Overview

Lauren Boebert Kicked Out of Beetlejuice Musical refers to a September 2023 controversy in which United States Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert was removed from the Buell Theater in Denver, Colorado, which was showing the Beetlejuice musical, for engaging in disruptive behavior, including vaping, singing and taking selfies with the flash on. Boebert was accompanied by a "mystery man" (later revealed to be Quinn Gallagher, a so-called Democrat bar owner) who appeared to grope Boebert's breasts seemingly at the request of Boebert. Speculation also ensued about Boebert purportedly giving him a "handy" (or handjob). After the news broke, discourse and backlash occurred across social media, peaking after multiple, surveillance videos of Boebert in the theatre were published online. Thereafter, many reacted to the videos, plainly seeing Boebert's disruptive behavior that she had initially denied.

Background

On September 12th, 2023, The Denver Post^[1] published an article which stated that congresswoman Lauren Boebert was "accused by venue officials of vaping, singing, recording and 'causing a disturbance'" at the Buell Theater in Denver, Colorado during a performance of Beetlejuice the musical. A campaign manager for Boebert, Drew Sexton, told The Denver Post,^[1] "that the second-term congresswoman denied vaping during the show. She did use her cellphone to take a picture of the performance, unaware that photos weren’t allowed."

Later on September 12th, Next 9NEWS, a local Denver news network, obtained surveillance tapes from the night showing Boebert's behavior in the theatre, posting it to YouTube^[2] on the day of and gaining roughly 1.3 million views in six days (shown below). The video showed Boebert vaping, taking flash photography and, at one point, appearing to move the hand of her male companion onto her breasts. The video also showed her being escorted out of the theater and giving a young usher the middle finger.

Online Reaction

On September 12th, 2023, X/Twitter^[3] user @DonLew87 reposted Next 9NEWS' video, writing, "BYE BYE: Surveillance video of Lauren Boebert getting BOOTED from 'Beetlejuice' in Denver," gaining roughly 3.9 million views and 26,000 likes in six days (shown below).

BYE BYE: Surveillance video of Lauren Boebert getting BOOTED from 'Beetlejuice' in Denver. pic.twitter.com/4tdjtG6EoQ

— Don Lewis (@DonLew87) September 13, 2023

Many people reacted to the video and event in the days that followed, such as X^[4] user @NotHoodlum on September 12th, gaining roughly 2,600 likes in six days (shown below, left). On September 13th, X^[5] user @swd2 captioned a video of a girl dancing with, "Everyone just trying to enjoy Beetlejuice. / Boebert:" gaining roughly 1,000 likes in five days (shown below, right).

Developments

"Mystery Man" Identified As Quinn Gallagher

On September 13th, 2023, the Daily Mail^[6] published an article in which it claimed to have identified Boebert's "mystery man" as 46-year-old Quinn Gallagher, the owner of Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar in Aspen, Colorado. The Daily Mail quoted a so-called "well-placed source" as saying, "It's very surprising. I always thought Quinn was a cool guy and a Democrat. His parents would be horrified because they are definitely blue."

Reactions to the report spread on social media, evident in a post shared by X^[7] user @ImSpeaking13 on September 13th, which received roughly 2,400 likes in five days (shown below).

Boebert "Handy" Speculation

On September 15th, 2023, X^[8] user @GeoRebekah posted a video in which she zoomed on a moment in the surveillance tape in which it appeared that Gallagher was groping Boebert's breasts and Boebert was touching Gallagher's penis. @GeoRebekah's post, in which she claimed, "This was a Beetlejuice show. Kids were there," received roughly 375,900 views and 3,700 likes in three days (shown below).

Oh my. There's even more video of what led @laurenboebert to get kicked out by security at a Denver theater. This was a Beetlejuice show. Kids were there. pic.twitter.com/SgSBwdr1ps

— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) September 15, 2023

The video received viral quotes from others on X,^[9] plus, separate reactions ensued. For instance, on September 17th, 2023, X^[10] user @AngryBlackLady posted, "All it took was a dry handy in a public theater for y'all to forget she's a literal fascist. This country won't survive lol," gaining roughly 23,900 likes in one day (shown below, left).

Meanwhile, X^[11] user @GuntherEagleman posted on September 18th, "I wouldn't worry about Lauren Boebert feeling up a dude in a theater, I would worry how an unmanned American F-35 landed safely in Havana Cuba…," gaining roughly 10,500 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References