After the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students and teachers were killed, CNN held a town hall to discuss gun control. The surviving teenagers - whose powerful voices have ignited a movement - had the opportunity to speak face-to-face with public figures. It was a tense, emotional event. Facing the righteous anger of parents and students, Republican Senator Marco Rubio was so affected he shifted his views on gun control, agreeing to consider restricting magazine sizes.
Dana Loesch, a spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, also attended the Town Hall. Contrary to popular belief, The NRA does not stand for all gun owners. According to Pew Research, only 20% of gun-owning Americans belong to the NRA. Rather, the NRA works for gun sellers. They are an incredibly powerful lobbying group that gives millions of dollars to Republican lawmakers every year. Thanks to their efforts, they've successfully prevented popular, common-sense gun control legislation such as universal background checks and banning assault weapons.
Some people criticized Dana's performance at the Town Hall, accusing her of making misleading comments. However, the NRA was thrilled. After the event, they tweeted "thank you for being the voice of over 5 Million #NRA members," and included a "thank you" GIF.
The only problem? The GIF is of the character Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, from the sitcom Parks and Recreation. If you've seen the show, you know that the cheerful, idealistic, government-loving Leslie would never support the NRA, even if they offered her waffles. (Well, maybe if they offered waffles. Waffles are her kryptonite.) Anyway, the cast and crew of Parks and Recreation were not too happy, and fired back on Twitter.
"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?" (Haha, you have to love Amy Poehler.)
The show ended in 2015, but the cast members are still close, and rallied to Amy's support. Actor Adam Scott, who played Ben Wyatt on the sitcom, tweeted, "Hey @nra please stay the fuck away from Leslie Knope." And you don't want to mess with Ben Wyatt, NRA. He created The Cones of Dunshire.
Actor Nick Offerman also had Amy's back. On the show, Nick played deadpan libertarian Ron Swanson, who was arguably best character. If you haven't seen Parks & Rec, you've probably seen Ron Swanson GIFs, because they're everywhere. Anyway, Ron wrote, "our good-hearted show and especially our Leslie Knope represent the opposite of your pro-slaughter agenda - take it down and also please eat shit. ??" (Then I assume he did the famous Ron Swanson giggle.)
We're still waiting to hear from Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Chris Patt, Aubrey Plaza, Retta and Rob Lowe. Come on, team! Your leader needs all of you. Except Jerry. Go away, Jerry. Nobody wants you.
I think we can all agree on this: NRA, you can have your guns. Just keep your hands off Leslie Knope!
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