Conservatives Are Calling For The FBI And CIA To Investigate George Lopez After He Made A Joke About President Trump
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Conservatives are enraged after George Lopez made a joke about the death of President Trump. The Mexican-American comic wrote, “We’ll do it for half,” responding to an Instagram post about a purported bounty. The bounty was suggested at a funeral procession for Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Sunday and Twitter was set ablaze with some users even calling for the Secret Service to get involved. Here’s what went down.
After Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani a eulogist at the late leader’s funeral called for a bounty on the U.S. president’s head.
Broadcast live on Iran’s state-owned Channel One television network, a eulogist apparently called for the $80 million bounty while addressing crowds in the city of Mashhad. “We are 80 million Iranians. If each one of us puts aside one American dollar, we will have 80 million American dollars, and we will reward anyone who brings us [Trump]’s head with that amount,” the unidentified man said.
There is no indication the bounty is endorsed by the Iranian government or Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Jan. 5, 2020, news editor M. Hanif Jazayeri posted a tweet stating that Iran had placed an $80 million bounty on the head of U.S. President Donald Trump in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani.
The Instagram account @chicanoworldstar, which has over 170,000 followers, posted about the supposed bounty.
Credit: chicanoworldstar / Instagram
The post, which erroneously attributed the reward to Iranian officials, said: “#Iranian authorities have put a bounty on American President Donald Trump’s head during the televised funeral of General #QasemSoleimani after he was assassinated last week. What are your thoughts?”
Lopez responded to the eulogist: “We’ll do it for half.”
Credit: @joeysalads / Twitter
On Sunday, the Instagram account @chicanoworldstar, which has over 170,000 followers, posted about the supposed bounty. The post, which erroneously attributed the reward to Iranian officials, said: “#Iranian authorities have put a bounty on American President Donald Trump’s head during the televised funeral of General #QasemSoleimani after he was assassinated last week. What are your thoughts?,” the famed comedian left a comment saying “We’ll do it for half.”
The joke was quickly seized upon by right-wing social media users.
The comment, which has more than 2,400 likes and 750 replies, caught the attention of right-wing media, which was quick to claim that Lopez was issuing a death threat against the president. Lopez’s spokesperson told Newsweek: “It was absolutely a joke and that’s it.”
But for some, it wasn’t just a joke.
Ryan Fournier, co-chair of Students For Trump, tweeted: “George Lopez just said he’d assassinate President Trump for half of the $80 million dollar bounty. @SecretService should take a look at this. The Left is sick.”
Some defended Lopez —like fellow comedian Kathy Griffith who told “Trump cult” to calm down.
Griffin faced severe backlash for a photo of her holding a severed Trump head. Right-wing media and supporters were outraged and ended Griffin’s career over the photo. The same people angered by the Trump head and the joke are likely the same who supported burning Obama effigies.
Chris D’Elia wrote: “George Lopez is a really big comedian maybe you’re not aware.”
Lopez is a comedian best known for the ABC sitcom “George Lopez,” which ran for six seasons between 2002 and 2007. The iconic comedian also hosted the short-lived TBS talk show “Lopez Tonight” between 2009 and 2011.
In July 2018, Lopez, an outspoken Trump critic, made headlines for pretending to urinate on Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The footage went viral on Twitter and prompted similar right-wing offense to this latest incident, including calls for Lopez’s arrest.
