Singer Pete Townshend Fires Back At Michael Moore

7 July 2004 Fahrenheit Moore or Less

Back to Diary Dates Michael Moore has been making some claims – mentioning me by name - which I believe distort the truth.

He says – among other things – that I refused to allow him to use my song WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN in his latest film, because I support the war, and that at the last minute I recanted, but he turned me down. I have never hidden the fact that at the beginning of the war in Iraq I was a supporter. But now, like millions of others, I am less sure we did the right thing.

When first approached I knew nothing about the content of his film FAHRENHEIT 911. My publisher informed me they had already refused the use of my song in principle because MIRAMAX the producers offered well below what the song normally commands for use in a movie. They asked me if I wanted to ask for more money, I told them no.

Nevertheless, as a result of my refusal to consider the use, Harvey Weinstein – a good friend of mine, and my manager Bill Curbishley – interceded personally, explained in more detail to Bill what the movie was about, and offered to raise the bid very substantially indeed. This brought the issue directly to me for the first time. Bill emailed me and told me how keen Harvey and Michael Moore were to use my song.

At this point I emailed Bill (and he may have passed the essence of what I said to Harvey Weinstein) that I had not really been convinced by BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, and had been worried about its accuracy; it felt to me like a bullying film. Out of courtesy to Harvey I suggested that if he and Moore were determined to have me reconsider, I should at least get a chance to see a copy of the new film. I knew that with Cannes on the horizon, time was running short for them, and this might not be possible. I never received a copy of the film to view. At no time did I ask Moore or Miramax to reconsider anything. Once I had an idea what the film was about I was 90% certain my song was not right for them.

I believe that in the same email to my publisher and manager that contained this request to see the film I pointed out that WGFA is not an unconditionally anti-war song, or a song for or against revolution. It actually questions the heart of democracy: we vote heartily for leaders who we subsequently always seem to find wanting. (WGFA is a song sung by a fictional character from my 1971 script called LIFEHOUSE. The character is someone who is frightened by the slick way in which truth can be twisted by clever politicians and revolutionaries alike). I suggested in the email that they might use something by Neil Young, who I knew had written several songs of a more precise political nature, and is as accessible as I am. Moore himself takes credit for this idea, and I have no idea whether my suggestion reached him, but it was the right thing to do.

I have nothing against Michael Moore personally, and I know Roger Daltrey is a friend and fan of his, but I greatly resent being bullied and slurred by him in interviews just because he didn’t get what he wanted from me. It seems to me that this aspect of his nature is not unlike that of the powerful and wilful man at the centre of his new documentary. I wish him all the best with the movie, which I know is popular, and which I still haven’t seen. But he’ll have to work very, very hard to convince me that a man with a camera is going to change the world more effectively than a man with a guitar.

Pete http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/diary/display.cfm?id=89&zone=diary

let's see: used without permission, that we KNOW of so far:

1. pete townsend's song

2. footage of a soldier's burial and wife's final farewell

3. ray bradbury's title "fahrenheit ##1."

anything else?

MY IDEA: sue this guy's you know what and give ALL the money to the children of soldiers who have died in iraq.

Townsend did say..that Moore was a "BULLY".

MY IDEA: sue this guy's you know what and give ALL the money to the children of soldiers who have died in iraq.

EXCELLENT!!!

Villagers UNITE..and less RUN Moore out of town, that low life ,plagerizing ,anti American ,fat , smelly BULLY who eats French Cheese.

Pete Townshend has labelled Michael Moore a "bully" in a public spat over the use of the classic song Won't Get Fooled Again in Fahrenheit 9/11. The Who guitarist refused Moore permission to use the song on the end credits of the film. Afterwards, the director claimed that the rock legend did so because he was in favour of the war in Iraq. On his website, Pete Townshend protests that this is not the case. Instead, he says he refused permission because he was suspicious of Moore's credentials. The film now ends to the sound of the Neil Young anthem Rockin' In The Free World

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=110864592&p=yyx865z98

I'm sure Neil Young was all too eager to lend his song to the "cause."

MM is a bully. He attempts to destroy, by making up outright lies about anyone who disagrees with him or tries to get in his way of making his propaganda.