Actors Grammer, Priestley and Duvall Denounce Anti-War Celebs

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberal...20030429.asp#4


Actors Grammer, Priestley and Duvall
Denounce Anti-War Celebs

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

For Silver's debate on CNN with Asner last November, see: www.mediaresearch.org

For the MRC's "Celebrities on Politics and War" collection of the few quotes from pro-war celebrities and many quotes from anti-war celebrities, see: www.mediaresearch.org

[Jerry D]

Robert Duvall The second of three sons of Rear Admiral and Mrs. William Howard Duvall, Robert Duvall was born in 1931 in San Diego,California, where his father, a native of Virginia, was then stationed.After graduating from Principia College, in Elsah, Illinois and Following a two-year tour of duty with the United States Army, he moved to New York in 1955 and enrolled in the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse on the G I. Bill. With a Bio like that I would not expect anything else from Robert Duvall
He is a class Act and a wonderful Actor who supports are troops and also played many great Parts Like Frank Burns in M*A*S*H , and the Crewcheif/Car Builder in Days Of Thunder also such great westerns as True Grit and Joe Kidd.

[TheOldSarge]

I will always remember Duvall as Augustus McCray in Lonesome Dove.

Go get em, Gus ... and Kelsey and Jason. Nice to see some stars with brains of thier own.

The Old Sarge