House Censures Rep. Paul Gosar Over Posting of Violent Anime Video on Twitter
Republican Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar was censured by the House in a full vote over an anime video that he shared on social media depicting the congressman killing other politicians.
The final vote was 223-207, with all but two of the 210 Republicans voting to back Gosar, with all 221 Democrats voting to censure him, according to a Gizmodo report. Meanwhile, three Republican members did not vote at all.
Gosar posted a video on Twitter and Instagram on November 7, showing an edited version of the intro of the anime "Attack on Titan."
The modified clip features images of immigrants alongside ones of the U.S. border guards and Gosar killing a giant with Rep. Alex Ocasio-Cortez's face, then proceeding to attack another with the head of U.S. President Joe Biden.
There were also words flashed on the screen such as "drugs," "crime," "poverty," "murder," and "gangs."
Gosar captioned the tweet by asking if there are any "anime fans out there."
House Censures Paul Gosar
AOC responded to Gosar's post and described the representative as a "creepy member" of the House that she works with and said that Gosar "fundraises for neo-Nazi organizations."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered the official censure from the dais. Gosar also appeared on the House floor, according to a Deadline report.
Censure is a measure available to the House, which can be applied against a member. It is also considered as one of the harshest measures that could be imposed.
It only happened five times in the history of the United States as it is very rare and considered to be a humiliating measure against a House member. A total of 23 out of 11,000 representatives had been previously voted to censure since the founding of the nation. In addition, censure votes are often remembered as the highlighting moments of those House members' political careers.
Gosar has taken down the post of the edited anime video. However, he did not apologize for it. He described the post as an attack on Biden administration policies.
The censured representative said that immigration is more of a threat than the edited clip.
However, Pelosi said before the vote that the issue was about workplace harassment and violence against women. The House Speaker added that one cannot have a member joking about murdering each other or threatening the president of the country.
Gosar explained that he rejects the "false narrative" that he touts violence, adding that the video shows a "policy battle," according to a BBC News report.
The House resolution calls for Gosar to be removed from the Committee on Oversight and the Natural Resources Committee.
Gosar argued that the video is a "symbolic cartoon" and that it is not real life.
Meanwhile, Twitter added a warning label to Gosar's tweet. The social media platform determined that it had violated the company's rules on "hateful conduct."
Rep. Kevin McCarthy said that there is an old definition of abuse of power, citing "rules for thee but not for me," according to The New York Times report.
McCarthy added that it was all about control.
Republican Rep. Rodney Davis said that Pelosi created precedents that are going to be echoed for decades to come.
Davis added that Pelosi had torn "the fabric of this House apart."
No Republicans spoke against Gosar during the debate. However, Rep. Liz Cheney explained her decision regarding the censure.
Cheney said that she does not think it should be an issue about the party, adding that if a Democrat had done the same, the Republicans would require censure as well.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: House to vote on censuring GOP Representative Paul Gosar for posting violent cartoon video - from CBS News
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