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Peaky Blinders Team Denounces Unhinged Anti-LGBTQ+ Ron DeSantis Ad
The video featured footage from Peaky Blinders, American Psycho, and other media.
The Trump years saw musicians constantly denouncing him and his cohorts for using their music to promote Republican causes, and now it seems his equally far right 2024 presidential challenger, Ron DeSantis, is upping the game by angering TV creators.
On the last day of Pride month, @DeSantisWarRoom, an official rapid response Twitter account for the Florida governor, dropped a bizarre video that was so brazenly homophobic even conservatives started to denounce it.
It opens up by presenting several instances during which former president Donald Trump made positive remarks about the LGBTQ+ community, specifically saying Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom she wanted at Trump Tower and allowing trans women to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. (Trump is currently trying to position himself as running to “defeat the cult of gender ideology,” to ride the current conservative wave of anti-trans sentiment.)
The video then flips around to show off all the ways in which DeSantis has attacked LGBTQ+ people, featuring headlines about him shutting down drag shows, pushing anti-trans laws, and even calling him “dangerous” and “public enemy No. 1.” While it seems this was meant to be a celebration of his cruelty and hate, the ominous music and decision to intercut clips of scenes from American Psycho and show DeSantis shooting lightning from his eyes suggest the people behind this have no clue what they’re doing.
Several short clips featured in the video were of Cillian Murphy’s character from the TV series Peaky Blinders, which The New Republic classified as “a show that depicted the rise of fascism and nationalism, as well as the literal and psychological ravages of war and violence.”
Although the series ended last year, the official Twitter account has occasionally remained active, and shared a wholehearted denouncement from the folks behind the series in response to the video.
“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 Tommy Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission or official license,” they wrote. “We do not support nor endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”
For as much time as conservatives spend lamenting the “evils” of a “liberal” Hollywood that rejects their values and content, they sure do love to try to co-opt bits and pieces for their own purposes. But media literacy clearly isn’t a strong suit here. Pro-tip—at the very least, try not to make the guy you want everyone to root for come across as a literal supervillain.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
