FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ One of the most visible Parkland activists is calling for a "die-in" at Publix supermarkets Friday to protest its donations to Florida gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, whose pro-gun stance gets him a top rating from the National Rifle Association.
David Hogg, who helped galvanize the "March for Our Lives" movement after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, told his 799,000 Twitter followers on Wednesday they should "die in" at Publix stores. It entails lying on the ground inside supermarkets for 12 minutes at 4 p.m. Friday.
Hogg is a student at Stoneman Douglas, where gunman Nikolas Cruz on Feb. 14 killed 17 people and wounded 17 more.
Hogg called Publix an "#NRASellOut" through his Twitter account, criticizing the Lakeland-based chain's donations to Putnam, who once labeled himself on social media platforms as "a proud #NRASellout."
Putnam's stance and votes on guns have earned him the gun lobbying group's A-plus rating.
Publix's $670,000 donation to the gubernatorial candidate came to light last week in the Tampa Bay Times.
Responding to some customers' disappointment over the endorsement, the company has tweeted that Publix has supported Putnam since he ran for the state House of Representatives as its hometown candidate.
Company officials couldn't be reached late Wednesday to comment on whether protesters would be forced to leave, or arrested if they protest inside Publix stores.
Hogg references two local Publix supermarkets in his tweet, an apparent reference to the Parkland Publix, as well as a Publix a few blocks west of Stoneman Douglas.
Retweets and "likes" were climbing into the thousands within hours after Hogg tweeted about the "die-in" idea. Many of the tweeted responses, though, seem to indicate strong support for Publix, or reflected just how much of a lightning rod for controversy Hogg has become.
Some said they wish him luck getting down on the dirty floor.
Kyle Kashuv, a Stoneman Douglas junior, got in his two cents _ calling the boycott "just wrong."
Other tweets show just what a lightning rod for the movement Hogg has become. Some of them were asking whether his 15 minutes of fame was up. "JaredOgren" asked whether he was a "crisis actor" _ an apparent reference to false rumors that Hogg was not a real student at Stoneman Douglas.
But Hogg also got a good helping of Twitter love, too. "PierceMohel" described himself as a 17-year-old who works for Publix and the endorsement concerned him. "Not proud of my first job," he wrote.
