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Aaron Paul calls out Toys R Us for pulling ‘Breaking Bad’ figures

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Aaron Paul isn’t happy that Toys R Us pulled “Breaking Bad” action figures from its shelves under pressure from a petition launched by a Florida mom -- to the point where he’s actively supporting a counter-petition asking the retailer to rethink its decision.

“Dear @ToysRUs, We have close to 30,000 signed on the petition, that is 3 times the amount that caused you to remove the toys. Talk to me. Ap,” the actor, who played Jesse Pinkman on the AMC show, tweeted Friday.

Hours later, there were closer to 40,000 signatures on the Change.org document, which aimed to reach 50,000 names.

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Paul’s hackles had gone up Thursday on Twitter. “Wait, so @ToysRUs pulled all of the Breaking Bad figures from their shelves and still sells Barbie? Hmmmm...I wonder what is more damaging?,” he said. “And what about all of the violent video games you sell @ToysRUs? Do you still sell those? Florida mom really messed it up for everyone.”

He linked to the counter-petition late that night.

The Florida mom, Susan Shrijver, is behind the petition that said the Toys R Us “decision to sell a Breaking Bad doll, complete with a detachable sack of cash and a bag of meth, alongside children’s toys is a dangerous deviation from their family-friendly values.” She asked the toy retailer to yank the items.

Paul’s costar Bryan Cranston, who played meth-maker extraordinaire Walter White, was the first cast member to speak up publicly against the chain’s decision.

“Toys R Us puts Breaking Bad toys on ‘indefinite sabbatical.’ Word on the street is that they were sent to Belize,” he tweeted Wednesday, presumably invoking a bit of his persona from the show. “Nicely played Florida Mom.”

Now going up against Florida Mom is Manhattan Beach Dad: The counter-petition was started by a man who says he’s from that SoCal city.

“PARENTS should be the one dictating what their kids watch, buy, read, play and consume, NOT the buyers or employees of Toys R Us,” reads a portion of Daniel Pickett’s petition to get the figures back on store shelves. “If you don’t want to be ‘forced to explain why a certain toy comes with a bag of highly dangerous and illegal drugs or why someone who sells those drugs deserves to be made into an action figure’ then simply don’t walk your kid down that aisle.”

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Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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