Megan Fox has issued a public comeback to former Republican Congressional candidate Robby Starbuck for comments about Megan and her 3 sons, in which he called it “child abuse” that the actress lets them wear traditionally feminine clothing.
The Transformers star accused Starbuck of being a “clout chaser” in a lengthy instagram post, where she also told the ex-pol to “never use children as leverage or social currency.”
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Megan Fox Calls Disqualified Congressional Candidate A ‘Clout Chaser’
Robby Starbuck, the Congressional candidate in question, ran for a seat in the U.S. House to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, but was disqualified as a write-in from the Republican primary and did not appear on the official ballot in 2022. Since then, he’s billed himself as someone who “[fights] for freedom” (via his Twitter bio)—and part of that freedom fighting, apparently, is posting about celebrity kids on his Twitter feed:
These are Megan Fox’s sons. We used to live in the same gated community and our kids played at the park. I saw 2 of them have a full on breakdown saying they were forced by their mom to wear girls clothes as their nanny tried to console them. It’s pure child abuse. Pray for them. pic.twitter.com/k3ULKG7fFm
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 8, 2023
In the Tweet, Starbuck alleged that he saw Megan Fox “forcing” her sons to wear girls’ clothes as “their nanny tried to console them.” He also called Megan’s alleged actions “child abuse”. Of course, the Jennifer’s Body actress clapped back at this very serious claim, posting the aforementioned Instagram condemning Starbuck’s tweet.
Photo Agency Sends Starbuck Legal Warning Over Picture Use
According to TMZ, Megan isn't the only entity involved that Starbuck needs to worry about—Backgrid, the agency that owns the rights to the photo of Megan and her kids that Starbuck used in his post, has sent the politician a legal letter as of this week accusing Starbuck of infringing on their copyright to the picture, which the agency says was not purchased or licensed before publishing.
Backgrid also denies any claim to "fair use" as they say Starbuck can't argue the picture was for political purposes, and thus does not meet the legal standard to qualify as fair use on multiple fronts. In their legal warning, in which the agency says the photo he posted without permission has been viewed "by millions of people", Backgrid stated, "While historically not always the case, we expect those who hope to serve as our elected representatives to lead by example and fully comply with federal law. Today, we demand you do so." It's unclear whether the agency is seeking monetary compensation from Starbuck, or possibly a take-down of the Tweet altogether. As of publishing, the Tweet remains on Starbuck's feed.
In a statement to TMZ, Megan's ex and the father of the three children in question, Brian Austin Green, defended his ex-wife by saying, "It’s a totally bogus story...There are only a few people in their world that can actually verify wether [sic] or not a story like this is true and I can tell you with absolute certainty it is not. This person trying to claim this is true is a perfect example of someone with selfish motives that does not care about negatively affecting a parent child relationship." He also added, "As a society I hope we continue to push to be better. This Robby Starbuck person is full of s***, and I have no idea who he is."
Neither Starbuck nor Megan have commented further about the issue to this point.
