Last Updated on November 17, 2021
Representative Matt Gaetz mocked House Democrats for the censuring of Representative Paul Gosar over an anime meme video, suggesting that they might next indict Wile E. Coyote for cartoon violence.
“I oppose political violence in all forms regardless of the politics of the target. I am no expert on Japanese anime, but I am told, and I do believe, that it is not real,” Gaetz said, during the debate to censure Gosar. “What is real is the crisis on our border, the inflation crushing American families, unvetted Afghans in our country, and what is definitely real, is the violence that burned our cities and harmed our businesses in the summer of 2020, often encouraged by Democrats in Congress.”
Gaetz continued, noting that anime is simply “fiction, to the point of the absurd,” and that any glorification of violence is simply symbolic of conflict, not real harm. “In the last session week we had, we reviewed Steve Bannon’s podcast. Today, we’re critiquing Paul Gosar’s anime.”
“Next week, we might be indicting the Wile E. Coyote for an explosive ordinance against the Roadrunner,” Gaetz joked, telling Representatives that “if you don’t like Paul Gosar’s tweets, tweet back at him. We know there are plenty of folks in Big Tech who will amplify your message.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz: "In the last session week we had, we reviewed Steve Bannon's podcast. Today, we're critiquing Paul Gosar's anime. Next week, we might be indicting Wile E. Coyote for an explosive ordinance against the Roadrunner." pic.twitter.com/v8bawwFh4e
— The Hill (@thehill) November 17, 2021
The Florida Representative said it was ridiculous that the House was “reviewing mean tweets” rather than spending time on serious issues. “I would just suggest we have better things to do on the floor of the House of Representatives than be the hall monitors for Twitter,” Gaetz argued. “If we got a thousand Americans in almost any district in America together and asked what was troubling them, I don’t know if we would find two in any district that would put Paul Gosar on the list of things that matters to them more than the issues that they face on their kitchen table.”
Gosar has slammed the Democrats for being triggered by the anime meme video that he tweeted last week. In the video, Gosar was portrayed as the hero of the anime, while Joe Biden and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were digitally altered to be the monsters for comedic effect in a process colloquially referred to as photoshopping:
It is a meme – a meme apparently many don’t understand, and to be honest, I have to be debriefed by my young staff on the meaning of some memes. My staff is creative, talented and passionate. They are not dangerous. They are not violent. They do not incite violence or glorify violence. It is a cartoon intended to be entertaining while making a point that the open borders our country suffers is an evil that plagues the land.
I do not think anyone reasonably thinks it promotes violence. Any more than one could assert that Tom and Jerry promote violence between cats and mice. Or that Peter Griffin actually fought a chicken. Or that Elmer Fudd truly hates rabbits. Or that Rick and Morty actually engage in combat with various space monsters. These are all fictitious works of fantasy. They work on a variety of levels of literary themes and entertainment.
