Comedian George Lopez has been known to push the boundaries, but conservatives say he has gone too far with his latest quip about a bounty on President Donald Trump's head.
In response to a Instagram post erroneously claiming that Iran has offered an $80 million bounty on Trump after the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the "El Chicano" actor wrote, "We'll do it for half."
Lopez's comment sparked immediate backlash among conservatives and inspired the viral hashtag #ArrestGeorgeLopez on Twitter Monday.
"You ever hear of Democrat privilege? It means you can commit crimes without going to jail, like George Lopez threatening to assassinate the president," Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, a national conservative organization, wrote on Twitter. "When Republicans do this, they go to prison."
"PLEASE REPORT GEORGE LOPEZ. George Lopez said he would assassinate President Trump for bounty money," added the conservative comedian Terrence K. Williams. "We have a duty to report any threats or violence against the President, his family or anyone in his administration."
A spokesperson for Lopez told NBC News that it "really was a joke," but critics were not accepting Lopez's explanation.
"For those saying that @georgelopez was only "joking" about assassinating @realDonaldTrump, do you actually believe this type of joke would have been okay in reference to either @BarackObama or @MichelleObama?" Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican for Congress in St. Petersburg, Florida, tweeted.
While many called on the FBI and CIA to investigate the comedian, others rose to his defense.
"Trumpers are outraged over comedian George Lopez's joke-Trumpers want PC comedy when it comes to their side but applaud non comedians like Ted Nugent who called for killing President Obama who was then later rewarded for threatening Obama by being welcomed to Trump White House," wrote radio commentator and lawyer Dean Obeidallah on Twitter.
Lopez, 58, who is best known for creating, writing and starring in the sitcom "George Lopez," has come under fire for jokes about Trump and his family before. The comedian, who is Mexican American, has been vocal about his opposition to the Trump administration's immigration policies and has called for Latinos to follow suit.
"The thing that upsets me the most is the entitlement of people that will stand with a flag and say to some other people that they need to go back to where they came from, when, in fact, they also would need to go back to where they came from," Lopez told NPR.
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