Actor Jay Johnston, known for his roles in Better call Saul, Arrested development, Anchormanand voice roles on hit shows like Rick and morty, will no longer voice Jimmy Pesto Sr. on Fox’s Bob’s Burgers after allegedly participating in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
According to the Daily beast, two senior staff members of the beloved Fox animated series said the 53-year-old is “banned” from his recurring voice role.
Johnston has lent his voice to the hilariously obnoxious character, who is Bob’s nemesis and owner of Jimmy Pesto’s Pizzeria on the show, for a total of 43 episodes from 2011 to 2021.
Pesto last appeared in the season 11 episode “The Bridge Over Troubled Rudy,” which aired in May 2021 and has not appeared in any episode since.
While the actor himself has not confirmed his appearance or role in the riot, Twitter users began to suspect that he could be the 247th participant following a March 2021 FBI request to identify the individual.
Cassandra Church, an actress who previously worked alongside Johnston, tweeted at the time: “I’m not a detective, but I do know Jay. He said he was there. And that’s him in the photo. Then…”
In a tweet since deleted, a former Johnston colleague also wrote that the actor is a “cowardly Trump supporter and was there at the time.” Actor and comedian Tim Heidecker also tweeted that Johnston’s involvement in the riot was “fully confirmed through reliable sources,” though he later removed it and said it “should not be used as some kind of official source of information or verification.”
In 2015, Johnston appeared as himself in El show de Gavin McInnes, which is hosted by the titular founder of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist hate group that was heavily involved in the riot.
So far, the actor has not been charged or arrested for any crime.
Michael is a music and television addict interested in most things that are not entirely boring. You can follow him on Twitter – @Tweetskoor
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