Medal of Honor Music Used in McCain Ad Campaign, Obama-supporting Composer Not Happy

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A recent campaign ad for maverick Republican John McCain uses music from Electronic Arts' World War II game Medal of Honor: European Assault, causing great displeasure for the composer, who supports Barack Obama as his presidential candidate of choice.

"While I do not control the ownership of this piece, I am extremely disappointed its placement in this commercial. I did not authorize the use and was not made aware of the situation," composer Christopher Lennertz told GamePolitics.

"I am dismayed that my music has been used to promote [McCain's] platform and even more disappointed that a candidate who claims to be the best voice for American entrepreneurs and business owners in this troubled economy so flagrantly ignored the most basic values and tenents of copyright and intellectual property."

Lennertz was quite clear that there was nothing illegal about the McCain campaign's use of his piece, saying the situation resulted from a rights mix-up between companies. "I do think however, that they should have checked to see if the creators of content that they are using to promote their views are in fact in sync with them," he noted.

"I respect John McCain for his service to this country, both in the military and in Washington, but I do not and have never supported his candidacy nor his agenda for this country," he concluded. "As an artist, business owner, and patriot, I proudly support [Democratic] Senator Barack Obama for the Presidency of the United States of America."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 19, 2008 6:33 PM

    I am sorry but to retain impartiality you must now run commercials for all other Presidential candidates.

    Failure to do so will utterly discredit Shacknews as a valid source of deep political analysis and commentary in my eyes.

    • reply
      June 19, 2008 6:34 PM

      Abigail Sponge.

    • reply
      June 19, 2008 6:37 PM

      How so? They're not favoring Obama, they're reporting on a story. Shacknews didn't generate this story, they're simply reporting it.

    • reply
      June 19, 2008 6:42 PM

      That was the worst selection of music ever. Still, the dumb asses shouldn't have just ripped off music from a game without clearing it's use first. Does the composer even have any say anyways? Correct me if I'm wrong - but that's EA's property anyways---- wait a second - I reread the article. BOO FUCKITY HOO.

      • reply
        June 19, 2008 6:51 PM

        They didn't rip him off. He probably licensed it through an agency for MoH and that same agency licensed it to McCain.

    • reply
      June 20, 2008 1:09 AM

      the inq>shack. Get used to it .

    • reply
      June 20, 2008 5:16 AM

      Suck it up

    • reply
      June 21, 2008 11:33 PM

      If McCain uses video game music to pimp his campaign and the composer speaks out against it, Shacknews can report on the video game composers objection and quote him. Obama is not trying to exploit a video game and thus gets no coverage from Shacknews. Plus, there is no such thing as "bad" publicity.

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