Chuck Norris was such a vocal conservative in the years leading up to his death at age 86 on Friday that by January 6, 2021, people easily believed he was a participant in the deadly Capitol riots.
Norris, a six-time undefeated World Professional Middleweight Karate champion and action star of screens both big and small, ultimately made his personal brand synonymous with the MAGA movement.
His “tough guy” image, buoyed by the popular, long-running series Walker, Texas Ranger, made him a recurring internet meme in the early 2000s, when “Chuck Norris facts” became a common joke online. He parlayed the humor into his 2008 endorsement of Mike Huckabee for president. “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse,” Huckabee says in one ad with the star. “He tells America how it’s gonna be.”
After President Barack Obama’s first term ended, Norris campaigned against his re-election with a PSA, warning that the country “could be lost forever” and that another Obama win would lead to “1,000 years of darkness.”
After Donald Trump emerged as a candidate in 2016, Norris “wholeheartedly” endorsed him in an op-ed, in which he also warned readers of the “monumental consequences” of “another Clinton presidency.”
Then came the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Norris trended on X (formerly Twitter) in 2021 after a viral tweet showed a photo of a man resembling him standing next to a Jan. 6 rioter wearing a Trump 2020 hat. The photo was captioned “Chuck Norris.”
Wrote one user in a now-deleted post, with the photo, “Wait, so are we just not going to mention the fact that Chuck Norris was at the MAGA insurrection?”
The rumor and photo caught enough traction that Norris’s rep told Yahoo Entertainment, “This is not Chuck Norris and is a wannabe lookalike, although Chuck is much more handsome. Chuck remains on his range in Texas, where he has been with his family.”
Norris also wrote in a post on Instagram at the time, “It has come to my attention that, unfortunately, there was a Chuck Norris lookalike at the DC Capitol riots on January 6th. It wasn’t me, and I wasn’t there.”
As for the riots themselves, Norris shared his thoughts in a blog post at the time.
“My wife, Gena, and I wish to convey our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the Capitol police officer and other lives lost in the U.S. Capitol last week,” he wrote. “Regardless of where you land in your politics, it is profoundly heart-wrenching these Americans died.”
Still, Norris blamed “progressivism” for the chaos, writing, “The truth is, modern progressivism and our politically correct culture have obliterated the true meaning of the First Amendment.”
“We need to go back to our founders’ original intent if we are to move forward and heal the divisions across our land,” he continued. “Censorship and suppressing free speech (whether in the workplace, public schools, or on social media platforms) is un-American and unconstitutional—but so is justifying destructive or violent rebellion on the basis of patriotism, the U.S. Constitution, or America’s founders’ precedent.”
Norris was mum on the Trump administration’s crackdown on anti-ICE protests and the Trump FCC’s threats to TV personalities who are critical of him. He never expressed buyer’s remorse for endorsing Trump in 2016 and wrote columns praising Trump without formally endorsing him in the 2020 and 2024 elections.
