Last night, CNN held a town hall meeting in the wake of last week's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead. The event was supposed to be a forum where students, faculty, parents, and other residents of the southern Floridia city to discuss the homicidal rampage that was effectively enabled by the shooter's access to a semiautomatic rifle.
Dana Loesch, a conservative commentator and NRA spokeswoman, ultimately diverted questions from students who witnessed the shooting, and were curious as to whether or not the government should make it more difficult to obtain semiautomatic weaponry.
It seems as though the NRA was content with how Loesch handled the unending stream of questions and concerns about their organization, and how their current regulations enable acts of terror on American citizens. They ultimately tweeted their support to Loesch, using a gif of Amy Poehler from her stint on Parks and Recreation pointing at an unidentified castmember and mouthing the words "thank you."
However, this subtle nod to the hit NBC comedy series did not go over well with cast and crew, who are clearly in disagreement with the controversial organization. Taking to Twitter, Michael Shur, the creator of the hit show, tweeted that the NRA should remove the image immediately. Shur wrote "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."
Shur also notes how Amy Poehler is aware of the misuse of her image and likeness, and it not particularly impressed. "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?" wrote the series creator.
Nick Offerman, who played Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, offered his known criticism of the gif, stating how "@NRA @DLoesch 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."