Actor and comedian David Cross is no fan of President Donald Trump.
At a performance at University of Utah this week, the “Arrested Development” star joked about beating the leader of the free world to a “bloody pulp.”
Cross, 54, also reportedly added that he wanted to urinate and defecate on the president, as a piece in The Salt Lake Tribune noted.
The report said the set from Cross included so-called humor about “abortion, Nazis, the Holocaust, terrorist bombings, AIDS, and beating President Donald Trump to a bloody pulp and then urinating and defecating on him.”
While Cross has the right to joke about whatever he wants to, thanks to his freedom of speech, the larger point is that the rhetoric coming out of Hollywood these days about Trump is increasingly violent and extreme.
There is actor Jim Carrey — who has dedicated tons of time in recent years to creating disturbing paintings that sometimes show violence against the current sitting president.
He takes great pride in these works of “art,” discussing them on the talk show circuit and elsewhere.
Related: Jim Carrey Calls Trump a ‘Witch’ in His Latest Disturbing Paintings
The band Pearl Jam also ignited controversy recently when one of its concert posters showed the president lying dead on the ground — and being eaten by a bald eagle.
The White House is shown burning to the ground in the scene.
Pearl Jam’s bassist, Jim Ament, said recently in a statement to the Associated Press about the controversial poster, “The role of the artist is to make people think and feel, and the current administration has us thinking and feeling.”
A poster for David Cross’ show, by the way, didn’t just insult President Trump.
It also targeted Mormon temple garments.
I just lost all of my respect for David Cross in a split second. https://t.co/2acvBsHID6
— Radelyn? (@madelynove) August 19, 2018
Not everyone online is pleased, to be sure, with this style of abrasive and insulting humor.
Mormons are allowed to be mad at David cross but have you considered he’s been awful, racist, misogynistic all along!!!!
— ?crystal? (@crystalkei) August 19, 2018
David Cross is getting exactly what he hoped for. He’s sitting in his holiday inn room laughing his head off at all the attention he’s getting.
— 2019 Pac 10.2 Champs (@LightUpTheU) August 19, 2018
Hope you had a great day, Twitter. Even David Cross. pic.twitter.com/OYxIeEawqT
— BCC (@ByCommonConsent) August 19, 2018
There's a reason why Jim Gaffigan has two sold-out SLC shows 4+ months in advance & why David Cross still has tickets available for his show 4 days before.
And that's all I'm gonna say about that…
— Chalupa Batman (@wheatie_87) August 20, 2018
It’s easy for people to take offense at the actions by someone like Cross, but it’s also worth remembering that his bread and butter is outrage. When someone like this feels he’s not getting enough attention, he’ll say an extreme thing or two about violent actions against a president — or release a poster he knows will start a fire in people’s bellies.
To see why David Cross back in the day thought Donald Trump would never become president of the United States, check out the video below:
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