HBO responded to Donald Trump's Game of Thrones fantasy poster with a statement.
Highlights
- "Sanctions Are Coming", the mock movie poster reads
- Reference to new sanctions set to be imposed on Iran by US
- "Would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated", HBO said
"Game of Thrones" fans are primed for the final season, but starring Donald Trump? Well not quite, though the president had a laugh at Iran's expense Friday by posing in a GoT-style picture.
"SANCTIONS ARE COMING," reads the mock movie poster Trump tweeted Friday, echoing the HBO swords-sex-dragons-and-zombie series' signature line: "winter is coming."
Each "O" in the fictional Trump title is crossed by vertical lines, just like in the "Game of Thrones" logo.
The words are superimposed on a picture of the president striding out of a foggy background or possibly the smoking ruins of a diplomatic battlefield.
Trump was referring to a host of new sanctions set to be imposed on Iran by the United States, after Washington ditched an agreement reached under Barack Obama's administration to lift sanctions in exchange for controls over Tehran's nuclear programs.
The punitive measures were announced Friday but take effect Monday.
As for HBO, it isn't amused by Trump's fantasy poster.
"We were not aware of this messaging and would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes," said HBO in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Trump, who followed his real estate career with a spell as a reality TV host, is no stranger to self-promotion, telling rallies that by every metric imaginable he is enjoying unprecedented success.
"The greatest movement in the history of our country," he calls the populist revolt that saw him beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a relatively tight margin -- although he calls it "a landslide."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)