A former Mexican mayor imitated a speech from House of Cards‘ Frank Underwood in a campaign video, not long after the show premiered its fifth season.
The video was made by Miguel Ángel Covarrubias Cervantes, who formerly led the municipality of San Damián Texoloc, Tlaxcala, according to Fox News. It mirrors a “Underwood 2016” video made to promote the Netflix original series‘ fourth season that was released in January 2016.
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The original clip sees Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) delivering a patriotic speech from his desk as the camera pans in. To show the underlying menacing aspects of the show, clips of the administration’s treacherous deeds are spliced in.
Cervantes’s video, which was intended to build buzz for his next election campaign, copies the promo nearly word-for-word (once translated) and also features the politician talking from behind a desk. It even features the House of Cards theme song under it.
Luckily, no murders are spliced in, so at least he isn’t taking that much inspiration from the Underwoods.
“They say, we have the government that we deserve and I think Mexico deserves something bigger, a person who does not fear to look you in the eye and say what you think,”Cervantes says in the clip. “I believe in putting people first, I believe in better laws for citizens, I believe in opening doors and breaking paradigms.”
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Netflix has taken note of the nod and has issued a response in the form of a in-character video.
The Underwood Administration’s Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) addresses viewers with a message chiming in on the controversy.
“To the people of Mexican. It’s not a competition. You have no idea where people take inspiration from. Pay attention now.”
La imitación no es siempre la mejor forma de adulación. #Tlaxcala pic.twitter.com/WeA6wilGW3
— House of Cards (@HouseofCards) June 14, 2017
Netflix captioned the video “Imitation is not always the best form of flattery.”
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Cervantes has since elaborated on his choice to copy the House of Cards promo with a Mexican news outlet.
“I think Mr. Underwood helped us become viral,” he said. “This project has generated much controversy and has fulfilled one end: To draw attention and demonstrate that social networks can be used for both positive and negative purposes. At the end of the day our viral purpose was met, I think we should use this in a positive way.”
All five of House of Cards‘ seasons are currently streaming on Netflix.
