Ron Perlman challenges Ted Cruz to wrestling match

The Hellboy star and the politician have engaged in a Twitter feud over the past few days.

Actor Ron Perlman has challenged Texas Senator Ted Cruz to a wrestling bout.

“You talk s— about New York every chance you get. My hometown. It’s personal. Let’s go mofo!” the Hellboy star wrote on Twitter earlier today, after promising to give a $50,000 donation to Black Lives Matter if Cruz gets in the ring with him.

How did we get to this bizarre state of affairs? The story begins last Tuesday when the U.S. soccer federation reversed its policy of prohibiting players from protesting against police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem. This led Republican congressman Matt Gaetz to tweet on June 11,  “You shouldn’t get to play under our flag as our national team if you won’t stand when it is raised.” On June 13, Gaetz was backed by Donald Trump who retweeted a news article about the congressman’s position about the soccer team, adding the message, “I won’t be watching anymore!”

And that’s when Perlman, a longstanding critic of the President, got involved. The actor responded to Trump’s comment by hitting Twitter himself for a message addressed to both Gaetz and the commander-in-chief. “The US Soccer team called and you guessed it…” he wrote, “said they couldn’t give any less of a f— about what you two dips—s think.”

From that point on, things got nasty — or nastier — until Sunday when Perlman posted a photograph of Gaetz’s fellow Republican congressman Jim Jordan along with the message, “You’re lucky for this guy Matt. If it weren’t for him you’d be the ugliest politician walking.”

Jordan was a wrestler in college, which explains what happened next. Not long after Perlman’s tweet, Cruz decided to wade into proceedings. “Listen Hellboy,” he wrote. “You talk good game when you’ve got Hollywood makeup & stuntmen. But I’ll bet $10k—to the nonpolitical charity of your choice—that you couldn’t last 5 min in the wrestling ring w/Jim Jordan w/o getting pinned. You up for it? Or does your publicist say too risky?”

Cruz did not have to wait long for a response.

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“Wait, is this THEE Ted Cruz?” Perlman wrote. “Holy s— man! Is this the same guy let little Donnie call his wife A dog and his father an assassin and now kisses his ass? Yo, can I get your autograph man?”

Perlman continued in a similar vein, while referencing an accusation that Jordan lied about not knowing of sexual abuse allegations against a university doctor while the politician was an assistant coach at Ohio State University. (Jordan has denied all wrongdoing.)

“I tell you what teddy boy, since mentioning jim jordan and wrestling is… problematic, why don’t we say f— him and just make it you & me,” wrote Perlman. “I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending.”

“I get it, you’re rich,” replied Cruz. “But, apparently, soft. You sure seem scared to wrestle Jordan (whom you keep insulting). Can’t take the heat? Need to get a manicure?”

“Teddy, Teddy, what kind of a muthaf—a offers to have another guy, probably asleep at the time, kick another guy’s ass?” Perlman wrote in a tweet which brings us up to date on imbroglio. “Let’s get back to bidness ted. jim jordan’s too easy, just a little b—-. But you teddy, you talk shit about New York every chance you get. My hometown. It’s personal. Let’s go mofo!”

See their exchange below.

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