Danny Trejo Says He Is Not Pro-ICE in Daily Wire's 'Pawn Shop' Controversy

Q: Why did a Hollywood production cause a critical drop in visits to a small-town Montana food bank?

The drop in food bank visits was caused by access problems and fear around the movie shoot, not by the film’s subject alone. While *Pawn Shop* was filming in downtown Livingston, the production closed part of 2nd Street directly by the Livingston Food Resource Center, the only pantry of its kind in the area. The center said clients were not properly warned in advance, and some people trying to reach the pantry by car or bike were stopped by private security. Protest activity around the set added to the confusion. The pantry’s director said those barriers made clients feel unsafe or discouraged from coming. The center reported an unusual decline in use — described in different reports as an eight-week or 18-week low, and later as a 17% drop in visits. That mattered because the pantry serves about 1 in 8 Park County residents. Residents and city officials also complained that the production used blank gunfire, pyrotechnics and stunt scenes with too little notice, increasing disruption near the pantry and neighboring businesses. After complaints, Livingston temporarily paused filming and then allowed it to resume only under a revised permit requiring uninterrupted access to the food bank, less noise and visual disruption, and limits on security personnel interacting with people on public streets. So the critical drop happened because the shoot physically disrupted access to the food bank and created an intimidating environment for clients who rely on it.

3 articles · Updated · Deadline · Oct 10

Trejo said Friday he is “pro-immigrant” and “not pro-ICE,” responding to criticism over his role in Daily Wire’s Pawn Shop, a film protesters in Livingston, Montana, have branded pro-ICE.
Last weekend’s temporary production suspension gave way to a revised permit Tuesday that required access to a local food pantry, limits on noise and violent-scene exposure, and assurances private security would not police nearby public streets.
Local opposition has centered on alleged blank gunshots, pyrotechnics and a staged car wreck without adequate notice, plus an opening scene that appears to dramatize ICE’s fatal shooting of Renée Good in Minnesota in January.
Pawn Shop is being made by Ben Shapiro’s company and Bonfire Legend; Shapiro called the halt a First Amendment violation, while the production is under a SAG-AFTRA conditional start and not an IATSE contract.