Los Angeles Craigslist ad for paid protesters a prank, podcast host says

Yahoo

a day ago

The Brief
A Craigslist ad appeared to be offering thousands of dollars to people volunteering to protest in Los Angeles.
The ad was posted the day before thousands began protesting in downtown Los Angeles against ICE and President Donald Trump's immigration policies.
The advertisement was reportedly a prank, according to the podcast host who made the listing.
LOS ANGELES - Protests against ICE and President Donald Trump's immigration policies have continued for days in downtownLos Angeles, with the president calling in the National Guard and hundreds of Marines to control the demonstrations.
Now, a recent ad posted on a Los Angeles-area Craigslist forum is at the center of controversy. Some are using the ad as proof that protesters are being paid, but the man who made the listing now says the whole thing was a prank for a podcast.
RELATED: LA ICE protests, Day 5: Demonstrators gather again as tensions continue to run high
What we know
An ad popped up on the Los Angeles Craigslist forum for general labor jobs late last week. The listing was looking for "the toughest bad***es in the city," offering to pay them $6,500 to $12,500 a week.
"We are forming a select team of THE TOUGHEST dudes in the area. This unit will be activated only when the situation demands it — BUT YOU GET PAID EVERY WEEK NO MATTER WHAT," the now-deleted ad reads. "High-pressure, high-risk, no room for hesitation. We need individuals who do not break, panic, or fold under stress and are basically all around kick*** dudes."
The listing said it was looking for people with military experience, "except for Marines, we don't work with Marines anymore, long story," and people with "experience facing trained opposition."
The backstory
A day after the Craigstlist ad was posted, massive protests broke out in downtown Los Angeles to speak out against multiple ICE raids across the region. Protests continued throughout the weekend and into the next week in Los Angeles, Paramount and Orange County.
SUGGESTED: Newsom fires back at Trump over deployment of National Guard in LA
Trump has since deployed the National Guard and several hundred Marines to the area to try and disperse the protesters. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued the Trump administration over the move, but a federal judge on Tuesday denied Newsom's request to block the deployment.
But the advertisement was not related to these immigration protests in Los Angeles at all. It was apparently a prank.
What they're saying
Joey LaFleur posted the ad. He hosts a prank show called "Goofcon1." LaFleur told the Associated Press that he "had no idea it was ever going to be connected to the riots. It was really a weird coincidence."
SUGGESTED: Trump defends decision to 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' amid LA protests
In a livestream the day after the post, LaFleur said he'd posted another similar ad in a forum in the Austin, Texas, area.
The other side
On his Truth Social account on Sunday, Trump posted simply "paid insurrectionists," amid a flurry of posts about the LA protests.
While it was unclear if Trump knew about the Craigslist ad, many people shared screenshots of the listing on social media, claiming it was proof of paid rioters.
"JUST ANNOUNCED: CALIFORNIA RIOT IS A FUNDED OPERATION," read one X post, adding that "President Trump was right about everything."
"Accidentally goofed the entire nation on the latest @goofcon1," LaFleur said in an Instagram story, addressing the Craigslist ad.
The Source
Information in this story is from an unlisted Craigstlist ad, a YouTube stream from the "Goofcon1" channel, an interview between podcast host Joey LaFleur and the Associated Press, comments made by President Donald Trump at Fort Bragg on June 10, 2025, a June 8, 2025, Truth Social post from Trump and other social media posts about the Craigslist ad.