President Donald Trump accused a comedian of being paid $250 to interrupt his Ohio rally with a song about Jeffrey Epstein. He offered no evidence for the payment allegation during his speech.
The performer was Rob Potylo, known online as Robby Roadsteamer. He disrupted Trump’s October 28 appearance at the Shoemaker Center on Ohio University’s Chillicothe campus, bringing his confrontational musical act into the president’s audience.
Potylo later told HuffPost that donations arrived after his video of the encounter went viral. He said those contributions exceeded the amount Trump had named.
The president was campaigning for Ohio Republicans ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, including Senator Jon Husted and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Both candidates also spoke at the event.
Robby Roadsteamer Recorded His Epstein Song and Removal
Singing The Epstein Plane to Trump at his rally tonite! The raw footage. With the cops pulling me out! (Uncut) pic.twitter.com/NxsvXNZiEp
— Robby Roadsteamer (@RobbyRoadsteame) October 29, 2026
Potylo said he had prepared for the visit by shaving his beard for the first time in 20 years. He told HuffPost he hoped the change would prevent security staff or Trump supporters from recognizing him after his previous appearances at political events.
The interruption came about five minutes into Trump’s remarks, while he was discussing Husted. Potylo sang about the president’s travel aboard Epstein’s private plane to the tune of the Village People’s “YMCA,” drawing boos from people around him.
His approximately 77-second recording captures him directing insults toward Trump and raising his middle finger before officers escort him through the crowd. “No political violence. We’re all buddies,” he says during his removal, as Mediaite reported.
Potylo also told HuffPost that a supporter knocked his phone from his hand and that he retrieved it from beneath a bench. After he was taken outside, the outlet reported, a local police officer protected him from being accosted by supporters.
Trump Claims the Payment Was Traced and Makes a Boyfriend Remark
Trump escalated his accusation by telling the crowd, “We have it traced now,” according to the speech transcript published by Trump Archive. He did not identify who supposedly supplied the money.
He also described the demonstrator as a professional protester and suggested that such interruptions happened frequently at his events. The president argued that the people involved damaged their own futures by getting into trouble.
Trump then made a personal remark about the man’s supposed boyfriend. “And now he goes home, and his boyfriend gets upset with him,” he said, before the audience resumed chanting “USA.”
Two More Hecklers Interrupt Before Trump Resumes His Speech
Multiple protesters interrupt Trump campaign rally in Chillicothe, Ohio pic.twitter.com/9lPI2C5iMj
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 29, 2026
Two other protesters interrupted during the opening minutes of the appearance. C-SPAN’s footage shows people being escorted away while Trump attempts to continue speaking and supporters chant from the surrounding seats.
According to indy100, the second man shouted toward the stage and raised his middle finger, although his words were unclear. A third protester repeatedly shouted obscenities and held up both middle fingers before security removed him.
The Shoemaker Center has a capacity of 2,400, and additional attendees watched on a large screen outside, local broadcaster WOUB reported. Trump ultimately spoke for nearly two hours. Protesters also gathered along University Drive and outside the building, where some argued with supporters entering the rally.
Trump Revisits His Past Association With Epstein
Responding to the song, Trump said he had expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago approximately 20 years earlier because he considered him a “whack job.” He also claimed that Epstein had associated with Democrats, distancing himself politically from the convicted sex offender.
Trump asserted that he had been “totally exonerated” in connection with Epstein, without identifying an investigation or legal decision that established that claim.
Their past social contact and Trump’s travel on Epstein’s aircraft are documented. A June 2025 review by PolitiFact described flight logs from the 1990s showing trips between Palm Beach and New York, along with photographs of the men at social events. Appearing in flight records does not, by itself, establish involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Roadsteamer’s Act Began in Boston Comedy and Music Clubs
Potylo introduced the Roadsteamer character in the early 2000s as frontman of the comic metal band The Sweatpant Boners. The act led to an on-air role at Boston radio station WBCN and appearances at local music venues and comedy clubs, according to a May profile in The Boston Globe.
His move into political performance included working with activist and perennial presidential candidate Vermin Supreme beginning in 2012. He later confronted Trump allies including Hulk Hogan and Steve Bannon, recording the encounters for his social media accounts.
Potylo was detained during an anti-ICE demonstration in Portland, Oregon, in October 2025. In January 2026, Hennepin County sheriff’s officers arrested him at a Minneapolis protest and held him for 27 hours, the Globe reported.
By May, he was recording an album of his political songs and considering a vinyl release, with photographs from his arrests as potential cover art.