Update: Fiery Cheerios Protestor Dies

Earlier this month, I made fun of Michael Leisner, who accidentally set a lawn fire at the Minnesota General Mills headquarters because he didn't like the company's pro same sex marriage stance.

Michael Leisner, recently made famous in his
fiery Cheerios protest, has died.

General Mills makes Cheerios, and he tried to torch a box of the cereal to express his dissatisfaction, but the fire got a bit out of control and he fled. No real damage occurred, but the embarrassing YouTube video of the incident sure was a hit.

Boy, do I feel bad about making fun of Leisner now. Word now comes that Leisner has died of an apparent heart attack. He was waiting in his car for his two sons to finish playing tennis when he passed away, according to The Smoking Gun.

He's been described as a nice guy, though his virulently anti-gay stance understandably put me off. My condolences to his family, though.

Even in death, things got screwed up for Leisner in an unfortunately comic way. According to the Smoking Gun report, a nephew wrote, in Spanish, a loving tribute to Leisner.  Bing translated it from Spanish to English, and they garbled it. The translation read: "Please pray for the family of Mike to feel the spirit of God as dildo in this time of loss."

Sigh. I really hope the afterlife goes better for Leisner.