Artists can’t always control who likes or enjoys their work. But that doesn’t mean they have to just sit back and let people who they politically abhor co-opt their beloved characters and universes willy-nilly, either, something Parks And Recreation and The Good Place creator Michael Schur made abundantly clear tonight in a tweet directed at the National Rifle Association.
The NRA pissed Schur off in a pretty simple way: sending a message of support to one of its spokespeople, Dana Loesch, tonight, in the form of a GIF of Schur’s co-creation, heroic government idealist Leslie Knope. (Loesch presumably needed the perk-up, after appearing at a CNN town hall meeting where she was grilled by Parkland school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez.) The sight of Leslie offering a heartfelt word of thanks to Loesch, one of the loudest voices in the NRA’s arsenal, was apparently a bit much for the vocally liberal Schur, who politely asked the group to take the tweet down.
He wasn’t just speaking for himself, though; Schur also had a message from Leslie herself, Amy Poehler, who was slightly less civil in her remarks:
So far, the NRA has yet to accede to either Schur (or Poehler’s) request.