Mike Huckabee calls for a ‘buy-cott’ to support Reagan movie, counter anti-Trump film

Citing The Apprentice, an upcoming film perceived to be  unflattering to Donald Trump, along with Facebook’s alleged censorship of the Reagan movie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is calling for a “buy-cott” of the latter.

“It’s an exceptional film about President Ronald Reagan’s influence on the country and the world, and it’s a great juxtaposition to a movie obviously meant to do negative things to Trump before the election,” Huckabee told Just the News.

Huckabee said he’s not calling for a boycott of The Apprentice, he’s just hoping Americans will also check out Reagan, which stars Dennis Quaid as the 40th U.S. president along with Jon Voight as a Russian spy. The movie earned $28 million in its first three weeks in theaters.

“I’m a First-Amendment guy who wants people to get their views out there. but good messages should also be heard, and Reagan is a great reminder of an incredible time in world history,” Huckabee said.

The Apprentice, written by Gabriel Sherman, opens on Oct. 11 and stars Sebastian Stan as as a young Donald Trump; Maria Baklova as his former wife, Ivana Trump; and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn, an attorney who is portrayed as the future president’s amoral mentor. 

Huckabee also said American consumers should “absolutely” buy a ticket to Reagan as a way to send a message to Mark Zuckerberg and the company he founded, Facebook. which has been accused of rejecting ads and taking down positive posts about the film.

Just the News viewed multiple ads for Reagan that Facebook rejected and some posts about the movie from users that were taken down. On at least one occasion, the social-media giant also temporarily suspended the Reagan page.

Facebook told this reporter it initially made a “mistake” in rejecting ads, but it has since rejected another one. It did not respond to a request from Just the News as to why a movie about a president who hasn’t been in office for 36 years was problematic, nor would it say if posts or ads for The Apprentice would be similarly scrutinized.

“Facebook would rather you not know the story of Ronald Reagan. They’d rather put out false information about everyone from Donald Trump to me,” said Huckabee, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination.

Huckabee is involved in a class-action lawsuit against Facebook parent, Meta, that alleges its artificial-intelligence product uses their copyrighted written works without consent or compensation.

A judge recently ruled the Zuckerberg could be deposed by lawyers representing the writers.

Separately, Huckabee filed a lawsuit in July against Meta claiming that Facebook allowed his image to be used in an ad for Fortin CBD gummies.

The suit alleges the company falsely claimed Huckabee’s TV show on Trinity Broadcasting Network was canceled because he suffered from an auto-immune disease and that the CBD gummies “cured me and can save American lives.”

Huckabee said none of the information in the ads allegedly allowed by Facebook is true.

“What an irony: a twice-elected president is deemed unfit to be heard, but something completely bogus about a public figure isn’t even checked out,” he said. 

Huckabee also accused Zuckerberg of engaging in election interference, claiming he did so four years earlier, as well, when he donated $400 million for the installation of ballot drop-boxes in certain areas of the U.S. 

Zuckerberg has since acknowledged that his effort in 2020 has been interpreted by conservatives as helping Democrats, and said he’d not be doing anything similar in the current election cycle. 

“Facebook pretends it doesn’t control its content, but that’s a lie because most of us have had Facebook tell us we can’t say certain things,” Huckabee said. “If they’re aware of even an obscure person saying something they don’t like about the election, they can’t pretend that someone like me, with 2.3 million followers, that, somehow, they missed a libelous post for several months.”

One of the Reagan ads initially rejected by Facebook shows Quaid with the text of an inspirational quote from the former president reading: "Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her—that the American spirit has been vanquished. We’ve seen it triumph too often in our lives not to believe it now."

“It just grieves me,” said Huckabee. “Why would you want to take down a message from a man who was elected president, twice?  I don’t know why Facebook would be afraid of a part of history it disagrees with. This is very troubling.”

It’s not the first time Huckabee has called for a “buy-cott,” as he advocated for one in 2018 for In-N-Out Burger when activists on the left called for a boycott against the fast-food chain for donating $25,000 to the Republican party in California. 

“Why can’t a business express itself? Apple does it. Starbucks does it. Amazon does it,” he said at the time. “I say don’t boycott them, ‘buy-cott’ them. Go buy more than you’ve ever bought!”