8-year-old girl who mocked Ocasio-Cortez quits social media following death threats: 'The Left's harassment had gone too far'
A child actor, known for her impressions of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has reportedly stopped making videos after receiving multiple death threats, according to reports.
The eight-year-old girl, Ava Martinez from Rancho Santa Margarita, California, went viral earlier this year after posting multiple videos imitating the New York representative.
However, her family Wednesday said the girl would stop making the videos, and they are also removing the existing ones because of death threats.
Martinez's stepfather Salvatore Schachter, in a tweet, said: "The Left's harassment and death threats have gone too far for our family. We have been getting calls on our personal phone numbers. For our safety and for our child's safety, we deleted all Mini AOC accounts."
Schachter, while talking to Fox News, had said that he had mainly received positive feedback about the videos. However, he added that the negative reaction had 'become too much' after his daughter recreated photos AOC had taken at the US-Mexico border last year.
Schachter said after they posted the pictures online, the comments they received were 'increasingly personal, dark, and dangerous'.
"She's disappointed at not doing Mini AOC going forward but we explained that this is for the best and she's okay with it," he added.
A video of Ava imitating AOC, which was posted earlier this year, showed the 8-year-old talking about the Green New Deal.
"Like, I want to talk about, like, climate change. Because, like, there’s no doubt cow farts are making the climate change," Ava can be heard saying in the video.
"Like, in July, the climate was 96 degrees and in February the climate was 36 degrees. OMG, like that’s a huge change in the climate in only, — pausing to count her fingers — four months!"
Ava's stepfather said they had noticed a likeness between his daughter and the youngest Congresswoman in US history.
However, after her family members began referring to her as 'Little AOC', he asked Ava if she wanted to record a video. He, however, admitted that he did not know who Ocasio-Cortez was before making the video. But that did not deter them from mocking the politician’s key policies.
"I thought it would gain attention because she’s adorable, but not like this," the stepfather told the New York Post. "She loves acting; she’s just a natural performer,’ he added."