Steve Downes, the voice behind Master Chief in the Halo franchise, has called on the White House to remove his voice from a social media video he labeled as 'disgusting and juvenile war porn.' The video, posted on the official White House X/Twitter account and viewed over 63 million times, features Master Chief delivering his famous line, 'Finishing this fight.' It was shared last week amid the Middle East conflict with the caption 'Justice the American way.'
The clip also includes scenes from popular films and series, such as Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and Keanu Reeves as John Wick, all uttering their iconic phrases. These movie snippets are intercut with real war footage showing explosions.
Downes, who has previously raised concerns about unauthorized voice use, posted a statement on X/Twitter confirming that the White House did not seek his permission for the video and demanding his removal from it. He stated, 'It has come to my attention that there is at least one propaganda video circulating that was either produced or at the very least endorsed by the White House that uses images of Master Chief and uses my voice to support the war in Iran. Let me make this crystal clear: I did not participate in nor was I consulted, nor do I endorse the use of my voice in this video, or the message it conveys. I demand that the producers of this disgusting and juvenile war porn remove my voice immediately.'
This incident marks another instance of the White House leveraging popular intellectual property for social media content. It is not the first time the Trump administration has utilized Halo, owned by Microsoft, for promotional purposes. In October, Microsoft did not comment after Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image of himself as Master Chief, and the Department of Homeland Security used Halo to promote ICE on social media. IGN has reached out to Microsoft for a statement on the latest video.
Last week, the White House also posted a video combining footage from bombing operations in Iran with Call of Duty gameplay. IGN has contacted Activision for comment but has not received a response. Additionally, The Pokémon Company recently issued an official objection after the White House used the new spinoff Pokopia for a meme, criticizing the Trump administration's repeated use of its IP on social media.
As reported by The New York Times, Trump administration spokesperson Abigail Jackson has defended their social media approach, saying, 'Through engaging posts and banger memes, we are successfully communicating the president’s extremely popular agenda. There’s a reason so many people try to copy our style — our message resonates.'
In January, Downes expressed discomfort with AI reproductions of his voice, stating they 'cross a line that gets into an area I am uncomfortable with.' He remarked, 'One of the things that can be overwhelming when it comes to attention from fans is when AI gets involved. A lot of it is harmless I suppose, but some of it cannot be harmless. I've been very vocal about my feelings about the use of artificial intelligence, which on the one hand is inevitable and has many positive effects on not only show business but humanity in general, but it can also be a detriment. It can also be something that deprives the actor of his work. I've heard some things online in terms of AI and the reproduction of my voice that sounds like my voice that… like I said, most of the stuff I've seen is pretty harmless, but it can be not that way real quick. So, I'm not a proponent. I don't like it. I would prefer that it not be done. There's a lot of fan-made projects out there that are really cool, that are done just from the heart. But when you get to the AI part and deceiving somebody into thinking, in my case, that these are lines that I actually spoke when they're not, that's when we cross a line that gets into an area that I am uncomfortable with. I'll go on the record with that.'
