Pelosi Blasts Gosar as House Votes on Censure for Anime Video: ‘We Cannot Have Members Joking About Murdering Each Other’

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blasted Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) for a video he tweeted with a spoof of anime film Attack on Titan, saying that it was unacceptable to have a member of Congress joking about killing another member.

In the tweeted video clip, Gosar’s face was photoshopped onto a character shown killing another character depicted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D- NY) and attacking another character depicted by President Joe Biden. After a loud outcry over the content of the video, Gosar took it down, but continued to defend it and insisted he was not apologizing for it.

The House is debating a resolution to censure Gosar and remove him from his position on the House Oversight Committee. Support for the measure has predictably divided largely along party lines, and Pelosi took to the House floor herself to emphatically argue in favor of censuring Gosar.

The House’s ethics rules, explained Pelosi, required that members “shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect credibly on the House.”

“Sadly,” she said, “extremely disturbing actions last week taken by another member of Congress threatening another member, wildly violate this standard.”

Gosar’s “actions demand a response,” said Pelosi. “We cannot have members joking about murdering each other or threatening the President of the United States.”

“This is an insult to the institution of the House of Representatives,” the Speaker continued. “It is not just about us as members of congress, it is a danger that represents to everyone in the country.”

Pelosi commented that members of Congress expect criticism and threats, but don’t expect to get them from their own colleagues, and moreover, Gosar’s video was “viewed across the country.”

“When a member uses his or her national platform to encourage violence,” she said, “tragically people listen to those words and may act upon them. Words spoken by elected officials weigh a ton. People hear them differently.”

She mentioned the Ethics Committee’s resolution, which argued that “depictions of violence can foment violence and jeopardize the safety of elected officials,” as shown by the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Pelosi slammed Gosar for refusing to apologize and denounced his excuses.

“‘It’s a cartoon, relax,’ he said. Really? A cartoon, relax?” she asked incredulously. “And he wrote and said this cartoon was not contentious or hyperbolic. He said I am allowed to speak to people. Really?”

“Disguising death threats against a member of Congress and a President of the United States in an animated video does not make those death threats any less real or less serious,” Pelosi continued, “and indeed conveying them this way makes them potentially more dangerous by normalizing violence. It isn’t funny.”

The Speaker condemned GOP leadership for refusing to take action against Gosar, calling it “sad” that the entire House had to meet to take this vote.

It was not okay for members to encourage death threats against other members, she said, and the resolution censuring Gosar was needed to “serve as a reminder to this Congress and country that the house is committed to upholding the highest standards of decorum in all we do.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.