Lawmaker Tweets Anime of Him Attacking Ocasio-Cortez, Biden

(Bloomberg) -- A Republican congressman from Arizona touched off a social media uproar after he posted a doctored version of a popular anime with him attacking President Joe Biden and Representative Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, a New York Democrat. 

Twitter Inc. said that the post by Representative Paul Gosar violated “rules about hateful conduct” but that the company “has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible.”

The tweet, introduced with the words “Any Anime Fans Out There?” plays the theme song of a popular Japanese television series called “Attack on Titan,” about humans hiding behind walls to protect themselves from marauding giants called Titans. In the clip, the title is manipulated to say “Immigrant Attack” in Japanese.

Images of Gosar with the Capitol in the background jump to video of migrants with bright red spatters on the screen and border patrol officers. Then an anime character, with Gosar’s head superimposed on him, leaps into action, felling a Titan with Ocasio-Cortez’s face before lunging at a huge portrait of Biden. 

Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter saying, “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.” Earlier this year, Gosar appeared before a group that’s led by a man accused of being a White supremacist. 

Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, tweeted Monday that “this behavior from Rep. Paul Gosar encouraging violence is unacceptable. He needs to be removed from congressional committees.” 

Gosar and Lieu’s offices did not respond to requests for comment made late Monday night.

A Twitter representative said that because Gosar’s tweet, which went up Sunday night, violates the hateful conduct policy, “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. This mirrors the approach the company took with some of then-President Donald Trump’s tweets during the George Floyd protests last year.

Gosar, a dentist who was first elected in 2010, remarked in another tweet: “The creativity of my team is off the hook.” He has been an ardent supporter of the former president and was among the Republicans who on Jan. 6 contested the 2020 Electoral College results.

The “Attack on Titan” series series is based on a manga by Hajime Isayama.  

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