"Parks and Recreation" has been off the air for nearly four years, but that didn't stop the show from becoming a political lightning rod on Wednesday evening.
The show's creator and some cast members were appalled that the National Rifle Association used a GIF of Leslie Knope, the show's main character, in a tweet thanking spokeswoman Dana Loesch for defending gun rights at a CNN Town Hall on Wednesday
".@DLoesch thank you for being the voice of over 5 Million #NRA members," the tweet read alongside a GIF of Amy Poehler's character saying "thank you."
.@DLoesch thank you for being the voice of over 5 Million #NRA members. pic.twitter.com/WDz7vujXfM
— NRA (@NRA) February 22, 2018
Less than an hour later, show creator Michael Schur responded.
"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," Schur tweeted (Schur goes by the moniker "Ken Tremendous" on Twitter).
Schur also provided a statement from Poehler, who isn't on Twitter.
"Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said **** off?" Schur's tweet read.
Nick Offerman, who played gun-loving Libertarian Ron Swanson on "Parks and Rec," also went off on the NRA.
".@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 ****. 🇺🇸" Offerman tweeted.
Finally, Adam Scott — who played Ben Wyatt, Leslie Knope's husband on the show — tweeted "Hey @nra please stay the **** away from Leslie Knope. "
The NRA's tweet remained live as of Thursday morning.
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
