The Peaky Blinders and Cillian Murphy react to Ron DeSantis US presidential campaign video

The Peaky Blinders and Cillian Murphy have reacted to a campaign video from US president hopeful Ron DeSantis.

The video - which was posted last week - featured headlines about Republican DeSantis’ bid to implement legislation against the transgender community and to shut down drag events. It was launched to “wrap up Pride month” and was immediately met with a huge backlash.

The video has been described as homophobic by a number of LGBT+ members of the Republican party, as well as by critics on the other side of the aisle. Now the Peaky Blinders team has also condemned it - co-signing a statement on Wednesday (July 5) to show they “strongly disapprove of the clip showing Cillian Murphy in his acting role as Peaky Blinders leader Tommy Shelby.

They said: “On behalf of the partners of Peaky Blinders – Steven Knight [the show’s creator], Cillian Murphy, Caryn Mandabach Productions, Tiger Aspect Productions and Banijay Rights – we confirm the footage of Tommy Shelby’s character used within the video posted by Ron DeSantis’ campaign was obtained without permission or official licence. We do not support the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”

DeSantis’ campaign video also included clips of him with Christian Bale in American Psycho and Brad Pitt in Troy. The Peaky Blinders aren’t the only ones to have spoken out about being used in a Republican hopeful’s campaign in recent history.

Last month, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck slammed Donald Trump after the former US president used a portion of their latest film Air in one of his campaign videos. Trump posted a video on his social media platform Truth Social, in which a speech Matt gave in Air was interspersed with clips from the former reality star’s time in the White House.

“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,” a spokesperson for the actors later told Deadline.

A number of other entertainers have also spoken out against Trump for using their work without permission during his time in politics. Musicians including Adele, R.E.M., Queen guitarist Brian May, Elton John and the estate of Prince have all hit out at Trump for featuring their work at his rallies.

While several of these acts sent cease-and-desist letters to the former president, the Rolling Stones also threatened to sue him in 2020, for playing their music at his events despite their expressed wishes for him not to.