It was the year 2015 when WhatsApp introduced the comb emoticon. Nine years later, this gesture has been the result of analysis in a Canadian sentence. It’s about two neighbors neall epstein and michael naccache. The second of them accused his neighbor of “criminal harassment (s. 264 (1) CC) and making death threats (s. 264.1 (1) CC)”. In history, the existence of a combthat the complainant initially indicated that it was a Death threat.

According to the judgment issued on February 27, the defendant, who was regularly recorded by his neighbor, denied that he made a slash-throat gesture. The Court of Justice notes that the video shows a lateral movementan image that fits with the defendant’s testimony when explaining that his will was to express “get out here”, “leave me alone” or to say bluntly “go to hell”.

The images provided show the middle finger still extended during lateral movement. By defining what is tried a comb and not a death threat, the judge was forced to rule on this crowded gesture. The video also proved that the complainant’s father had driven the car very close to the neighbor’s children, a fact that led to the rude response of the comb.

“To be very clear, it is not a crime to give someone the finger. Flipping the proverbial bird is a right consecrated by God and consecrated that belongs to all red-blooded Canadians. Maybe don’t be civilizedit may not be polite, it may not be chivalrous,” he resolved.

Moreover, he added that the comb “does not generate criminal liability.” “Offending someone is not a crime but an integral component of free speech.” So he added that citizens should be thicker-skinned, especially when they behave in ways that are likely to unleash such blasphemies, such as driving too fast on a street where innocent children are playing. “Being told to ‘fuck off’ shouldn’t trigger an emergency call,” she said.