Sen. John Cornyn's official campaign Twitter account got into a brawl Tuesday with comedian Patton Oswalt.
The account for the Republican senator from Texas started posting screenshots of what it called offensive tweets after Oswalt appeared in a video supporting Mary Jennings "MJ" Hegar, a Democrat running against Cornyn.
Hollywood Hegar supporter and video guest star, Patton Oswalt, has tweeted some offensive comments over the years, reply A or B to let us know which one is more offensive to you: pic.twitter.com/gXgPvstK6V
— Team Cornyn (@TeamCornyn) April 23, 2019
Over the next several hours, @TeamCornyn and Oswalt went back and forth as the political account tweeted out more censored screenshots of Oswalt's tweets with comments like "Hollywood Hegar & Vulgar Patton. The dynamic duo."
Hollywood Hegar & Vulgar Patton. The dynamic duo: pic.twitter.com/JTh00ozKkR
— Team Cornyn (@TeamCornyn) April 23, 2019
Meanwhile, Oswalt responded with various jabs about Cornyn's age ("you pointless fossil") and called the tweets "unwitting promotion."
Guys, if you’re offended by my “sailor talk” like the incel running the @TeamCornyn account is, put your outrage nickels in the swear jar below! https://t.co/6JTYt9bNJT https://t.co/szVCysDSZq
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 23, 2019
Hegar and Cornyn's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Oswalt declined to comment further.
Others on Twitters weighed in on interaction, finding it unusual and wondering how it came about, exactly.
Gotta say, out of everything in the world that could have happened today, Senator @JohnCornyn randomly going after @pattonoswalt with some old tweets was not even in the top gazillion.
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) April 23, 2019
Intern: This really isn’t playing well, sir.
— #SaveODAAT (@Danny__Gokey) April 23, 2019
Cornyn: keep searching his tweets, whipper-snapper.
Intern: But the Internet is laughing at you. Patton is not your opponent.
Cornyn: But look at all the likes!
Intern: Sir, those are comments... you’re being ratioed.
Meanwhile, Twitter's been trying to get a handle on issues like harassment on the platform. On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss "protecting the health of the public conversation ahead of the 2020 US elections" among other things, a Twitter spokesperson said.
Originally published April 24, 7:33 a.m. PT
Update, 9:05 a.m.: Adds that Oswalt declined to comment.