"Air" Producers Criticize Trump Campaign Over Audio Usage

Turns out musicians aren’t the only people who get angry when political campaigns use their work without permission. Now, Artists Equity — Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company, which made the film Air — is livid at Donald Trump’s campaign for an unauthorized use of a lengthy audio clip from the film in question.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Alex Weprin has more details on the controversy. It seems that Trump’s campaign posted a fundraising link on Truth Social, accompanied by a short video in which a monologue Damon delivered in the film is used to soundtrack footage of Trump walking towards the camera and waving to the crowd at events.

As Weprin details, Artists Equity went on to release a statement clarifying the situation. “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,” the production company stated.

The statement concluded with a reiteration that “we do not grant such consent.”

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Affleck and Damon can take some solace in knowing that they’re in good company; the list of musicians angry with Trump over using their music without permission is vast, and includes countless big names. As of this writing, the video is still up on Truth Social; we’ll see if Artists Equity’s statement has any further effect.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…