Former UNC players upset by Eric Trump’s use of doctored ‘Roy Williams dancing’ video
A team spokesperson said the North Carolina men’s basketball program was “profoundly disappointed” in an edited video that Donald Trump’s son spread on Twitter, which featured the president’s head on UNC coach Roy Williams’ body during a 2016 locker room celebration.
In a statement, UNC’s Steve Kirschner told the News & Observer that the video clip was used without permission. As of Thursday afternoon, Twitter has removed the video and replaced it with a notice that read: “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s younger son, posted the video to his Twitter account Wednesday morning. Captioned “Backstage last night at the #RNC,” it used a popular seven-second clip of Williams dancing as he entered the visitor’s locker room at Cameron Indoor Stadium after UNC beat top rival Duke, 76-72, on March 5, 2016. Once inside, Williams joined his players in a celebratory jump.
In the edited clip, a reference to the Republican National Convention, which concludes Thursday night, Trump’s head is on Williams’ body. Other prominent conservative figures, including Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, commentator Terrence K. Williams and rapper Kanye West (who’s running for president as an independent), are edited into the video. And some UNC players, such as 2017 ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson, have red “Make America Great Again” hats edited onto their heads.
“First, our players, coaches and staff support the Milwaukee Bucks’ action to boycott yesterday’s playoff game, which had the backing of the NBA and other professional athletes, teams and leagues,” Kirschner said in an emailed statement Thursday. “We are proud of Marvin Williams, Danny Green, Kenny Smith and our other Tar Heel alumni who chose to take this important step against continued racial injustice.”
He added of the video: “We are profoundly disappointed that political messaging would be made using video without permission that shows our players, coach and uniforms from inside our team’s locker room celebration.”
Williams has been an outspoken critic of Trump, once remarking at the 2017 ACC Tournament that the president “tweets out more bullshit than anybody I’ve ever seen.” He was responding to a question about the ACC Tournament being in Brooklyn, New York, and if hosting the tournament in a media capital brought any advantages.
The men’s basketball team, citing schedule conflicts, also did not visit the White House after it won the 2017 NCAA national championship against Gonzaga.
The team was invited by the White House, Kirschner said in September 2017, but “couldn’t find a date that worked out for both parties.” He added UNC’s players were “fine with going.”
Reaction to the Twitter video from former players Wednesday was swift. Justin Watts implored the younger Trump to “take this BS photo-shopped video somewhere else.” Theo Pinson said of the clip: “Relax. Wrong squad!” His teammate, Kenny Williams, replied to Pinson’s tweet with laughing emojis.
“We don’t even get down like that,” tweeted Brandon Robinson, a senior on the 2019-20 roster. In his replies, Kennedy Meeks added: “Hell no. This ass!”
Michael Brooker, a UNC guard in the late 1990s, said in a quote tweet it was “pretty interesting (Trump) used the coach/team that wouldn’t visit the White House after winning the ’17 national championship.” Josh Reavis, an assistant director of creative services at UNC who works extensively with the men’s basketball team, said in a reply to Brooker he shot the video Trump used.
“I’m appalled,” Reavis said. “Wish there was some fair use law that we could use to shut it down. We’re all aware that would never work though.”
In response to another tweet, asking if there was any way UNC could get the video removed, Reavis replied: “As the guy who shot it, if there’s anything we could do, I’m all for it.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 11:28 AM.