Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company recently released their new movie Air. Following the release of the autobiographical film, the two actors had to condemn Donald Trump. Evidently, the former president made an unauthorized use of a monologue from the movie, in his new donation-seeking campaign.
The 2024 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social, featuring the speech from Air, on Saturday. Witnessing the unauthorized use of the monologue, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck tore into the former president and publicly blasted him for his misconduct. The production company even stated Trump’s campaign never reached out to them for permission.
Donald Trump Made Unauthorized Use Of Air Monologue
Former president Donald Trump founded his alt-tech social media platform, Truth Social, in October 2021. Launching a website under the same name in 2022, Trump often posts free speeches related to different aspects on his website. Recently, on Saturday, the 76-year-old politician posted a video on his Truth Social, featuring Matt Damon’s monologue from Air.
In the video, 2024 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, was seen stepping out of planes and greeting supporters. While for the background sound, the video featured Matt Damon‘s monologue “Money can buy you almost anything. It can’t buy you immortality, that you have to earn.”
Evidently, Trump used the Damon-delivered speech in his video without permission, which was originally spoken in an effort to get Michael Jordan to sign with Nike. Although the inspirational Air monologue juxtaposed with the scenes from Trump’s political career, it was still considered unethical by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company.
Ben Affleck And Matt Damon Criticized Donald Trump
The video, which was posted by Donald Trump on Saturday, ended with a donation screen promising to “Make America Great Again”. The video was shared more than 10,000 times on Trump’s social media site and had more than 34K likes. Although it was late for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to take a step, they still issued a statement. The two actors’ spokesperson condemned the 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 or for any other use.” the statement read.
Adding further details and specifications to the condemning statement, Affleck and Damon’s Artists Equity denied consent to use any material from Air in Trump’s campaign.
“Specifically in terms of any and all rights available to us under US 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.” according to the statement.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company stated, the Trump campaign never reached out to them for permission to use the speech. Therefore, they are now forbidding the 2024 candidate from using any movie material for future use.
Source: Deadline
