Take back Al Gore's Oscar, 2 Academy members demand in light of Climategate [Updated]

No, it wouldn't do anything for the environment.

But two Hollywood conservatives (yes, there are some) have called upon the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rescind the prestigious, profitable gold Oscar statuette that it gave ex-Vice President Al Gore et al two years ago for the environmental movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

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FOR THE RECORD:
A Top of the Ticket post Dec. 4 about former Vice President Al Gore and the film “An Inconvenient Truth” incorrectly reported that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Gore an Oscar. Although Gore appeared in the film and participated in the Academy Awards ceremony, the Oscar was given to the movie for best documentary. The post also refers to the “leak” of controversial e-mails concerning research into global warming but did not explain how the documents were obtained. The e-mails were obtained by computer hackers who then leaked their contents to the public by posting them online.

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Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd, both academy members, are among a small, meandering pack of known political conservatives still believed to be on the loose in the liberal bastion of movie-making.

In 2007, Hollywood's academy sanctified Gore's cinematic message of global warming with its famous statue, enriched his earnings by $100,000 per 85-minute appearance and helped elevate the Tennesseean's profile to win the Nobel Peace Prize despite losing the election battle of 2000 to a Texan and living in a large house with lots of energy-driven appliances.

Chetwynd and Simon were prompted to make their hopeless demand this week by the ... 

... leak two weeks ago of a blizzard of British academic e-mails purporting to show that scientists at the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit systematically falsified data to document the appearance of global warming in recent years.

The university is reportedly investigating the claims, which added dry fuel to the never-ending political debate over whether the Earth really is warming as a result of human activity or if it's just normal natural cycles and the debate is what's heated. The demand to withdraw Gore's award provides yet another opportunity to argue.

The startling leak comes at an inconvenient time just before next week's United Nations climate change meeting that will cause an immense carbon footprint with thousands of people flying up or over to Denmark to talk about saving the environment.

These airplanes will include Air Force One with its primary passenger President Obama, who's returning to the Copenhagen scene where he didn't help win the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago, which could do with a little global warming at this time of year.

Simon, a screenwriter who is also chief executive officer of Pajamas Media, a network of conservative online blogs, conceded he knew of no precedent for the Academy withdrawing a previously-awarded Oscar, despite decades of Hollywood hijinks and worse. But, he added, "I think they should rescind this one."

The controversial leaked documents have been assembled here by Pajamas Media and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The joint demand by Simon and filmmaker Chetwynd is available on video here.

The television news-watching world in America has not learned much about the so-called Climategate scandal because it has not really been mentioned on the air except for a notorious cable news channel named for a three-lettered, wily, wild animal that often seems to revel in debunking liberal shibboleths.

Network news programs have been far more concerned with the obviously more important White House party-crasher story involving a couple of formally-dressed phonies.

The falsified documents do not come up in Gore interview excerpts published late last night here by Politico's John F. Harris and Mike Allen.

This week White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claimed that global warming was no longer in dispute by most people. But a subsequent Rasmussen Reports poll of Americans finds only 1 in 4 adults believe that most scientists agree on the topic.

And while only 20% claim to have followed the leaked e-mail story Very Closely, nearly 60% believe it is at least somewhat likely that scientists have falsified environmental data to support their own global warming beliefs and theories.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Associated Press

Comments

[CandyMan]

Why do you have to make snide little comments ('meandering') about these two? Sure, this isn't going to happen - but when shaggy haired, Birkenstock wearing liberals make similar futile attempts, they are lauded. And to only mention the lack of TV coverage (except for taking another cheap shot at the most successful cable news network) and OMIT that this story has been all over the internet, is also childish. We'll see how smug you are next November...

[joe blow1111]

what i.q. do you need to possess to be an academy member? (i'm guessing under 100). this kind of crap only feeds into the notion that "hollywood types" live their lives completely divorced from reality. (another recent example -- the hollywood people that think roman polanski should be freed from punishment for drugging, raping, and sodomizing a 13 year old child). yeah, let's take back al gore's oscar and pretend that the arctic and anarctic ice caps are not quickly melting away, that the glaciers are not rapidly receding in the northern and southern hemisperes, that the siberian permafrost is not melting, that the oceans are not turning too acidic to support life, and rising at rates that threaten hundreds of millions of people world-wide, that brown corrosive clouds are not floating from continent to continent blurring the skies we see and the air we breathe, that thousands of species of plants and animals are not going extinct or under threat of extinction, etc., etc., etc. let's all suspend our (dis)belief and pretend that man has no impact on our environment and enjoy a wonderful and joyous hollywood ending.

[Dave]

Follow the money and you always will find some liberals stuffing their pockets

[Steve]

Talk about a publicity stunt. Some researchers at one British university may have faked or at least hyped research findings, so two Academy members "demand" that an Oscar for Al Gore's documentary be taken back? Say what? An Oscar is an award for filmmaking. If you don't agree with the film's premise, so be it. You can't demand the award be revoked. Let's face it, conservatives want to hype "Climategate" because they feel it reinforces their political (not scenitific) beliefs. This is a non-story.

