‘Sons of Anarchy’ Creator Kurt Sutter Sounds off on Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Kurt Sutter, creator of Sons of Anarchy and Mayans M.C., took to Twitter on Saturday with a heartbroken response to the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Gunfire broke out on Saturday morning at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At least 8 people were killed and 12 more were injured, according to a report by CBS News. Three police officers were also shot.

The shooter turned himself in and cooperated with the police investigation. So far, the motive is still unclear, though most are assuming this was an anti-Semitic attack, fueled by other recent domestic terror attacks and the president’s violent rhetoric. Sutter seemed to subscribe to that idea as well.

“Love and prayers to the people of Squirrel Hill,” he wrote on Saturday afternoon. “I deeply apologize for our soul-splitting leadership. [Donald Trump] just said that the solution to gun violence is more guns. We all know this hate is inspired and empowered by his inflammatory rhetoric.”

Naturally, Sutter got a broad range of replies to his tweet, as his fans and followers were split over where to place the blame in the whole ordeal. One of the first to respond was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Will Allen who thanked Sutter for taking the time to send well-wishes to their community.

“My neighbors and community,” they wrote. “This is very sad. We are all heartbroken. Thank you for bringing light and concern. Prayers up!”

After that, the tweets sent to Sutter became steadily more inflammatory, with many pointing out that the shooter has reportedly made negative posts about the president in the past. To them, this meant that he could not be blamed for the up tick in violence around the country.

“That’s as weak as blaming TV shows like yours for glorifying gun violence in general,” one person wrote. “The shooter had social media and it showed him hating Trump. This kind of hate has been here long before you started pinning all the blame on Trump.”

Of course, others thought that Sutter actually should take a closer look at the content of his shows before speaking out on real life gun violence.

“The man [Donald Trump] does need to shut up,” someone wrote, “but to say the hate is inspired by him is hypocritical of you, it could just as easily be said the violence in your shows could inspire hate and violence.”

“Make sure you return all your money from your show that focused on guns the most,” echoed another. “Want to make sure we pull it to have it never accessible again as well, wouldn’t want someone thinking it’s cool.”