Danny Trejo got into a physical altercation during a Fourth of July parade in Los Angeles this week, with punches and chairs being thrown.
The actor, 80, known for his roles in Heat, From Dusk Till Dawn, Con Air and Machete, appeared to respond angrily after someone threw a water balloon at his convertible car during the celebrations on Thursday (July 4).
In footage of the incident posted on TMZ, Trejo gets out of the car after the balloon makes contact and strides over to a group of young men, at which point punches start to be thrown and Trejo falls to the ground.
“I’m so sad that I behaved the way I behaved,” the actor later told TMZ. “I’m so sad that grown men gotta throw water balloons to enjoy a day.”
Danny Trejo pictured in 2014. CREDIT: Collection Christophel / Alamy Stock Photo
“I don’t think I would’ve even got out of the car if somebody hadn’t yelled, ‘It’s acid’. That’s when I got panicked. When I got out of the car – boom! – then a balloon hit me. Then I look up and I see a guy holding [one]. I went over [and said,] ‘What the hell is wrong with you?”
Trejo and his friend Mario Castillo, who was in the car with him, both insinuated that they felt the provocation was racially motivated.
“I’m said, I’m just sad,” Trejo, who is Mexican-American, said. “There’s still people like from the ‘50s and ‘60s that still feel the same way, because no one else was targeted.”
“It was targeted,” Castillo added. “There was nobody else who was getting hit with balloons in front of us or behind us. They were just at our lowriders.”
Castillo sustained a black eye and other minor injuries, while Trejo said he was unharmed. “I’m alright, they couldn’t hurt me,” he said. “I would be embarrassed if I attacked an 80-year-old man and he’s still talking and laughing.”
Last year, Trejo celebrated 55 years of being “clean and sober”, and encouraged those faced with addiction challenges not to give up hope. “I’ve done this one day at a time, and for anyone out there struggling YOU CAN TOO!”
The actor has spoken in the past that he was eight years old when he first tried marijuana and 12 when he started drinking. After developing a dangerous heroin habit, he found himself in and out of correctional facilities for several years, including 18 months in California’s notorious San Quentin in his mid-20s.
Trejo eventually went on to become a drug and alcohol counsellor for at-risk teens.
“I really love where I’m at right now,” Trejo told NME in 2020. “And I know I couldn’t have got here if I was just a good guy, I don’t think I ever would have got here.”
Back in 2021, Trejo opened up about the time when he met Charles Manson while serving time in prison. In his memoir Trejo, the actor confirmed that he met Manson in 1961, eight years before the Tate murders.
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