As soon as Michael Moore’s “Sicko” hit YouTube (ah, his neo-con enemies are finally catching up with him) irascible mogul Harvey Weinstein sicked his Cerberus-like vicious dogs on the offending users, attempting to tear them digital limb from limb (allegedly he was trying to get I.P. address banned).
“I hired Kroll Securities, and we started flooding the zone,” Weinstein boasted to the New York Post. “We created lots of phony sites, and people had to input their private information to gain access to ‘SiCKO.’ We are turning over all the information to the police and prosecutors and are stopping Internet piracy.”
And YouTube promptly took all offending sources down (though Google video had links up as late as 2 p.m. today)
However, Moore himself is singing a tune in direct conflict with his prosperously waist-lined benefactors position. “I’m just happy that people get to see my movies,” he told MTV. “I’m not a big supporter of the copyright laws in this country. I thought Napster was a good idea.”
“Do they think I did it?” Michael Moore laughed, of the “Sicko” leak. “Do they think the pharmaceutical companies did it so maybe they could destroy the box office for this movie? No! That wouldn’t happen, would it?”
Moore told MTV he was well aware his comments were likely inducing grand mal seizure’s in the Weinsteins. “They’re out there listening to this right now and they’re going crazy that I’m in here saying that it’s OK.”
For all the detractors that claim Moore is out there for only selfish, capitalistic and megalomaniac reasons, his “free for all,” attitude is pretty damn noble. He made a smart music analogy to the whole, sky is falling panic to downloading.
“You know, when I was a kid, there were vinyl record albums and then cassette tapes came along, and people started making cassette tapes,” Moore told MTV. “And I remember one day someone giving me a cassette tape of an album called London Calling by a group called the Clash. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ And suddenly I became a Clash fan. From that point on, I bought their albums and I went to their concerts. And they ended up making money off me — because somebody gave me a free tape of their music.” Video excerpts of the interview can be seen here.
The cynical would say, he’s all the more savvy and conniving, but you really can’t please everyone.
Meanwhile, “Sicko” might be complete and in theaters June 29, but Moore is still soliciting health-care stories from users on YouTube. Is there a sequel in the works or will these stories potentially become DVD extras? Either way users are responding.
