Tropic Thunder star Ben Stiller slammed the Trump administration’s White House for the unauthorized use of the film’s footage in a recent video about the war in Iran.
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In the video, the White House uses major Hollywood films to speak out about the war. Among the clips were scenes from Iron Man, Breaking Bad, Gladiator, Braveheart, Transformers, Top Gun, and Deadpool. At the end of the video, a voiceover declares, “flawless victory.”
The White House also captioned the video with “justice the American way” in all caps.
Making it clear where he stood on the clip, Stiller took to X and wrote, “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.”
Per IMDb, Tropic Thunder follows a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie. They are then forced to become the soldiers they were portraying.
Stiller starred in the 2008 film alongside Justin Theroux, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr.
Stiller Responds to Criticism
Not long after he posted, Stiller was met with criticism for his remark about the White House.
“Loved Tropic Thunder however your getting up set over 1 second of footage from the len grossman dance scene post credits nor is propaganda,” one X user wrote. “We know war is not a movie but yet we keep making movies about war.”
Stiller replied, “Usually to protest war.”
Another X user quoted, “‘War is not a movie. Please remove the clip from my movie in which war IS a movie.'”
To which Stiller responded, “Correct.”
Meanwhile, Stiller’s fans came to his defense by posting their support.
“Thank you @BenStiller for making this request & providing proof to all the world that there are Americans who do not share in our administration’s moral depravity & who appreciate the gravity of war,” a fan wrote. “You—one of our greatest artists—do not see war as entertainment—bc it’s not entertaining &, as you say, is not a movie. Thank you.”
A fellow fan added, “I love how everyone is getting their panties in a wad all bc @BenStiller has a personal belief and stood on it. Are we not allowed to stand on our convictions anymore? Stand tall or don’t stand at all.”