ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark sharply criticized the The White House this week after a social media video tied to the United States’ posture toward Iran used footage of him from his playing days, prompting the former safety to call the presentation insensitive and misguided during a recent episode of the The Pivot Podcast.
Clark addressed the situation at length during the show. He said he first learned about the video after others alerted him to it. The montage included NFL highlights featuring him. It was used to promote the United States’ stance in the Middle East. Clark said the creative decision felt deeply inappropriate. He cited the gravity of war and the sacrifices made by service members and their families.
“I am disappointed that the video included me,” Clark notes on the podcast. “To have Tropic Thunder and football highlights on a video about war is one of the more insensitive things that I’ve ever seen.”
Clark spent more than a decade in the NFL and helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII. He said the video’s tone trivialized the realities of armed conflict. Clark argued that war should never be framed like sports entertainment or cinematic satire.
“There are families here in our country whose loved ones have decided to give their lives to fight for our rights and our freedoms,” Clark said. “They don’t see war as a sport.”
Clark added that the decision to include athletes’ images without permission reflects a broader disconnect between leadership and the public voices affected by those choices.
“The White House post involving myself and other NFL players is absolutely disgusting and despicable,” Clark said. “I don’t care that they take it down. I don’t care how long it’s up, and don’t care that they didn’t ask me to do it. What I’ve learned about our leadership now is they don’t care about what we think.”
Throughout the discussion, Clark repeatedly returned to the idea that war carries consequences too serious to be packaged in the style of a sports highlight reel, particularly when American service members face life-and-death situations abroad.
“War doesn’t deserve a highlight film. For Tropic Thunder to be a part of it — war is not a comedy,” Clark says. “For our regime to be as unserious and unprofessional. Laughable and as illegitimate as our leadership is, right now is embarrassing.”
Clark is one of a few NFL players that have recently chastised the administration for their use of their likeness in social media videos surrounding the war in Iran.
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