Moore to skip Crawford
‘9/11’ screening

updated 5:08 p.m. ET July 28, 2004

CRAWFORD, Texas - Michael Moore decided at the last minute not to attend the Wednesday night screening of his film “Fahrenheit 9/11” in the Central Texas town near President Bush’s ranch, an event organizer said.

Gayle Harris, a volunteer with the Crawford Peace House, the organization showing the film, said Moore’s representatives told her late Wednesday morning that he wouldn’t be there.

A statement posted this morning on the Web site of the Alamo Drafthouse, which is providing the screen and projector for the outdoor show, said Moore “does not want to risk distracting from the focus on the good folks working at and supporting Crawford Peace House, and what he feels is one of the most important messages of the film: the rights of all Americans — not just him — to have differing opinions and to freely voice them.”

Moore had hedged during an interview at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on Tuesday night in an interview with Austin’s KVUE-TV. He said he didn’t know if he would attend the screening, saying convention organizers had asked him to do more in Boston.

“So I think my work is here — but my film will be there,” he said.

Moore had invited Bush to attend the screening, saying on his Web site he wanted a chance to thank him personally for starring in the film.

When it appeared that no movie theater in the president’s home county would show the anti-Bush documentary, Moore promised a copy to the Crawford Peace House, a facility for seminars, meetings, or workshops dedicated to peace.

Organizers expected about 1,000 people to attend the show Wednesday night. Police said demonstrators against the film were also expected.

Moore’s condemnation of Bush’s actions regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks recently became the first documentary with a box-office take topping $100 million domestically.

Harris said organizers of the showing at a high school parking lot were concerned about potential problems between people watching the anti-Bush film and people attending a pro-Bush rally less than a mile away in the town of 700.

“This has turned into a Bush vs. Michael Moore thing, and that’s not what this is about,” she said. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt, so I agree with what he’s doing.”

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