Deadline.com just announced that Friday Night Light’s writer and director Peter Berg asked presidential candidate Mitt Romney to stop using the slogan ‘Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose.’ in his campaign. Friday Night Lights is based on the trials and tribulations of a Texas high school football team and their coach, played by Kyle Chandler.
Berg sent an official letter to the governor stating “Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series.” It’s interesting that Romney would even use a slogan from Friday Night Lights. The dramatic television series covered controversial topics such as abortion, military families, homosexuality, and even murder – plenty of motif’s Romney wouldn’t want associated with his campaign. Berg even goes as far to compare Romney to used car salesman Buddy Garrity, a notoriously sleazy character on the show. He wrote “The only relevant comparison that I see between your campaign and “Friday Night Lights” is in the character of Buddy Garrity – who turned his back on American car manufacturers selling imported cars from Japan.”
While I don’t like mixing politics with entertainment (unless the politics are the source of my entertainment) the two are becoming mutually exclusive. Presidential candidates are relying on the support of the Hollywood A-list to help sway voters in their favor. While a large majority of America, specifically the younger demographic, won’t tune in for the debate, they will listen to what George Clooney, Katy Perry, and Clint Eastwood have to say. Social media brings politics and movie stars even closer together. With a few simple clicks, a celebrity can simply tweet support or opinions about a specific candidate and their millions of followers can see it. At both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, stars were brought in to bring the viewers and ultimately the votes. Starlet Scarlett Johanssan opened for the incumbent president, while Clint Eastwood yelled at a chair to show is support for Romney. President Obama is even bringing in unlikely celebs, like Big Bird, for his newest commercials to slam his opponent.
With this ongoing theme of Hollywood helping D.C., it’s no surprise that Romney tried to use a slogan from a popular past TV series to help win votes. However, he should have known better than to borrow a line from outspoken Obama supporter Peter Berg.
