The US Secret Service has reportedly opened a preliminary investigation into former Dukes of Hazzard and Smallville star John Schneider after he allegedly called for President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden to be “publicly hung”.
Deadline first published a screenshot of a since-deleted X post which appeared late on Wednesday seemingly from the 63-year-old’s account – just hours after Mr Schneider came second in the season 10 finale of The Masked Singer while dressed as a doughnut.
The post read: “Mr President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son too. Your response is…? Sincerely, John Schneider.”
The post came as a response to the president’s own post warning that Donald Trump “poses many threats to our country” and places American democracy at risk.
The actor has since denied threatening the president, responding to Deadline with a statement declaring: “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 US 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.”
He continued: “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 screenshot has nevertheless been widely shared by other X users.
One of the first people to reply to the post, according to Newsweek, was the investigative journalist Victoria Brownworth, who wrote: “Just here for the ratio and to let you know that it’s ‘hanged,’ not ‘hung’. There’s zero evidence of ‘treason.’ Step out of the Fox News bubble.”
While the Secret Service, which answers to the Department of Homeland Security, has issued no official statement, Deadline quotes a law enforcement source as saying: “We 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 since 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.”
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.
The Independent has also reached out to Mr Schneider for further comment.
The actor, who played Bo Duke on the iconic Dukes of Hazzard TV show from 1979 to 1985, suffered a tragic bereavement earlier this year when his third wife Alicia Allain passed away from breast cancer on 21 February, aged just 53.
