(This story was updated to add response from Elizabeth Booker Houston.)
Federal and state lawmakers are calling for a comedian and Indiana University adjunct law professor to lose her job after she delivered a “congratudolences” cake to Lindsey Graham’s former Senate office following his recent death.
In an Instagram video posted on July 14, Elizabeth Booker Houston and another influencer picked up a custom cake and set it on a table among flowers outside the office. The cake included Graham’s Senate headshot, a cross of blue frosted roses and the word “congratudolences!,” a mashup of congratulations and condolences. The video included multiple critiques of Graham’s politics.
Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, died at 71 on July 11 after a tear in his heart’s main artery. His sister, Darline Graham Nordone, was sworn in days later to serve the remainder of his term. The Senate office did not immediately respond to IndyStar’s request for comment regarding situation.
“Your brother is burning in hell,” Houston said in an X post directed to Graham Nordone, “and now, you’re working for the devil!”
The stunt gained traction among conservatives after U.S. Rep. William Timmons, R-South Carolina, posted on X with a screenshot of her comments and her LinkedIn page. He tagged George Washington University, his alma mater, and called for Houston to face “appropriate disciplinary action” and “perhaps some mental health counseling as part of her severance.”
Houston is an adjunct professor at IU Indianapolis’ McKinney Law School and a visiting lecturer at George Washington University, according to her LinkedIn and university faculty pages. Neither university responded to a request for comment.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said IU should lose all state funding if Houston isn’t fired. He then claimed the incident is an example of why public education is failing and not well-respected. Several Republican members of Indiana’s congressional delegation — Sen. Jim Banks, Rep. Marlin Stutzman and Rep. Erin Houchin — also called on IU to fire her.
“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Houston told IndyStar, regarding the conservative backlash. She’s worked in politics and has been a content creator for the past five years. She said attacks like this are part of the territory. She’s gotten used to it, though, and didn’t know about some politicians’ comments until IndyStar reached out.
“They’re snowflakes,” Houston said of the public officials. “They are incredibly hypocritical because they’ve been crying about censorship and free speech for so long, but they couldn’t handle a piece of cake. That is so funny to me, which, by the way, I hope the staff enjoyed it. It was a very nice cake.”
She’s not worried about people coming for her lecture roles. Her income isn’t just from those engagements, and she said this exposure from conservatives only grows her brand. The colleges knew about her social media presence before they hired her, she said, and some have invited her to speak because of it. She hasn’t heard from either university about the recent posts.
Public employees — including employees at public universities — have First Amendment rights that private-sector employees do not. A 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case established that public employees do not lose their First Amendment rights on matters of public importance when expressed in their private capacity.
Houston would have those free speech protections at IU, a public university. However, administrators at George Washington University have more latitude to punish outside speech since it is a private university.
Public employees’ private comments were a focus point after the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Several teachers, professors and government employees across the country were shamed on social media and lost their jobs for comments critical of Kirk’s views or making light of his death. Multiple public institutions then paid fired employees to settle First Amendment lawsuits. Ball State, which fired a health director, spent at least $725,000 on outside lawyers and a settlement.
IU has also made waves for how it’s complying with a recent Indiana law policing professors’ in-classroom speech. The contract of a social work professor was not renewed after a complaint was filed over a white supremacy graphic shown in class.
It’s situations like these that make speaking out more important for Houston.
“That kind of isolation is really what the right counts on, really making people feel very alone and afraid and scared,” she said. “It’s important for people like myself to speak out, when we have the ability to do so, because of those individuals who are silenced, who are forced out, who were hit hard financially, who lost their careers, who lost their communities.”
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Have a story to tell, tip or question? Reach Cate Charron by email at ccharron@indystar.com, on X at @CateCharron or Signal at @cate.charron.28.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘Congratudolences’: Lawmakers want IU professor fired over Lindsey Graham cake
Reporting by Cate Charron, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cate Charron, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
