Former Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli sat down with Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson on Monday and claimed a “joke” he made about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton being a “lizard person” landed him in hot water.
Shkreli appeared on “Tucker on Twitter” to break down his 2017 trial where he was accused of inflating the prices of a life-saving drug. The former pharmaceutical executive was found guilty a year later and sentenced to seven years in prison. (RELATED: Video Shows Man Dragged From Hillary Clinton Rally After Asking Epstein Question)
“Well, you know, I’d take it a few months before that where I was on bail and happy go lucky. I was actually getting into the software business at the time … I was expecting to go to prison, but I didn’t expect to go for four years and I made a joke on social media about Hillary Clinton,” Shkreli stated.
Ep. 36 What happens when you give Hillary Clinton the finger? Ask Martin Shkreli. He did four and a half years in prison. That may be why Sam Bankman-Fried just asked his advice on doing time. pic.twitter.com/vMGiqDk4tR
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 6, 2023
“And all of a sudden I found myself in front of a judge and they’re throwing me in prison. And yeah, I said something stupid – snide. It was joke – you know as a comedian, not all your jokes land. And I – actually one of the reasons I have a social media following is, I think some people find my stuff funny. And you know, I tried to poke fun at power and authority and you know all kinds of people who need to be taken down a peg … and, you know, this joke fell flat. It was some silly joke about Hillary Clinton’s DNA, and it got taken the wrong way by actually a New Yorker reporter – kind of flagged it.”
Prior to his conviction in 2017, Shkreli explained that he had his bail revoked after he offered $5,000 for a strand of Clinton’s hair. “So on [Hillary Clinton’s] book tour, try to grab a hair from her. I must confirm the sequences I have. Will pay $5,000 per hair obtained from Hillary Clinton. Payment after the sequence matches. Good luck, patrollers,” Shkreli said at the time, The Hill reported.
District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto, who presided over Shkreli’s case, called the comment “a solicitation to assault in exchange for money” and therefore was not protected by the First Amendment, according to The New York Times.
“It gotten taken the wrong way, by actually a New Yorker reporter kinda flagged it. This guy named Ali. He sort of flagged it, basically took it to the government and said, ‘look at this, arrest him’ and they did,” Shkreli continued. “They said this is a threat to Hillary Clinton.”
“It was about, if I could get a sample of her hair, I can determine through DNA analysis – one of my expertises – that she may or may not be a lizard person. Which was completely, you know – it’s a joke, obviously. You know, she’s a human being,” Shkreli stated.
“It’s clear it was a joke. I don’t want Hillary Clinton’s hair. I’m not going to do a DNA analysis … and you know, they said this is a serious threat to her safety … and the government took it and ran with it. The judge said ‘you know what you’re right, who would find this funny’? And my lawyer is sort of sitting there saying ‘about half of America thinks this shit’s funny.’”
Shkreli was released in May in 2022, after having served roughly five years of his original sentence. His early release stemmed from completing “all programmes that allowed for his prison sentence to be shortened,” according to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman.