“Peaky Blinders” condemned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for featuring the series’ popular character Tommy Shelby in one of his campaign videos.
“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’s Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission or official license,” the official Twitter account for “Peaky Blinders” said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Twitter post came after DeSantis’ Twitter account — named “DeSantis’s War Room” — released a campaign video on Friday, and in it DeSantis competitor Donald Trump was seen sharing his support for the LGBTQ movement. The video then featured story headlines about DeSantis’ recent anti-LGBTQ legislative moves, and it included images and video of notable TV and movie characters who are known for being villains or murderers in their respective projects. Aside from Tommy, the video also included Christian Bale in “American Psycho and Brad Pitt in “Troy.”
The video was posted with the caption, “To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…”
“We do not support nor endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner,” the post from the “Peaky Blinders” team continued. It’s now gained more than 19,000 likes and over one million views.
“Peaky Blinders,” a BBC drama series, made its debut in 2013 and aired for six seasons. The show focused on the fictional Peaky Blinders street gang and its crime boss Tommy, played by Cillian Murphy.
