Donald Trump’s newest campaign video employs a familiar voice, but instead of using the echoes of the former president, it uses Matt Damon.
The video, which Trump unveiled on Truth Social Saturday, overlays images and videos of the former POTUS over the audio of Damon’s inspiration monologue from the recently released biopic drama “Air,” which documents Nike’s pivotal partnership with Michael Jordan.
The campaign video references Trump’s recent indictment, showcasing images from cable news coverage of that historic announcement paired with Damon’s statement that “once they’ve built you as high as they possibly can, they’re gonna tear you back down.” By the end, Damon says “everyone will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up, except for you; you’re gonna be remembered forever,” as clips of Trump come into focus.
The monologue, of course, references events within the 2023 sports drama, and not Trump’s recent legal woes or future trajectory.
According to Axios, Artists Equity, the production company behind “Air” that was co-founded by Damon and Ben Affleck, did not know nor consent to the “Air” audio being used in the campaign video.
“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,” a spokesperson for Artists Equity said in a statement to Axios.
The Axios journalist also reported that the spokesperson amended the statement, saying “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.”
When the Axios reporter sent the statement from Artists Equity to the Trump campaign, the spokesperson for Trump responded with an emoji. It remains to be seen if Trump’s team will remove the video from the social media platform.
TheWrap was unable to get reach a spokesperson for Artists Equity.
