Key Takeaways
- Danny Trejo’s son Gilbert says the actor joined Pawn Shop to play a hardworking Mexican shop owner and didn’t know Ben Shapiro was involved until two weeks into filming.
- Gilbert claims his 82-year-old father is “handcuffed to this stupid project” because leaving, criticizing the film, or speaking against Shapiro could trigger a breach-of-contract lawsuit.
- Trejo has stressed that he is “pro-immigrant” and “not pro-ICE,” while the Daily Wire thriller has drawn protests and filming restrictions in Livingston, Montana, over its ICE-centered storyline and production practices.
Danny Trejo's son says his father got more than he bargained for when he signed onto a Ben Shapiro-backed movie about ICE. According to Gilbert Trejo, the 82-year-old actor had no idea who Shapiro was, didn't learn about his involvement until filming was underway, and now faces a lawsuit if he walks away.
Gilbert made the explosive claims in a social media statement defending his father against mounting criticism over Pawn Shop, the controversial Daily Wire thriller that has already sparked protests, a temporary production shutdown in Montana, and accusations that Trejo betrayed the Mexican-American community he has championed for decades.
"He was booked on a film, it's not pro-ICE, it's not overtly pro anything," Gilbert wrote, explaining that his father's agent pitched the project as "a complicated story about a complicated time, where everyone looks bad except you, the hardworking Mexican shop owner who just wants peace."
"He jumped at the idea of playing a good guy," Gilbert added.
Then came, according to him, the surprise.
"About 2 weeks into shooting everyone, including us, found out Ben Shapiro was involved," Gilbert claimed. "My 82 year old dad has never heard of Ben Shapiro, I had to explain to him who that is, and what kind of guy he is."
Gilbert says that by then, getting out wasn't so simple.
"My dad contractually can't bad mouth him, the film, or walk away without being sued for breach of contract," he wrote. "He couldn't even release the statement he wanted to."
Neither the alleged contractual restrictions nor the timeline of when Trejo learned about Shapiro's involvement has been independently confirmed.
Gilbert also had some choice words for what he says is his father’s situation.
"It's f*cked up. He's handcuffed to this stupid project, and swaths of people have instantly turned their back on him without knowing any of the facts."
He saved his sharpest criticism for Shapiro.
"Ben Shapiro got Mexicans to abandon one of their heroes, got his own name to the top of google's searches, and made us look like angry fools lacking any nuance. He wins."
The statement comes after Trejo tried to distance himself from the film's politics.
"I am a proud Mexican who has always been and will always be a supporter of my community," the Machete star said. "I am also obviously pro-immigrant. I am not pro-ICE."
Trejo insisted he took the role for the acting, not for immigration enforcement.
"I know where I come from and I know our struggles," he said. "I am an actor. My job is to tell a story."
But the movie's official synopsis paints a decidedly different picture from the politically neutral project Gilbert described.
Pawn Shop follows an ICE officer whose partner is killed during unrest in Minneapolis. Pursued by an angry crowd, the officer takes refuge with a Hispanic veteran and his progressive college-age grandson. The synopsis describes their predicament as a choice between "the rule of law and the chaos that wants to burn it all down."
Footage obtained by TMZ also appeared to show filmmakers recreating the fatal January shooting of Renée Good by an ICE agent. A leaked script reviewed by Montana Free Press reportedly includes a storyline involving an immigrant revealed to have ties to MS-13.
The controversy has already spilled into the streets of Livingston, Montana, where residents protested the production over its subject matter and alleged disruptions involving blank gunfire, pyrotechnics, road closures and armed private security.
The Livingston City Commission temporarily suspended filming, then reinstated the permit with additional restrictions to protect residents and access to the local food bank.
Shapiro responded by accusing officials of "politics, pure and simple," calling the shutdown a violation of the First Amendment.
And not everyone is buying the Trejo family's explanation.
In an Instagram comment, one person identifying themselves as a Livingston resident alleged that the production's private security had menaced locals for weeks. The commenter criticized what they described as "the rewriting of history, and the depiction of the brutalization of brown communities as entertainment."
Despite previously respecting Trejo for his sobriety advocacy, the commenter concluded: "no mas."
Producer Dallas Sonnier responded to the labor dispute by declaring, "We don't negotiate with communists."
