(NEXSTAR) – An actor has been banned from the animated TV show “Bob’s Burgers” for allegedly attending the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, according to a report.
Jay Johnston, who voices Jimmy Pesto Sr. on the Fox series, has not been a part of “Bob’s Burgers” since May, according to two sources who spoke with The Daily Beast. Johnston has been part of the cast since the show’s first season, and has voiced Pesto in 43 episodes across 11 seasons.
Johnston’s previous credits also include “Mr. Show,” “Arrested Development,” “The Sarah Silverman Program” and “Anchorman.”
Rumors of Johnston’s involvement on Jan. 6 began swirling in early March, after the FBI posted photographs of a suspect allegedly involved in “violence at the U.S. Capitol.” Social media users quickly pointed out that the man, pictured below, bore a striking resemblance to Johnston. Among those were comedian Tim Heidecker, who worked with Johnston on the HBO show “With Bob and David.”
Snopes, a fact-checking website, said Heidecker wrote on Twitter that he had “confirmed” through “reliable sources” that the man, pictured above, was indeed Johnston. He later deleted the tweets, saying they “shouldn’t be used as some kind of official source of information or verification.”
Two other actors who have worked with Johnston, Spencer Crittenden and Cassandra Church, had also posted messages to Twitter in early March, saying Johnston was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Snopes reported. Church claimed in her post that Johnston “said he was there.”
When asked if Johnston had been banned from “Bob’s Burgers,” Fox told Nexstar it had “no comment.”
The FBI has not yet indicated whether they have positively identified the suspect in the photo. As of Dec. 18, Johnston had not been arrested or charged, according to the Department of Justice.
