President Trump reinstates “Department of the Army” as subtitle of Department of Defense
President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the appointment of Secretary of Defense. Pete Hegseth plans to use “Department of the Army” as another name for the Department of Defense.
An effort by an Oregon state minister to ask movie theater chains to stop showing U.S. Department of the Army promotional videos before screening movies is drawing attention.
The Rev. Chuck Curry, pastor of the United Church of Christ in Portland, complained in a letter to Regal Theaters that on a Sunday evening when he and his family went to see Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” a 90-second ad promoting the U.S. Department of the Army played before the movie’s trailer.
“Viewers were stunned,” he told USA TODAY, calling the video “a propaganda piece promoting Trump and the MAGA agenda.”
The Department of the Army’s “Peace Through Strength” video, which was also played at the $60 million UFC Freedom 250 exhibit at the White House, features dramatic music, Army Secretary Pete Hegseth fist-pumping, and a voiceover from President Donald Trump that says, “If you attack the United States of America, we will hunt you down.”
“It felt like I was in a movie theater in Russia or North Korea,” Curry wrote in a letter posted on social media. “Democracy doesn’t do that.”
Move graph up: Knoxville, Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment is one of the largest theater operators in the United States, with approximately 5,400 screens in 41 states. The company, which broadcasts UFC events live in theaters, did not immediately respond to inquiries from USA TODAY.
Curry’s post generated hundreds of thousands of responses across several social media platforms, with some saying they had seen the video during a recent movie night or thought they would stop frequenting Regal theaters.
One user on Facebook said he saw the ad run before a movie screening at the Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City, Calif., but management quickly pulled the ad after backlash.
Julie Bravo, president and chief marketing officer of Evolved Multitainment Management, which operates six California theaters including the Mary Pickford, said the video “was shown in error and was not approved for our pre-show programming.”
“As soon as we became aware of this issue, we took steps to remove it,” Bravo said. “We strongly believe that our guests come to the movies to enjoy entertainment and escape from the problems and divisions of everyday life. Political advertising is not what we intend to show on screen.”
Curry, former director of the Center for Peace and Spirituality at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, called on Regal to “immediately stop showing the video,” describing it as “a propaganda video, nothing more, nothing less.”
Curry said in his post that the audience “booed loudly” at the scene.
“We routinely see videos promoting military careers on Regal,” his letter states. “This was not the case.”
In the video, President Trump said that the United States would “lead the world to peace” through “might and might,” adding, “Our friends will respect us, our enemies will fear us, and the whole world will admire the unparalleled greatness of our military.”
The Pentagon Press Office did not respond to questions from USA TODAY in time for publication.
Curry said the theater chain’s decision to show the video “supports Donald Trump, the failed Iran war, and the white Christian nationalism advocated by Secretary Hegseth.”
Curry told USA TODAY that he has not yet received any response from Regal, but remains hopeful given the number of reactions to his post.
“Many people have left comments to let us know that they experienced the exact same thing last week at the theater,” he said. “It’s a mistake for Regal and other theaters not to respond.”
