Former GEICO Announcer Admits Mistake, Releases PSA Targeted At Critics of FreedomWorks And The Tea Party
Controversial former GEICO voice over announcer releases emotional public service announcement warning other FreedomWorks/Tea Party critics not to make the same mistake he did.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 17, 2010
After several weeks of reflection, voice over artist and on-camera actor D. C. Douglas has produced a public service announcement for other FreedomWorks and Tea Party critics who might be tempted to follow in his footsteps. Mr. Douglas says, "What I did may have been entertaining, but it was also impetuous and not well thought out. If I were to make that call today, I would use a more diaphram-supported voice and ask very different questions."
Mr. Douglas quickly assembled a cast of respected Los Angeles actors and close friends on May 12th and produced a provocative and hopeful five minute PSA. "I thought it was important to clear the air with Matt Kibbe and FreedomWorks as soon as possible and to prevent The Huffington Post readers and other liberals from crossing Matt Kibbe's line in the sand." On a personal note, Mr. Douglas admits to being fond of FreedomWorks president, Matt Kibbe. "I think Matt and I could've be good friends, had he not hooked up with Dick Armey, Koch Industries and the GOP. I think we have a similar sense of humor and share a penchant for Buddy Holly glasses," admits Mr. Douglas.
Last March, Mr. Douglas was angered by the racist and homophobic slurs allegedly shouted by Tea Party protesters during the final health care debate weekend. In response, he made a call to FreedomWorks, an alleged grassroots Tea Party organization chaired by ex-lobbyist Dick Armey. In his voicemail, Mr. Douglas inquired about the IQ level of FreedomWorks and whether the organization had a PR plan in place for when one of their fringe followers crossed a line and became violent. He also left his number in hopes of actually getting an answer. FreedomWorks retuned his call weeks later, but Mr. Douglas declined to engage them since "...health care reform had passed and, honestly, I would've thought they had more important Tea Party business to attend to."
After doing some research, FreedomWorks discovered Mr. Douglas' connection to certain GEICO commercials (GEICO is on FreedomWorks' boycott list) and decided to post Mr. Douglas' voicemail and phone number along with GEICO's phone number on BigGovernment. com. Mr. Kibbe encouraged his readers to call Mr. Douglas and GEICO, ultimately costing Mr. Douglas a recently recorded new campaign.
The events received media attention that was swift and, according to Mr. Douglas, "...about 75% erroneous, including what I actually did for GEICO, my name, the timeline of events and the reason anyone even knew about it in the first place!" Mr. Douglas posted a follow-up blog entry (http://www. myvoiceoverguy. com/voice-over/cleaning-circus/) on The D. C. Douglas Blog and issued two additional press releases (http://www. prweb. com/releases/DC-Douglas/GEICO-FreedomWorks/prweb3953314.htm) correcting these errors, but "...no one seemed to be interested in the facts. That's when I started to think about what I had done. And then it hit me, I needed to apologize to FreedomWorks for asking reckless and vague questions. That's how this PSA was born."
Mr. Douglas hopes people will take his message to heart and be inspired to pass his PSA around the internet so that he can reach as many FreedomWorks critics and anti-Tea Party people as he can. "FreedomWorks and all their angry callers and emailers made their point. They changed me. And now I hope I can inspire others like me to take a much more open-mined look at FreedomWorks and the Tea Party. If I can save just one person from doing what I did, then I will feel it was all worth it." Mr. Douglas' PSA can be viewed on YouTube (http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=eMUVFctJ2Xw) or on his blog (http://www. myvoiceoverguy. com/voice-over/tea-party-geico-freedomworks. html).
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