well, then kiss your federal funding goodbye,” Business Insider reported.
During Boebert’s speech, students began yelling “Beetlejuice!” and sang “The Imperial March” from the science-fiction film series Star Wars, the University’s student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reported. The films’ marching tune is associated with Darth Vader, a genocidal dictator.
This isn’t the first time people have cited Boebert’s Beetlejuice incident to mock the anti-LGBTQ congresswoman. On Halloween 2023, Boebert’s then-constituents trolled her by placing Beetlejuice decorations outside of her local offices and offering candy that highlights her “scary” voting record.
At the Washington Press Club Foundation’s annual congressional dinner last February, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) joked, “Please keep your hands above the table, and I know it’s date night for some of you, but no inappropriate touching. That includes you Lauren Boebert. No vaping either.”
At last weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Joe Biden joked, “Look, being here is a reminder that folks think what’s going on in Congress is political theater. That’s not true. If Congress were a theater, they’d have thrown out Lauren Boebert a long time ago.”
GW has suspended several students for refusing to leave the encampment, and the university has repeatedly asked D.C. Metro Police Department (MPD) to help clear the encampment. However, the police have reportedly refused to get involved, according to WTOP.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has said she and other city officials have been in contact with GW. Metro Police are watching the encampment — thus far, no violence has broken out between the pro-Palestine protest and pro-Israel counterprotests, CNN reported.
Nonetheless, Comer recently announced a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing about the GW protests to take place next week. He has summoned Mayor Bowser and the chief of the MPD as witnesses. Referring to student protests happening in Republicans’ home states, Bowser replied, “The members have universities in their own districts … It would seem that [their] energy would be best placed there.”
Similar encampments have sprung up at college and university campuses across the nation.
An estimated 35,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Israel began its military response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. Inside the International Court of Justice, Israel currently stands accused of committing genocide against Palestinian Arabs by obstructing food, preventing aid workers, and attacking civilian infrastructure, Human Rights Watch reported.
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