Actor and singer John Schneider is one of those unicorns in the entertainment industry – he’s a vocal conservative. He recently posted something on X (formerly Twitter) that has him in hot water.

Schneider was a contestant in the Season 10 finale on Fox’s The Masked Singer. He lost. Afterward, he gave interviews to news outlets and spoke about approaching the one-year anniversary of his wife’s death. Later he allegedly posted on X/Twitter that Joe Biden is guilty of treason. He suggested, allegedly, that Biden and his son, Hunter, should be hanged.

The tweet has been deleted but the internet is forever. There is a screenshot. There is always a screenshot.

John Schneider took off more than one mask tonight.

Fox gave this guy a platform tonight. I’m truly sorry for the loss of his wife, but that doesn’t excuse calling for the public execution of POTUS. pic.twitter.com/hMdDNGcLQi

— TVMoJoe (@TVMoJoe) December 21, 2023

The Dukes of Hazard and Smallville actor denies making a threat and admonished the press for questioning him about it. He released a statement through his rep and then issued an expanded version.

In a subsequent expanded statement, Schneider said, “Seriously, folks? This is my final comment on this. I neither said nor implied any such thing. Despite headlines claiming otherwise, in my post, I absolutely did not call for an act of violence or threaten a U.S. president as many other celebrities have done in the past. I suggest you re-read my actual post and pay attention to the words before believing this nonsense.

“It’s my position, which I am entitled to have, that some of our nations leaders in Washington have lost their way, and corruption runs rampant, both on our nation’s borders and abroad. Transparency and accountability must happen in order for our constitutional republic to survive. There is no threat implied or otherwise in that statement.”

Fox canceled all press interviews after the tweet came out. There have been other tweets that show his political opinions and they remain on his page.

Although Schneider’s inflammatory X post was soon deleted, an earlier tweet from the conservative actor remained on his site today. In the October 11 post, Schneider wrote, “Can anyone deny that Joe Biden has funded the Hamas barbaric and inhumane attack on Israel? 6 billion in liquidity goes a long way. A long way toward hell. What will American hostages cost this time? Biden has put a price on the head of all Americans traveling abroad.”

His deleted post also wasn’t the first time he’s responded directly to a political figure. On Dec. 1, after openly gay U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg tweeted about Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s conspiracy theories and past homophobic statements, Schneider replied to Buttigieg, “For God’s sake… lighten up. Nobody cares what you do in your personal life. Nobody cares or is offended by your opinions or lifestyle. Atop [sic] grandstanding… be who you are… and give others the leeway and respect to do the same. #overit”

In other reply tweets, Schneider has called both Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci treasonous (“Joe gotta go… to jail. Treason is a serious crime. Especially if you are the president”), Robert De Niro a “puppet,” and Barack and Michelle Obama “without a question” the reason for racism and division in the United States.

And, there is this:

Yes. And our countries history.

— John Schneider (@John_Schneider) December 18, 2023

A probe has been opened by the Secret Service.

John Schneider may now be insisting he never threatened the life of President Joe Biden, but the Secret Service beg to differ.

The federal agency charged with protecting POTUS, the Vice President and their immediate families, as well as major political candidates and high level government officials, have opened a probe into statements the former Dukes of Hazzard star made online against the President and his son Hunter Biden earlier today, Deadline has learned.

There is no official statement on the investigation.

Officially, the White House and the Secret Service, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security, are saying nothing on any investigation of Schneider. “The Secret Service is aware of the comments made by Mr. Schneider, and as a matter of practice, we do not comment on matters involving protective intelligence,” a Secret Service spokesperson says of the matter. “We can say, however, that the Secret Service investigates all threats related to our protectees,” the agency added.

Sources close to events confirm the probe is in the preliminary stage.

“We look at all threats against our protectees and, due to intent, this falls under the definition of a threat,” a law enforcement insider informed Deadline Thursday.

If the investigation goes through and he is determined to have made a threat, it is a federal Class D felony. It could bring up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Online activity could be restricted by a judge in sentencing. There could also be three years of supervised release.

This is pretty hard to prove, though. According to the statute, proof that the statement could reasonably be seen as a threat is required, as well as some evidence that the person under investigation intended his statement to be a threat.