Los Angeles Craigslist ad for paid protesters was a prank, podcast host says

Anti-ICE protests extends to 2 SoCal counties

Anti-ICE protests have extended to Orange County after federal raids were staged in Santa Ana. This comes as Los Angeles County was at the center of anti-mass deportation protests for the fourth day in a row (and counting).

LOS ANGELES - Protests against ICE and President Donald Trump's immigration policies have continued for days in downtown Los Angeles, with the president calling in the National Guard and hundreds of Marines to control the demonstrations.

Now, a recent ad posted on a Los Angeles-area Craigslist forum is at the center of controversy. Some are using the ad as proof that protesters are being paid, but the man who made the listing now says the whole thing was a prank for a podcast.

RELATED: LA ICE protests, Day 5: Demonstrators gather again as tensions continue to run high

Los Angeles protest Craigslist ad

What we know:

An ad popped up on the Los Angeles Craigslist forum for general labor jobs late last week. The listing was looking for "the toughest bad***es in the city," offering to pay them $6,500 to $12,500 a week.

"We are forming a select team of THE TOUGHEST dudes in the area. This unit will be activated only when the situation demands it — BUT YOU GET PAID EVERY WEEK NO MATTER WHAT," the now-deleted ad reads. "High-pressure, high-risk, no room for hesitation. We need individuals who do not break, panic, or fold under stress and are basically all around kick*** dudes."

The listing said it was looking for people with military experience, "except for Marines, we don't work with Marines anymore, long story," and people with "experience facing trained opposition."

ICE protests in Los Angeles

The backstory:

A day after the Craigstlist ad was posted, massive protests broke out in downtown Los Angeles to speak out against multiple ICE raids across the region. Protests continued throughout the weekend and into the next week in Los Angeles, Paramount and Orange County.

SUGGESTED: Newsom fires back at Trump over deployment of National Guard in LA

Trump has since deployed the National Guard and several hundred Marines to the area to try and disperse the protesters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued the Trump administration over the move, but a federal judge on Tuesday denied Newsom's request to block the deployment.

But the advertisement was not related to these immigration protests in Los Angeles at all. It was apparently a prank.

Los Angeles Craigslist prank

What they're saying:

Joey LaFleur posted the ad. He hosts a prank show called "Goofcon1." LaFleur told the Associated Press that he "had no idea it was ever going to be connected to the riots. It was really a weird coincidence."

SUGGESTED: Trump defends decision to 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' amid LA protests

In a livestream the day after the post, LaFleur said he'd posted another similar ad in a forum in the Austin, Texas, area.

‘Paid insurrectionists’

Trump makes false claims about LA protests

RELATED: President Donald Trump made several misleading and false claims about the recent protests in Los Angeles as he spoke Tuesday at Fort Bragg, including exaggerations about violence, immigration, and local law enforcement response. Trump claimed LA would be "burning" without federal troops, described the protests as a "foreign invasion," claims that are heavily disputed by local residents and local and state leaders.

The other side:

On his Truth Social account on Sunday, Trump posted simply "paid insurrectionists," amid a flurry of posts about the LA protests.

While it was unclear if Trump knew about the Craigslist ad, many people shared screenshots of the listing on social media, claiming it was proof of paid rioters. 

"JUST ANNOUNCED: CALIFORNIA RIOT IS A FUNDED OPERATION," read one X post, adding that "President Trump was right about everything."

"Accidentally goofed the entire nation on the latest @goofcon1," LaFleur said in an Instagram story, addressing the Craigslist ad.