'Grotesque, Dangerous': AOC, Omar Lead Dems in Slamming Paul Gosar Over Violent Anime Video

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other Democratic lawmakers blasted Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) on Monday for tweeting a photoshopped anime video that imagines him killing Ocasio-Cortez.

Gosar shared an altered anti-immigrant video from the anime series Attack on Titan on Sunday. The video shows Gosar killing Ocasio-Cortez with a sword before leaping into the air to attack President Joe Biden.

Ocasio-Cortez responded one day later by calling her "creepy" Republican colleague a "collection of wet toothpicks." She said that Gosar would "face no consequences" because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) would excuse his behavior and because "institutions don't protect" women of color.

"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," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "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."

Ocasio-Cortez went on to recall tense work encounters with former Representative Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), who she said "accosted" her and referred to her with a derogatory term, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who she said ran after her "screaming and reaching" and "stalked" her office.

The Democratic congresswoman lamented that "nothing ever happens" despite all of the incidents occurring at her workplace.

"Anyways, back to business," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez. "This dude is a just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway. 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."

A selection of Ocasio-Cortez's Democratic colleagues also offered their own condemnations of Gosar's video.

"This man should not serve in Congress," tweeted Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ocasio-Cortez's fellow "Squad" member. "Fantasizing about violently attacking your colleagues has no place in our political discourse and society."

"Radical Republicans are dangerous," Representative Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) tweeted. "This behavior from Rep. Paul Gosar encouraging violence is unacceptable. He needs to be removed from congressional committees. Haven't we had enough political violence already? In any other workplace in America, he would have been fired."

"This is sick behavior from Rep. Paul Gosar," Lieu added in a later tweet. "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."

"Rep. Gosar's conduct is grotesque, dangerous and utterly disgraceful to the United States House of Representatives," Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) tweeted. "We must address his intolerable assaults on the dignity of our body and safety of our colleagues."

Nina Turner, a former Congressional candidate and co-chair of Senator Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, tweeted that Gosar "needs to be expelled from Congress" over the doctored video.

A small number of Republicans also condemned Gosar on Twitter, although no current members of Congress were among them.

"I gotta say this again: I got elected to Congress with Gosar," tweeted Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois. "I served with Gosar. This is way beyond the pale. This is just pure incitement. He must be censured. He should not run again. He needs help. He's ****ing nuts. But Republicans won't do a damn thing to him."

Newsweek reached out to Gosar's office for comment.