Despite what Donald Trump may want you to believe, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have no affiliation with his presidential campaign. On June 10th, Artists Equity, the production company founded by Damon and Affleck, released a statement condemning the former president’s use of audio from its recent film Air in a Trump campaign video.
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Artists Equity posted its condemnation of Trump’s use of their audio on social media. “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,” read the statement.
Directed by Affleck and available to stream on Amazon, Air follows Damon’s sports marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro and his quest to get Nike to sign legendary basketball player Michael Jordan. Trump’s campaign video uses Damon’s voiceover as Vacarro from the film, repurposing lines Damon delivers in Air that pertain directly to Michael Jordan. “Money can buy you almost anything, it can’t buy you immortality. That, you have to earn,” says Damon as Vaccaro in the film (and Trump’s campaign video). “You’re gonna be remembered forever, because some things are eternal.” While all the references to Michael Jordan were edited out of the campaign video, a metaphor about shoes somehow still made the cut. “A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning.”
In its statement, Artist Equity made it clear that Trump is forbidden from using any copyrighted material from the production company. “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.”
The Oscar-winning Boston buddies founded Artists Equity in November of 2022. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has been indicted by the DOJ on 38 counts related to mishandling hundreds of classified documents, some of which he allegedly stored in the bathroom of his resort and personal residence Mar-a-Lago.
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