Actor Ron Perlman elevated his clap-back game to legendary levels while roasting conservative lawmakers on Twitter over the weekend.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and even President Donald Trump all incurred the former “Hellboy” star’s wrath.
First the actor took on Gaetz after the representative ripped U.S. soccer for finally allowing players to kneel in protest during the national anthem. “You shouldn’t get to play under our flag as our national team if you won’t stand when it is raised,” he wrote.
Tagging Trump, who has threatened to boycott games with kneeling, Perlman sniped: “The US Soccer team called and you guessed it... said they couldn’t give any less of a fuck about what you two dipshits think.”
It escalated. Gaetz called Perlman a “racial justice warrior” who “had no problem in Hollywood portraying the White Supremacist leader of a motorcycle gang.” Gaetz was referring to Perlman’s role on the FX series “Sons of Anarchy.” Perlman had to remind him that it’s fiction.
“Yessir, so true! So rewarding playing assholes on tv. Tell me sir, how is it actually being one?”
Gaetz retorted that he was proud that Hollywood deemed him a jerk, and Perlman gleefully fact-checked him.
In a bit of a plot twist, Perlman went after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), prompting Cruz to try and arrange a wrestling match between Jordan and Perlman. Cruz offered to bet $10,000 for charity that Perlman couldn’t last five minutes with Jordan, a former collegiate wrestler and coach.
Perlman insulted Cruz and facetiously asked for his autograph. The actor counter-proposed that Jordan be left out of the match because of his “problematic” relationship with wrestling ― the congressman has been accused of ignoring sexual abuse claims of wrestlers while he coached at Ohio State.
So Perlman proposed a match against Cruz. “I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending,” the “Hand of God” alum wrote.
Cruz fought back, attacking Perlman’s own privilege and calling him chicken for avoiding the Jordan challenge.
“Can’t take the heat? Need a manicure?” Cruz wrote.
If the sports calendar continues to remain relatively empty, maybe fans will clamor for a Perlman-Cruz match. But if it’s anything like Cruz and Jimmy Kimmel playing basketball, maybe it’s best to keep the tussling to Twitter.