Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., posted an edited and manipulated animated video that showed him striking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and rushing at President Joe Biden, causing severe social media backlash.
- Per The Hill, the video takes inspiration from “Attack on Titan” created by Hajime Isayama.
The video — which was photo-manipulated to include anime characters with the faces of Ocasio-Cortez and Biden — starts with scenes of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. The words “drugs, crime, poverty, money, gangs, violence and trafficking” appear on the video, according to The Hill.
- Then, the video shows an animated version of Gosar holding two swords. He, along with an animated version of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Bobert, R-Colo., attack a giant, who has the face of Ocasio-Cortez.
- The video ends with Gosar’s animated character running toward a photo of Biden’s face.
How social media responded to Gosar’s video
The video promptly drew backlash from people on social media, where it was called “glorification of violence.”
- Similarly, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said the video was an example of “sick behavior from Rep. Paul Gosar. He tweeted out the video showing him killing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez from both his official account and personal account. In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired.”
How Ocasio-Cortez responded to Gosar’s video
Ocasio-Cortez issued a series of tweets about the video, calling Gosar “creepy” and suggesting he won’t face repercussions over the video.
- “So while I was en route to Glasgow, a creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups shared a fantasy video of him killing me. And he’ll face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses. Fun Monday! Well, back to work bc institutions don’t protect (women of color).”
Twitter responds to Gosar’s video
A Twitter spokesperson told The Hill: “We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet as it violates our hateful conduct policy. As is standard with this notice, engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Quote Tweet the Tweet, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it.”