Surprise, surprise… It turns out that whoever put together that cringe-worthy, vile, anti-LGBTQ campaign advert for Ron DeSantis didn’t think it necessary to seek permission from the creators of some of its content.
The advert spliced together clips of Donald Trump making vaguely pro-LGBTQ+ comments and contrasted them with DeSantis’s hardline anti-queer stance. It also included ‘Chad’ like images of alpha males and fictional characters. These included Christian Bale in American Psycho and Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders. It sought to paint DeSantis as a tough, plays-by-his-own-rules sort of guy.
The ad was shared last Friday, the last day of Pride Month, by the DeSantis War Room account. It managed to upset even far-right gay Republicans. George Santos called it “the gayest crap” he’d ever seen and Richard Grenell blasted it as “insanely homophobic.”
Now, the creators of the hit UK show Peaky Blinders have spoken out. They say clips of the show were included without authorization.
“On behalf of the partners of Peaky Blinders — Steven Knight, Cillian Murphy, Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions and Banijay Rights — we confirm the footage of Tommy Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission or official licence. We do not support nor endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”
How long before the makers of American Psycho speak out?
DeSantis doubles down
The DeSantis campaign advert has attracted criticism from across the political spectrum. A sizeable number of Republicans realize that alienating even right-leaning LGBTQ+ supporters could cost crucial votes.
Despite this, DeSantis appeared to double down on the video’s message. He appeared yesterday on OutKick’s Tomi Lahren is Fearless show.
Asked about his claims Trump was pro-LGBTQ+, DeSantis said, “I think, you know, identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants, I think that’s totally fair game because he’s now campaigning saying the opposite, that he doesn’t think that you should have men competing in women’s things like athletics.”
He continued, “And so we’ve been very clear on it, that we believe in protecting the rights of our girls and the rights of women athletes to be able to participate with fairness and with integrity. And ultimately when you talk about some of the gender ideology that’s being unleashed in this country, in the state of Florida, we are fighting back against that.”
Responding to DeSantis’ remarks, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Hill: “A desperate DeSanctus campaign, with a flailing candidate, in its last throes of relevancy.”
Related*
George Santos blasts Ron DeSantis’ latest campaign ad: “The gayest crap I’ve ever seen”
And Pete Buttigieg had a few choice words about it, too.
GOP operative calls Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis the “worst candidate” he’s ever seen & all the latest polls agree
Absolutely no one seems enamored with DeSantis.
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RIGay
Of course he doubled down. No one in the GOP ever wants to own their $hit.
jax florida
That ad looks like it was made by a guy sitting in his mother’s basement with his hand in his shorts.
cc423
Looks like?! Hahaha! You have perfectly described DeSantis’ entire existence.
Richpontone
Come on!
Give Raunchy Ron a break!
The Commercial was just a “Wet Fever Dream” for when he torpedoes his Presidential Campaign, and gets evicted from the Florida Governor’s Mansion.
Then he can dump Casey D., disowns his children for saying “Gay”, gets down with “The Lubed Lads” and gets it on at “Muscle Beach”..
Then he “can get it both ways”
Bosch
Patrick Bateman from American Psycho? The closeted coke-head who kills people? That’s DeSantis’ idea of masculinity?
DBMC
If Ron had killed women with a staple gun would anyone really be surprised?
Bosch
Good point. The only surprising part of that story would be that the women went home with him, voluntarily.
Mack
Come on people start suing their asses. As long as content owners allow them to use their material without permission or consequences they will.