In 2003, Michael Moore picked up his first-ever Academy Award for helming the documentary Bowling for Columbine. In a show of grace, Moore invited his fellow doc nominees onstage with him as he accepted the prize. But things got a little hairy as Moore began to deliver a fiery speech not about his film, but about the “fictitious times” the country was living in—directly referring to the contested presidential election of George W. Bush, as well as the nascent Iraq War. “We are against this war, Mr. Bush! Shame on you!” Moore declared as the crowd instantly turned on him, booing until the music played Moore out—capping an infamous moment that immediately went down in Oscar history.
On Saturday night, Moore revisited that bit of personal history while accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards gala. After being introduced by Robert De Niro—who dubbed Moore a “true, true American hero,” according to IndieWire—Moore began by saying that he wanted to revive his old Oscar speech and read it that night.
“I never got to finish that speech,” Moore said, holding the original paper on which it had been printed. “So if you wouldn’t mind . . . it’s not long! I’ll start with how I began, what you actually saw on television.”
From there, Moore read off his original speech, adding a few personal asides here and there—as when he got to the moment when, in 2003, a “cacophony of booing” started to drown out his words. As it turns out, though, Moore had a lot to discuss beyond Bush; he also spoke directly to the Academy as an institution, complaining that it took “13 long years” for the organization to invite him in as a member.
He would have ended that 2003 speech with a call to action: “I encourage everyone watching at home tonight in the Gary, Indianas, of America, in the Camden, New Jerseys, in the San Ysidros, the East St. Louis, and yes, the Flints and the Detroits and the Pontiacs and the Dearborns, to pick up a camera and fight the power,” he said. “Make your voice heard and stop this senseless war.” And, of course, 2018 Moore ended his speech in a similar way: “Fifteen years later now, tonight, we are not only still at war, but we have a president who has declared war on our democracy and war on us. Keep picking up those cameras, everyone here in this room, because the people gathered here tonight, you may be America’s last line of defense.”
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