Frank Stallone Apologizes For His Violent Tweet Mocking Parkland Survivor David Hogg

Frank Stallone (far right) and family at 'The Expendables 3' premiere in Hollywood. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

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.

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.

This wasn’t the first time Stallone mocked a Parkland survivor either.

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.”

After Stallone’s tweet went viral, he shut down his Twitter page. But returned a day later to issue an apology to Hogg.

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.