John Schneider has found himself in hot water after posting a highly inflammatory tweet about President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
It all started on Wednesday when the Dukes of Hazzard actor took to his official account on X just mere hours after the 63-year-old came second in the season 10 finale of The Masked Singer while dressed as a donut to post, per the Daily Mail: "Mr. President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son too. Your response is…? Sincerely, John Schneider."
The tweet has since been deleted.
Schneider's comments were made in response to a tweet posted by Biden warning American citizens that Donald Trump "poses many threats to our country" and allegedly places American democracy at risk.
Deadline posted a screenshot of the now-deleted tweet, to which Schneider responded and backpedaled on his initial comments.
"Seriously, folks? This is my final comment on this," he said in his statement. "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 US president as many other celebrities have done in the past."
He continued: "I suggest you re-read my actual post and pay attention to the words before believing this nonsense. It’s my position, which I am entitled to have, that some of our nations [sic] 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," the Smallville star added.
Despite Schneider's statement, many have re-shared the tweet with their own opinions, including internet personality Mike Sington, who wrote: "Has-been, D-list TV 'star' (Dukes of Hazzard), and right-wing MAGA nut John Schneider, publicly posts that President Biden and Hunter Biden should be executed."
Deadline has also reported that a law enforcement source spoke of the issue, stating that they "look at all threats against our protectees and, due to intent, this falls under the definition of a threat."
A spokesperson for the Secret Service has also told The Independent: "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."
The outlet also reported that making a "credible" threat against the life of a sitting US president, vice president or member of their family is a federal crime punishable with a $250,000 fine and a five-year jail sentence.
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