“Parks and Recreation” may have been a fictional series depicting the day-to-day lives of a bunch of local government workers in an Indiana parks department, but it did have loftier political statements to make. The lead character Leslie Knope, played by the great Amy Poehler, is the epitome of the left-wing agenda. She idolises Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt and she always pushed her liberal views on people.
And that’s why everyone who worked on the show is seriously irritated at the NRA for using a GIF featuring Leslie to promote their extreme right-wing agenda on Twitter.
In a post thanks spokesperson Dana Loesch for supporting gun ownership in the wake of a school shooting that left 17 people dead and being “the voice of over 5 million NRA members,” the National Rifle Association posted a GIF of Leslie Knope saying, “Thank you,” and the character could not stand for more opposite viewpoints. Series co-creator Michael Schur wrote back, asking them, “Please take this down,” and requested that they not use an image from a series that bears his name in the credits “to promote your pro-slaughter agenda.”
Amy Poehler simply told the NRA to ‘f**k off’
Poehler herself doesn’t have a Twitter account, but had a friend tell the NRA to “f**k off” for her. Her co-stars Nick Offerman and Adam Scott also chimed in, with Offerman saying that the show and the character “represent the opposite” of the NRA’s pro-gun agenda and Scott telling the organisation to “stay the f**k away from Leslie Knope.” Hopefully they get the message and take the post down, because this isn’t on. Use an iconic face that does represent the “pro-slaughter agenda,” like, oh, I don’t know, Donald Trump. Post a GIF of Ted Nugent saying, “Thank you.” Leave Leslie Knope out of it.