Those who do not regularly use public transit may not be familiar with the delightful character known as the subway preacher—a gentleman who, instead of leaving you to read your book or listen to your (Slate) podcast in peace, has decided that today is the day you really need to hear his always erudite and insightful take on the Scriptures. And let’s be clear: His choice of focus is not often on, say, how best to ripen the fruits of the spirit. No, totally fresh thoughts on the deserved besmirching of homosexuals or the wiliness of Eve’s sex are far more likely themes.
Anyway, most of us just ignore the uninvited (and wholly ineffective) “evangelizing.” But on Tuesday, actress Lea DeLaria—most recently of Big Boo fame on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black—was in no mood on New York’s M line. In a video posted by TMZ, DeLaria decides to, putting it gently, engage with a train pastor, and her responses, while heated, are impressively controlled. Textual hermeneutics are debated, uses of public space challenged, and in the end, DeLaria does what many a strap-hanger has only fantasized about—annoy the annoyer. Well done, Boo, well done.