[Janet Holmes]

Thank you so much for this article! It's wonderful to see this story finally getting into mainstream media.

I have been to the Pajamas site and listened to Simon and Chetwynd discussing the possibility of an investigation into whether or not Al Gore should be allowed to keep his 2 Oscars for Inconvenient Truth.

As Climategate has convinced me that the UN and gov'ts around the world have been duped by these scam scientists and that they and Gore should be investigated for racketeering, I have sent a letter to the Academy as follows:

"In light of Climategate and the UK court's decision that Inconvenient Truth may only be shown in schools with disclaimers of 11 gross inaccuracies, I ask you to please explore the possibility of rescinding the 2 academy awards given for this film."

This film is the main impetus for a massive restructure of global politics and wealth redistribution. If indeed this movie truly is a fraud, is this too much to ask of the Academy?

[Brian Johnson]

I agree with the premise that Climate-Gate has been ignored by the LAT and other media. The scientists responsible for our global warming models have been proven to be fudging their data. Although the earth has actually cooled over the past ten years, our elected leaders want to spend a trillion dollars to reduce the warming being forecasted by the same scientific models that we can no longer trust. Can't imagine why the media would want to cover that....

[andrew nelson]

Ironic. Al Gore, brought down in Climate Gate by the same internet he invented.

[Paul]

Global warming is a hoax. Many, many scientists have known for a long time that it's a hoax. The revelation of these new details may finally help us to put this idiocy to rest. It's past time to do so.

[Peter T Schlegel]

Take it back!!!

[Mary]

I guess Mr. Malcolm does not read the major East Coast newspapers (or watch the Daily Show, for that matter). These emails have been widely discussed - and evaluated - as the inside-baseball academic chatter they are - and not as reflecting a corrupted approach to presenting academic data.
I am a middle-of-the-roader on the climate change question - as I expect most people are. We can see that there are obvious signs of global warming. (I have a son who lives in Alaska, who experiences personally 95-degree summers and observes constantly-shrinking glaciers - and who expects that the northern polar ice cap is right on target for total summer melting by 2050.) Its causes are unclear. But it seems only sensible to make some modest efforts to modify those of our activities that might well contribute to the climatological warming trend - since, for example, a "modest" rise in sea level would be devastating to many countries around the world.

[Gaby C]

Maybe Gore can drop a bomb somewhere as a distraction, ala Bill during the Lewinsky scandal!

[J R]

Nice...This sanctimonious jackhole is now Milli Vanili!

[eRtwngr]

It should be rescinded anyway since it was awarded as a "Documentary" and was proven to have so many falsehoods that the UK banned it from schools.

[IToldUSo]

Finally, people who dare stand up for unpopular principles are speaking up! Thank you

[Ronald McDonald]

He would trade the award for 3 double cheeseburgers...

[del]

Why the hell does this politically left paper mention that those who are asking for the award to be withdrawn from Gore are Conservatives? Like that disqualifies them! What a bunch of dangerous idiots you people are and no wonder your news(ha)paper is in trouble - write about the news and stop trying to make it. He and many others have lied and there is a reason for it - to take this world into one rule - and to make money. WHICH THEN IS FRAUD - KEEP THE OSCAR GORE AND POLISH IT IT IN JAIL WITH THE UN OFFICIALS AND THE SO CALLED SCIENTISTS - welcome to being a liberal - there is no morality other than what we (liberals) say... war

[57States]

But Gore was right. Gorebull warming was Mann made. He is just a bad speller.

[RightStuff]

All of liberalism/progressivism/communism/socialism is a lie. Get used to it. Those who believe in these ideologies are quislings.

[Adgee Cross]

Instead of taking his award away, why not just change the category to "Best Work of Fiction"?

[Big_Oregon]

AlGore is a fraud, a liar, and hypocrit. (.) period.

[Doug Goodman]

If the print media would report stories such as this one they could regain their relevance and recover their place in the news cycle. With the TV networks failing to report so much news the papers have the chance to regain their position as TRUSTED reporters. Loss of trust in the media is a frightening thing, worse really than loss of trust in the current government. Thank you for reporting this story.

[Bella]

An Inconveniet Lie - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

But, some of us knew that all along. Gosh, vindication is sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Catherine]

DAMN LIARS! Why aren't these people indicted on charges of FRAUD! Wouldn't RICO be applicable in this situation? Everyone of those S.O.B.'s that participated MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!

[Sigmonde]

Without the creation of fantastic worldwide crisis that only liberals seem to solve, liberalism would be dead. Is meat eating, obese, energy waster Al Gore really believable? lol

[scooterbum]

Ths award has been tarnished permnantly by the likes of Yassir Arafat and other similar haters and frauds. Actually I think it is a pretty good fit for algore. Go ManBearPig.