Kevin Costner Doubles Down on Michael Moore Criticism: 'American Sniper' Comments 'Really Wrong'

Appearing on Thursday's NBC Today to promote his new film Black or White, actor Kevin Costner stood by his criticism of left-wing activist Michael Moore, following Moore's remarks [1] slamming military sniper Chris Kyle as a "coward": "I just felt that those comments were, from my point of view, really wrong."

Costner was prompted by co-host Matt Lauer: "...you've made some headlines in your comments about American Sniper and Michael Moore's comments about that movie. You even weighed in on Deflategate....do you find that the older you get the more opinionated you get or are you more willing to share you're opinions?"

In part, Costner explained:

I had no desire to talk about either of those subjects. What happens is I find myself in here thinking we're going to talk about Black or White and somebody will bring up Deflategate, someone will ask me the question on Michael Moore. I would never volunteer that in the precious time I have to talk about a movie that has a lot of value to me. In terms of the football thing, it has no value to me, I can have an opinion about it. Michael Moore, I was point blank asked about it. So, you know, what happens is I wouldn't say, "I don't want to talk about that"...

The comments Lauer referred to were made by Costner during an interview with radio host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday. As The Washington Times reported [2], Costner told Ingraham: "I did take exception to what Michael Moore said....I think he ought to be smart enough to take it back, brave enough to take it back."

Here is a transcript of Lauer's January 29 exchange with Moore:

8:43 AM ET

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MATT LAUER: You know, in the process of going out and promoting this movie, you do a lot of interviews, and in the last week or so, you've been asked about certain subjects and you've made some headlines in your comments about American Sniper and Michael Moore's comments about that movie. You even weighed in on Deflategate and some comments made about this. Without going into your specific comments, because people can go online and find those, do you find that the older you get the more opinionated you get or are you more willing to share you're opinions?

KEVIN COSTNER: No, I – what happens – I had no desire to talk about either of those subjects. What happens is I find myself in here thinking we're going to talk about Black or White and somebody will bring up Deflategate, someone will ask me the question on Michael Moore. I would never volunteer that in the precious time I have to talk about a movie that has a lot of value to me. In terms of the football thing, it has no value to me, I can have an opinion about it. Michael Moore, I was point blank asked about it. So, you know, what happens is I wouldn't say, "I don't want to talk about that," I just felt that those comments were, from my point of view, really wrong.

(...)