Perspectives: GOP Rep Punished for Anime Video Depicting Attack of AOC, Biden

Congress was divided Wednesday as the House of Representatives voted along party lines to censure a Republican lawmaker over a controversial animated video.

In a 223-207-1 vote, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) was censured and stripped of his two committee assignments over the photoshopped video, which he posted to Twitter and later deleted. It shows him attacking depictions of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden. Democrats argued that similar content would not be tolerated in other workplaces and should be punished. At the time, Gosar said the video "symbolizes the battle for the soul of America;" in a statement Wednesday, he called the video a "mere cartoon that harms nothing." Gosar is the first House member to be censured since 2010 and only the second since 1983. Two Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to punish him.

Reports from left- and center-rated outlets often mentioned how GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was also stripped of committee assignments earlier this year over violent social media content. Sources on the left also often said the video showed Gosar killing Ocasio-Cortez; right-rated outlets typically did not. The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board (Lean Right bias) said it illustrates how Congress is worried about public perception and social media instead of constructive lawmaking. One columnist writing for the Los Angeles Times (Lean Left bias) said the video was in line with "the new GOP's violent extremist turn."