Romney Accused Of Plagiarism By ‘Friday Night Lights’ Series Creator

Mitt Romney has been sent a letter by the creator of the TV show, “Friday Night Lights,” Peter Berg, suggesting the GOP presidential candidate is guilty of plagiarism — or, at least, misappropriation — for his use of various iterations of the TV show’s phrase, “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.”

Romney is using the phrase in his stump speech, and the campaign is even fundraising off it, including a fundraising blog post by Ann Romney, which features the image (above), including a sign of the phrase on a Romney campaign office wall.

Berg charges Romney’s usage “falsely and inappropriately associates Friday Night Lights with the Romney/Ryan campaign,” and tells Romney to “come up with your own campaign slogan.”

Earlier this week, Romney “told the story of David Oparowski, a young boy that he knew who died of cancer,” the Washington Examiner reported:

“I thought as I saw some years later a phrase that seemed to capture my memory of David Oparowski,” Romney said. “Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.”

“This is something that we share in this country,” Romney added. “Men and women of clear eyes, full hearts, and America can’t lose.”

“Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series,” Berg writes in the letter, obtained exclusively by the Hollywood Reporter. “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.”

The Republican presidential nominee and his wife, Ann, are fans of the series, which ended its five-year run on NBC and DirecTV last year. Romney said in Iowa earlier this week that the phrase is “compelling.” “That’s Americans,” he told an audience. “We have clear eyes — we know what we believe. Full hearts — we love this country and we can’t lose. This is a time for Americans to make a choice. We’re going to take back this country.”

Earlier this week also, the mother of Glen Doherty asked Romney to stop using his so-called “relationship” with her son for political purposes against President Obama. Doherty was a Navy SEAL who was one of the SEAL Team Six members who killed Osama bin Laden. He later was killed in last month’s tragic September 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

 

 

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