Ben Affleck, Matt Damon's Studio Says It Didn't Approve Trump's Use Of 'Air' Speech
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Former President Donald Trump’s campaign did not get approval to feature an audio clip of Matt Damon’s speech from the Ben Affleck-directed movie “Air” in a video he shared to social media, according to the production studio co-founded by the actors.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump shared a video that incorporated clips from his rallies alongside audio of Damon, who plays Nike sales representative Sonny Vaccaro in the movie about the creation of the Air Jordan brand.
“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,” a spokesperson for the actors’ production company Artists Equity told Axios national political correspondent Alex Thompson.
A Trump campaign spokesperson replied with an emoji in response to the statement, Thompson later reported.
Trump shared the video, alongside a donation link, just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges tied to his handling of classified documents.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
Update: a spokesperson for Damon and Ben Affleck's production company Artists Equity tells Axios: "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." https://t.co/TwkpK2dDZTpic.twitter.com/ANtY9FllUH
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 10, 2023
The production company isn’t alone in the entertainment world as far as claims that Trumphas usedmaterialwithout permission over the years.
Affleck and Damon have also been critical of Trump and have supported Democrats in the past.
Damon, in a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, described Trump’s actions as president as “pernicious” and praised Jimmy Kimmel’s criticism of the former president’s “both sides” remark in the wake of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Affleck has likewise slammed Trump and criticized him after he met him at a Fashion Week event in Milan.
“You knew you were at a cheesy party if Donald Trump was there,” he told The Guardian in 2017.
