‘Friday Night Lights’ creator blasts Romney for using ‘Clear eyes’ slogan

The director of the TV show “Friday Night Lights” wants Mitt Romney to stop using the drama’s signature slogan — “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” — on the campaign trail. 

Peter Berg, the former NBC show’s director and writer, sent Romney a letter on Friday asking him to stop using the phrase popularized as a locker-room rallying cry by “FNL’s” Coach Eric Taylor.

{mosads}The GOP candidate has taken to repeating the slogan in stump speeches, and the Romney campaign recently sent out a fundraising email by Ann Romney titled “Clear eyes, full hearts.”

“I was not thrilled when I saw that you have plagiarized this expression to support your campaign by using it on posters, your Facebook page, and as part of your stump speeches,” Berg writes in the letter.

Berg’s letter was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. 

“Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series,” Berg continues.

Berg goes on to say that the Romney campaign is using the phrase “inappropriately.”

“Your use of the expression falsely and inappropriately associated ‘Friday Night Lights’ with the Romney/Ryan campaign,” Berg writes. “Mitt, we wish you and your family all the best. We are grateful for your support of our beloved show, but we are not in any way affiliated with you or your campaign. Please come up with your own campaign slogan.”

The Obama campaign has also used the slogan, when it tweeted out a picture of President Obama throwing a football at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The caption read, “Clear eyes, full hearts.”

“Friday Night Lights” was a cult favorite during a low-rated but critically acclaimed five-season run that ended in 2011. Berg adapted the television show from a movie of the same name that he also wrote and directed. 

Berg’s protest over Romney’s use of “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” marks the second controversy in a week related to “Friday Night Lights.” 

Buzz Bissinger, Berg’s cousin and the author of the nonfiction book Friday Night Lights (on which the film is based and the show is loosely based), made news when he penned an op-ed this month in the Daily Beast endorsing Romney even though he is a “lifelong” Democrat. 

Bissinger subsequently waged a battle with liberal followers on Twitter who criticized his decision. He wrote a follow-up Daily Beast column addressing his critics, saying that he was “pretty sure that as an American, that is my free choice” to back any candidate he wants.