Jordan Klepper said he ended up “choking on pepper spray” while shooting his latest documentary special for The Daily Show.
The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give The Man a Prize, which arrives on YouTube at 12 pm ET, sees Klepper attending a naked protest in Portland, Oregon, against ICE's presence in the city.
“Because Donald Trump had crafted this idea that Antifa are the only people protesting, the people in Portland decided to shed all of their clothes as an image of non-violence in front of these agents,” Klepper told Variety in a new interview about the documentary.
He said the October protest quickly turned violent, however.
“As we were talking to people, we watched ICE agents consistently shooting these pepper bullets into the crowd. We watched them shove a musical band dressed in banana suits, knock a clarinetist to the ground, shove her face into the ground — where she was then taken across state lines for two days. It was terrifying. Mere seconds after a joyous, comedic protest coming down the street to try to stop some of the cruelty taking place inside. It was really something to behold that I’ve never experienced anything like.”
He continued: “The violence I saw was so performative, was so reckless, and there was such an intention to provoke.
“It was peaceful protesters, who simply were there to provide a counterpoint to the images and the things that we heard about happening inside. But it was gross. It makes you disgusted to see American servicemen being used to literally attack people in banana costumes playing classical music. Our cameraman has disturbing footage, as he was right up there. I was on the outskirts of it, and we all had to leave because we were choking on pepper spray.”
The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Klepper’s latest documentary in his Fingers the Pulse series focuses on Trump’s campaign to win a Nobel Peace Prize.
The president has faced widespread mockery after being awarded FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize last week during the 2026 World Cup draw.
According to the football association, the new peace prize is meant to “reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world. Trump has also “championed the unifying power of football on the world stage,” according to FIFA.
In response to criticism about the award, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Independent: “President Trump’s Peace through Strength foreign policy is a tried-and-true approach that keeps America safe and deters global threats that has already ended eight wars in less than a year. There is no one else in the world more deserving of FIFA’s first-ever Peace Prize than President Trump. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
