Ben Stiller has publicly asked the White House to remove a Tropic Thunder clip it used as part of a montage in a ‘propaganda’ pro-war social media video.
The 42-second clip features footage of recent strikes on Iran cut between scenes from movies including Gladiator, Iron Man 2, Braveheart, Top Gun: Maverick and Superman.
It was posted to accounts including The White House’s official page on X with the caption ‘JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY’, alongside a flame and American flag emoji.
Tropic Thunder’s clip shows Tom Cruise as character Les Grossman, the abrasive and foul-mouthed Hollywood producer, triumphantly dancing.
‘Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip,’ Stiller wrote in response on X.
‘We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie.’
The montage wraps up by showing a US strike on an Iranian ship, before an animated character demands ‘now end this!’ and the White House logo flashes up onscreen, with President Donald J. Trump acknowledged.
Simultaneously, a voice is heard saying ‘flawless victory’, a reference to the video game Mortal Kombat.
Stiller directed, co-wrote and starred in 2008’s Tropic Thunder, a satirical action comedy about the memoir of a Vietnam veteran being made into a big-budget war movie by an inexperienced director and a group of difficult actors, who through a series of freak occurrences are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying during the shoot.
It also starred Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride and Robert Downey Jr., who infamously played an intense method actor character who uses blackface make-up to play a Black soldier.
Filmmaker Jon Favreau, who directed the Iron Man trilogy starring Downey Jr. and has The Mandalorian & Grogu coming out in May, also weighed in on the White House’s latest video with horror, declaring that war was ‘not a video game’.
‘Hundreds of people are dead. Little girls are dead. Six Americans are dead. Others are risking their lives. Millions across the Middle East are terrified,’ he posted on X.
‘It’s not a video game. It’s not a meme. It’s not another chance to troll the libs. It’s f***ing war.’
Other social media users expressed their outrage over the video and its tone too, calling it ‘tasteless’ and ‘disgusting and embarrassing’.
The video was posted online just a day after the White House had provoked backlash for sharing a video of real missile strikes edited together with footage from video game Call of Duty.
The US administration later doubled down, sharing another video on Friday that cut strike footage with a clip from the game Grand Theft Auto, where a famously character says: ‘Ah s**t, here we go again.’
After every strike explosion, the word ‘wasted’ flashed across the screen, which is the in-game message players receive when their character is killed.
The war has so far killed more than 1,230 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials on Thursday.
‘Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane’
Trump’s White House has continuously faced frustration and contempt from performers for using their art without permission, including Radiohead – who recently took exception to their song Let Down appearing in an ICE video – Olivia Rodrigo, the Rolling Stones and Celine Dion.
Just days ago, Kesha slammed the White House as ‘inhumane’ for including her track Blow in a video showing jets soaring in the sky before one launches a missile and destroys what appears to be an enemy ship.
The explosive hit is timed with Kesha’s lyric, ‘This place about to blow’, while the caption is simply the word ‘Lethality’ with a fire and eagle emoji.
‘It’s come to my attention that The White House has used one of my songs on TikTok to incite violence and threaten war,’ Kesha responded on social media.
‘Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane. I absolutely do NOT approve of my music being used to promote violence of any kind.’
Insisting that ‘love always trumps hate’, she continued: ‘Please love yourself and each other in times like this. This show of blatant disregard for human life and quite frankly this attack on all of our nervous systems is the opposite of what I stand for.’
White House communications boss Steven Cheung fired back at Kesha’s complaint, posting on X: ‘All these ‘singers’ keep falling for this. This just gives us more attention and more view counts to our videos because people want to see what they’re b****ing about.’
Metro has contacted the White House for comment.
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