Alfred University Trustee, actor Bill Pullman ’11 HD promotes COVID vaccine in new Bud commercial
Actor Bill Pullman '11 HD, a member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees, reprises his role as President Thomas J. Whitmore from the Hollywood blockbuster film “Independence Day” for a recently-released Budweiser beer commercial that also serves as a COVID-19 vaccine promotion.
Actor Bill Pullman '11 HD, a member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees, reprises his role as President Thomas J. Whitmore from the Hollywood blockbuster film “Independence Day” for a recently-released Budweiser beer commercial that also serves as a COVID-19 vaccine promotion.
In the 1996 film, Pullman’s character gives a stirring speech to military forces from around the globe prior to launching an attack against a common alien enemy. In the Budweiser commercial, “Go Fourth, America,” Pullman’s President Whitmore character gives a similar speech, this time urging viewers to support vaccination efforts to defeat another common enemy—COVID.
A June 30 story in the The Hollywood Reporter says Pullman has over the years resisted offers to reprise the Independence Day speech. He was convinced to do the commercial when Budweiser—which pledged to donate to the vaccine charity Direct Relief—agreed to make the message “more globally oriented to acknowledge the fight (against COVID) is not done.” According to the story, Pullman donates to the “Go Give One” campaign, which supports access to vaccines for lower-income countries.
Alfred University awarded Pullman an honorary degree in 2011.