The NRA Tweeted a Parks & Rec GIF and the Show’s Cast Shut it Down
After they were trounced during a CNN-hosted town hall on gun violence, the National Rifle Association’s social media person tried to lighten the mood on Twitter by thanking NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch for her appearance using a GIF featuring Amy Poehler’s Parks & Rec character Leslie Knope.
.@DLoesch thank you for being the voice of over 5 Million #NRA members. pic.twitter.com/WDz7vujXfM
— NRA (@NRA) February 22, 2018
The use of the GIF not only angered fans. Some of the cast, as well as the show’s creator Michael Schur, clapped back at the pro-gun group for using the beloved character to promote their agenda.
Hi, please take this down. I would prefer you not use a GIF from a show I worked on to promote your pro-slaughter agenda.
Also, Amy isn't on twitter, but she texted me a message: "Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said fuck off?" https://t.co/YXSdzCdvdd
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) February 22, 2018
“Hi, please take this down,” Schur tweeted under his “Ken Tremendous” account. “I would prefer you not use a GIF from a show I worked on to promote your pro-slaughter agenda. Also, Amy isn’t on twitter, but she texted me a message: ‘Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said f*ck off?'”
Schur wasn’t the only one lobbing swears at the NRA. Adam Scott, who played Knope’s eventual husband, Ben Wyatt on the show told the group to leave his TV wife alone.
Hey @nra please stay the fuck away from Leslie Knope. https://t.co/Lr2HCeN7qp
— Adam Scott (@mradamscott) February 22, 2018
Nick Offerman, the show’s burly, manly, pro-gun hunter Ron Swanson, couldn’t hold back, either. Addressing both the NRA and Loesch, he tweeted, “our good-hearted show and especially our Leslie Knope represent the opposite of your pro-slaughter agenda – take it down and also please eat sh*t.”
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) February 22, 2018
The NRA’s tweet wasn’t the only Parks & Rec gif used yesterday, though. Schur retweeted a message shared by Parkland’s Emma Gonzàlez — the teen who’s stirring speech the day after the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas went viral — in which she used a Leslie Knope gif while retweeting former FLOTUS Michelle Obama.
“I’m in total awe of the extraordinary students in Florida,” Obama tweeted. “Like every movement for progress in our history, gun reform will take unyielding courage and endurance. But @barackobama and I believe in you, we’re proud of you, and we’re behind you every step of the way.”
Gonzàlez shared the former First Lady’s message with a gif of Knope saying, “I agree with you on all things. Throughout history until the end of time forever.”
What do you think of the Parks & Rec crew coming for the NRA? Tell us @BritandCo!
(photos via Colleen Hayes/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank +Monica Schipper/Getty Images for The Leukemia & Lymphona Society)
