An official with the Republican Party of Minnesota found himself in hot water Tuesday for using the death of movie star Robin Williams to boost the candidacy of a Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota.
Ellen Anderson, Director of Digital Media and Social Organizing with the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL), tweeted this on Monday night about the death of Robin Williams:
My cat's nickname is Nanu Nanu. The world is lucky Robin Williams was able to share his genius with so many.
To which Chris Fields, Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, responded with the following:
But the tweets didn't stop there for Fields, who previously ran for Congress against Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison.
Responding to people who took offense at his tweet, he accused some of having "pretend grief."
"The Dr who contracted Ebola while trying to help poor children suffered a tragedy. This ain't that," he added.
The rest of his tweets follow the same line. BuzzFeed reached out to Fields for comment.
.@DJDanielson @ellencanderson Yes! Bcuz real ppl who dont have millions are crushed by the policies of guilt ridden celebrity above all libs
.@Salencita I'm more concerned abt kids that don't have a future than abt ur pretend grief for someone u didn't know @ellencanderson #mndfl
.@ViaMarsala18 @ellencanderson doesn't surprise me that ppl with pretend grief want to pretend #mndfl policies don't hurt real ppl. Got it
.@JonHoffmannMN Bcuz ppl who place celebrity above all don't want their world interrupted by the fact that they actually hurt real ppl?
.@Salencita I bet you weren't going to vote for him anyway. He's not a liberal @Jeff4Gov is working to help real ppl. He's not out of touch
.@Salencita Not in #mndfl land. Its always abt a fake moral superiority that leads 2 misery for real ppl U folks need a grip @ellencanderson
.@kwatt done playing nice with shallow ppl. Real ppl are hurt every day by them. Let's be more concerned abt real ppl, and watch ur mouth.
@mbrodkorb The Dr who contracted Ebola while trying to help poor children suffered a tragedy. This ain't that.
It's curious to me why ppl mourn the loss of celebrities but ignore the misery everyday ppl live with as policies crush hope and opportunity
.@AndrewLeeTCNT Interesting if I lived in a world or country where I didn't feel free to speak my mind I might get depressed and then what?
.@mbrodkorb Perspective is needed not political correctness which incidentally has caused more harm than any tweet of mine.
Update: Fields deleted all of his tweets and was condemned by one of the Republican candidates for governor in Minnesota.
The Tweets last night mixing Robin Williams' death w/politics were inappropriate & wrong. America will dearly miss him