On Wednesday, NBC's Today offered a surprising full report on "filmmaker and liberal activist" Michael Moore tarnishing his "blue-collar, anti-capitalist image" after it was revealed during divorce proceedings that Moore and his now ex-wife lived in a Michigan mansion, "the 10,000-square-foot house, reportedly in the same neighborhood as Madonna and Bruce Willis."
Back in 2009, the morning show invited Moore on the broadcast to bash big bonuses for Wall Street executives. In part, Moore ranted against the wealthy business leaders living in "gated communities" and "castles with moats around them." Perhaps Moore should have remembered that people living in giant mansions shouldn't throw stones.
During the Thursday report, correspondent Gabe Gutierrez described: "Deep in northern Michigan, this lake-front mansion is the talk of the town....It belongs to one of the state's most well-known celebrities. Not Eminem or Kid Rock, no, this $2 million home on Torch Lake is owned by filmmaker Michael Moore and his wife of twenty-two years, Kathleen Glynn."
The segment featured a clip of Moore "slamming the one percent at this Occupy Wall Street protest" in 2011. Gutierrez then explained: "The new court documents reveal Moore and his now ex-wife shared properties in Michigan and New York. The Detroit News reports the couple owned nine total."
Wrapping up the story, Gutierrez observed: "Already exposed, what some in this small Michigan town feel is a contradiction between Moore's common-man persona and his uncommon wealth."
Here is a full transcript of the July 23 report:
7:20 AM ET TEASE:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Coming up, a controversial divorce reveals the true wealth of Michael Moore. The question is, will it hurt his image as an every man?
7:32 AM ET SEGMENT:
MATT LAUER: Let's start, though, with a career – a guy who built a career on a blue-collar down-to-earth image. But a potentially messy divorce just finalized is painting a somewhat different picture of filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore. Here's NBC's Gabe Gutierrez.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: "Moore" Money, More Problems; Blue-Collar Director's Wealth Revealed in Divorce]
GABE GUTIERREZ: Deep in northern Michigan, this lake-front mansion is the talk of the town.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The way he lives is not how the common man lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN B: I think he's earned it.
GUTIERREZ: It belongs to one of the state's most well-known celebrities. Not Eminem or Kid Rock, no, this $2 million home on Torch Lake is owned by filmmaker Michael Moore and his wife of twenty-two years, Kathleen Glynn.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I am disappointed in what appears to me to be a conflict in his values and what he represents.
GUTIERREZ: But now the pair just settled a high-profile divorce. In court filings, Moore had blamed his wife for going overboard in expanding the 10,000-square-foot house, reportedly in the same neighborhood as Madonna and Bruce Willis.
MICHAEL MOORE: Hi, I'm Michael Moore.
GUTIERREZ: Ever since his 1989 documentary Roger & Me...
MOORE: Do you think it's a little dangerous hanging out with guns in a bank?
GUTIERREZ: ...and other films like Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore had built a blue-collar, anti-capitalist image.
MOORE: I am one person. This is a movement of millions of voices.
GUTIERREZ: Slamming the one percent at this Occupy Wall Street protest.
The new court documents reveal Moore and his now ex-wife shared properties in Michigan and New York. The Detroit News reports the couple owned nine total. No comment from her lawyer. And Moore's attorney would only say the couple has "mutually and amicably reached a divorce settlement."
LISA BLOOM [LEGAL ANALYST]: Very smart for Michael Moore to settle this matter. Even if he could have gotten more money, it's so important to his public image that he not be bickering with his wife of twenty years and having all of that dirty laundry exposed.
GUTIERREZ: Already exposed, what some in this small Michigan town feel is a contradiction between Moore's common-man persona and his uncommon wealth. For Today, Gabe Gutierrez, NBC News.
