Smallville's John Schneider Under Secret Service Investigation After Joe Biden Comments
There's an old saying about how real life is sometimes stranger than fiction, and today is no exception. While it may have already felt like a reach when Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) ran for office in Season 5 of "Smallville," Schneider himself has allegedly gone one step further. In a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), Schneider made a comment that many took as a threat against the life of the current President of the United States, Joe Biden.
"Mr. President, I believe you are guilty of treason and should be publicly hung. Your son, too. Your response is..? Sincerely, John Schneider," the actor tweeted. While these comments are direct enough to be seen as threatening in just about any context, things have escalated pretty quickly, according to Deadline. The entertainment website claims that Schneider is now being investigated by the Secret Service. Deadline also reported that the agency issued a statement, reading, "We look at all threats against our protectees and, due to intent, this falls under the definition of a threat."
As if this couldn't all sound even more outlandish, the news comes less than 24 hours after "The Dukes of Hazzard" star was unmasked on the Fox reality show, "The Masked Singer," where he had been performing musical numbers while dressed as a giant donut.
Schneider has already responded to the allegations
John Schneider responded to the allegations stemming from the since-deleted post in a statement where he claimed that he didn't threaten anyone. The "Smallville" star went on to suggest that the news media were twisting his words or skewing his intent, despite screen grabs of the post being taken before it was deleted.
"This is my final comment on this," Schenider told Deadline. "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 U.S. 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."
Of course, there's a certain degree of irony here when you consider that Schneider's character, Jonathan Kent, had political ambitions of his own on "Smallville" before tragically dying in the series' 100th episode. Still, we doubt the Secret Service will see this as an extended bit of method acting nearly two decades after the fact.