Actor Ben Stiller attends an NBA basketball Chicago Bulls against New York Knicks Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur)
Following a tweet praising his favorite New York Knicks basketball win on Saturday, Ben Stiller was inundated with furious messages because many mistook it as a response to the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, which had overshadowed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner just minutes before.
The actor posted “Got it done” on X roughly 20 minutes after a guy tried to break through security to enter the Washington Hilton, which was holding the annual black-tie function in its ballroom and where numerous top Trump administration officials were present.
Stiller, a lifelong Knicks fan, had spent the evening tweeting about their 114-98 triumph over the Atlanta Hawks. However, the timing of the message sparked a wave of criticism, particularly from pro-Trump individuals who saw it as a statement on the incident.
“Got what done? ” asked Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC).
Trump’s former acting director of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell, said: “WTF? “
Those answers made the tweet popular, receiving over 10 million views when the actor’s posts typically attract hundreds of thousands, prompting dozens of other individuals to condemn what they mistakenly assumed was a joke about the dinner attack.
Supporters of the actor immediately sought to correct the record, and both Mace’s and Grenell’s tweets got a Community Note that read: “Ben Stiller’s tweet refers to the New York Knicks’ 114-98 playoff victory over the Atlanta Hawks, as indicated by his preceding Knicks post and the game recap. “
The turmoil grew in the hour after the assault as more information emerged about the suspect, Cole Allen, 31, of California, who is charged with gun and assault offences and is set to appear in court on Monday.
Stiller did not respond to the surge of attention the post received, and he has since posted multiple more tweets regarding the Knicks’ victory. The actor, a Democrat, spoke out against the Trump administration’s use of scenes from his 2008 film Tropic Thunder in social media videos about the conflict in Iran.
