Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Use! Friday Night Lights Creator Peter Berg Accuses Mitt Romney of Plagiarism

In a letter to the presidential candidate, Berg writes, "Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series."

By Tierney Bricker Oct 12, 2012 7:14 PMTags
Peter Berg, Mitt RomneyFrazer Harrison, Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Use My Phrase!

This is basically what Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg told presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a letter, asking the politician to stop using the phrase "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose," a well-known line from the beloved series, during his campaign appearances.

"Your politics and campaign are clearly not aligned with the themes we portrayed in our series," Berg writes in the letter. "The only relevant comparison that I see between your campaign and Friday Night Lights is in the character of Buddy Garrity—who turned his back on American car manufacturers selling imported cars from Japan."

Berg goes on to say that Romney's use of the phrase, which appears on his Facebook page, "falsely and inappropriately associates Friday Night Lights with the Romney/Ryan campaign."

Romney has used the Friday Night Lights motto in several campaign speeches, including one he made earlier this week in Iowa, where he said, "That's Americans...We have clear eyes—we know what we believe. Full hearts—we love this country and we can't lose. This is a time for Americans to make a choice. We're going to take back this country." 

Berg isn't the only FNL alum to notice Romney's use of the phrase. Star Scott Porter recently tweeted, "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose. Both Parties using it to win votes. And my boy Pete Berg didn't even trademark it. Shame. #shame"

Back in May, President Barack Obama's campaign also used the phrase as the caption under a photo of the President throwing a football on Tumblr.

Read Berg's full letter to Romney below: