George Lopez under fire for joking about rumored $80 million bounty on Trump
Comedian George Lopez has come under fire for leaving an inappropriate comment on an Instagram post about President Trump. The pop culture Instagram account Chicano World Star posted erroneous claims that Iran had an $80 million bounty on Mr. Trump. "We'll do it for half," Lopez commented on the post.
The short comment received nearly 800 replies in less than 24 hours, and Lopez started trending on another social media platform, Twitter.
Some social media users thought Lopez's joke about killing the president crossed a line, and that law enforcement or Secret Service should look into him. Many Twitter users also started using the hashtag #ArrestGeorgeLopez, and tagged the Secret Service in their posts.
Others felt there was a double standard, and that worse things have been said about Democratic politicians. Some also felt the comedian was just joking.
Aside from perpetuating violence against the president, Lopez, 58, also perpetuated a rumor. Some outlets reported Monday that Iran had put a bounty on Mr. Trump's head after Qassem Soleimani — the head of Iran's elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic — was killed early Friday in an airstrike in Baghdad. However, these claims are unsubstantiated.
Iran has already retaliated after the airstrike, and has planned to do more. The Iranian government said it will no longer abide by key terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, and Soleimani's replacement has already vowed to take revenge.
But the bounty to kill Mr. Trump is not an official threat from the Iranian government — it was merely suggested by a eulogist during Soleimani's funeral, according to Al Arabia.
Lopez's comment remains on the Chicanos World Star post, but it does not appear that he has responded to the backlash on social media. He did, however, post a video of a U.S. soldier singing "Amazing Grace," shortly after leaving the comment.
Fellow comedian, Kathy Griffin, also received widespread backlash after joking about killing the commander in chief in 2017. Griffin posted a photo of herself with a fake, "beheaded" President Trump. Hours after the image was released, she apologized and said she went "way too far."
Griffin ultimately lost work due to her offensive post. CNN terminated its agreement with Griffin to host the cable channel's New Year's Eve special. Griffin also told CBS "Sunday Morning" she received death threats as recently as 2019 for posting the image.