A man from Houston, Texas has been charged with a third-degree felony count of terroristic threat against a public servant after allegedly leaving a profanity-ridden voicemail to the Governor's Office related to anime.
According to the local KXAN station, the voicemail stated (profanity has been partially redacted in the below quote):
I don't know which one of you sons of b—-es passed this motherf—ing bill to get this damn s— blocking my motherf—ing anime, but you whole a– motherf—ers need to unpass this s—. Y'all are f—ing ridiculous with your b—- a–es. My Google account says I'm f—ing over the age of 18, and your dumba– is passing these dumba– laws. I'm a f—ing stab every godd— one of you b—-es. Unlock my f—ing anime.
A Texas Department of Public Safety agent wrote in an affidavit that the call was made from a cell phone registered to 35-year-old Joseph Roy Ozment on July 25. The DPS said that the Governor's Office employee was in fear of the lives of himself, his coworkers, and the general public at the office. Ozment faces a possible 10 years in prison and US$10,000 in fines if convicted.
It remains unclear what bill Ozment is referring to in his voicemail, but related laws may include: a 2023 Texas law that required adult websites to verify a site visitor's age before allowing access, which led to some sites blocking access to devices from Texas; or the recently passed Texas Senate Bill 2420, which requires app stores (such as Apple's App Store or Google Play) to similarly verify a user's age before allowing downloads. Popular anime streaming sites, such as Crunchyroll and HIDIVE, remain available in Texas.
