Danny Trejo's Son Says His Father Had “Never Heard of Ben Shapiro" Before Signing On to ‘Pawn Shop'

A few days ago, I wrote that Danny Trejo didn't stumble into a Daily Wire movie by accident. Now his son is saying, more or less, that he did.

Gilbert Trejo took to Instagram this weekend to defend his father, who has been hammered online for starring in "Pawn Shop," the pro-ICE thriller from Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier's Bonfire Legend. The post is supposed to paint a picture of an actor who was pitched one movie and found out two weeks into shooting that it was something else entirely.

According to Gilbert, Trejo's agent sold the project as a morally murky story in which everyone comes off badly except Trejo's character, a hardworking Mexican shop owner who just wants peace. Trejo, he said, "jumped at the idea of playing a good guy." Then, roughly two weeks into the shoot, the family learned Shapiro was involved.

"My 82-year-old dad has never heard of Ben Shapiro," Gilbert wrote. "I had to explain to him who that is, and what kind of guy he is." LOL.

Gilbert says his father is contractually barred from criticizing Shapiro or the film and can't walk away without being sued for breach of contract. He claims Trejo couldn't even put out the statement he actually wanted to release. "He's handcuffed to this stupid project," Gilbert wrote, adding that Shapiro managed to get Mexicans to turn on one of their heroes while landing his own name at the top of Google searches. "He wins."

My personal take on this whole drama was that any actor with 40+ years in the business reads the script, knows who's paying for it, and understands what he's making. A story about an ICE officer barricaded against a "furious mob" isn't exactly subtle. That said, Trejo is 82, and it's not hard to believe that he’s out of the loop and wouldn't know who Ben Shapiro is.

Trejo himself addressed the backlash late last week, insisting he's a proud Mexican, pro-immigrant and "not pro-ICE," and that his job as an actor is to tell a story. The thesis of that story can be found in the film's opening scene, which reportedly dramatizes the January killing of Renée Good by an ICE agent.

Meanwhile, Harvey Keitel, 87, who also stars in the film, hasn't said a word since news of his casting leaked. Honestly, I don't think he cares what anyone thinks about his participation in this film, which is probably his most high-profile role since his small part in Scorsese's "The Irishman."