The Hollywood Left is having fits over the success of American Sniper, the box office record-breaking bio-pic of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle directed by Clinton Eastwood that has garnered six Oscar nominations.
As has been reported, there is a campaign to undermine the film’s Academy Awards prospects.
Hollywood figures Michael Moore and Seth Rogen have made comments disparaging Kyle and the film that they have since tried to walk back after fierce blowback.
Back in 2000 however, the Hollywood Left put out an APB seeking snipers to assassinate then Texas Governor George W. Bush the day after he formally accepted the nomination to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.
On August 4, 2000 CBS Television broadcast an image of Bush making his acceptance speech with the wards “Snipers Wanted” overlayed on the lower third of the screen.
The incident took place on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn which was produced by David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants.
Other than a perfunctory Secret Service investigation and a letter from an FCC commissioner, CBS, Kilborn and Worldwide Pants faced no repercussions over the broadcast assassination solicitation.
CBS and Worldwide Pants issued a joint apology after nearly a week of mounting criticism from conservatives. Kilborn also made an on-air apology.
Unlike if this were to be done to President Barack Obama, there was no mass outrage from the political media over this broadcast solicitation to murder George W. Bush. It took the efforts of FReepers at FreeRepublic.com to force media and government attention.
Video and screengrabs of the incident have largely gone missing online. The Media Research Center has an archived report on the show and the aftermath published on August 24, 2000.
“Sounds like the “Freepers” at freerepublic.com, who have been publicizing Kilborn’s bad joke, are having an impact.
“As noted last week in CyberAlert, on the Monday, August 14 show, Kilborn did “apologize for a mistake we made….with a caption on our screen concerning Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush that should not have made it on the air.” He added: “I want to apologize personally to George W. Bush, our audience, the viewers at home, and to anyone else who was offended. I am sorry it happened.”
“A couple of weeks ago the MRC posted a video clip of the incident as shown by FNC, but it was without the Kilborn audio. MRC research associate Kristina Sewell has since obtained a copy of the original show and this afternoon MRC Webmaster Andy Szul will post it in this item in the posted version of this CyberAlert.
“The event occurred on the show aired the night of August 4 as Kilborn told this joke in his “In the News” segment parodies of news events: “Our top story, news from the dark side of the force. George W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for President with a very stirring speech at the convention last night in Philadelphia. The delegates got a real sense of George W. or as he’s known to most Americans, Hollow Man.”
“ Kilborn’s next joke: “Bush excited the crowd with his indictment of President Clinton, asking do you really want eight more years of peace, low inflation and unbelievable prosperity?”
According to Wikipedia, the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborne was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles.
