Emily Lance receives death threats after posting video of her urinating on US flag

A Pennsylvania woman, who posted a video of herself urinating on the national flag of the US, has said that she is receiving death and rape threats.

Emily Lance posted the video on 4 July – the independence day of the US – reportedly captioning it, "F*** your nationalism. F*** your country. F*** your stupid f****** flag." The video quickly went viral as hundreds of thousands of people slammed Lance for being disrespectful to the country and the flag.

Lance has said that a number of social media users have sent her death and rape threats online. She also shared a screenshot of someone claiming there is a $3,000 (£2,314) bounty on her head on Craigslist. However, her claim has not been verified yet, Fox News reported.

The video posted on Facebook showed Lance standing over a toilet on which a US flag was draped and urinating on it with the help of a device, called GoGirl, which allows women to do so while standing.

Her Facebook page is no longer available but previously she had defended herself, saying she's "entitled" to urinate on the flag under the First Amendment. Damaging a national flag is not illegal in the US because of its strong freedom of speech laws, the BBC said.

"Freedom (of speech/expression) means that I'm entitled to do and say as I please, EVEN if you don't like it, so long as I am not physically hurting someone - and no, your precious feelings don't count, that's your own problem," Lance wrote on Facebook.

"What don't you people understand? You're celebrating freedom while damning me for doing the same. You can't have it both ways. FREEDOM OR NONE. Practice what you preach or shut the f*** up," she added.

She also showed her disgust over people who were traumatising her for peeing on the flag. "It's so sad that people don't realise how brainwashed they are. I'm gross for peeing on a symbol? LOOK AT YOURSELVES. Your people epitomize all that is foul."

Lance has also made a request to the people to not target her family or friends. She pleaded her opponents not to "take your anger out on the wrong people". She added that none of her family members agreed to her mischief.

"They've got nothing to do with my decisions," she said and added her father and his workplace had been "targeted". However, she failed to give the explanation how they were attacked.