Paul Gosar Faces Growing Calls To Be Arrested Over Video Showing Him Killing AOC

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) is facing growing calls to be arrested or expelled from Congress after the lawmaker shared an anime video depicting him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Congressman Rep. Gosar sparked fierce backlash on Sunday after he tweeted an anime video that showed him killing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.

The video, based on the anime Attack on Titan, shows Rep. Gosar killing the New York lawmaker with a sword before launching himself at President Joe Biden.

Within hours the tweet went viral and as of Tuesday morning had been viewed more than 3.2 million times.

The video and depiction of violence against Rep. Ocasio-Cortez led numerous figures to call for Rep. Gosar to be arrested or expelled from Congress.

Twitter has since flagged the video for violating the platform's rules on hateful content but said it would keep the post up as it "may be in the public's interest."

Paul Gosar needs to be banned from Twitter permanently. And arrested. — Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 9, 2021

Executive director at the Democratic Coalition Scott Dworkin said he wanted police to take action against Rep. Gosar.

Dworkin said in a tweet posted on Monday night: "Paul Gosar needs to be banned from Twitter permanently. And arrested."

Paul Gosar has threatened the life of AOC. He needs to be arrested. — ✌🏼rosanna arquette (@RoArquette) November 9, 2021

Emmy-nominated actress Rosanna Arquette also called for the Republican lawmaker to be apprehended.

In a Twitter post, she said: "Paul Gosar has threatened the life of AOC. He needs to be arrested."

This man needs to be expelled from Congress. Period.https://t.co/JxwFAC7RDz — Nina Turner (@ninaturner) November 8, 2021

Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner shared a photo of Rep. Gosar in a tweet and added: "This man needs to be expelled from Congress. Period."

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has since responded to Rep. Gosar's video and called the Arizona lawmaker "creepy" and "a collection of wet toothpicks."

On Monday, the Congresswoman said in a Twitter post that she believed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would not take any action against Rep. Gosar over the video.

Any anime fans out there? pic.twitter.com/TxX4qiJhOi — Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) November 7, 2021

Democrats rallied around Ocasio-Cortez with Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) condemning Rep. Gosar's decision to post the video as "sick behavior."

He added: "In any workplace in America if a coworker made an anime video killing another coworker that person would be fired."

Some Republicans condemned Rep. Gosar with former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh stating he believed the lawmaker should stand down at the next election.

He said on Twitter: "I gotta this again: I got elected to Congress with Gosar. I served with Gosar.

"This is way beyond the pale. This is just pure incitement. He must be censured. He should not run again. He needs help. He's f***** nuts. But Republicans won't do a damn thing to him."

Newsweek has contacted House Minority Leader McCarthy as well as Arizona police departments in Prescott and Flagstaff for comment.

Rep. Gosar has previously faced fierce criticism after being listed as attending a fundraiser with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.

Fuentes has previously suggested segregation "was better" for Black people and that the First Amendment was "not written for Muslims."

During his podcast, Fuentes also downplayed the number of Jews who were killed in Nazi gas chambers and compared it to cookies baking in an oven.