The production team for the hit Netflix series Peaky Blinders has ripped Ron DeSantis for copyright violation after the Florida governor used a clip of Cillian Murphy’s character in the show without license or permission. Photo courtesy of Ron DeSantis/Twitter
July 5 (UPI) — The production team for the hit series Peaky Blinders has ripped Ron DeSantis for copyright violation after the Florida governor used a clip of Cillian Murphy’s character in the show without license or permission.
DeSantis’ presidential campaign shared a super-clip bashing former President Donald Trump for what his team suggested was support for the LGBTQ community.
The video, which lasts just over a minute, criticizes Trump for seemingly supporting multiple gay-rights topics, as well as selling “LGBTQ for Trump” shirts, saying he would allow Caitlyn Jenner to use the bathroom at Trump Tower and for celebrating Pride Month in a 2019 tweet. Midway through, the video switches to a meme-filled, music-driven celebration of all the steps DeSantis has made to strip people of their rights in Florida.
The bizarre clip includes several extremely quick shots of Murphy as Thomas Shelby, the fictional boss of a brutal crime family in Britain in the 1920s, smoking a cigarette as if comparing DeSantis’ leadership style with that of a criminal.
The video also flashes scenes from other films, such as American Psycho, in which Christian Bale plays a murderous psychopath, and The Wolf of Wall Street in a scene that glorifies financial crimes.
“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 Thomas Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission or official license,” the show creators said in a statement.
“We do not support nor endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”
It was not immediately clear if the Peaky Blinders team intend to take legal action against the controversial politician.
Coincidentally, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck recently slammed Trump for copyright violation after the former president misused a clip from their new film Air in his own campaign video.
Trump had shared a campaign video that used more than two minutes of Damon speaking as Sonny Vaccaro, the sports marketing executive behind Nike’s Air Jordan shoe line.