Rep. Matt Gaetz Pranked Into Retweeting Image of JFK Assassin on Memorial Day

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call; Corbis via Getty Rep. Matt Gaetz (left) and Lee Harvey Oswald

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and two prominent conservative commentators were tricked on Memorial Day into retweeting an image of John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald — apparently thanking Oswald for his service.

Gaetz, 39, and Matt Schlapp and Dinesh D'Souza fell for the social media prank after Ken Klippenstein tweeted at them asking for a retweet in honor of his fictional "grandpa," whom he said was a veteran.

The "gotcha" moment wasn't the memorial most had in mind on Monday, but the political prank had many GOP critics on social media laughing and others shaking their head.

"Congressman, my grandpa's a big fan of yours and is a veteran, he would be thrilled if you could RT this photo of him for Memorial Day. Here he is as a young Private First Class," Klippenstein, a reporter for The Intercept, tweeted at Gaetz.

Klippenstein included a photo of Oswald, the former U.S. marine who shot and killed Kennedy in 1963. Oswald, one of the most notorious figures in American history, enlisted a week after he turned 17 and served about three years, according to the National Archives.

Gaetz retweeted Klippenstein's image with an American flag emoji, while Schlapp shared the image with his own message for Klippenstein's "grandpa."

D'Souza also reportedly retweeted the image, according to Business Insider, while all three Republican figures have since deleted their posts.

When reached by PEOPLE, a spokesman for Gaetz accused Klippenstein of trying to "elicit retweets while preying on people's patriotic sympathies."

(Spokespeople for Schlapp and D'Souza did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.)

"Wow @kenklippenstein it's my honor to retweet the photo of a veteran on a day we remember his fallen friends," Schlapp wrote. "God bless your grandfather."

According to screenshots, once Gaetz shared Klippenstein's post on his page, Klippenstein changed his username to reference that Gaetz is being investigated for possible sex trafficking, which he adamantly denies.

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Klippenstein, who has pranked Republican lawmakers in the past, then got into a spat with conservative commentator Candace Owens, who said his Oswald joke was in poor taste.

"It is not 'political correctness' to have a soul and modicum of decency. Reminder: these men DIED - the majority of them on foreign soil - so you could be free," Owens tweeted, in a complaint aimed at Klippenstein. "You do not photoshop murderers into their uniforms so you can have a laugh."

However, other users quickly pointed out that Owens was wrong and the image wasn't photoshopped at all.

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Rep. Matt Gaetz

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Owens fired off several tweets at Klippenstein, accusing the latter of "making a mockery" of Memorial Day by duping the Gaetz, Schlapp and D'Souza.

Owens then blocked Klippenstein on Twitter, according to his account.