The Democratic candidate running against Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican, exploited Jon Hamm’s celebrity to attack Hawley’s attempts to present himself as a protector of “manhood.”
On Monday, Josh Hawley’s opponent in Missouri’s gubernatorial election, Lucas Kunce, published an attack ad narrated by the Hamm. The actor, raised in Missouri, pokes fun at Hawley throughout the film for thinking of himself as the epitome of robust and masculine virtue.
The film shows a compilation of negative coverage of Hawley, his book (also named Manhood), and images of him escaping from Donald Trump supporters who stormed the United States Capitol a few hours after Hawley indicated solidarity with them by displaying a fist pump in their direction.
The ad hopes to illustrate a stark contrast between Kunce’s Marine experience, his hope for Missouri’s future, and Hawley’s weakness.
Hamm concludes that if you want to talk about ‘Manhood,’ there is some contrast between Hawley and Kunce. Hawley wrote a book about it. But Kunce, as a marine, showed the meaning of courage. The clip ends by asking voters to send Lucas Kunce to the Senate.
Fact Check:
Regarding the video of Hawley in the Capitol featured in Kunce’s ad, the Jan 6 committee showed an edited version of the clip to portray Hawley as a coward. Hawley is seen comically running across a corridor, implying he was abandoning the ship due to cowardice. It was later revealed that the video was edited. In reality, Hawley was the last of his group to leave, only seconds ahead of rioters storming the chambers. It turns out the Jan 6 committee was not very symbolic of manhood. They were more aligned with falsehood.
Strangely, the Marine Corps veteran and former Democratic Senate primary loser Kevin Kunce said earlier this year that Hawley is partly vulnerable because he is obsessed with gender norms.
Kunce’s ad, although poking fun at Hawley’s “manhood,” still tries to out-manhood Hawley’s version of manhood.
