Freeman Receives Apology Over Political Advert!

Oscar-Winning actor Morgan Freeman has received an apology from a Republican politician who used a "voice double" for the veteran actor to narrate his ad campaign.


The 'Shawshank Redemption' star was said to have voiced a TV promo in support of congressional candidate B.J. Lawson ahead of the country's midterm elections today.

A statement from Lawson's rep read:

"The Lawson for Congress campaign confirms that its latest radio and TV ad is indeed narrated by actor Morgan Freeman... People shouldn't be so shocked that someone like Mr. Freeman would think outside of the left-right red vs. blue dynamic."


But Freeman quickly denied any involvement in the campaign and issued his own statement to contradict Lawson's.

He said:

"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 has ever authorised the use of my name, voice or any other likeness in support of Mr. Lawson or his candidacy."


Following Freeman's statement, Lawson pulled the advert from his website and has now issued an apology, insisting he was duped into thinking the actor had recorded the voiceover by political consulting firm MEI Political. Hmm...of course he was.

A new statement from Lawson's representative now reads:

"This is terribly unfortunate and we apologise profusely to Morgan Freeman for what has happened. This is obviously not something we ever would want to misrepresent."


But heads at MEI Political insist they made it clear to Lawson that they would be using a Freeman sound-a-like and not the real actor to voice the promo.

Spokesperson Ben Mathis tells Politico.com:

"I made it very clear to B.J. in our conversation and via email that this was a voice double for Morgan Freeman. In conversation, I told him - as I would tell anyone - that you cannot go around telling people that it's Morgan Freeman.

"I didn't expect that he was going to be going around telling people that this is Morgan Freeman. Perhaps he didn't understand why he couldn't do that."


Oh the shame of it! :)