Everything is not copacetic when it comes to Vinny Guadagnino’s Instagram comments.
It started after Vinny took to Instagram to promote new tour dates for his ongoing live comedy tour.
When a commenter wrote Vinny about “what ICE is doing,” Vinny responded and said, “The politicians/media has brainwashed everyone to believe something different is happening and it’s making people fight the police and get killed so that they can stay in power and become rich.”
When another implored him to say “enough,” citing people “being harmed in the name of law enforcement, with little accountability and a lot of fear,” Vinny shared his support for ICE as a whole.
“I believe that having law enforcement in place saves countless lives of those in our country (the undocumented immigrants themselves who are being trafficked and victimized ) and also future undocumented immigrants who will be deterred from being trafficked over here because the law is being enforced and border is closed,” he wrote.
He went on to add, “Therefore I do think we need some laws regarding immigration, and the police should be able to arrest really bad guys like cartel,human traffickers, child molesters etc … That being said, the other option to change course as you said is to protest to congress to change the laws regarding better pathways to citizenship for the good law abiding undocumented immigrants who may have to cut the line for whatever reason they saw fit to…and to stop jumping into the middle of active police scenes that are happening because it’s causing people to get killed by angry men with guns wearing squat gear due to human error, force, fear, miscommunication or whatever else.”
In another comment, Vinny — whose mother, Paola Giaimo, reportedly immigrated to the US from Sicily — reiterated his stance. “I support closing the border to end human trafficking of women / children and drug overdoses, and not jumping into the active police investigations where they can be going to arrest violent criminals and deter the cartels from making billions of dollars off the smuggling,” he wrote.
Commenters continued to criticize him. One person wrote, “Wow. Not what I expected from you Vinnie. Sad af man,” prompting Vinny to once again defend his beliefs.
“I have the right to vote Republican in an election like 77 million others of all different ages races religions and genders,” Vinny said. “Didn’t like the Biden / Harris agenda in this last election . Maybe the next democratic candidate will be better.”
When another commenter told him that “it’s bigger than republican and democrats,” he replied, “I believe that voting for the Republican party (the ‘bad guys’) will save more lives (both documented and undocumented immigrants )than voting for the Democratic Party.”
Vinny also rejected the idea that Trump is “solely to blame” for the ongoing situation with ICE, saying, “It’s a combination of hateful rhetoric and policies that goes back and forth and escalates the situation.”
“I believe there is selective outrage going on and it’s leading to tragic deaths of citizens who should not be fighting the police in the streets,” he added.
His comments come amid the shooting deaths of Minnesota residents Renee Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse, who were killed by federal agents. While the Department of Homeland Security said both deaths occurred in self-defense, bystander videos suggest neither was a threat before they were killed.
You can read more about Renee Good here and Alex Pretti here.