“Reagan” star Dennis Quaid responded on Tuesday to Facebook’s explanation for why it was throttling efforts to boost marketing of his new biopic about the 40th president, suggesting it didn’t hold water.
At first, Facebook reportedly wouldn’t allow the movie’s marketing team to boost a post with Quaid’s picture promoting the movie through a paid advertisement. Also, Facebook suspended the movie’s official account on at least two occasions over clips it posted of Quaid discussing the movie in media appearances.
The marketers said they were told by Facebook that the post “mentions politicians or is about sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” But, as Quaid pointed out to Fox News’ Trace Gallagher, Reagan died in 2004 and certainly isn’t eligible for another term in office.
“It seems to be automated that way for some reason. No one’s responsible for that,” Quaid said. “This happened several times, actually, and we were suspended two days in a row … The last time I heard, Reagan hasn’t been on the ballot in 40 years and not only that, he’s not even eligible to run because he served two terms.”
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A Facebook spokesperson told Newsweek Tuesday, “While there are no restrictions on this page that would prevent the admins from posting, we did identify a handful of ads from this account that were incorrectly rejected. This happened because our automated systems mistakenly determined that content about President Reagan required prior authorization in accordance with our policies for ads about Social Issues, Elections or Politics. This was a mistake and the restriction on the ads has been lifted.”
Quaid told Gallagher he was confused by Facebook’s conduct.
“I am baffled by it to tell you the truth because it was banned and they haven’t even seen the film,” he said. “So it seems like they don’t want other people to see the film either, I guess. But, you know, we will set up a screening for them any time and they can see for themselves. The movie is about America and the ’80s and Ronald Reagan, his life. It’s about fighting communism.”
Quaid also told podcast giant Joe Rogan this week that he’s all too aware of social media, in his view, trying to cancel conservative viewpoints.
During the latest episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the actor talked to the podcast host about how Facebook has appeared to have been censoring content about his upcoming movie about iconic Republican President Ronald Reagan.
“Censorship is happening to us through Facebook,” Quaid told Rogan in the episode that aired Thursday.
After a lengthy discussion about how conservative views are silenced by the media, the actor explained how Facebook seems to be targeting ads and blocking media that promotes his new film, claiming the content “is an attempt to sway an election.”
Quaid expressed his disbelief over the accusation, telling his host, “I mean, the last time I heard, you know, Reagan was on the ballot 40 years ago.”
“Do you think if you made a positive Obama movie, it would a be ‘sway an election?,’” Rogan asked.
The actor replied, saying that an Obama film was made in 2020, and it didn’t seem to bother anybody.
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The “Reagan” star flipped the accusation of election meddling back around, adding, “Just the act of banning or censoring that material – as you were talking about – is an attempt to sway an election.”
Quaid did acknowledge that after he and the film’s production team sent a letter to Facebook complaining about the targeting, the big tech platform admitted it was a “mistake,” though he didn’t appear too convinced by the excuse.
“Since then, Facebook has said they made a mistake. They said that yesterday because we put out a letter to it in an article on Newsweek. And they said they made a mistake. It was – their automatic systems had detected it.”
“Oh, how convenient,” Rogan replied sarcastically, before going on to suggest that “rogue” far-left employees might have had something to do with the “mistake.”
“Reagan” will be released in theaters nationwide Aug. 30.
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