PARK CITY, Utah – Television sitcom producer and writer, and political activist Norman Lear said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump represents the “middle finger of the American right hand.”
Lear’s comment came during a Q&A session following the screening of a new movie about his life that premiered Thursday at the opening of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Lear was asked by a member of the audience about his perspective on what she called the apparent popularity of Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. He responded saying that he didn’t believe the American people actually liked Trump. He said Trump represented an expression of their anger at current governmental leadership. “Trump is the middle finger of the American right hand,” Lear said while extending his hand and middle finger towards the audience.
He said the support for Trump is “their way of saying to leadership across America [middle finger gesture].”
“Everywhere you look,” he continued, “whether it is industry, or the military, pharmaceuticals, media, the leadership ain’t what it is meant to be. Americans deserve better. It’s their way of saying [finger gesture] take this.”
Heidi Ewing, Norman Lear, and Rachel Grady at a Q&A following the movie screening at the Sundance Film Festival. (Photo: Breitbart Texas/Lana Shadwick)
Lear was taking questions from the audience while he was sitting with Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. The two women directed the movie “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You.”
Lear said his television sitcoms showed real Americans at a time when American producers were not doing so. He had five hit sitcoms running simultaneously at one point.
Following Lear’s answer about Trump, Ewing made an analogy to the Hungarian-Italian porn star, Ilona Staller (stage name “Cicciolina”) who was elected to the Italian Parliament in the 1980s at a time when Italians were very frustrated with the nation’s leadership.
“Cicciolina” (Photo: Certo Xornal – Creative Commons)
Ewing said that years back, the Italians elected Cicciolina to the Italian Parliament because “leadership was so corrupt.”
“Only when a porn star got in a position of power, it kind of did work to readjust the politics. So, God forbid we should have to elect the guy (Trump) to leadership.”
Following Lear’s successful career in producing and writing socially ground-breaking television shows like “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford and Sons,” “Good Times,” and “One Day at a Time,” Lear created the left-wing political organization, People for the American Way in 1981. The organization was founded to counter Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority organization.
Photo of Norman Lear during Sundance Film Festival Q&A. (Photo Courtesy Nina Kuhl)
Lear said he is a strong believer in the First Amendment and believes that we have to have discussions about issues that are uncomfortable to talk about.
At one point, Lear bought one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence for $18 million. President George W. Bush praised him in 2002 when he brought it to the Utah Olympics to share with people from all over the world.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter@BobPriceBBTX.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as an associate judge and prosecutor. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2