If he had to do it again, David Spade wouldn’t agree to hawking DirecTV alongside a scene with his late friend Chris Farley from “Tommy Boy.”
"I wouldn't want anyone to get a whiff that I'm trying to get something off Chris," he told People magazine.
The 30-second commercial, which played during the world series, has been chided by some critics as being tasteless. In it, Farley does his famous “Fat Boy in a Little Coat” routine from the 1995 movie while Spade, inserted into the scene by technology, promotes the satellite service.
In the ad, Spade says, "Great, I'm here with tons of fun, when I could be at home with my DirecTV … But no, I'm stuck with either cable or that (pointing to Farley). It never gets old.”
Defamer tagged the ad "bad advertising," calling Spade and the holders of Farley's estate as "sleazebags."
Entertainment Weekly wrote that they "can’t decide if this is a sweet homage to a sexy moment or semi-disrespectful exploitation of the dead."
Asked Film Junk: “When it comes to advertising, are there any lines that shouldn’t be crossed, or are there things that shouldn’t be done in order to sell a product?”
Spade expressed “slight shock” that anyone would find the ad offensive.
"These commercials are cool,” he told People. “They're well done. They're clever. And that they would include “Tommy Boy” in that company, I thought was very flattering."
"Oh, my God if [Farley] was here, I guarantee he'd be stoked that this little movie is included," he said. "The movie is important to me, and I would hate to offend [anyone] because that's one of my favorite things I've ever done. So I would apologize to someone who took it that way."
The commercial series also included scenes from “Back to the Future” and “Aliens.”
