Ron DeSantis' anti-LGBTQ campaign video with 'Peaky Blinders' footage slammed by British show's creators
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ron DeSantis has come under fire by a very unexpected party — the creators of the British drama series 'Peaky Blinders'. The Florida governor had included an atrocious video as part of his campaign which shared a homophobic message using footage from 'Peaky Blinders' to diss Trump for being supportive of the LGBTQ community.
The British show's creators came forward to slam the Republican politician for the unauthorized usage of the footage. The video included memes from other movies and TV series as well to create a gravely unprofessional and embarrassing campaign promotional content.
Anti-LGBTQ campaign video shared by Ron DeSantis' team
A Twitter account named DeSantis War Room stands as the main source for the campaign and promotional work for the Governor of Florida. In the past as well, the account has shared videos comparing DeSantis favorably to Trump and other Democrat or leftist politicians through heavily edited meme videos as part of his campaign.
To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023
pic.twitter.com/FT7LdW4vls
This particular video was targeted at former President Trump for vowing to "protect our LGBTQ citizens". The first half of the video shared instances where Trump had shown support for the community along with other videos of queer Trump supporters. Then, it went on to call him out by comparing him to DeSantis, who has taken a lot more extreme steps against the community. These include laws against trans people and drag queens and propaganda about queer people 'harming' young children.
The video was posted right after the end of Pride month and was captioned with a sarcastic comment that said, "To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…" While the original video was made by a pro-DeSantis account, it was specifically reshared by his official campaign account. It is no secret that DeSantis has been called out for signing the controversial "Parental Rights in Education" bill that many opponents have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. DeSantis' stance on the LGBTQ community has been made clearer with the endorsement of this video as part of his campaign propaganda.
'Peaky Blinders' creators slam DeSantis for the video
Amongst other films and shows like 'Troy', 'American Psycho' and 'Wolf of the Wall Street', the video also used two different clips from 'Peaky Blinders'. The clips featured the main character Thomas Shelby played by Cillian Murphy.
The team of the show's creators, including Murphy, Steven Knight, Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions, and Banijay Rights, released a statement responding to the video. It said, "We confirm the footage of Tommy Shelby's character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis' campaign was obtained without permission of official license. We do not support nor endorse the video's narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner." The video however is still up on the Twitter account and the DeSantis team hasn't responded to the statement made by the 'Peaky Blinders' team.