Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out in anger on Monday after being confronted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside a movie theater in New York City.
A video of the incident went viral online showing the far-left New York Democrat, who once said the way to pressure politicians is to make them feel “uncomfortable,” cursing at the demonstrators as she stalked away.
The New York Post reported the incident occurred at about 5 p.m. in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. She was accompanied by a man the Post identified as her fiance, Riley Roberts.
Ocasio-Cortez appeared anything but comfortable as she was hounded for not publicly referring to Israel’s retaliatory war on Hamas in Gaza as “genocide.”
“You refuse to call it a genocide,” a masked man told the 34-year-old as she quickly made her way out of the theater.
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She turned around and told him, “I need you to understand that this is not OK.”
The masked man responded, “It’s not OK that there’s a genocide happening and you’re not actively against it.”
The video was posted to X by Yashar Ali, a journalist with more than 700,000 followers on the social media platform. As of noon Tuesday, it had received more than 11 million views.
Fox News published a version of it with AOC’s use of obscenity bleeped out.
“You’re lying,” Ocasio-Cortez said as she and the man went back and forth arguing and other protesters also ripped into the congresswoman.
“Just say it’s a genocide. just say it!” one female protester demanded.
As the lawmaker continued her escape from the protesters, the woman pleaded with her to use the word “genocide,” which Ocasio-Cortez claimed she had done.
Once on a sidewalk outside, Ocasio-Cortez lost her cool on the protestors. Roberts tried to block for her.
“Stop!” he said as Ocasio-Cortez walked ahead of him. “OK, stop.”
The lawmaker then went on a tirade as she was recorded trying to flee the area, apparently worried that the video might make her look bad on social media.
“You’re gonna cut it,” she said. “You’re gonna clip this so that it’s completely out of context!”
“I already said that it was [a genocide] and y’all are just gonna pretend that it wasn’t over and over again,” she said.
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She added, “It’s f***ed up, man!”
However, according to the New York Post, Ocasio-Cortez has not publicly called the Israeli actions “genocide.” When she was specifically asked during a Jan. 28 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if “genocide” is a “responsible” description, she sidestepped the question.
On Monday, Ocasio-Cortez also laid into the protesters for hounding her for no reason as she said their actions would not save any lives in Gaza.
“You’re not helping these people, and you’re not helping them,” she yelled. “You’re not helping them.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s response to being hounded in public Monday is at odds with her stance on protests concerning elected officials in December 2020.
The whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable.
Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small & grows.
To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable… that’s the point.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
“The whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable,” she wrote at the time. “Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small & grows.”
At that time, she concluded, “To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable… that’s the point.”
