Peter Fonda: My Barron Trump Tweet 'Went Way Too Far'

Actor apologizes after tweet gets Secret Service called on him
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 20, 2018 4:43 PM CDT
Peter Fonda Sorry About 'Vulgar' Barron Trump Tweet
Peter Fonda presents the Desert Palm achievement award at the 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, in Palm Springs, Calif.   (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Peter Fonda apologized Wednesday for a late-night Twitter rant in which he suggested 12-year-old Barron Trump should be ripped from "his mother's arms and put in a cage with pedophiles." The all-capitals tweet in the wee hours went on to call President Trump an expletive. The actor later deleted the tweet and drew sharp rebukes from first lady Melania Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The two-time Oscar nominee, brother of of Jane Fonda and son of Hollywood legend Henry Fonda, said in a statement hours later that he was upset over children separated from families on the US-Mexico border. Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokeswoman, said via email regarding the Barron tweet: "The tweet is sick and irresponsible." She said the US Secret Service was notified.

Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, did some tweeting of his own, addressing Fonda: "You're clearly a sick individual" who behaved "like a bully and a coward." "I tweeted something highly inappropriate and vulgar about the president and his family in response to the devastating images I was seeing on television," Fonda said in his statement, released by both his manager and his publicist. "Like many Americans, I am very impassioned and distraught over the situation with children separated from their families at the border, but I went way too far. It was wrong and I should not have done it. I immediately regretted it and sincerely apologize to the family for what I said and any hurt my words have caused."

(More Peter Fonda stories.)

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