Comedian Fired After Making Brutal Joke About Trump's Potential Assassination Attempt

A joke cost this satirist his job. Sebastian Hotz, aka El Hotzo, is a German comedian who got into trouble for making a joke at Donald Trump's expense regarding his shooting incident in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. Apparently, the 28-year-old posted a series of tweets on X, formerly Twitter, supporting Trump's assassination attempt and sparked outrage. 

In a post, he jokingly asked what the last bus and Trump had in common before answering himself, "Unfortunately just missed." In a subsequent post, he added, "I think it's absolutely fantastic when fascists die." Although the original post has since been deleted, hundreds of authentic screenshots have already been widely circulated on social media, per The Guardian. 

The Berlin-based satirist's radio show on public broadcaster RBB was canceled following his hate-spewing tweets. He's domestically famous for his political satire and social activism but this post led to serious repercussions. RBB's program director Katrin Günther. said, "His statements are incompatible with the values that RBB stands for," as per Euro News. 

Trump's supporters called him out on social media, including X owner Elon Musk, a tech tycoon who endorsed Trump for the 2024 elections. The Tesla owner condemned El Hotzo's tweets and wrote, "Someone wishing death on the leading US Presidential candidate and myself is paid to do so by the German government?" demanding serious action against the comedian. 

Aside from Musk, several X users called him out like @krassenstein who wrote, "Calling for death under the protection of comedy is still calling for death. This should never be accepted and a foreign ally should not be subsidizing his 'comedy.'" @TaraBull808 echoed, "This is totally unacceptable." @fightwithmemes agreed, "Hiding a death threat under the veil of comedy is just a way to gaslight people into being uncritical. Despicable." 

El Hotzo, who has over 700,000 X followers and 1.4 million Instagram fans, was unfazed by the criticism, and joked about his lost job, "I am Germany's cheekiest jobless person." 

The former president was shot by a lone gunman identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks during his Butler, Pennsylvania rally. Trump narrowly escaped the attempt on his life after the Secret Service agents ran to cover him on stage. Fortunately, he only injured his right ear and was given medical aid. Minutes later, a police officer located the gunman and shot him, per The New York Times. 

Following the incident, the 78-year-old thanked the US Secret Service agents on his preferred platform Truth Social, "It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness. In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win." 

Trump's then-Democratic rival Joe Biden also criticized the shooting incident, "I'm grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well. I'm praying for him and his family. There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."