Danny Trejo claimed he was targeted when he was hit by a water balloon during a Fourth of July parade in Los Angeles, leading to a chaotic brawl involving the iconic actor.
The “Machete” star was in the passenger seat of a baby blue convertible next to his buddy Mario Castillo, driving through the Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood when a water balloon was thrown at them, the actor told TMZ.
Trejo said he panicked when he heard someone yell that the balloon contained “acid.”
“I’m so sad, the way I acted, so sad that grown men have to throw water balloons to enjoy their day,” Trejo told the outlet. “I don’t think I would have gotten out of the car if someone hadn’t yelled, ‘This is sour.’ That’s when I panicked,” he added.
Trejo jumped out of the car to attack a group of people on the sidewalk and began fighting with a man wearing a black sleeveless shirt.
The alleged suspect punched Trejo as the two grappled, causing the actor to fall backward onto the street, according to footage captured by KTTV.
Trejo and Castillo claimed they were chosen because they are Mexican, especially since no one else was hit with water balloons during the parade.
“It was targeted, because there was no one else doing it with balloons in front of us or behind us,” Castillo said. “You know it was right by our lowrider.”
“Come on, if you have a classic lowrider in a parade, that’s the last thing you want to have water or anything like that in it,” he added.
Nearly a dozen people had gathered around the classic car to greet the legendary actor when an onlooker reportedly threw a water balloon.
“There were about eight, nine, 10 people around the car when they threw that balloon, so no one was afraid they would hit anyone else,” he explained.
Trejo told TMZ he only reacted because someone grabbed him first.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the confrontation escalated when a second water balloon was thrown at Trejo’s head.
“Everybody was holding him back,” Arnie Abramyan, who filmed parts of the fight, told the newspaper. “There were a lot of people between him and the people throwing the water balloon. He was just upset. He was yelling, screaming, angry, trying to get to the guy who threw the water balloon.”
Others attending the Fourth of July celebration blamed Trejo for the brawl, saying he should have stayed in his car.
“[Trejo] “He was pushing women out of the way to get to these guys,” Sunland-Tujunga resident James Spishak told The Times. “There were kids there. It could have been really bad. It never would have happened if he had stayed in the car.”
“I love Danny Trejo, I think he’s a cool guy, but he’s got to know when to say ‘no,’” said Spishak, who claimed the actor punched him when he tried to break up the fight.
It took several parade-goers to break up the brawl and footage of the aftermath shows Castillo bleeding from his eye as Trejo is restrained.
The actor’s friend said he suffered a bruised right eye and red, swollen arms after people stomped on him while holding him down.
Trejo didn’t seem too impressed by the incident, laughing off the fight and calling it embarrassing.
“They couldn’t hurt me, it was sad, I would be ashamed if I attacked an 80-year-old man and he would still be talking and laughing,” Trejo said.