The White House sharply criticized actor Mark Hamill after the Star Wars star shared an AI-generated image depicting President Donald Trump lying in a shallow grave beneath the words “If Only.”
Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the long-running franchise, has been an outspoken critic of Trump for years. He deleted the image from his Bluesky account Thursday and later apologized, saying he was not calling for the president’s death.
“Actually, I was wishing him the opposite of dead, but apologize if you found the image inappropriate,” Hamill wrote in a follow-up post. He added that Trump “should live long enough to be held accountable for his crimes.”
The White House’s Rapid Response 47 account responded on Twitter to the original post, which showed Trump beneath a gravestone marked “Donald J Trump, 1946-2024.”
“Mark Hamill is one sick individual,” the official account said. “These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves. This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.”
.@MarkHamill is one sick individual.
These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves.
This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President. pic.twitter.com/daJqcyssm7
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 7, 2026
The exchange comes amid heightened concern over political violence in the United States, where public figures across the ideological spectrum have been targeted in recent years. Last month, an armed individual attempted to breach security at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, apparently targeting Trump.
Other incidents have underscored the increasingly volatile climate. In September, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a university event in Utah. In 2022, Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer inside the couple’s San Francisco home. And in 2025, Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in an attack that further deepened fears about politically motivated violence.
Trump has also faced criticism from opponents who say his own rhetoric has contributed to the country’s coarsening political culture. A 2024 report from The Atlantic cataloged dozens of instances in which he allegedly praised or encouraged violence against fellow Americans, including a remark about aiming guns at the face of former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Hamill’s post followed another political appearance that drew attention from Trump’s allies. On Monday, the actor appeared alongside former President Barack Obama in a brief YouTube video promoting the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
🔥🚨JUST IN: Former President Obama partnered up with Star Wars actor Mark Hamill in an attempt show off his library that has been at the receiving end of thousands of jokes online. pic.twitter.com/D6BakQ1Phb
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) May 4, 2026
The video, styled after the iconic Star Wars opening crawl, carried the caption “Hope has a new home” and featured Hamill and Obama discussing the center’s potential as “a force for change.”
