At Michael Moore’s Oscar Night speech,
WERE THE OSCAR BOOS FAKED?
Say you were programming the Oscars. Say you were able to intimidate all of the celebrities from speaking out against the war.
Say you knew Michael Moore was going to win an Oscar for Best Documentary for BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. You anticipated Moore would violate the network ban on showing dissent about the war. How could you plan to undermine Moore’s speech?
Could you pre-record an audience response? Could you prepare booing and heckling to drown out what Moore would try to say? Could you orchestrate something to suggest that Michael Moore was a loose canon with whom not even Hollywood agreed?
What if the cameras pulled back to reveal an audience neither booing nor jeering? Too afraid to be seen clapping. Too afraid to be seen having any opinion. But smiling.
Everyone and their cousin knew what Moore was going to say. Everyone knew Moore would be the only person who could get away with speaking against the war. In fact the audience knew Moore couldn’t back down if he wanted. Ironically the showdown had been promoted in advance to boost the ratings.
When Michael Moore was announced as winner, the entire hall gave him a standing ovation. Did the same audience immediately boo him? Who booed?
According to In These Times, it turns out that a handful of stagehands standing close to the microphones were responsible for the booes. But the networks reported that Moore was widely booed by his peers. Crisis managed?
