‘Crippled’ quip puts comedy promoter in Cincinnati court

By LISA CORNWELL

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A man who says he was charged with disorderly conduct after using the word “crippled” to promote a comedian with muscular dystrophy claims Cincinnati police violated his free-speech rights, and the comedian agrees.

Forest Thomer, of Cold Spring, Ky., is to appear in a Cincinnati courtroom on the charge today.

He was cited by Cincinnati police last month at a park after he and comedian Ally Bruener say he asked people if they wanted to “laugh at the crippled girl.”

The question was not intended to demean his friend Bruener, but to promote her next comedy show and her allybruener.com website, the two said Monday.

Bruener, who is in a wheelchair because of the degenerative muscle disorder, said she would approach people after Thomer asked them the question, tell a joke and talk about her next performance.

Thomer also would record some of the public’s responses for use on Bruener’s website, showing people saying: “I laughed at the crippled girl.”

Thomer, 25, was cited May 23 on a disorderly conduct charge alleging that he walked into people and shouted obscenities at them, according to court records.

Thomer was asked to stop his behavior but “persisted in yelling and shouting, causing annoyance and alarm to others,” according to the complaint in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

Thomer could face up to 30 days in jail if convicted of the fourth-degree misdemeanor charge, a court official said.

“We were just going up to people and asking the question, said Thomer, who denies all of the allegations.

“You can’t just arrest people or have them arrested just because you don’t like what they are saying,” Thomer said.

Bruener, 23, of Alexandria, Ky., said, “People are trying to be too politically correct and force us to be as well.”

The idea was to get people’s attention and help them “let down their guard a bit,” said Bruener, who says she uses her humor to try to remove any stigma from the word “crippled.”

“I don’t think words have power until you react negatively to them,” Bruener said.

Other than one woman “who didn’t agree with the way we used the word crippled, people were onboard with it and seemed to enjoy it,” said Bruener, who has performed at clubs and comedy events in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.