The voice actor behind Master Chief has criticised a propaganda clip for the Iran War which uses the character, alongside other pop culture icons.
We already know the White House has a fetish for riffing on pop culture in its social media posts, but it sunk to new levels of cringe last week.
On Friday (March 6), the official X account for the White House posted a video captioned ‘justice the American way’. The montage clip interperses clips of missile strikes in Iran with various dramatic speeches from characters across video games, film, and TV.
These clips include Iron Man, Gladiator, Halo, Tropic Thunder, John Wick, Braveheart, Breaking Bad (bizarrely, as Walter White fully descends into a murderous drug lord), before concluding with the ‘flawless victory’ voiceover line from Mortal Kombat.
The clip has since attracted criticism from those involved in the featured clips, including Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes.
‘It has come to my attention that there is at least one propaganda video circulating that was either produced or at the very least endorsed by the White House that uses images of Master Chief and uses my voice to support the war in Iran,’ Downes wrote on X.
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‘Let me make this crystal clear: I did not participate in nor was I consulted, nor do I endorse the use of my voice in this video, or the message it conveys.
‘I demand that the producers of this disgusting and juvenile war porn remove my voice immediately.’
Several others have also condemned the video, including Tropic Thunder director Ben Stiller. ‘Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie.’
At the time of writing, the clip is still up. However, this isn’t the first time Halo has been used by the account. In October last year, it tweeted out an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump in Master Chief attire to salute the end of the console wars, after Halo: Campaign Evolved was announced for PlayStation 5.
After that, an image of Master Chief driving a Warthog was used to encourage people to join ICE, which was condemned by the developers.
Over the past month, The Pokémon Company released a statement to distance itself from the White House’s use of a Pokémon Pokopia meme. ‘Our mission is to bring the world together,’ the company wrote, ‘and that mission is not affiliated with any political viewpoint or agenda.’
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