Will Rollins caught using actors as fake cops in ads: Video investigation

Will Rollins caught using actors as fake cops in ads: Video investigation

Extreme liberal Will Rollins got caught using actors as fake police officers in his campaign ads, a shameless attempt to mask his soft-on-crime record. This latest deception follows a pattern of misinformation by Rollins, who was even reprimanded by a judge for "misleading" voters.

"Will Rollins is so desperate to hide his soft-on-crime record letting criminals off easy, he's resorted to hiring Hollywood actors to play dress-up. Riverside County voters deserve the truth, not a phony lying politician like Rollins." - NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen

In case you missed it…

Revealed: House Candidate Will Rollins Uses Actors To Portray Cop and Judge in Campaign Ad in Latest Exaggeration of 'Tough on Crime' Chops
Washington Free Beacon
Collin Anderson

Will Rollins, the Democratic challenger in a hotly contested Southern California congressional race, is leaning heavily on his prosecutorial record on the campaign trail. He is even using professional actors to play law enforcement officials in a campaign ad, the Washington Free Beacon found. The ad shows Rollins, a former prosecutor, hard at work in various law enforcement settings, chatting with a detective at a roadside crime scene, arguing before a judge in a courtroom, and conferring with officers in what appears to be a police workroom.

Rollins is running on his record as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Central District of California, where he claims he fought the Sinaloa cartel, MS-13, and ISIS. A series of recent Free Beacon reports found no evidence to back up many of his claims-and evidence that he exaggerated or embellished others.

"Will Rollins, a counterterrorism prosecutor, took on ISIS terrorists and went after the Sinaloa cartel to stop illegal drugs from crossing our border," a Rollins ad released in February states. It shows the candidate speaking in front of a judge and conversing with a cop.

The spot is intended to showcase Rollins's deep connection to law enforcement. But the cop and judge aren't real-they're C-list actors with long lists of cameos and credits, including on popular shows such as Grey's Anatomy and lesser-known flicks like the Chinese-produced teacher-student romance Ms. Swan, Show Me Love.

The revelation is the latest example of how Rollins is using misrepresentation, showmanship, and exaggeration to burnish his law enforcement record as he seeks to unseat longtime GOP incumbent Ken Calvert, whom Rollins has attacked for "failing to respect law enforcement."

The judge shown in Rollins's ad is the actor, dancer, and choreographer Jayson Wright. Following stints as a backup dancer for the likes of Pink and Justin Timberlake, Wright turned to acting. He played a "bar patron" in a 2022 episode of Grey's Anatomy, sipping whiskey by himself as the camera panned to Ellen Pompeo. Wright made a brief, nonspeaking appearance as a detective in Netflix's The Vince Staples Show, where he appeared emerging silently from his office in the background as main character Vince talked with two (also fake) cops.

Wright did secure a speaking role in Ms. Swan, Show Me Love, an online "micro-series" produced by Chinese-owned video streaming app ReelShort that depicts a forbidden romance between a new teacher, Ms. Swan, and a student at a prestigious private high school.

Wright plays a patron at a local bar where a scantily clad Ms. Swan works nights. When Ms. Swan delivers Wright's character a beer and asks if there's "anything else" she can get him, he responds, creepily, "It's possible…"

The cop Rollins huddles with in his ad, meanwhile, is Jeff Deglow, a 40-year-old Calgary, Alberta, native who moved to the United States as a college student "to pursue acting as a career."

Deglow got his start performing in a "Shakespearean show" in Arizona. He touts his "incredible handle on Shakespearean text," though he has lamented that he "always seem[s] to play the Fools."

[…]

Campaigns do often use actors in their ads, but it's typically to provide voiceover skills, or they're used for just their hands. Rollins's use of actors, showing their faces in specific roles, is unusual, even more so in that his ads don't contain disclosures.

Indeed, there appears to be no acknowledgment anywhere of the actors' roles. Wright and Deglow have not disclosed their work in the Rollins ad publicly-despite showcasing much of their output online, as is customary for working actors. Wright did not respond to a request for comment, while Deglow confirmed his participation in the ad but declined to comment further. Rollins's campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Mvar Media, the Democratic advertising firm that Rollins has paid more than $180,000 for "ad production" and other services since May 2023.

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