Mark Hamill is facing backlash after posting — and later deleting — an image that appeared to depict President Donald Trump dead, only to follow it up with what he described as a clarification and apology after criticism erupted online and from the White House.
The “Star Wars” actor initially posted the image on Bluesky shortly after an apparent assassination attempt connected to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. The image showed what appeared to be Trump lying over a grave alongside the caption: “If Only.”
Hamill then added a lengthy message arguing that Trump should instead live long enough to face political defeat and legal consequences.
“He should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes,” Hamill wrote. “Long enough to realize he’ll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore.”
The post quickly sparked outrage from Trump supporters and administration officials, who accused Hamill of promoting violence against the president.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle sharply condemned the actor in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Barack Hussein Obama just appeared in a video with this deranged lunatic three days ago,” Ingle said. “Now this same person is calling for President Trump to die.”
“Why won’t Obama and Democrats condemn this disgusting call to violence?” he added.
The controversy landed in an already tense political climate where rhetoric surrounding Trump has become increasingly explosive from both supporters and opponents. Public figures, entertainers, and politicians have repeatedly come under scrutiny over comments interpreted as encouraging or normalizing political violence.
By Thursday, Hamill had removed the original image and replaced it with a different edited photo of Trump, this time showing the president with dramatically windswept hair instead of appearing deceased.
“Accurate Edit for Clarity,” Hamill wrote in the updated post. “Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate.”
The revised message attempted to frame the original post as expressing a desire for Trump to remain alive and face political accountability rather than physical harm. Critics, however, argued the original imagery spoke for itself regardless of the clarification that followed.
Hamill has long been one of Trump’s most vocal celebrity critics. Over the years, he has frequently used social media to attack the president and his supporters, often in highly personal terms.
During a 2024 appearance on the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast, Hamill said he was “ashamed” Americans elected Trump twice.
“It’s one thing for him to have sneaked by the first time,” Hamill said. “When he got re-elected, that’s on us.”
“I always thought there are more decent Americans, honest Americans than there are others,” he added.
