CBS White House correspondent Paula Reid tried to direct Disney’s attention toward a possible copyright violation from President Donald Trump’s campaign team.
In honor of Star Wars Day — “May The 4th Be With You!” — the Trump campaign team tweeted a themed video that depicted former Vice President Joe Biden as Emperor Palpatine. President Trump’s face was photoshopped onto Yoda’s body, and as the video came to a close, he decapitated two droids with one swing of his light saber. Superimposed over the droids’ faces were the CNN and MSNBC logos, respectively.
May The 4th Be With You! pic.twitter.com/TdFY5ojlgN
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 4, 2020
Reid responded by tagging Disney — which owns “Star Wars” and has a reputation for actively enforcing copyright infringements — in a tweet aimed at the entertainment company’s intellectual property attorneys. “Curious what @Disney’s notoriously aggressive IP lawyers think of this Trump campaign ad…” she said.
Curious what @Disney’s notoriously aggressive IP lawyers think of this Trump campaign ad… https://t.co/HJ6P2Lgiqw
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) May 4, 2020
The CBS reporter provoked an angry response from Trump at a Coronavirus Task Force briefing in mid-April, arguing that he had not made good use of the time he said the administration had “bought” by implementing travel restrictions. (RELATED: ‘Disgraceful’: Trump Attacks CBS Reporter For Challenging His Response To Coronavirus)
“You didn’t use it to prepare hospitals. You didn’t use it to ramp up testing. Right now, nearly 20 million people are unemployed!” Reid said.
“You’re so disgraceful! It’s so disgraceful the way you say that,” Trump fired back.