David Oyelowo took on the leading role of director Ava DuVernay's King biopic Selma, which depicted King’s 1965 voting rights campaign and the famed march from Selma to Montgomery. The actor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.
Paramount’s film Selma, co-produced by prominent supporter of liberal causes Oprah Winfrey, got a passionate free endorsement from conservative TV and radio host Glenn Beck, who said it is “critical” that Americans see the movie about the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Beck’s plea came a day after he posted an enthusiastic review of Selma on his Facebook page, and during his radio show Monday he also excoriated those who posted racist commentary in response to his written recommendation.
“When you start to see people use the ‘n’ word for people like Oprah Winfrey, you’ve got a problem,” he said Monday. “The racism that I saw come out on Selma and my recommendation to go see it, was shocking.”
In the midst of a controversy about the film’s negative portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson, the host and founder of TheBlaze TV network praised Selma for its accuracy.
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“It does not paint the liberal lion, the progressive giant of LBJ as a good guy. It shows LBJ as one of the biggest racists out there,” Beck said.
He also praised the filmmakers for not ignoring King’s commitment to Christianity.
“I was shocked at how much God played a role in this movie. To have Hollywood make this movie, and Oprah Winfrey, and have them quote the Bible was shocking to me.”
“I watched that movie and I thought to myself, ‘Every single Constitutionalist needs to watch this movie,’ ” he said. “If you believe we’re in trouble, you’ll realize, we’re not in the kind of trouble they were in.”
Beck also encouraged those who see Selma to compare King’s activities with some of the more contemporary causes and protests popular with the political left.
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“If you’re a liberal and you watch that, you tell me that that was Occupy Wall Street. You’re one of these people in the media, and you love Occupy Wall Street, you love what’s going on, you tell me that that’s Occupy Wall Street, because it’s not,” he said. “You tell me if you’re supporting the riots in Ferguson and the chants of ‘kill police,’ you tell me that…those people in Ferguson have gone through more than Martin Luther King’s people went through.”
Beck ended with: “You watch that movie. It’s critical that you bring your kids to that movie.”
Email: Paul.Bond@THR.com
