Comedian gives scathing response after US government uses his face in deportation video
First Pokémon, now this
A comedian has slammed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after it used a clip of him in a video posted to X.
In the now-deleted clip posted on X (formerly Twitter), the DHS used a viral snippet of Theo Von, who also has a podcast called This Past Weekend, where he can be heard saying: "Heard you got deported, dude - bye."
The clip then goes on to show a montage of arrests and detentions by ICE agents, as it also shows the agency's numbers, from '2 million in 250 days', to '1,600,000 self-deported, 400,000 deportations'.
It also included a clip of President Donald Trump, who can be heard saying: "They simply stopped coming. They’re not coming anymore."
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It then concludes by transitioning into a black screen, with the word: "Bye."
However, Von has since hit back in a response on X.
He claims that he 'didn't approve' for a clip of him to be used in the video, as he wrote: "Yooo DHS I didnt 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. When it comes to immigration, my thoughts and heart are a lot more nuanced than this video allows. Bye!"
According to The Independent, around five million people listen to Von's podcast each month, and he has had a few political guests on it, including Bernie Sanders and Vice President JD Vance, who made a recent appearance in June.
In Vance's latest appearance, he defended Trump against Elon Musk's claim that the President allegedly appeared in the Epstein files.
It's not the only video that the DHS has caught some flak for, as they'd also shared a video of ICE arrests to the theme song of the Pokémon anime TV series.
In their video on X, they also included imagery from the show, as well as mock Pokémon cards which featured the names, faces, and alleged crimes of the people they had arrested.
They also have their weakness listed as 'illegal', while including a snowflake, which is supposedly meant to symbolise ICE.
Many in the comments weren't happy, and some called for The Pokèmon Company, which consists of Nintendo, GameFreak, and Creatures, to sue the US government and the DHS.
One person said: "Hey @Pokemon, please sue the hell out of the government," while another said: "NINTENDO!!! SUE THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!!"
In response to the backlash, a DHS spokesperson told LADbible Group: "To arrest them is our real test. To deport them is our cause."
LADbible Group has contacted the DHS for comment on Theo Von's tweet.
Kit Roberts