Stand-up comic, actor and popular podcaster Theo Von has called on the Department of Homeland Security to remove a social media clip that includes footage of him apparently favoring mass deportations.
“Yooo DHS i didn’t approve to be used in this. I know you know my address so send a check. And please take this down and please keep me out of your ‘banger’ deportation videos,” Von said on his X account on Tuesday night. “When it comes to immigration my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!” Von added.
The 31-second DHS video opens with a historical clip of Von offering up an “aw, shucks”: “Heard you got deported, dude — bye.” That’s followed by the promotional video touting President Donald Trump’s record on immigrant deportations during his second administration.
Von is far from the only celeb who’s spoken out about being included, without their permission, in DHS social media posts. The music artists Semisonic and Jess Glynne previously objected to their music being used in deportation videos.
Von’s rebuke to the DHS and its clip came just ahead of a mass shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas on Wednesday that reportedly led to one death and two other serious injuries. The alleged shooter apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Von hosts the podcast This Past Weekend, where he has interviewed high-profile guests like Trump, J.D. Vance and Bernie Sanders. His Netflix comedy specials include No Offense and Regular People.
But his insistence in the X post over the DHS clip that his views on immigration are “more nuanced” than the promotional video claims indicates his overall political views are harder to pin down as This Past Weekend podcast plays up Von’s everyman blend of humor and straight talk.
On the acting front, Von and David Spade are starring in the buddy comedy Busboys, with the duo having co-written the script and self-financed the project set in an Arizona border town and around two pals who mistakenly believe that becoming waiters will solve all of their problems. Jonah Feingold is directing.