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Twitter said Monday that Rep. Paul Gosar‘s (R-Ariz.) sharing of a doctored video to Twitter and Instagram showing him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and attacking President Joe Biden with two swords violates the company’s “hateful conduct” policy.
The company restricted engagement with the tweet, blocking the ability to like, reply or retweet it. Still, the social media company said in a notification attached to the tweet that it had determined “it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
“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,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
The 90-second video shared by Gosar on Sunday appears to be an altered version of a Japanese animated series. It is interspersed with real-life footage of US Border Patrol officers rounding up migrants at the US-Mexico border.
Ocasio-Cortez responded by tweeting that Gosar was “creepy.” She said he’d “face no consequences” and claimed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “cheers him on with excuses.”
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 woc https://t.co/XRnMAKsnNO
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 9, 2021
The video drew condemnation from other lawmakers as well.
Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted: “This man should not serve in Congress. Fantasizing about violently attacking your colleagues has no place in our political discourse and society.”
Rep. Ted Lieu called Gosar’s behavior “sick.” “In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired.”
According to the Washington Post, a Gosar staffer defended the video, saying, “Everyone needs to relax.”
