Oklahoma appeals court tosses out stalking conviction related to man’s YouTube rant

OKLAHOMA CITY – A Bryan County man’s decision to post a 40-minute rant about his ex-wife on YouTube doesn’t constitute stalking, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled.

In an order released Thursday, the state’s high court for criminal matters ordered the case against Lon Brandon Meeks, 45, dismissed.

The high court ruled that the state’s anti-stalking law is designed to “shield a person from unwanted conduct,” not “censor someone from randomly talking negatively about a third party to others.” The court said the law prohibits contact “directed toward” a person, not “communication about a person.”

Meeks, who was prosecuted in Bryan County District Court, was sentenced in 2025 to five years in prison, with the last two suspended. 

Meeks entered prison on July 15, 2025, and was released to supervision on May 11, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

A call to Meeks’ attorneys seeking comment was not returned Friday as of publication.

The Attorney General’s Office, which represented the state in the appeal, also did not immediately comment.

Meeks and his ex-wife separated in 2018 and divorced in 2019, and she obtained a protective order against him in 2019 that was extended to five years until April 2025, according to the appeal’s court decision.

The protective order barred him from contact, directly or indirectly, including calls, texts, emails, or communications on social media platforms even if not sent directly to her, according to the court.

The ex-wife’s boss sent her a May 2023 video by Meeks titled “One reason men shouldn’t get married,” according to the opinion. 

In it, Meeks says he is expressing his freedom of speech. 

In the profanity-laced video, which remained posted to YouTube on Friday, Meeks says negative things about the judicial system, his ex-wife, several other people and describes how he believes he was unfairly treated. He also graphically describes sex acts. 

“Meek’s post was undeniably about his ex-wife, and we are not indifferent to the embarrassment and harmful emotional toll being the subject of a spiteful rant concerning one’s personal life can have, especially in such a public forum as YouTube,” the opinion said. “It does not necessarily follow, however, that the offending post in this case was directed toward Meeks’ ex-wife, and this case illustrates that difference.”

The court wrote in its order that Meeks’ actions were “somewhat akin to the frustrated, drunken bar patron venting to everyone in the vicinity of his voice about the fallout from a bad romance and divorce.”

The court wrote that venting on social media platforms unfortunately often has a more widespread audience.