Comedian George Lopez is under fire for a comment he allegedly made to an Instagram post in which he seemed to express interest in collecting a supposed $80 million Iranian bounty on President Trump, The Wrap reports.
Last week, Trump ordered a military strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Iran has vowed to retaliate for that, and indeed, at a eulogy for the general, a speaker offered to put up an $80 million bounty on Donald Trump.
It bears noting that, as of this writing, the offer of a bounty does not officially appear to have come from the Iranian government itself. Indeed, it’s also unclear if the person making the offer was being serious and if they even have the financial backing to make good on such a claim.
Nevertheless, on Sunday, Instagram user “chicanoworldstar” posted about the purported offer of a bounty, seemingly claiming it as factual and as having come from the Iranian government.
As could be expected by such a post, the comments were something of a battleground, with users from both sides of the matter taking shots at Trump, the Iranians, and each other. Several, for example, suggested that a Mexican cartel would do it for considerably less. Other users offered, seemingly playfully, to try to collect the bounty themselves. One such user was reportedly Lopez.
In the comments, Lopez’s account — bearing the blue check mark that is used to verify public figures — commented, “We’ll do it for half.”
At this point, it bears noting that, unless and until George Lopez confirms that he was the one who made the post, the possibility should be left open that a member of his staff wrote it, as many public figures have employees who manage their social media accounts for them.
Nevertheless, the internet has assumed that it was Lopez himself who wrote it, and he is now catching heat for it, particularly on Twitter, where his name is a trending topic.
Right-wing public figures such as Turning Points USA founder and president Charlie Kirk and LifeZette TV’s Wayne Dupree both suggested that the Secret Service should get involved.
“The Secret Service needs to go to this violent lunatic’s house and arrest him,” Dupree tweeted.
Lopez is also getting some defenders on Twitter, however. SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah, for example, wondered where the right’s outrage was when Ted Nugent called for killing President Barack Obama and was then “rewarded” for the remarks with an invitation to the Trump White House.