Couldn't sit through [Duvall's] portrayal of Stalin, though...or was it Lenin?
Posted on 04/29/2003 5:36:34 PM PDT by RepPhil
At Saturday's White House Correspondents Association dinner, actors Kelsey Grammer, Jason Priestley, Robert Duvall and Ron Silver all told CNSNews.com reporter Marc Morano how they disagreed with Michael Moore's anti-Bush rant at the Academy Awards and wish their fellow celebrities would refrain from making comments about politics.
Priestley, Morano relayed, “lamented the excessive coverage of anti-war celebrities by what he termed the 'liberal media.'” And, Morano learned, “CNN's Bob Franken did not like Fox News's use of the phrase 'we' when covering the U.S. armed forces during the war.”
An excerpt from Morano's April 28 story about what the actors told him before the April 26 dinner at the Washington Hilton:
Hollywood celebrities attending the 89th annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington on Saturday night made it a point to condemn celebrity anti-war activists.
Actor Kelsey Grammer, who plays the lead role in NBC's "Frasier" sitcom, said he refused to watch this year's Academy Awards because of the anti-war "crap" that fellow celebrities spewed.
Grammer said he was spared filmmaker Michael Moore's anti-war acceptance speech and attack on the Bush administration at the March 23rd Academy Awards. "I didn't hear it because I didn't watch [the Academy Awards], Grammer told CNSNews.com.
"I wasn't interested. I knew that that kind of crap was going to be there and I thought, I am not interested," Grammer added.
While accepting an Oscar for his anti-gun documentary "Bowling For Columbine," Moore said, "We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons...Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you."
Grammer called Moore's movie "a one-sided film" and blamed the media for giving so much publicity to Moore's anti-war speech.
"The media just loves to pay attention to whatever is happening that makes the most noise," Grammer explained.
Jason Priestley of "Beverly Hills 90210" television fame, agreed with Grammer and lamented the excessive coverage of anti-war celebrities by what he termed the "liberal media."
"I think more people should keep their opinions to themselves," Priestley said. He was particularly incensed by Moore's acceptance speech.
"It was shocking. I did not believe that was the forum to voice your opinions. Michael Moore is allowed to have opinions and his opinions are valid like everyone else's opinion, but I just didn't think the Academy Awards were the place to voice them in that manner," he explained.
'Keep their mouths shut'
Actor Robert Duvall said he is not a fan of Michael Moore, and he lashed out at Hollywood political activists.
"They should keep their mouths shut," Duvall said.
Asked if the media over-emphasizes celebrity opinions, actor Ron Silver emphatically agreed.
"I do, because at the end of the day, who cares? There are more important things on the table. But if they wanted to use Natalie Maines (of the Dixie Chicks) or Tim Robbins or me, or whomever, that is their business," Silver said.
Silver, a cofounder of the Creative Coalition, a generally liberal Hollywood activist organization, was an ardent supporter of the war in Iraq.
Asked if he has received any flak from other celebrities such as fellow Creative Coalition founder Susan Sarandon for his outspoken support of the war, Silver quipped, "Absolutely none, absolutely none, we just don't talk anymore."
Silver also dismissed Moore's acceptance speech,, saying, "I don't listen to Michael Moore...I didn't agree with him."...
CNN's Bob Franken did not like Fox News's use of the phrase "we" when covering the U.S. armed forces during the war.
"I disagree with the Fox approach to it. I believe it was jingoistic, but that's their approach to it. They would disagree with me, I suspect," Franken told CNSNews.com.
"We have to be remember and even those of us who are in the embed [program] have to remember, it is 'they,' not 'we'. It's just an important distinction. We serve our country by doing that," Franken explained....
END of Excerpt
For the story in full: www.cnsnews.com
For more about the celebrities quoted, see their bios on the Internet Movie Database site:
For Kelsey Grammer: us.imdb.com
For Jason Priestley: us.imdb.com
For Robert Duvall: us.imdb.com
For Ron Silver: us.imdb.com
Before the Screen Actors Guild Awards in early March Grammer told Access Hollywood that he supported the war: “I’m pro, that simple.” See: www.mediaresearch.org
CyberAlert readers should be familiar with Silver, who has an ongoing role as a political strategist on NBC's West Wing, from his frequent pre-war cable appearances going head-to-head with anti-liberation of Iraq celebrities like Ed Asner.
As recounted in the February 11 CyberAlert, on FNC's Beltway Boys actor Ron Silver recounted his negative reaction to anti-Americanism in Europe and rejected the idea that it's Bush's fault. He even suggested that imposing U.S. values on the world isn't “a bad idea by the way, I kind of think our values are fairy universal and might be helpful.” See: www.mediaresearch.org
This son of a naval officer knows how to sum up a situation. He's only the best actor in Hollywood.
BTW, I did see "The Apostle". It's...ummm...different, but I liked it, and you can tell he liked playing the part. Two of my favorite characters of his are The Great Santini and Gus in Lonesome Dove. Couldn't sit through his portrayal of Stalin, though...or was it Lenin? Whatever...I couldn't sit through it. I somehow missed Gods and Generals in the theater, but I will buy it when it comes out on DVD. When I heard they were making Gettysburg into a movie I told everybody that Robert Duvall would be perfect for the part of Lee...and they ended up using Martin Sheen. To his credit, Sheen isn't a bad actor, he's just no Robert E. Lee.
He's also (or at least was) a Canadian, proving once again that not all Canadians are anti-American leftists.
“All people have to be prepared,” Jones said. “If we are going to be the police, we also have to be the guardians. We can no longer play games. I was not against the war in Bosnia. I was against it taking so long. I was not against the war in Somalia. Again, it took too long, and we didn’t finish the job. We should’ve stayed and finished the job. About this pending war, I just think we should’ve finished that war the first time.”
Grammer said he was spared filmmaker Michael Moore's anti-war acceptance speech and attack on the Bush administration at the March 23rd Academy Awards. "I didn't hear it because I didn't watch [the Academy Awards]," Grammer told CNSNews.com.
I liked Kelsey Grammer a little before this, but now I'm a big fan! All the people in Hollyweird need to take a lesson from this guy.
~L
"I'm not a big Barbra Steisand fan. She said if George Bush were re-elected she'd move to England. Well, let her move. Let her move! Fast!...I always find that there is a catch with people like her, some form of hypocrisy. Barbra Streisand won't go to Colorado because they passed a law that was prejudicial to gays, but I'll bet she'll go to Havana where they quarantine gays."
I'm think you are on to something here. If conservative democrats find their voices against these co-opting communist movements destroying their party, it will become easier to undo some of the harmful social engineering programs we now "enjoy". Maybe even out of the UN alot sooner. Hope!
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