NC-04

GOP Consultant's Sales Pitch: I Can Get You Morgan Freeman's Voice (Not!)

Eric Kleefeld | November 2, 2010, 4:07PM

Morgan Freeman

The plot has really thickened on that North Carolina GOP House candidate, B.J. Lawson, who ran an ad featuring a fake "Morgan Freeman" voiceover. It turns out that the GOP consultant who created the ad has a history of making a sales pitch to candidates: That he can get Morgan Freeman to record ads for them.

As Politico reports, Republican consultant Ben Mathis has also offered the voice of "Morgan Freeman" to a state Senate campaign in New York, plus the voice of Seinfeld actor and Family Feud host John O'Hurley.

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NC-04

Recriminations Fly As Morgan Freeman Sucked Into NC GOPer's Hoax Ad (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | November 2, 2010, 10:54AM

Morgan Freeman

Here's a fun last-minute scrap in Campaign 2010. B.J. Lawson, the Republican candidate against North Carolina Democratic Rep. David Price, ran a TV ad that featured a voiceover that sounded like Morgan Freeman. Then the campaign said it was Morgan Freeman -- and then Morgan Freeman, who has in the past supported Democratic candidates such as President Obama, made it quite clear that it wasn't him.

Freeman's press agents sent Ben Smith a statement: "These people are lying. I have never recorded any campaign ads for B.J. Lawson and I do not support his candidacy. And, no one who represents me ever has ever authorized the use of my name, voice or any other likeness in support of Mr. Lawson or his candidacy."

The Lawson campaign said that they were "tricked" -- that the ad company they contracted with promised them Morgan Freeman. Lawson campaign spokesman Martin Avila told CNN: "We're apologizing to Congressman Price, to the voters, and most of all to Morgan Freeman because this is not the campaign we wanted to run, and not the campaign we have run."

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