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Trump is using the classic camp film ‘Hocus Pocus’ to raise money for his impeachment battle

The Hocus Pocus movie poster shows three witches casting a spell.
A detail from Disney's original "Hocus Pocus" movie poster. Photo: Disney

Right now Trump is raising money for his impeachment fight by selling a poster and T-shirt spoofing the 1993 Disney Halloween flick Hocus Pocus. But neither the film’s fans nor its original co-screenwriter are enchanted by it.

Trump’s badly drawn poster and T-shirt declare “Stop the Witch Hunt!” — an idiom he oft-repeats in reference to the ongoing impeachment proceedings against him. The art substitutes actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy with Democratic politicians Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, and Jerry Nadler.

Related: Bette Midler is not happy about Disney’s “Hocus Pocus” TV remake

The three witches look over a crystal ball containing a superheroic Trump as he flies over the Congressional buildings holding an American flag in his right hand.

The Trump campaign’s official Twitter account tweeted a link to the products, stating, “Send a spooky message to Pelosi, Schiff & Nadler that Trump won and they should get over it! And show support for the President at the same time! Limited run, order today!”

The Daily Dot noted that the products won’t ship to customers by Halloween and seem to have missed the point of a witch hunt. In historical witch hunts, witches weren’t the ones doing the hunting.

In a tweet, Mick Garris, one of the co-screenwriters of the film, wrote, “As one of the creators of Hocus Pocus, I am disgusted by this putrid act of evasion. This is the worst president in our history, and I object in every way his attempt to co-opt, no matter how poorly, our creation. Leave our witches alone, oh Evil One.”

While some Twitter users have wondered whether Disney will sue to stop Trump from profiting off their design, artists are allowed to sell spoofs and parodies based on copyrighted works under “fair use” exceptions. Even so, Disney could still ask Trump to remove them.

So it’s probably a good thing that the products were advertised as limited edition because they won’t likely last long.

In other news, Disney is planning a Hocus Pocus direct-to-streaming sequel… so at least there’s that.

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