Bet you didn’t think there would be a controversy today between Ron DeSantis and Peaky Blinders.
But the team behind the Netflix gangster series has slammed the Florida governor and would-be Republican presidential nominee for using their show’s footage in a heavily criticized anti-LGBTQ campaign ad.
The rather bizarre video (embedded below for context) released June 30 by DeSantis’s “rapid response operation” features former President Trump making statements in support of the LGBTQ movement and is contrasted by a slew of headlines condemning DeSantis for his policy attacks on the LGBTQ community. The footage is intercut with heroic shots of murderous characters in cinema, such as Brad Pitt in Troy, Christian Bale in American Psycho, and Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders.
On Wednesday, the Peaky Blinders team fired back: “On behalf of the partners of Peaky Blinders – Steven Knight, Cillian Murphy, Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions and Baniay Rights – we confirm the footage of Tommy Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission of official license. We do not support nor endorse the vide’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”
The ad has caused many Republicans to criticize DeSantis – who has been locked in a distant second place in the polls behind Trump — as “desperate” and “extreme.”
Politicians using Hollywood footage and popular music for political rallies and ads, only to be told off by the stars who created the content, is practically an election year tradition. Trump famously tried to repeatedly adopt the font and slogan from Game of Thrones for online ads, only to be told by HBO to knock it off.
Peaky Blinders debuted in 2013 and ran for six seasons with Murphy playing a gangster in post-World War I Birmingham.
Netflix and DeSantis had no immediate comment.
Source: Hollywood
