Michael Moore is at it again, using an awards banquet to bash his political enemies. Even by the far-left filmmaker’s low standards, last night’s event was beyond the pale.
Moore attended the New York Film Critics’ Circle awards dinner in Manhattan to present the award for Best First Film.
The winner was “How to Survive a Plague,” a documentary detailing the aggressive tactics taken by ACT-UP during the 1980s to address the growing AIDS crisis. Rather than merely applaud newbie director David France’s film, Moore used the open microphone to slam two major figures from the era.
He went on to say that “those who would deify Reagan and Pope John Paul II are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people….because of their bigotry.”
Moore’s comments didn’t go without a retort. A heckler shouted, “fuck you” and “asshole” during Moore’s speech. Turns out noted contrarian Armond White was in the crowd and was the person shouting down Moore.
White expanded on his comments with The New York Post’s Kyle Smith:
“My comment is that Moore is a paranoid leftie buffoon who assumed he was in a room of fellow-travelers. I’m not a right-winger or a Catholic but I am a Christian and was offended by his hateful statements. And as a member of the NYFCC I resent that he used our event for a political platform.”
Moore infamously blasted President George W. Bush while accepting the Best Documentary Oscar in 2003 for “Bowling for Columbine,” calling Bush a “fictitious president.”
Note: Indiewire also noted Moore’s speech, but while the site indirectly criticized White for shouting what he shouted, the site’s reporter neglects to mention the rant against Reagan and the Pope, sanitizing Moore’s hateful rhetoric.