The New York Stock Exchange has banned Michael Moore, saying he is not welcome in the exchange building on Wall Street, CNBC is reporting. The controversial film-maker was scheduled to be interviewed by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo at 3 PM today.
Moore’s latest film “Sicko” is critical of the health care system in the United States, and he has been calling on investors, pension funds other institutional investors to divest from health insurance companies. Some publicly traded health insurance companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Last week a Lehman Brothers analyst wrote a client note describing the film as an attack on the U.S. health care system. "Michael Moore's latest documentary, 'Sicko,' to be released June 29, might trigger resentment against insurers," the note said. "The film directly aims at the U.S. health care system and the insurance industry and suggests a government-run system is the best alternative."
Update: We’re told that Moore may now be unbanned. Still no word on what powerful force inside the exchange is issuing and possibly retracting these orders.
Posted by anon , Jun 28, 2007 3:20PM
who cares? why doesn't bartiromo interview him elsewhere?
Posted by jt , Jun 28, 2007 3:24PM
because, my dear anon, she'd then have to get up off her arse
Posted by , Jun 28, 2007 3:34PM
who wants to interview this fat assed blabbermouth. he is scum.
Posted by anonamizzle , Jun 28, 2007 3:37PM
3:34, I first read your comment as: "who wants to be interviewed by that fat assed blabbermouth?"
either way, you talk a lot of sense
Posted by Joe Smith , Jun 28, 2007 3:42PM
"who wants to interview this fat assed blabbermouth. he is scum."
yeah!! and Michael Moore is scum too!!!!
Posted by waste of time , Jun 28, 2007 3:45PM
cnbc has cleared the afternoon for this fat piece of trash and hes not even on time. $500 says hes in white castle right now.
Posted by Saul Steinberg , Jun 28, 2007 3:46PM
I heard Maria was had to blow Michael Moore to get this interview. I am puking just thinking about it.
Posted by haha , Jun 28, 2007 3:51PM
hey dealbreaker, way to find the skinniest picture of MM. was that when he was 12 years old?
Posted by Damon , Jun 28, 2007 4:35PM
Why even waste your time with Moore...
Posted by anon #2 , Jun 28, 2007 5:07PM
I swear i saw him on CNBC an hour or so ago.
Posted by , Jun 28, 2007 5:18PM
I watched a copy of "Sicko" about a week ago. He makes a decent point but is typicaly one-sided in his presentation of the 'facts.' For example, he makes Cuba seem like paradise.
Posted by M. Dillon , Jun 29, 2007 3:44AM
After watching the entire interview,I've come to the conclusion that the NYSE allow themselves to be hung out to dry by not allowing M. Moore to come inside. By doing the interview on the outside,Mr. Moore quietly showed folks who were watching that,"the powers that be",were too much of a coward to put Moore in his place,at their own place.
But then again,seeing those,"Wall Street types",running out of buildings,while blue-collar cops,firemen,etc. were running in,during 9/11 made most folks think of the following line,from the cartoon,"The Simpsons":
"...you can come out now...your chance to be a hero/man has come and gone."
By the way,I'm a former U.S. Paratrooper who served when Reagan was in office. Therefore,I know a little something about going into places where few dare to tread.
Posted by SheckyBuffett , Jun 29, 2007 9:23AM
The NY Stock Exchange folk are idiots. They shut down for a day to honor Nixon after he died and Nixon instituted and enforced "price controls" during his administration.
I'm surprised Ann Coulter isn't the spokesperson for the NYSE, but she'd have to talk and dodge the colonoscopy hose examining Rupert at the same time. It's tight in there I'm told.
Posted by Drano , Jun 29, 2007 10:39AM
Dillon, not sure I take your point - people were supposed to stay in the buildings? What purpose would that have served?
You're right about Moore, though - it's win/win for him, just like everything. The NYSE basically had to decide whether to let him take a big, greasy dump in its living room or force him to do it in the yard and face accusations that it couldn't handle the smell.
Posted by Stern , Jun 30, 2007 8:09AM
Moore was never banned. He was trying to drum up a controversy to rise through the iPhone mania.
Neither CNBC nor Moore had applied for a guest pass, says the reporter. CNBC was led to believe Moore was handling that. Moore's side didn't. Then Moore implies that he in particular was banned, but does so in a rhetorical question fashion, not responding to the reporter's statement that Moore had neglected to apply for permission to enter.
Of course it might be true that the NYSE would have not approved Moore, although his outrage would have been more effective if he had actually applied for permission.