The era when public figures at least pretended to respect law enforcement officers has ended. We now live in a time where celebrities and media personalities openly target those who enforce our nation’s laws—not criminals going after cops, but entertainers who have never spent a single day performing the hard, thankless work of protecting American citizens.
The rhetoric has grown darker and more threatening. What begins as criticism on some podcast quickly bleeds into the real world, where law enforcement officers already face unprecedented dangers simply for wearing a badge. Now, these calls have escalated beyond mere criticism to demands for imprisonment.
Comedian Leslie Jones demanded a “reckoning” and called for all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to be jailed during a recent podcast appearance with host Nicolle Wallace.
“That’s what I want,” Jones said. “Everybody that worked for ICE, I want them in jail. I just want a reckoning. Y’all know y’all did wrong stuff. You know some of the stuff you did was so wrong. I need a reckoning, because that’s — to me — that’s the only thing that’s gonna make it right.”
Those words came from Leslie Jones, the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member whose career highlights now reportedly include demanding the mass incarceration of federal law enforcement officers. During the same appearance, Jones compared President Trump to a “used car salesman” and “snake-oil salesman,” dismissing his supporters as people who “don’t want to admit that they made a mistake.” She also expressed hope that Democrats would win the midterm elections specifically so the “reckoning” could begin.
Wallace appeared to encourage Jones, stating, “Like gravity,” she said, “things should fall.”
Here’s what celebrities like Jones either don’t understand or don’t care about: such rhetoric gets people hurt. This isn’t abstract Hollywood drama—it’s incitement. When a public figure with significant influence calls for imprisoning entire categories of law enforcement officers, they are painting targets on their backs.
ICE agents face real threats every day. They have families and work grueling, dangerous jobs that most celebrities could not endure for an hour. They enforce laws passed by Congress—not policies they invented themselves. Yet Jones believes all of them deserve prison for their service.
The bitter irony is stark: Jones demands “accountability” while facing none herself. She suffers zero consequences for calling to imprison thousands of Americans without evidence, due process, or any constitutional protections our founders fought to establish.
The men and women of ICE put themselves in harm’s way to protect this country. They deserve gratitude, not threats from a washed-up actress desperate for attention.
