Cher on Snyder over Flint: Firing squad works for me

As the story of Flint’s water crisis goes national, the news that children and citizens of the city have been exposed to lead poisoning sent pop star Cher into a trending Twitter rage where she appeared to call for the execution of Gov. Rick Snyder.

At 10:11 p.m. the singer posted a tweet that, “Gov. of Michigan is a murderer,” and accusing Snyder of making the decision to “poison the water.” She ended the post with the hashtag “#JAILFORRICK.”

Cher amped up her original tweet not much later. A post at 10:49 p.m. mentioned “incompetent politicians,” adding that “THEY R CRIMNALS‼” She ended that post mentioning Snyder again, right before the hashtag, “#FIRINGSQUADWORKSFORME.”

“It's unfortunate that someone would use such rhetoric at a time when Gov. Snyder is working so closely with Flint's leaders on coordinated efforts to protect the health and welfare of people in the city and across our state,” Snyder spokesman Dave Murray said in an email Wednesday.

Cher’s posts were re-tweeted more than 400 times and got more than 1,000 likes as of midnight. The pop icon has nearly 3 million Twitter followers.

National media widely covered the news Tuesday that Snyder had declared a state of emergency in Flint after high levels of lead were discovered after the state-appointed Emergency Financial Manager switched to drawing the city’s water from the Flint River. It was also announced Tuesday that both the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Environmental Protection Agency were investigating Flint’s water crisis.

The story now is being covered in The New York Times, CNN and most national news outlets. On Monday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow devoted a segment of her show to the Flint crisis, while Newsweek called it “one of the nastiest cases of toxic discharge in 2015” adding that, “Parents in Flint, Michigan can look forward to a 2016 living in fear for their children’s brain development after learning their water is full of too much lead.”

Elsewhere in Cher’s Twitter feed, she criticizes Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, laments Boko Haram, shares about her favorite body wash and her opinion of Nordictrack fitness equipment, as well as posting a photo of a pre-Christmas cheesecake.

boconnor@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @BrianOCTweet