George Gascón may be in his TikTok era, but his critics are far from impressed as they call for the ‘worst DA’ to leave office and accuse him of cashing in on the Menendez case.
The Los Angeles County district attorney, 70, is leaning in to the popular Gen Z social media platform to draw in young voters, who have recently demanded he review the Erik and Lyle Menendez case.
The Democrat, who is seeking reelection, enthusiastically bopped to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso as he pretended to type on a Dell laptop.
‘I’m working late, because I’m a DA,’ he mouthed to the modified lyrics in the video.
He captioned the post: ‘Can’t spell DIVA without DA.’
‘This man needs to go!’ one TikToker wrote, while another called him the ‘worst DA ever.’
However, not everyone was sulking about the DA’s record, as one TikTok user commented: ‘Mr. Gascón!!! You know what we all want!!!!’
The DA – who has been criticized for being ‘soft on crime’ – even hopped on the ‘very mindful, very demure’ trend last week, where he highlighted to young voters that he ‘pays attention’ to women’s reproductive rights, wage theft, and more.
‘You see how I pay attention to kids in the juvenile system? Very mindful, very demure,’ he said in the video.
Gascón has been criticized over the years for decisions involving youth crimes, especially the Hannah Tubbs case, which features a 26-year-old transgender child molester who is was housed in a juvenile facility as the crime took place while she was a minor.
Gascón has admitted that Tubbs may have been given too lenient of a sentence, after he refused to prosecute her as an adult for the crime that she committed as a male juvenile.
He also participated in the ‘I pay attention to things most people ignore trend,’ where he highlighted some of his platform’s values, which include environmental justice, hate crimes, police accountability, and the death penalty.
Still, most of his fans appear unbothered by those issues, as only one thing is on their minds: Freeing the Menendez brothers.
‘Pls FREE THE MENENDEZ [brothers] and you got my vote!’ one TikTok user wrote under one of his videos.
‘Please free the Menendez brothers and you’ll have all of our votes over and over again,’ another wrote.
‘Free the boys!! Vote Gasco’n [sic],’ a third wrote.
‘FREE THEM IM BEGGING YOU,’ a woman named Nicole wrote.
‘Re-examining the Menendez case and bringing justice for the boys. Very mindful, very demure,’ another wrote.
A woman named Mikayla Rose hoped the brothers would also be freed, but hoped Gascón isn’t using them a political game piece.
‘If you do not win, I really hope that does not impact your decision on the brothers. They deserved better than being pawns in a political game. Please do the right thing and free them,’ she wrote.
One user even accused Gascón of reviewing the Menendez case simply to prop up his vote count for reelection.
‘It seems George Gascón is using the Menendez case, manipulating the public opinion with the goal to win the re-election. Why don’t [you] decide now? Why wait to evaluate after the elections?’
Others, however, were just happy to show their support to the district attorney, with one writing: ‘Diva, if I lived in Cali, you’d have my vote!!’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Gascón office for comment.
Another wrote: ‘We believe in you and we know we can count on you 100%.’
A third simply wrote: ‘Let’s go, Sir!’
Gascón recently revealed bombshell new evidence that could see the Menendez brothers freed as the family is set to hold a press conference.
Gascón publicly posted to Instagram a screenshot of a letter written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, alluding to serious and long-term abuse at the hands of his father Jose.
The letter, first revealed by DailyMail.com, was written eight months before they killed their parents.
It reads: ‘I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I just can’t stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy.’
Gascón later took down the Instagram post.
It comes as the Menendez family are set to host a press conference in Los Angeles today, where celebrities including Rose O’Donnell are set to speak in ‘a powerful show of unity’ for the brothers.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of the murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty, in 1996 after their first trial was declared a mistrial. The brothers never denied killing their parents by shooting them 14 times with 12-gauge shotguns in their million-dollar Beverly Hills home in August 1989 when they were just 18 and 21.
But Lyle and Erik, now aged 53 and 56, claimed they acted in self-defense. They said they were lifelong victims of sexual abuse at their hands of their father, a high-flying businessman who worked across several industries.
The brothers have a hearing on November 29.
The Menendez brothers aren’t the only high-profile case Gascón’s office is reevaluating as he comes up on reelection.
His office is also reviewing new evidence against Marilyn Manson, who is accused by several women of sex abuse.
‘New evidence has emerged in the last few weeks, adding to an already extensive case file presented to our office by the LASD,’ he said.
‘It is our office’s responsibility to ensure that we have a complete picture of the admissible evidence available before making a filing decision.’
‘Senior staff members have met with victims, and our prosecutors continue to remain in contact with the victims and their representatives throughout this process.’
Gascón said some of the alleged victims requested to meet with him to discuss the case, but that would be inappropriate while it was still being investigated.
He would instead meet them after deciding whether to file charges.
Despite trying to draw from big-name cases, Gascón is still falling behind former US Attorney General Nathan Hochman in the polls, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Gascón is trailing Hochman by 24 points and only 20 percent of likely voters plan on reelecting the DA.
‘The poll also shows that voters are concerned about crime, and those with crime concerns are more likely to support Hochman,’ USC Professor Christian Grose told NBC Los Angeles.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Hochman for comment.
