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'Attack on Titan' video meme goes viral showing Paul Gosar attacking AOC

Gosar tweeted the meme video with anime versions of him and fellow Republicans Lauren Bobert, Marjorie Taylor Greene attacking a giant with AOC's face

Rep Paul Gosar shared an animated meme on Sunday, November 7, showing the likeness of him armed with two swords striking Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and charging at President Joe Biden.

Liberals on Twitter were outraged after the Arizona Republican tweeted out the video with the caption, "Any anime fans out there?" The 90-second clip, with special anime effects and music, opened to scenes of migrants at the US-Mexico border with text captioned "drugs, crime, poverty, money, gangs, violence, and trafficking." The video also featured footage of former President Donald J Trump and videos of immigration officials at the border, The Hill reported.

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The video, titled "attack of immigrants", saw Gosar appear along with anime versions of fellow conservative Republicans Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Bobert (Colo.), who seemed to team up and attack a giant with Ocasio-Cortez's face. The controversial clip, inspired by the Japanese manga 'Attack on Titan' created by Hajime Isayama, ended with the sword-wielding Gosar running toward a large photo of Biden's face. 

Liberals lashed out at Twitter for allowing the meme to remain on the platform, arguing that it violated the platform's rules and policies that prohibit users from threatening "violence against an individual or a group of people," as well as the "glorification of violence."

"Paul Gosar needs to be banned from Twitter permanently. And arrested," reporter Scott Dworkin tweeted. "Paul Gosar’s own siblings have repeatedly spoken out and warned us that he is an extremist. Six of them, if six people tell you their own damn brother is dangerous believe them. At the very least get him off of Twitter. @TwitterSafety," comic Noel Casler added.

"Republican Congressman Paul Gosar (@repgosar) tweeted a violent fantasy of himself murdering his fellow congresspeople If he was a student in any school in America, he'd be expelled and under arrest right now Yet, Twitter didn't even suspend his account," another Twitter user added.

 "We have placed a public interest notice on this Tweet as it violates our hateful conduct policy," a Twitter spokesperson told The Hill in response to the outrage. "As is standard with this notice, engagements with the Tweet will be limited. People will be able to Quote the Tweet, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it."

California Democratic Rep Ted Lieu called the post “sick behavior." “[Gosar] tweeted out the video showing him killing Rep Ocasio-Cortez from both his official account and personal account,” Lieu tweeted on Monday. “In any workplace in America, if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker, that person would be fired.”

Meanwhile, New York Democrat Ocasio Cortez slammed the meme in a series of tweets from Scotland, where she had arrived moments earlier. “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,” AOC tweeted. “And he’ll face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses,” she said. “Fun Monday! Well, back to work bc institutions don’t protect woc.”

However, conservatives on social media mocked the apparent outrage over "a silly anime cartoon." One tweet said, "Liberals are freaking out over Rep Paul Gosar's parody anime video. They are calling for him to be removed from congress and arrested over a joke. Leftists are now openly full-blown fascist authoritarians."

"Remember when that washed-up celebrity held up a fake Trump head and the liberals foamed at the mouth in excitement? Pepperidge farm remembers," another wrote. "Left mad over a cartoon Paul Gosar, No outrage at mad max for actually calling to attack people( not characters in a cartoon) at filling stations, restaurants, and schools," another comment read. "Gotta love the faux outrage over a silly anime cartoon," wrote a supporter of Gosar.