Nothing says police respect like a bunch of them laughing and giggling to an entertainer parodying the shooting of an unarmed black kid. TMZ:

The Glendale, CA Elks Lodge is investigating a shocking incident that went down in the club a week ago Monday, when a performer sang a song celebrating the death of Michael Brown ... for an audience that included a number of retired and current cops ... and TMZ has the video.

The song was a parody of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown." Gary Fishell, the performer and a member of the Lodge, changed the lyrics, which include:

Michael Brown learned a lesson about a messin'
With a badass policeman

And he's bad, bad Michael Brown
Baddest thug in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog

Two men took to fightin'
And Michael punched in through the door
And Michael looked like some old Swiss cheese
His brain was splattered on the floor

And he's dead, dead Michael Brown
Deadest man in the whole damn town
His whole life's long gone
Deader than a roadkill dog

I was raised in Glendale and this doesn't surprise me in the least. A stronghold of John Birch conservatism in the 60s and 70s, now it's even more conservative and possibly more racist. Glendale didn't allow blacks to rent or buy homes in the community until they were forced to under the Equal Housing Act, which was sometime after I had graduated and moved away.

According to Joe Myers, the retired cop who organized the event and hired the entertainment, it's all free speech and so what if you don't like it?

Singer Gary Fishell is a P.I. who once worked as an investigator for the Federal Government. His lawyer tells TMZ, Fishell now realizes the song was "off color and in poor taste." The lawyer adds, "He's a goofball who writes funny songs." We asked why Fishell would sing this in a room full of cops, and the lawyer replied, "He thought the room would get a kick out of it."

Joe Myers tells TMZ, "How can I dictate what he [Fishell] says in a song?" Myers goes on, "This is America. We can say what we want. This is a free America." Myers adds ... he's done this as an annual event for decades and has raised a lot of money for charity.

Oh, I see. Charity. Of course.

[h/t Anomaly100 at Liberaland]