Washington D.C., USA - April 5, 2025: Hands Off Rally at the Washington Monument. Protester holding sign that says "GOP, LIST 5 THINGS YOU DID LAST WEEK." (Photo credit: nmoyPhoto / Shutterstock)
Ronald Hayes was cautious when he talked to a reporter this week about the political TV advertisement he appears in, talking about the death of his son Shemar, a college football player who was murdered in Charlotte in March 2024 at age 23.
“I have already been swindled into an ad that was about politics, which I don’t want to be about,” Hayes told NC Newsline on Monday.
Despite his intentions, the ad has landed him squarely in the middle of one of the nation’s most watched races.
Hayes says he was tricked by the Senate Leadership Fund, a well-heeled Republican political action committee.
Hayes says he agreed to talk to the video crew about his son’s murder because he thought he would be featured in an ad against gun violence. But the ad is actually aimed at smearing the political record of former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
The TV ad Hayes appeared in has been viewed more than 25 million times on Youtube. It’s part of a $17 million advertising campaign targeting Cooper, who faces Republican Michael Whatley in November.
The ad falsely implies that Cooper released Shemar’s killer from prison early as part of a legal settlement during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Tyzavian Smith, the man convicted of killing Shemar, was 18 at the time Shemar was murdered in 2024, was not in prison, and had no prior adult record.
NC Newsline could not reach the Senate Leadership Fund for comment. The group has also been accused of using a murder committed by a South Carolina man to attack Cooper as soft on crime.
“The commercial looks as if I’m trying to sway North Carolinians from voting the way that they want to vote, and that wasn’t my agenda,” Hayes said. “I wanted to let the community know about gun violence and about my son being murdered.”
“Once I saw the commercial, I called [the ad makers] back and I asked them again, and they stated again that they are independent,” Hayes said. “I told them that I felt that this was deceiving, it was conniving and it was sneaky how they used me and my family to get out their word.”
Hayes said he’s now being stopped on the street by people wanting to know if he’s the “guy in the commercial” and whether he’s Democrat or Republican.
“What difference does that make?” said Hayes, a Democrat. “The agenda was not political. It was to get my son’s name said and to speak on gun violence.”
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Hayes said he plans to speak with Cooper to let him know that his intent was not to harm his campaign. He said he doesn’t have anything against Cooper and has “voted for him in the past.”
“I want to turn this tragedy into something beautiful that can possibly make a change,” Hayes said. “I want my son’s name to be able to be used to make this change.”
Hayes has published a book, titled “Living Through Loss: A Journey of Healing and Hope,” to share the story of Shemar’s death, but also how he lived his 23 years of life. He said the ad’s producers recorded him and took pictures of him talking about that book and others he’s written, but did not include them in the ad.
“That was not their agenda,” Hayes said. “They could care less than a damn about me and my books.”
The still-grieving father said he blames his son’s death on what he says are weak gun laws that are ineffective in keeping guns out of the hands of people who would use them to harm others.
A statewide anti-gun violence group agrees with Hayes, and is condemning the political ad and the Republican PAC that paid for it. North Carolinians Against Gun Violence says it is outraged at the commercial, which it says twisted a grieving father’s pain for political gain.
“Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Becky Ceartas, executive director of NCGV. “Every survivor of gun violence deserves to be treated with respect and care if they decide to relive the most horrible day of their lives by telling you their story.”
NCGV called on television stations across the state to pull the political ad from the airwaves.
“Our organization works with survivors of gun violence throughout the state, and we have witnessed how hard and traumatic it is for them to tell their stories,” said Ceartas. “It requires an immense amount of trust and faith that the person you are sharing this deeply personal experience with will treat it with dignity and respect.”
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Laura Leslie for questions: info@ncnewsline.com.