Ben Affleck and Matt Damon aren’t too happy right now after Donald Trump used an audio clip from their new movie to raise some cash for his presidential campaign!
Just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges related to his handling of classified documents, the 76-year-old posted a two-minute video to his Truth Social network on Saturday. And in it, he incorporated clips from his political career while Matt’s monologue from the movie Air played in the background. For those who don’t know, Matt portrays Nike sales representative Sonny Vaccaro in the film about the creation of the Air Jordan brand. At one point in the movie, he delivers this huge speech in an effort to get Michael Jordan to sign with the shoe brand. Ch-ch-check it out (below):
Trump is now cutting web videos w/ Matt Damon’s Air monologue as narration… pic.twitter.com/cBMBOaUr0Q
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 10, 2023
Related: Ivanka ‘Has Disappeared’ From Trump’s Life Amid 2nd Indictment
But in this case, Trump is asking for people to donate money to his campaign. Well, it turns out he did not have permission to use the scene from the movie in the fundraising video. And Artists Equity – the company co-founded by Ben and Matt and produced Air – wasn’t going to this matter slide! They released a statement condemning Trump’s usage of the monologue, saying:
“We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use.”
Artists Equity continued, noting that they forbid Trump from using their material:
“Specifically in terms of any & all rights available to us under U.S. copyright and intellectual property law, we hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from Air by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required, we do not grant such consent.”
His response to Matt and Ben? Well, take a look for yourself at what Axios reporter Alex Thompson received from Trump’s campaign spokesperson:
I sent Artist Equity’s statement to a Trump campaign spokesperson.
This was their response: pic.twitter.com/22cYQ5rwRH— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 10, 2023
Just no words…
It is no secret that Trump has a long history of using people’s work without their approval while on the campaign trail. Artists like the Rolling Stones, Queen, Neil Young, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, and more have blasted him for playing their music at his rallies. But you would think with all of the legal troubles Trump is facing right now, he wouldn’t want to also deal with copyright infringement! Despite Artists Equity’s disapproval, though, the video still remains up on the site at this time.
Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]