Tommy Chong, half of the long-running stoner comedy team, Cheech & Chong, said former President George W. Bush targeted him and allegedly ordered a “hit” on him.
The 86-year-old claimed his criminal conviction in 2003 for selling drug paraphernalia online, specifically 7,500 bongs and water pipes, was orchestrated by the Republican president, who enjoyed two terms from 2000 to 2008.
Chong served eight months at a federal prison in California for his crimes after entering into a plea deal. Even though the case against him was initiated by the U.S attorney for Western Pennsylvania, the comedian said it was orchestrated by Bush and his family.
“They had a hit on me. The Bush family,” Chong said on Sunday’s episode of comedian Bill Maher‘s podcast, Club Random. He appeared on the podcast alongside his comedy partner, Cheech Marin.
Tommy Chong attends the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation’s 11th Annual charity boxing night on May 25, 2022, in Beverly Hills, California. The comedian spoke about his 2003 conviction, saying it was orchestrated by former U.S. President George W. Bush.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Maher pushed Chong on his claims and asked him whether he believed the former president had tried to have him killed. The comedian then clarified his comments by saying the “hit” he was referring to meant that he believed his arrest was timed as a political distraction.
“He was invading Iraq, so they needed some sort of hippie bull****,” Chong said of the U.S’s polarizing invasion of the Middle Eastern country in 2003.
Maher then asked him: “Wag the dog?” which is a reference to a political strategy used to create a diversion for the public from a controversial or damaging issue.
“Yeah. So they attacked me, and they sentenced me on 9/11,” Chong replied and added, that “the judge, Schwartz was his name, he had a reputation of doing whatever the Bush people wanted done. And so that’s why he was given my thing.”
Cheech added: “They needed a face for their campaign because they were going after paraphernalia on the internet.”
Maher concluded by asking Chong if he harbored any “bitterness” towards Bush or his family, to which Chong replied: “No, no,” but he admitted the experience “was a life changer for me.”
Newsweek contacted Bush’s media team by email on Tuesday for comment.
Chong was arrested as part of Operation Pipe Dreams, a crackdown on businesses selling drug paraphernalia online launched by Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The comedian opened up on the effects prison had on his family in a 2008 interview with Newsweek, during which he described himself as a “a political prisoner.”
“Prison was devastating to my family, especially my wife,” he said. “It wasn’t tough on me. Actually it was quite a nice experience.”
