"Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose." Encouraging words spoken by a small-town football coach in the drama known as "Friday Night Lights" are now in the middle of a campaign controversy. "Friday Night Lights" creator Peter Berg slammed Republican presidential candidate earlier this week for using the show's signature line as a campaign slogan.
In a letter to the Romney campaign, Berg urged the presidential candidate to stop using the line from his hit TV show. Berg wrote, "I was not thrilled when I saw that you have plagiarized this expression to support your campaign by using it on posters, your Facebook page and as part of your stump speeches. Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series."
The creator continued by attacking Romney's opposition to the auto bailout, CBS News reported. "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."
Although Berg wished Romney and his family "all the best" and thanked him for his "support of our beloved show," he told Romney that the show was not "in any way affiliated with you or your campaign." He also urged the GOP candidate to "Please come up with your own campaign slogan."
However, not everyone involved with "Friday Night Lights" is against the Romney campaign. CBS News noted that "Friday Night Lights" book author Buzz Bissinger has endorsed Romney in an editorial written fro the Daily Beast. His endorsement should be taken with a grain of salt, critics said, because he has a history of bashing Romney online, especially on Twitter.
Former "Friday Night Lights" actor Scott Porter also weighed in on Twitter. "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose. Both Parties using it to win votes. And my boy Pete Berg didn't even trademark it. Shame." he wrote. Porter later added, "Oh. And by the way...Obama did it first...and more classy."
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
