Michael Moore risked accusations of hypocrisy when, the day before he stood with the Oakland-based branch of the international Occupy protests, he admitted on his blog that he was one of the 1% of Americans earning more than a million dollars per year. The revelation comes after a week that saw chat show host Piers Morgan attack the documentary maker over his wealth as Moore tried to promote the Occupy movement.
Moore stood with those angry at the American economic system on Friday (October 28th 2011) but did so after posting a blog post where he admitted getting paid $3 million for his breakthrough documentary 'Roger & Me' back in 1989, laying out the rules he set for himself upon being wealthy - including paying his taxes, giving back to charity and avoiding the ownership of stock. On the last point he elaborated, "I believed the concept of making money off your money had created a greedy, lazy class who didn't produce any product, just misery and fear among the populace."
Moore then took aim at the Republicans, stating "How can you claim to be for the poor when you are the opposite of poor?!' It's like asking: 'You've never had sex with another man - how can you be for gay marriage?! I guess the same way that an all-male Congress voted to give women the vote, or scores of white people marched with Martin Luther Ling, Jr. [sic] ... It is precisely this disconnect that prevents Republicans from understanding why anyone would give of their time or money to help out those less fortunate."