Ted Cruz challenges actor Ron Perlman to wrestle Jim Jordan after attack on Gaetz

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) challenged actor Ron Perlman to a wrestling match against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Monday, with Cruz predicting the “Sons of Anarchy” and “Hellboy” star couldn’t last five minutes with the former collegiate athlete and coach.

The challenge came after Perlman and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) got into a Twitter spat over U.S. Soccer removing a requirement to stand during the national anthem before matches, which included Perlman calling Jordan “the ugliest politician walking.”

“Listen Hellboy. You talk good game when you’ve got Hollywood makeup & stuntmen,” Cruz tweeted. “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?”

Perlman responded with some colorful language before saying he would wrestle Cruz while offering to donate $50,000 to Black Lives Matter if he were to lose.

I tell you what teddy boy, since mentioning jim jordan and wrestling is… problematic, why don’t we say fuck him and just make it you & me. I’ll give 50k to Black Lives Matter and you can keep all the tax payer money you were thinking of spending. https://t.co/6QDwCaEkpv

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) June 15, 2020

Teddy, Teddy, what kind of a muthafucka offers to have another guy, probably asleep at the time, kick another guy’s ass? https://t.co/v7EFmP1Mqe

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) June 15, 2020

The back-and-forth came after Gaetz tweeted that he’d “rather the U.S. not have a soccer team than have a soccer team that won’t stand for the National Anthem.”

“You shouldn’t get to play under our flag as our national team if you won’t stand when it is raised,” Gaetz added in a tweet that generated more than 175,000 likes and nearly 50,000 retweets as of Monday morning.

I’d rather the US not have a soccer team than have a soccer team that won’t stand for the National Anthem.

You shouldn’t get to play under our flag as our national team if you won’t stand when it is raised.

— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 11, 2020

Perlman later replied to Gaetz while tagging President Trump.

The US Soccer team called and you guessed it… said they couldn’t give any less of a fuck about what you two dipshits think. @realDonaldTrump @mattgaetz

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) June 13, 2020

Gaetz retorted by calling Perlman a “racial justice warrior” while also criticizing him for playing a fictional white supremacist on the FX series “Sons of Anarchy.”

Perlman has a history of criticizing Trump on social media while supporting Democratic candidates.

The 70-year-old endorsed Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) presidential campaign while joining other actors and performers in calling on a boycott of Georgia shortly after Republican Brian Kemp defeated Stacey Abrams (D) in the state’s gubernatorial race in 2018.