Michael Leisner, the anti-gay marriage protestor who set fire to a box of Cheerios on the lawn in front of General Mills’ headquarters has died of a heart attack.
Leisner’s protest, which went viral, was posted on YouTube Aug. 5 and shows him standing in front of the General Mills sign with box of Honey Nut Cheerios in one hand and a blowtorch in the other. As the video rolls Leisner says, “One out of every eight boxes of cereal in this country is Cheerios. This is really the treat now for the homosexuals, and this is our protest of General Mills advocating same-sex marriages. So we are going to torch some cereal.”
He then sets fire to the cereal box, but the fire quickly gets out of control and he is forced to end the demonstration and escape the scene saying, “Quick get in the car.”
According to The Smoking Gun, Leisner, 65, died Saturday while running an errand near his Andover, Minn. home. His funeral service is scheduled for Friday morning at the Emmanuel Christian Center.
Dwight Denyes, the church’s senior pastor, told The Smoking Gun that Leisner apparently died of a heart attack Saturday while waiting in his car for two of his children to finish playing tennis.
Leisner’s death brings the police investigation of his protest to an abrupt end.
