Oscar winner Clint Eastwood finally spoke out about decade-old allegations he once threatened to kill Michael Moore, but his response is likely to further enrage the liberal filmmaker.
“Everybody’s saying I threatened to kill Michael Moore,” Mr. Eastwood told an audience at the Las Vegas exhibition trade show CinemaCon on Wednesday. He paused before adding “It isn’t a bad idea,” Variety reported.
The joke was reportedly met with a round of applause, USA Today reported Wednesday.
The “American Sniper” director said that at the time, he was upset with Mr. Moore’s interview tactics with National Rifle Association leader Charlton Heston, who “was ill at the time, ailing with Alzheimer’s (disease),” the newspaper reported.
Mr. Eastwood’s cinematic telling of the late U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle’s life was the highest-domestic-grossing film of 2014. Shortly after its release, Mr. Moore made media waves when he said on Facebook: “My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren’t heroes.”
Mr. Eastwood brushed off the criticism as “just expressing an opinion,” USA Today reported.
SEE ALSO: Michael Moore, post-‘American Sniper’ release: ‘Snipers aren’t heroes,’ they’re ‘cowards’
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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