Michael Moore, Hollywood’s outspoken left-leaning film maker, confirmed in a Facebook post that Clint Eastwood did in fact threaten to kill him during an awards dinner held ten years ago. And what’s more: He concluded his remarks by saying vicious verbal attacks are akin to an “American Isis,” he wrote.
He posted on his Facebook page a message entitled: “The Day Clint Eastwood Said he Would ’Kill’ Me, 10 Years Ago This Week,” and that included — in conclusion — that those who issue scathing verbal attacks are akin to Islamic State terrorists.
He then went on: “A lot of people are asking me if this is true as this ’rumor’ about Clint Eastwood confronting me in 2005 has now re-surfaced and floated around the internet in the past few days. So I thought I should say a few words … Ten years ago this past week, Clint Eastwood stood in front of the National Board of Review awards dinner and announced to me and to the crowd that he would ’kill me if I ever came to his house with my camera for an interview. ’I’ll kill you,’ he declared.”
Mr. Moore then said those in the crowd who overheard “laughed nervously,” while he had mixed feelings.
“As for me, having just experience a half-dozen assaults in the previous year from crazies upset at ’Fahrenheit 9/11’ and my anti-war Oscar speech, plus the attempt by a right wing extremist to blow up my house (he was caught in time and went to prison), I was a bit stunned to hear Eastwood, out of the blue, make such a violent statement. But I instantly decided he was just trying to be funny.”
Mr. Moore then explained that while he joined in the laughter, Mr. Eastwood doubled down on his threat.
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“’I mean it,’ he barked,” Mr. Moore wrote, “and the audience grew more quite. ’I’ll shoot you.’ There was a smattering of approving applause … I tried to keep that fake smile on my face.”
Mr. Moore’s post went on at length, until his conclusion about the negatives of “hate-speech,” as evidenced in recent days when he’s been subjected to verbal attacks for his views about “American Sniper,” he said.
“This past week or so of hysterical attacks on me only proves that the American lovers of violence and the issuers of fatwas in OUR society haven’t gone away,” he wrote. “They are our American Isis — ’Criticize or mock those whom we deify, like our sainted sniper, and we will harm you most assuredly.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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