THE GOOD NEWS:
Public reaction to Stallone’s tasteless tweet shows there’s no tolerance for Parkland survivors being mocked.
Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg has rankled many Republicans after becoming a vocal gun-control advocate in the aftermath of the shooting which killed 17 people at his high school, which has led to some lashing out at him. Fox News host Laura Ingraham taunted him on her Twitter account for not getting into his colleges of choice.
David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.) https://t.co/wflA4hWHXY
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 28, 2018
After Ingraham mocked Hogg, the social-media savvy teen tweeted a list of her sponsors and asked Twitter to contact them. The tweet resulted in at least 15 sponsors pulling ads from “The Ingraham Angle,” and the host subsequently announced she was taking a week-long vacation from her show.
Actor-musician Frank Stallone clearly missed the lesson from the Ingraham controversy because he recently decided to mock Hogg as well. This time with a disturbing threat of violence against the teenager.
Just FYI here is the tweet that @Stallone deleted. #FarFromOver pic.twitter.com/9f9Hu2KsFa
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) March 31, 2018
This wasn’t the first time Stallone mocked a Parkland survivor either.
Frank Stallone is a real tough guy pic.twitter.com/lQXfiVZFre
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) April 1, 2018
Stallone is best known as the brother of film legend Sylvester Stallone. Frank had a top-10 hit in the ‘80s with “Far From Over,” which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He has also produced music for many of his brother’s films, and he played small roles in “Rocky,” “Tombstone,” and “Barfly.”
It would have been more appropriate if Frank Stallone had criticized the Parkland students’ less famous brothers.
— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) April 2, 2018
Frank Stallone is a celebrity?
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) April 2, 2018
After Stallone’s tweet went viral, he shut down his Twitter page. But returned a day later to issue an apology to Hogg.
To everyone and to David Hogg especially. I want to deeply apologize for my irresponsible words. I would never in a million years wish or promote violence to anyone anywhere on this planet. After what these kids went though I’m deeply ashamed. Please accept my apology. Frank
— Frank Stallone (@Stallone) April 1, 2018
The public’s reaction to both Ingraham and Stallone’s tasteless mocking of teenagers recovering from a tragedy has drawn an important line in the sand in the gun debate. While a dialog about gun rights and public safety is much needed in America, the Parkland shooting survivors should not, and will not, be made to be targets all over again.