The NYPD Tweeted-And-Deleted Praise For A Cop Wearing A ‘Punisher’ Mask And People Are Not Happy About It

As Black Lives Matter protests mounted over the summer, I argued that Marvel should put The Punisher to sleep because if one takes the character and contextualizes him against the past five years or so of current events, some hibernation for Frank Castle could only help matters. The Netflix show kinda didn’t know what to do with the guy amid ongoing mass shootings, and the TV show tried to move the ex-Marine beyond his core vigilante function (and extrajudicial ways) by softening him, which felt awkward at best. Yet law enforcement continues to misappropriate the antihero’s logo, which turned into a sloppy mess for the NYPD this past weekend (and this wasn’t even due to a Halloween costume, either, not that a costume-angle would have helped).

Here’s what happened, although a tweet-and-delete situation has occurred, so the NY Daily News has the details. Essentially, the NYPD’s 24th precinct tweeted out an image (which they later deleted) of two officers while praising them for arresting a robbery suspect. One officer was wearing a mask with The Punisher logo with an extra twist: the acronym DILLIGAF, meaning “Does It Look Like I Give a F*ck.”

— Craig McCarthy (@createcraig) November 2, 2020

“After observing a traffic infraction, @NYPD24Pct’s PO Kite & PO Rodriguez conducted a car stop,” read the original tweet. “[w]hich led to a foot pursuit & an arrest. It turns out that the suspect was operating a stolen vehicle & wanted for a past robbery. Great work.” This praise (which has now been yanked from Twitter) led to some “yikes” from users.

— Boerum Hill Neighbors (@boerumhillnbrs) November 2, 2020

When asked for comment about the photo Monday, Punisher co-creator @gerryconway said, “Just quote me as audibly sighing.”https://t.co/dbWahgab5T

— John Annese (@JohnAnnese) November 3, 2020