‘It’s my position, which I am entitled to have, that some of our nations leaders in Washington have lost their way’
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As the Secret Service prepares to open an investigation, John Schneider is insisting he never threatened the life of Joe Biden when he called for the U.S. president to be “publicly hung.”
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On the same night he lost Fox’s The Masked Singer and addressed the upcoming one-year anniversary of his wife’s death, the Dukes of Hazzard star made headlines for lashing out at Biden in a social media post that went viral on X.
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In a now deleted reply to the president, Schneider, 63, wrote, “Mr. President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung [sic]. Your son, too. Your response is..? Sincerely, John Schneider.”
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As his post racked up thousands of views, Schneider quickly deleted his message, but screenshots of his words continued to make the rounds.
Schneider, who was unmasked as a Donut on The Masked Singer on Wednesday evening, quickly backtracked maintaining that he “absolutely did not call for an act of violence.”
In a statement provided to Deadline by a representative, Schneider said, “Seriously, folks? This is my final comment on this. I neither said nor implied any such thing. Despite headlines claiming otherwise, in my post, I absolutely did not call for an act of violence or threaten a U.S. president as many other celebrities have done in the past. I suggest you re-read my actual post and pay attention to the words before believing this nonsense.”
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He continued, “It’s my position, which I am entitled to have, that some of our nations leaders in Washington have lost their way, and corruption runs rampant, both on our nation’s borders and abroad. Transparency and accountability must happen in order for our constitutional republic to survive. There is no threat implied or otherwise in that statement.”
But his words didn’t escape the notice of the Secret Service, who told the New York Post they are investigating the actor.
The Secret Service told the Post in a statement: “The Secret Service is aware of the comments made by Mr. Schneider, and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence. We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees.”
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Schneider has been an outspoken critic of Biden throughout his presidency. In an October tweet, the actor claimed that the U.S. leader “funded the Hamas barbaric and inhumane attack on Israel” and that Biden “put a price on the head of all Americans travelling abroad.”
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In 2018, after serving five hours behind bars for failing to pay alimony to his ex-wife, Schneider blamed his prison stint on the fact that there “a bias against conservatives, Republicans, in Hollywood.”
“[Within the] court system, I was treated like I was guilty until proven innocent, like a second-class citizen,” he told Fox News. “I do think there’s a bias against conservatives, Republicans, in Hollywood, but I think if you let that alter how you are, then I question how you are. If you believe it, speak it, live it.”
In an chat after his loss on The Masked Singer, Schneider told PEOPLE that performing as the Donut helped him deal with the loss of his wife, Alicia, who died of breast cancer in February.
“What an amazing opportunity to be able to honour Alicia, to be able to honour people who are grieving, maybe educate people who are grieving a little bit, in front of millions of people,” he told the outlet. “I’m a pretty strong guy but I’m also a very emotional guy. Being out there on that stage dressed like a donut, singing some of the greatest songs ever written and having people respond to the songs and the performance with no notion that it was me, really, really helped John Schneider … It really helped me get through the worst year of my life. So I’m delighted to have done it.”
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