George Lopez Sparks Controversy for Jokingly Backing Rumored Trump Bounty

George Lopez sparked quite a bit of controversy on Sunday after jokingly backing Iran’s rumored $80 million bounty on President Donald Trump‘s head. Lopez was trending on Twitter late Sunday and early Monday after the bounty was reportedly made by the eulogist at the funeral procession for General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike last week. While the eulogist’s name has not been released, he announced an $80 million bounty on Trump’s head on live state TV, according to Al Arabiya.

Lopez got in on the conversation after Chicano Worldstar shared an Instagram post asking its 176,000 followers their thoughts on the bounty on Trump’s head. In the comments section, The George Lopez Show star wrote, “We’ll do it for half.”

While plenty of users saw Lopez’s comment as a joke, others were not amused, with some even calling for the 58-year-old comedian to be arrested, retweeting screenshots of his comment to the Secret Service.

“George Lopez just said he’d assassinate President Trump for half of the $80 million dollar bounty,” tweeted Ryan Fournier, the co-chairman of Students for Trump. “@SecretService should take a look at this. The Left is sick.”

Fournier’s co-chairman, Charlie Kirk, asked his followers to “imagine the media outrage, backlash, arrests, and protests if a conservative wrongly called for the execution of Obama for $40 million.”

Comedian Terrence K. Williams also asked his followers to “report” Lopez by tagging the Secret Service on Twitter.

Some pointed out that Lopez had previously tweeted an animated photo of a scene similar to Kathy Griffin holding Trump’s severed head (which did earn her visits from the Secret Service).

But many others argued that Lopez was simply making a joke, as is the nature of his career.

Comedian Chris D’Elia responded to Fournier, “George Lopez is a really big comedian maybe you’re not aware.”

One Twitter user downplayed Lopez’s remark, writing, “You’ll need to STFU about George Lopez the guy make a living out of being a comedian you think he’ll actually throw his life and go to the White House to kill a jerk?! Ffs ppl.”

Santiago Mayer, the founder and executive director of Voters of Tomorrow responded to Kirk’s tweet: “It’s funny Charlie, I didn’t see you asking the FBI to arrest the hundreds of people threatening AOC and Ilhan. Furthermore, do you actually think George Lopez will throw away his life for $40 million dollars? You’re as poor economically as you’re mentally.”

During Soleimani’s funeral procession, which was broadcast live on Iran’s Channel One, the eulogist addressed a large crowd in Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad and reportedly said, “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.”

Photo credit: Mark Davis / Staff / Getty