The Daily Wire’s pro-ICE film has run into a wall in Montana. Livingston city officials voted on Saturday to temporarily suspend the production’s permit, citing mounting complaints from residents and a local food bank. The decision freezes filming until the city attorney weighs in.
Why production for Daily Wire’s Pawn Shop was temporarily suspended in Montana
Commissioners acted during a Special City Commission Meeting, voting to immediately suspend Bonfire Pawn Shop LLC’s permit. The motion directs the city attorney to give a legal opinion in a timely manner, after which the commission will reconsider the permit. That follow-up meeting must happen no later than 5:00 p.m. on October 5, when officials could amend, suspend, or revoke it outright.
The pause comes days after locals took to the streets to protest the shoot. Reports claim the film opens with a scene depicting the fatal ICE shooting of Renée Good, which took place in Minnesota earlier this year. The production had been filming in Livingston, a small city in southwestern Montana, before the commission stepped in.
Residents packed the meeting to air grievances, saying the shoot disrupted daily life and left them feeling unsafe. They also raised alarms about inadequate notice regarding hazardous stunts. The complaints painted a picture of a production that residents felt had rolled into town without proper consideration for the people living there.
Commission member Cindy Daniels said she felt that “they’ve taken advantage of the situation to make their movie… We’re not profiting off that movie. So they’re not thinking of the veterans that live on K Street. They’re not thinking of the food resource center.”
The Livingston Food Resource Center, the city’s only food bank, says the production hurt the people it serves. In a recent Instagram statement, the organization explained that “people who already face numerous obstacles to meeting their most basic needs are not facing additional completely avoidable barriers to accessing food because of how this production was permitted.” The center added, “We were not notified of the plans to film,” and noted pantry attendance dropped 17% on Tuesday — an eight-week low compared with its usual 90 to 100-plus households per day. It called that outcome “unacceptable.”
Until the city attorney gives a legal opinion and the commission reconvenes, filming remains on hold.
