Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are clarifying that they do not “consent” to the use of audio from “Air” by Donald Trump.
Affleck and Damon’s production company Artists Equity issued a statement in response to the former president sharing an excerpt of Damon’s impassioned speech from the feature film that charts the collaboration between Nike and Michael Jordan.
“Money can buy you almost anything, but it can’t buy you immortality,” Damon’s character says in the clip. “That, you have to earn.”
Trump posted the two-and-a-half minute monologue on his Truth Social page.
A representative for Artists Equity told Variety, “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. Specifically in terms of any and all rights available to us under U.S. copyright and intellectual property law, 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.”
Trump’s Truth Social has a manifesto posted on its homepage, reading in part: “We are watching our Republic DIE before our very eyes. The Biden-appointed Special Counsel has INDICTED me in yet another witch hunt regarding documents that I had the RIGHT to declassify as President of the United States.”
The statement continues, “This witch hunt began when the FBI RAIDED my home and then staged it to look like a made-for-TV crime scene with police sirens and flashing red and blue lights.”
Trump was indicted March 30 in New York on felony charges. The former “Apprentice” host additionally faces multiple other criminal investigations, including Georgia voter tampering during the 2020 election.
As for “Air,” actor and producer Damon previously said at SXSW that it was a “natural progression” for longtime pal and collaborator Affleck to direct him onscreen.
“We’ve written a bunch of movies and produced and acted together for so many years and decades, so it didn’t feel any different, working this way,” Damon said.
Affleck added, “We’ve gotten that question a lot, I keep thinking, ‘Should it have felt different?’ Because it felt exactly the same. And what was really wonderful about it was, I love and trust Matt so much, and it was so lovely to be working together, it was kind of like a feeling of, I want the other actors to feel [this too]. Like, ‘Come on, it’s all good, I love actors, I love you, you’re going to be OK, everyone, take as much time as you want, do what you need to do and be respected, and to kind of project that energy.”
