The Ins and Outs of 1819 News’ Decision To Publish the Mayor Copeland Story

In this episode, 1819 News CEO and Editor-in-Chief explain the decision making process that went into publishing the stories about the late Mayor and Pastor Bubba Copeland.

On Nov 1st, 2023, 1819 News published a story about a small town Alabama Mayor who was also a pastor. The story exposed that this elected official and Baptist preacher was leading a double life by posting sexual photos of him dressed in drag, as well as posting memes encouraging children to transition, and writing explicit homoerotic fiction stories. All of which were posted on public forums.

After we published the story, we had many citizens in the area reach out to provide us with more information, including the fact that the children pictured on the transition memes were actual children from the community that he used without the parents permission and the memes appeared on porn sites. We were also made aware that one of the fiction stories written by Mayor Copeland was about killing an actual female Phenix City business owner with the intent of stealing her identity to have sex with her husband.

In the early evening of Friday, Nov 3rd, 2023 Mayor Bubba Copeland took his life after being involved in a low speed pursuit with law enforcement that was attempting to stop him for a wellness check.

Media outlets from across the nation proceeded to place blame on 1819 News for his death saying that 1819 News had no right to share those aspects of Mayor/Pastor Bubba Copeland's life.

We stand 100% behind our decision to publish the stories and Jeff and Bryan breakdown why in this week's episode.