A repeat of the Kathy Griffin situation in 2017, where the comedian posted a photo of herself holding a fake and mutilated Trump head and had to apologize for going too far hours later. Most people of either side of the political aisle agreed that Griffin's post was in poor taste and way too graphic to be considered funny. She also lost work from CNN and claimed to have been the recipient of 'death threats'.
A harmless jab took too seriously
George Lopez's current situation is another issue altogether, as there was no decapitation of anyone involved, just a rib-tickling comment on a news story on Instagram. It must be clarified that the rumoured bounty of $80 Million on Trump's head is not the official stance of the Iranian Government and was merely a suggestion of a eulogist at Soleimani's funeral, according to Al Arabia.
The post in question comes from the pop culture Instagram account Chicano World Star that posted the erroneous claim that Iran has issued an $80 million bounty on Mr Trump, to which the comedian commented 'We'll do it for half'.
The comedian had mostly remained silent
The comedian has largely remained silent on the backlash, with some feeling that the comedian did nothing wrong considering the fact that worse things have been said about democratic politicians. The 'bounty' is a response to Qasem Soleimani — the head of Iran's elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic — getting killed early last Friday in an airstrike in Baghdad.
The Iranian government said it will no longer abide by key terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, and Soleimani's replacement has already vowed to take revenge. The people who weren't feeling the joke started a #ArrestGeorgeLopez and tagged the Secret Service in it. The comedian's post received 800 replies in 24 hours which lead to him trending on Twitter. The comment is still up on the Instagram account and the comedian is yet to comment on the backlash.
