Amy Poehler Would Like the NRA to Keep Leslie Knope Off Its Twitter Feed
There's been no recent fictional television character more civically engaged than Leslie Knope—played by Amy Poehler—on Parks and Recreation. Local government was legitimately her happy place, and she approached issues big, small, and ridiculous with an optimism and can-do attitude that was endearing and often hilarious. And last night Ms. Knope got dragged into politics once again the by way of a tweet featuring a Parks and Rec GIF—by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Obviously, the topic is a heated one in America, no more so than last night, on the heels of the CNN town hall, featuring survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School just a little over a week ago. The show's creator, Michael Schur, has been extremely vocal on Twitter about a range of political issues from the Republican tax cut, health care, Donald Trump, and yes, gun control.
He was less than pleased to find a beloved character of his creation used by the NRA to thank Dana Loesch for "being the voice of over 5 million NRA members." Schur tweeted, "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." And he had a response from Poehler too, "Also, Amy isn't on twitter, but she texted me a message: 'Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said f-ck off?'"
Other members of the cast soon joined in. Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson on the show) wrote, "[O]ur good-hearted show and especially our Leslie Knope represent the opposite of your pro-slaughter agenda - take it down and also please eat shit. 🇺🇸"
And of course Leslie's ever-supportive onscreen husband Ben, IRL Adam Scott, had words too, warning the NRA to keep their hands off Leslie Knope.
Well played, people of Pawnee. I love you and I like you.
