White House Emailed Celebs ‘Talking Points’ to Tweet in Support of Obama’s Gun Control

Following President Obama’s January 5 executive gun control announcement, the White House emailed “talking points” to celebrities which they, in turn, tweeted out in support of the new controls.

According to Fox News, the email said, “Below you have: short and long-term action steps, more info on POTUS’s actions, highlights from YOUR Tweets thus far (thank you!), and draft Tweets for you to build from if helpful.” It also encouraged them to use the hashtag “#StopGunViolence” and make ““make sure everyone… knows you have the President’s back.”

The email was sent by the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Here are some of the tweets the email suggested celebrities might want to send:

@POTUS is taking new commonsense steps to help #StopGunViolence.

@POTUS is taking steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks.

FACT: Each year, more than 30,000 American lives are cut short by guns. It’s time to #StopGunViolence.

FACT: Guns now kill as many people as cars in almost half of the U.S. It’s time to #StopGunViolence.

@POTUS is strengthening our background check system.

Fox News reports that actors Ashton Kuther and Mark Ruffalo tweeted one of the suggested messages word-for-word.

Actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted the message, including the hashtag.

.@POTUS is taking steps to keep guns out of the wrong hands through background checks. #StopGunViolence pic.twitter.com/vAc2inKXQP

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 5, 2016

A White House spokesperson said:

We involve creative types/athletes in just about every issue and this is one that so many people are passionate about. Yes, we want to meet people where they are so we ask celebs what issues they are interested in… All of this gets the message out further to a broad number of people which is always helpful.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.