US lawmakers anime video of swinging swords at Joe Biden flagged by Twitter

A Twitter post by US
lawmaker Paul Gosar was flagged by the platform Tuesday as it showed an anime
video depicting him swinging swords at US President Joe Biden and Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Twitter attached a warning label to the post and said
that it violated its “hateful conduct” policy and restricted engagement to the tweet.
The tweet can not be liked, replied to or retweeted.

Twitter, however,
decided to keep the tweet in the public domain because “it may be in the public’s
interest for the Tweet to remain accessible”.

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The video, which is 90
seconds long, was shared by the Republican lawmaker on Sunday and is
interspersed actual footage of US Border Patrol officers rounding up migrants
at the US-Mexico border. The video seems to be an altered version of a Japanese
anime series and depicts Gosar along with Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor
Green and Lauren Boebert fighting a towering “Titan”.

Gosar’s tweet comes
amid his recent claims that he desires to end immigration to the United States
entirely.

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A spokesperson for Paul
Gosar issued a statement saying, “We made an anime video. Everyone needs to
relax. The left doesn’t get meme culture. They have no joy. They are not the future.
It’s a cartoon. Gosar can’t fly and he does not own any light sabers.” The
spokesperson said that the video was about “fighting for the truth”.

The video was widely
condemned by several US politicians and social media users. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the politicians targeted in the video, responded saying
that the video was posted by a “creepy member I work with” and added that she
did not expect any consequences for Paul Gosar from the Republican leader of
the House of Representatives.

Ilhan Omar, another
Democratic representative, said, “This man should not serve in Congress.” “Fantasising
about violently attacking your colleagues has no place in our political
discourse and society,” she said.