US House votes to censure Representative Paul Gosar for controversial social media post

The US House on Wednesday voted to censure Republican Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona for his controversial social media post, news agency Xinhua reported. On today's vote, the censure resolution was passed in a 223-207-1 vote, with GOP representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois joining all Democrats in casting the "yea" vote while Ohio Republican Congressman Dave Joyce voting "present." Recently, he posted an anime on social media describing himself killing New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword, and insulting US President Joe Biden.

Republican congressman Gosar refused to apologize 

Subsequently, the post garnered severe criticism from people from all walks of life. Arguing the social media post, the Democrats said they would not tolerate the derogatory video showcasing him in the role of protagonist and President Biden as "evil". Though he deleted the video after facing backlash, he uploaded the video soon after the US House conducted the vote.  Also, he refused to apologize for the controversial video and added the animation was not meant to "advocate brutality towards anyone" but only to symbolise his conflict of ideas with President Biden. According to him, the video was "not itself a threat," using the term "self-censored" to describe his decision to take it down.

"It is a symbolic cartoon. It is not real life. Congressman Gosar cannot fly. The hero of the cartoon goes after the monster, the policy monster of open borders. I will always fight to defend the rule of law, securing our borders, and the America First agenda," NBC News quoted the statement of Gosar's office.

What is censure resolution and Ocasio-Corte stand?

It is worth mentioning a censure resolution is the most severe form of penalty in the House, and he became just the 24th member of the House to be censured in the chamber's over 200 years of history. He would also be removed from the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee. Removing a member of his or her committee assignments deprives the legislator of the ability to influence legislation and advance constituent priorities on a powerful platform.

"As leaders in this country, when we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues, that trickles down into violence in this country. And that is where we must draw the line, independent of party, identity or belief, said Ocasio-Corte while rebuking Gosar's claims that the video was "symbolic".

With inputs from ANI

Image: AP