About 15 seconds into an excruciating three-and-a-half-minute ballad, Mike Huckabee stands in front of a dreary Iowa background imploring someone to “try the pork chops” on his iPhone.
The video called “Hello, Huck” featuring a garish iteration of Adele’s hit song with new original lyrics about Iowa’s “Quad Cities” and “Amish chairs” was released by the campaign on Wednesday, providing some reason to talk about an essentially meaningless presidential candidate in the final days before the Iowa caucuses. It has managed to gather over 200,000 views in the past day, equivalent to the number of pork chops Huckabee has consumed in his life.
The music featured in the ad—sung by an earnest person who was hopefully paid well to embarrass themselves—has since been taken down. “
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“Due to a claim by a copyright holder, the audio track has been muted,” the description on YouTube reads, turning the video into a short silent movie ode to a dying campaign. It’s like watching an NYU student film made by a member of American Bridge.
A spokesman for Huckabee’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the music’s sudden disappearance.
It is unclear whether Adele is aware of Huckabee’s existence or the use of her music to promote an American politician who plays a bass guitar and discusses sex frequently.
Benny Tarantini, who handles PR for Adele stateside, simply told The Daily Beast: “We have no comment on this” when sent the despair-ridden video.
Judging by Adele’s pro-LGBT stance, she might not dig a candidate who has called same-sex marriage confusing and “illegal” and compared the Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter to putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps.
Surprisingly enough though, the British songstress did credit her success to another blabber-mouthed religious zealot, Sarah Palin. She appeared on Saturday Night Live alongside Palin in 2008, which she credits to popularizing her music and even leading to eventual Grammy nominations.
“Congrats on motherhood. Keep Setting Fire to the Rain,” Palin wrote in response.
Huckabee has yet to pen a cloying letter to Adele but maybe his video suffices as a love letter of its own.
