Photo: James Andrews1 / Shutterstock.com / U.S. House of Representatives
This year just keeps getting weirder.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Nov 09, 2021
U.S. Representative for Arizona’s 4th congressional district, Paul Gosar, shared the most bizarre video on Twitter over the weekend, targeting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Joe Biden.
The video was an edited version of the opening for the popular anime, “Attack On Titan,” where Gosar’s face was planted on the main protagonist and he kills AOC and attacks Biden, who had their faces planted on the main enemy of the show — titans.
Paul Gosar's anime video of AOC has generated backlash.
For obvious reasons, many pundits reacted to Gosar’s audacity to openly share a video where he kills a fellow congresswoman and threatens the incumbent president — including AOC herself.
“The creativity of my team is off the hook,” he tweeted from his personal account, quoting the tweet from his congressional account.
California's 33rd congressional district representative Ted Lieu, instantly went on the attack to condemn Gosar’s actions.
“This is sick behavior from Rep. Paul Gosar,” he said. “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.”
Lieu’s completely right — this would easily fall under workplace harassment, if not worse, and people have been fired from their jobs for much less.
AOC responded to Paul Gosar's anime video.
AOC agrees and doesn’t believe that Gosar will see any consequences for the video he posted.
“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,” she tweeted. “And he’ll face no consequences bc [Kevin McCarthy] cheers him on with excuses.”
She proceeded to talk about several other times when fellow congressmen and politicians attacked her verbally and even physically, all without repercussions.
As a final note, she personally attacked Gosar, calling him a white supremacist and insulting his character.
“This dude is a just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway,” she began. “White supremacy is for extremely fragile people &sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn’t open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself.”
But she’s not the only one who believes he’s a white supremacist. Missouri representative of the 1st congressional district, Cori Bush, tweeted her reaction to Gosar’s actions as well.
“Every day these white supremacists push the limits further and further to see how far they can go without consequences,” she wrote. “This puts lives in danger. Enough with the violent bigotry. Expel this white supremacist clown.”
Twitter flagged Paul Gosar's tweet.
Gosar’s tweet was placed in a glass box by Twitter, citing “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about hateful conduct. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
Gosar himself responded to the backlash he’s been receiving for the video with another meme, this time mocking people who are angry by saying, “It’s a cartoon. Relax.”
Unfortunately, Rep. Gosar is unlikely to be removed from his position as a United States congressman as many people are calling for, but it remains to be seen.
Paul Gosar is known for extreme views.
Congressman Gosar made a name for himself by amplifying baseless conspiracy theories and far-right political views — including openly supporting Donald Trump, opposing the Affordable Care Act, abortion, most gun control laws, federal protection for endangered species, immigration, and legalizing marijuana.
But wait, there’s more.
Gosar was one of over 140 Republicans that voted to overturn the 2020 election results after the Jan. 6th Capitol Riot, claimed that the FBI might have had a role in causing the riot, and attended the America First Political Action Conference — a white nationalist conference.
Six of Gosar’s nine siblings endorsed Gosar’s opponent, David Brill, in the 2018 midterm elections, which went in favor of Gosar anyway.
Gosar’s career is nothing short of extraordinary in the worst way, and that includes his Twitter accounts — political and personal.
He often posts memes about his radically conservative opinions, so the fact that he posted this anime edit should come as no surprise to those aware of his antics.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.