Former ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Voice Artist Sentenced For Jan. 6 Activities

Jay Johnston, a former cast member of “Bob’s Burgers,” was sentenced to a year and a day behind bars on Monday for his participation in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The 56-year-old actor, who played Jimmy Pesto on the Fox animated sitcom, joined rioters’ “heave-ho” push against police guarding an entrance to the Capitol that day, The Associated Press reported.

In July, Johnston pleaded guilty to interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, which carried a maximum sentence of five years. Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for the actor.

During Monday’s sentencing, Johnston told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols that his participation in the riot was “a humiliation and a horrible oversight.”

Nichols, a Trump appointee, said the actor sounded “less contrite than many” other rioters and described Johnston’s conduct as “problematic — reprehensible, really,” according to the Hill.

Johnston’s sentencing memo claimed the government was using his status as “an acclaimed Hollywood actor” to “make a point to the public.”

On Monday in court, Johnston’s younger brother urged the judge to take his brother’s guilty plea and the loss of his acting career into consideration in his sentencing. Other members of Johnston’s family told Nichols that the actor’s teen daughter has autism and relied on Johnston for support.

The government’s sentencing memo included a photo of Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” for Halloween a couple of years after the attack.

“He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also accuse Johnston of cracking jokes during the attack on the Capitol and of recording the melee with a cellphone.