'Not in my name!': Peaky Blinders star and creator attack Ron DeSantis over campaign ad

The Republican Governor from the US state of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has yet again come under fire for his campaign’s use of videos promoting his anti-LGBTQ policies. 

This latest criticism came from the popular BBC drama ‘Peaky Blinders’ whose characters appear in the video released by DeSantis’ presidential campaign twitter account.

The first half of the video uses short clips of former US president Donald Trump where he claims to endorse the LGBTQ community with happy pop music playing in the background and passing clips of the rainbow flag. 

The second half of the video changes to a more serious tone with clips of Twitter excerpts and news clippings of the various laws DeSantis has passed against the LGBTQ community while he smiles in the background. 

Two very brief clips include the image of Peaky Blinders’ character Tommy Shelby, played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy, in a montage full of clips of gladiators and military propaganda.

The Peaky Blinders’ team was swift with their response tweeting: “On behalf of the partners of Peaky Blinders - Steven Knight, 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 nor endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content in this manner.”

The video was posted amid a growing US conservative campaign against LGBTQ rights and celebrations. It highlighted some of Trump's past statements supporting LGBTQ people, including saying he'd be OK with transgender women competing one day in the Miss Universe pageant, which Trump owned at the time of