Danny Trejo's son says actor was duped by The Daily Wire, too

“My dad can’t really come out and say how he feels about any of this in any real way,” says Gilbert, echoing his sentiments from Instagram. He tells the outlet that Danny was already on set for two weeks when the people from The Daily Wire showed up, which he says he wasn’t told about in advance. In fact, Gilbert says that most of the cast and crew weren’t told about this in advance, which does jive with what we’ve already been hearing about Pawn Shop. “You can’t, as an actor, walk away from that without everyone working on that losing their job and the entire production getting shut down,” says Gilbert. The son also claims that his father was misled about his role in the movie. “I was sitting next to him when he got the phone call from his agent saying, you’re the good guy in this movie,” he says. “There are protesters, they’re clashing with these guys and you’re just trying to protect your store and bring peace to everyone.” 

Gilbert goes on to point to his father’s campaigning for Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass and says that Danny is “heartbroken to be framed as representing something he doesn’t.” Says Gilbert, “The idea that he doesn’t stand with or stand for his community is heartbreaking and depressing. … My entire family is upset about what is happening in our country right now with ICE. But getting mad at an 82-year-old Mexican man is not the solution.” Trejo’s son also cites the complexities of his father’s contract and the financial burden of a potential exit. “He has well-documented financial hardships and troubles. He’s not, as some people are saying on social media, a multimillionaire,” Gilbert says. And while that defense certainly won’t win over all of Trejo’s critics, it’s another undeniable point for the argument that The Daily Wire really doesn’t care about what happens to the people who work with them.