In yet another awkward outburst moment for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, this one happening on the sidewalk rather than in Congress, AOC could be seen yelling at someone who confronted her in public in March and then, after the altercation, snapping at her fiance. Some online took the opportunity to point out that AOC had previously said that the point of protesting is for protesters to make people “uncomfortable.”
Specifically, AOC said, in December of 2020, just a few months after the summer of 2020 riots and protests, “The whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable. Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo and advocate for concrete policy changes… To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable… that’s the point.”
In any case, the video that emerged of Rep. AOC shows her on the sidewalk in Brooklyn and yelling at someone who is filming her. Yelling, she said, “You’re gonna cut this, and you’re gonna clip this, so it’s completely out of context. I always said that it was! And y’all gonna just pretend like it wasn’t over and over again. It’s f-cked up man!”
Her fiance with her in the video, is walking somewhat behind her and, partway through the video, catches up with her and approaches the person with the camera. However, he did not say anything to the person filming or do anything to help her, other than catch up and walk toward the person with the camera as AOC yelled at them.
Then, in a funny second video that emerged of the Brooklyn tantrum incident, Rep. AOC’s fiance appears to try to put his arm around her, but she shrugs it off and appears to snap at him, shouting something indiscernible. That came as the person filming said, “People in Gaza don’t get a moment of peace, and neither do people like you.”
Apparently, the combined incident came when the person filming approached AOC, known for her generally far-left, progressive views, to accost her for not being supportive enough of Palestine. AOC has struck a somewhat more moderate tone on the Israel-Hamas conflict than other members of the “Squad,” such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib. It appears, based on the buildings in the videos, that the snapping at the fiance video happened second.
Watch the outburst here:
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And watch the incident with her fiance here:
The incident was somewhat odd, as AOC has been largely on the side of the Palestinians. For example, in late March of 2024, she said, in a speech on the House floor, “As we speak, in this moment, 1.1 million innocents in Gaza are at famine’s door. A famine that is being intentionally precipitated through the blocking of food and global humanitarian assistance by leaders in the Israeli government.” She added, “If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like.”
Similarly, around Christmas of 2023, AOC suggested that Jesus was a Palestinian refugee, saying, “In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents.” She added, “He was part of a targeted population being indiscriminately killed to protect an unjust leader’s power.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video