Theo Von calls out DHS over deportation video
Theo Von is demanding that the Trump administration remove a video it posted using the comedian to tout deportations. Von, 45, who hosts a popular weekly podcast ‘This Past Weekend’ in addition to his comedy, hosted Donald Trump on his show last year during the campaign cycle.
The appearance was a part of the then-candidate’s effort to appeal to younger men, and it has since garnered over 17 million views on YouTube alone. Trump and the showman appeared to get along well and delved into topics like Von’s own drug use, the opioid crisis, pharmaceutical lobbying and more.
But it appears the warm relationship between the two has spoiled after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used a video of Von to highlight the number of deportations carried out by the Republican administration. ‘Heard you got deported, dude, bye,’ Von says in the clip used by DHS.
The video claims that there have been 2 million deportations under Trump this year, 1.6 million coming from self-deportations and 400,000 carried out by immigration officials. ‘Yooo DHS i didnt approve to be used in this,’ Von posted on X in response to the government’s video. ‘I know you know my address so send a check.’
The clip in question was originally posted by Von when a fan told the comedian her friend got deported and she wanted him to record a message for them. The friends can be heard laughing in the background of the original version. ‘And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos. When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!’
Neither DHS nor representatives for Von responded to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. The DHS video with Von also includes a brief clip of Trump celebrating the drop in migrant encounters at U.S. borders from his speech at the U.N. General Assembly this week.
‘They simply stopped coming, they are not coming anymore, leave now,’ the president says. The viral clip ends with the word ‘bye’ flashing on the screen. Scrutiny of the department’s now-viral video, which has over 16 million interactions on X, comes as DHS has posted videos to increase recruitment, appealing to younger men.
Earlier in the week, DHS posted a deportation-related video with clips from Pokémon that used the franchise’s signature theme song ‘Gotta Catch 'Em All’ as agents can be seen making arrests. The video ends with several arrested migrants’ mugshots on Pokémon cards, the franchise’s popular trading card game.