
Photo by Eli Milchman, Illustration by Eric Torres

Audio By Carbonatix
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio loves fame — and a “Happy Birthday” message.
During his controversial, scandal-plagued tenure as the county’s top law enforcement officer, Arpaio often invited the media and television reporters to county jails to show off the inmates dressed in pink uniforms and underwear. He installed webcams to stream video of arrested inmates online. He once even hosted an “Inmate Idol” at Tent City with Alice Cooper.
If Arpaio loves anything more than racial profiling, it might be celebrities. His office is filled with signed photos of them. And if you ever find yourself on the former sheriff’s social media account — if you did, what wrong turn did you make? — you may come across a birthday message to some famous (or formerly famous) person.
If you have a modicum of fame and have ever posed for a photo with the 93-year-old Arpaio or sent him a signed headshot, odds are he’s jotted down your birthday in his calendar. Without fail, you can expect well-wishes from the ex-sheriff whenever your big day comes around. Just the gift you asked for.
The list of those happy-birthdayed by Arpaio is eclectic. He’s tossed birthday wishes at white nationalist antisemite Nick Fuentes and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” host Ty Pennington. Mike Tyson’s been on the receiving end of a birthday tweet, as has Jerry Springer. Arpaio loves the ladies, sending birthday tweets to Raquel Welch, Dolly Parton, Paula Abdul, Pamela Anderson and Kim Basinger. But he might not love anyone as much as Donald Trump, who shares Arpaio’s birthday of June 14. Arpaio has tweeted at Trump, on a variety of subjects, at least 50 times.
In just the last year alone, the 93-year-old Arpaio has posted an old photo with at least 20 celebrities on social media and wished them a “Happy Birthday.” Here are some of the more random names Arizona’s infamous sheriff has shouted out over the years.
Lou Ferrigno
Yep, that’s the Hulk, who served on Arpaio’s “Volunteer Sheriff’s Posse” in 2010. Arpaio was nearing the height of his notoriety at that point. You may not like the Hulk when he’s angry, but Ferrigno apparently took a genuine liking to Arpaio.
“I must warn you that we are in for a rude awakening, because this country right now is in a lot of danger,” Ferrigno said at the time.
Jay Leno
Arpaio has shared a photo of himself with the silver-haired former “The Tonight Show” host, which appears to date to sometime in the 1990s, on several occasions. Both men are in tuxedos and Leno points at Arpaio with his hand around his shoulder.
Leno and Arpaio have “similar and interesting backgrounds,” Arpaio wrote in his post. “We are from Massachusetts, are Italian, and our relatives comes (sic) from the same part of Italy,” he wrote. “Jay should also be proud since I recently became a Duke of Italy by a Prince of Italy.”
Arpaio didn’t make that last part up.
Stephen Colbert
Arpaio apparently isn’t above tossing a birthday message to a hater. On many occasions, he has wished a happy birthday to “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert, sharing a screenshot of an appearance Arpaio made on “The Colbert Report” in 2009.
“On his show, Tooning Out the News, cartoon anchors interviewed & blasted me for 10 min,” Arpaio wrote. “Vicious. Colbert doesn’t have the guts to interview me again. Hope he’s not superstitious on this day.”
Princess Anne
At least twice, Arpaio has shared a photo from 1998 that shows him meeting Princess Anne, the daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth II and sister to King Charles III.
“I met with her when I was Sheriff,” Arpaio wrote. “We had a great conversation.”
Well, it’s better than Prince Andrew.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
You can tell the photo is old because The Rock has hair. Arpaio met Johnson at one of the county sheriff’s facilities while Johnson was working on his 2004 action thriller film “Walking Tall.”
James Earl Jones
Last year, Arpaio wished a happy birthday to the late James Earl Jones, best known for voicing the characters of Darth Vader and Mufasa.
Sammy “the Bull” Gravano
Gravano isn’t a celebrity as much as he’s a former mob enforcer-turned-informant with a string of murders to his name. “Sammy the Bull” was the underboss of the Gambino crime family of New York City before becoming a government witness.
Gravano returned the birthday wishes by coming to Arpaio’s birthday party this year.
Sean Astin
Is Arpaio a fan of “The Goonies” or of “Stranger Things”? Maybe he’s into “Lord of the Rings” or is a big “Rudy” guy. He certainly seemed happy to meet Astin, who starred in all of those. The two posed for a photo that, judging by its appearance, was taken long after the bloom had fallen off the rose of America’s Toughest Sheriff.
“I don’t care what anyone says… I know you are one of the good ones!!!” Astin apparently wrote on the photo — a surprising message from an actor known to be quite left-leaning. (Indeed, Arpaio lamented in his message that Astin campaigned against the “only hero in my lifetime,” Donald Trump.)
An inquiry about the photo sent to Astin via the Screen Actors Guild, which Astin leads as president, has not been returned.
John Travolta
Has Arpaio ever met Travolta? It’s not clear. Arpaio calls him his “friend” and says he appreciates Travolta’s “past comments,” but a moderate Google search pulls up little evidence that they’ve ever met or that Travolta has ever talked about Arpaio publicly.
Arpaio also notes that Travolta shared a birthday with Arpaio’s son, Rocco. Notably, it does not appear that Arpaio has ever written a birthday tweet for Rocco.
Linda Ronstadt
Arpaio’s birthday message to Ronstadt, a rock legend and a Tucson native, is a real journey. He starts by noting that Ronstadt called him “a sadistic man” and marched against his policies in 2010. He then goes on to prove her point, explaining how he forced county jail inmates to listen to her songs, which only the “illegal aliens” liked.
“However I want to commend her police chief brother for his dedicated service,” he wraps up, almost as if he’s aware his tweet had jumped the rails.