I have a feeling that The Weinstein Co and the US Government have teamed up to promote Michael Moore’s new documentary Sicko, which will debut last this month at the Cannes Film Festival. News was leaked to the AP today that Moore is under investigation by the Treasury Department for taking a group of 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for respiratory treatment. Apparently, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2nd that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. And this letter was leaked to the AP just in time to help promote the movie.
What happened: The U.S. government never responded to Moore’s request, but the crew went over anyway. THR reports that Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a “safe house” outside the country to protect it from government interference, after receiving the letter. I think that’s just a little much.
But the filmmaker likely has little to worry about. In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 for conducting business in Cuba in violation of the embargo. Oliver Stone forked over $6,322.20 for traveling to Cuba to make his Fidel Castro documentary. So if there is a fine, it would probably be next to nothing.
What did we learn today: This is non news, government regulatory bull-crap that conveniently got leaked to the press to help promote Sicko. This is how The Weinstein Co should promote their future films.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
I love the fact that you are still using that image from Team America for every post about this faux-documentarian.
May 10th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Yeah, you’ve got to give Moore credit, he knows just when to get his name out there in time for promotion:
http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/289136/Entertainment
May 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
You “have a feeling” that there’s a US government/Weinstein Co. conspiracy?
What about Oliver Stone and the Yankees? Did the Treasury Department conspire with them, too,
or was that just the government doing what one would expect? If it’s the latter, what makes Michael
Moore’s case any different? Have any emotions about that?
Your speculation is baseless and inconsistent.
May 12th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
The skepticism regarding the Media reports of US Govt.’s probe into the Cuban trip is unfounded. The documentary SICKO will win in Cannes just as the previous documentaries won fame for their brilliance. Thanks for the article, you are doing your job of promoting Michael Moore and his documentary - SICKO. Michael Moore, you are the Man!
May 21st, 2007 at 4:56 pm
What’s wrong with you? Why would the U.S. government work at all to promote Michael Moore’s movie? Give your head a shake.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:37 am
I just had the opportunity to watch “Sicko” last night and I feel it was enlightening! I think the best quote in the movie was this “In France the government is afraid of the people, in America the people are afraid of the government.” I highly doubt that our government would do anything to promote Moore’s film because our government is not about truth, it’s about the profit margin! This is why currently 1% of the people control 80% of the wealth here. American government is clearly not concerned with taking care of it’s own!