During a recent interview with Chris Wallace on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike, the topic of the Trump campaign’s ad from June was broached. Damon, who is currently appearing in the movie “Oppenheimer,” responded with amusement and said, “I think they took it down… We said ‘You don’t have our permission to use that.’” Despite this, as Wallace indicated, the ad remains available on Truth Social where it was originally uploaded.
To this, Damon replied nonchalantly, “I don’t know what to make of it,” and jokingly added, “I’m glad they like our writing.”
The contentious ad includes imagery and videos of the former president, overlaid with audio from Damon’s motivational monologue from the 2023 film “Air,” a film inspired by Nike’s iconic partnership with Michael Jordan, reported Mediaite.
“Money can buy you almost anything, but it can’t buy you immortality. That you have to earn,” are words spoken by Damon’s character at the start of the video. It also references Trump’s first 2023 indictment, incorporating news coverage of the event while Damon’s voiceover suggests “Once they’ve built you as high as they possibly can, they’re gonna tear you back down.”
Artists Equity, the production company Damon and Ben Affleck co-founded and which was behind “Air,” responded soon after the ad’s debut with a statement, clarifying, “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.”
The conversation between Damon and Wallace took a lighter turn when the topic of Damon’s long-standing friendship and collaborative relationship with Affleck, and their decision to establish Artists Equity, came up.
Wallace set the stage by saying, “The first movie that you put out, you and Ben, he directed, you starred in, is ‘Air,’ in which you play Sonny Vaccaro, the agent who’s trying to persuade Michael Jordan to sign with Nike–”
Interrupting with humor, Damon interjected, “And also trying to write speeches for the Trump campaign.”
After playing a snippet from the film, Wallace kept the humor alive, joking, “So I guess that the Trump campaign could not use the shoes part for their video. It just wouldn’t have made sense. No, he’s got Brogans or something… it wouldn’t have worked.”
