Skip to content Skip to footer

Gosar Faces Calls to Resign After Sharing an Animated Video of Him Killing AOC

Gosar tweeted an anime video depicting him killing Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.

In the video, Rep. Paul Gosar is depicted slicing the back of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s neck.

Calls for Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) to be removed from Congress are growing after he shared a video on Monday depicting an anime sequence of him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and attacking President Joe Biden.

The video, which has since been flagged by Twitter, is an altered version of the theme song for the popular anime show “Attack on Titan.” At one point in the video, the faces of Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Georgia) and Gosar are superimposed on anime characters fighting together to defeat Ocasio-Cortez, whose face is overlaid onto a titan, a monstrous creature from the show that eats human beings.

In the video, Gosar is depicted slicing the back of Ocasio-Cortez’s neck, killing her. Shortly after, Gosar is shown moving in to attack Biden, holding two swords up to a picture of the president that enters the frame.

Interspersed with the clips of animated violence are videos of asylum seekers at the border crossing the Rio Grande, with — disturbingly — a blood splatter filter imposed over the footage. The words “drugs,” “crime,” “poverty,” “money,” “murder,” “gangs,” “violence” and “trafficking” flash across the screen, followed by videos glorifying Customs and Border Protection agents, almost as if to show the agents hunting down the asylum seekers.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is currently in Scotland attending the COP26 climate summit, responded to the video on Twitter. “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 wrote. “And he’ll face no consequences because [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California)] cheers him on with excuses.”

“This dude is just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway,” the New York lawmaker went on. “White supremacy is for extremely fragile people and 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.”

Gosar’s office dismissed criticisms of the video depicting an animated version of him murdering the popular Democratic lawmaker. “Everyone needs to relax,” a spokesperson for Gosar said.

Many lawmakers have condemned Gosar for posting the video, some calling for his removal. “Every day these white supremacists push the limits further and further to see how far they can go without consequences. This puts lives in danger,” wrote Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri). “Enough with the violent bigotry. Expel this white supremacist clown.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) echoed this call, saying, “This man should not serve in Congress. Fantasizing about violently attacking your colleagues has no place in our political discourse and society.”

In a tweet thread, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that this isn’t the first time she’s faced violent or vulgar threats from Republican colleagues. Last year, a reporter overheard Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Florida) accosting Ocasio-Cortez in a stairwell over her comments suggesting that unemployment and general financial instability were causing more incidences of theft during the pandemic. After a short exchange, Yoho called Ocasio-Cortez a “fucking bitch.”

Ocasio- Cortez also pointed out that she has been the subject of repeated harassment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Earlier this year, Greene screamed at Ocasio-Cortez in an incident that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) categorized as “verbal assault.”

Ocasio-Cortez has previously described fearing for her life during the extremist right-wing attack on the Capitol on January 6, which organizers of the attack have said was planned in part by Gosar and Greene. The lawmakers have previously faced calls to resign for their alleged participation in the attack and — in Greene’s case — her tendency to make violent threats.

We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.

As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.

Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.

As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.

At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.

Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.

You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.