Michael Moore and Me

From what we have been told, Gizmo's toilet flushing antics make a brief appearance in Michael Moore's latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story.

Gizmo has been on TV a lot. But at least so far as I am aware, he has never appeared on TV without someone from the TV show calling and asking permission. And we've never said "no" to anyone (we did tell the staff of The Tonight Show when they called to ask if he could appear live with a toilet on stage that we didn't think it was likely that he'd make a good appearance, since he wasn't trained to flush the toilet or anything, but we didn't outright say "no" to them). The most we've ever asked was to be told where we can tune in to tape a copy of the clip for our own collection.

So the news that Gizmo makes an appearance in Michael Moore's movie was a complete surprise. They didn't call and ask. We would have said "yes" to Michael had he had the good grace to call and ask for permission to use our video in his film. I don't agree with Michael's politics, but I would have been tickled to see Gizmo on the silver screen.

Given everything I know about Michael Moore, I'm not at all surprised. He wants what he wants, regardless of whatever rules (like Copyright law) he has to trample or people he has to hurt in the process. If you look up "asshole" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Michael Moore.

Mike, you owe me an apology. My only solace is that I know that I'm at the end of a very, very, very long line.