Village Voice: 'Independent' Filmmaker James O'Keefe Has A Right-Wing Sugar Daddy
By Susie Madrak Sunday Sep 27, 2009 4:00pmImagine that. As I thought, "independent" ACORN filmmaker James O'Keefe has a right-wing sugar daddy - Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal. Via the Village Voice:
James O'Keefe, the activist filmmaker who achieved sudden fame for a series of undercover videos recording ACORN workers, has repeatedly said that he is "absolutely independent" and received no outside funding to make his films.
But the Voice has learned that O'Keefe, in fact, has had heavyweight conservative backers who funded the young filmmaker as recently as a few months before his ACORN films were made.
The ACORN videos are actually just the latest of several films O'Keefe has produced and uploaded to YouTube. An earlier film posted in February, "Taxpayers Clearing House" featured nonwhite, working class people being duped by O'Keefe, who led them to believe they had won money in a sweepstakes.
That video was produced with the help of a grant -- said to be about $30,000 [Thiel's spokesman says closer to $10,000 -- see update] -- from Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook -- an investment which made him a billionaire. Thiel is one of Silicon Valley's more interesting figures: a gay man (according to Gawker's "Valleywag") who has railed against the evils of "multiculturalism." He lives in San Francisco and today runs a hedge fund.
O'Keefe is now well known as the young man who dressed up as a pimp with a colleague, Townhall.com blogger Hannah Giles, who was dressed like a prostitute. The pair traveled around the country, seeking advice from ACORN workers about how to hide prostitution money for tax purposes. At five of the offices they visited, ACORN workers gave such advice while O'Keefe's hidden camera was rolling. The videos have cost ACORN the support of Congress, the U.S. Census and the White House, and the organization stands to lose tens of millions of dollars in government grants.
O'Keefe, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed to be financially independent. In an interview with the New York Post shortly after the ACORN videos hit the Internet, O'Keefe claimed to be "absolutely independent." Giles said she had "drained my entire savings" to spend the summer making the undercover videos. O'Keefe estimated his budget at $1,300, and said that Giles had paid for her own plane ticket to California. The couple said they lived off of Power Bars and Subway sandwiches for two months.
But O'Keefe turns out to have a substantial history of being funded by conservative figures.
In February, a video called "Taxpayers Clearing House" was posted to YouTube. In it, O'Keefe and others drive around in a van with a logo on the side that looks like the "Publishers Clearing House" vehicle known for showing up and surprising sweepstakes winners with oversized checks. In O'Keefe's video, working class Blacks are shown jumping up and down in excitement - until they learn that O'Keefe is actually delivering a bill for $28,000, their share of the federal banks bailout.
O'Keefe told a friend, Liz Farkas, that he had approached Thiel with the idea for the video, and had walked away with "approximately $30,000" to produce it.
Farkas told the New York Times this week that she and O'Keefe, who met at Rutgers University, clashed over publishing incomplete transcripts from another sting involving an abortion provider.
Through a representative, Peter Thiel confirmed that he had funded "Taxpayers Clearing House" through a "small-government group," but denied having any involvement with the ACORN videos. The representative says Thiel first learned of the new O'Keefe videos after they hit the Internet, and having "watched them on YouTube...he shares the view that taxpayer money should not promote human trafficking."
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He's on the sugar teat?
Bank Pulls Back From Acorn Work
.......
Meanwhile, the rest of America recoils in disgust at the pervasive corruption emanating from this organization.
I think I used PayPal to pay for my copy of The Communist Manifesto from Amazon.
Maybe ACORN should add Peter Thiel to their lawsuit, he probably has deeper pockets than James O'Keefe.
Color me stunned..... not.
Openly gay? Did he not get the memo?
Being gay, an optional lifestyle choice - just ask the goopers! - is apparently better than being black, yellow or any color other than lilly white. Talk about having issues.
And the only thing that makes them madder than a black president is a half-black president.
But the Voice has learned that O'Keefe, in fact, has had heavyweight conservative backers who funded the young filmmaker as recently as a few months before his ACORN films were made.
"A few months" might be just enough time to get people hired inside ACORN so that they can embarrass the organization.
;)
This Acorn trial is going to have wings; it's already churning up mud, forget the dirt. No wonder Wallace was making overtures and googoo eyes during the interview. HMMMMM.
this clown fancies himself a right-wing Michael Moore, based on these cute little stunts. Problem is, Moore's stunts are usually clever and funny. The "Taxpayer's Clearinghouse" video was just really lame.
He just confronts people with the truth and its victims, only the guilty feel guilty when MM is on the job and on their doorstep.
Big shock, the guy is a shameless liar and a crook. I expect this fool will be all over right-wing media as if he's an answer to Moore, I imagine they may even book the two togeather just to have them debate each other(fair and balanced you know).
Michael Moore would clean his clock. MM may be fat, (their usual comeback),, but he has facts on his side.
Bring it on. (Just don't bring it on Faux News where they shut of people's mics and edit vid & transcripts.)
he's guaranteed an awesome future with either Fox or that dipshit that made Airplane and that horrible Christmas movie. Since he probably isn't capable of being embarrassed for himself I'll be embarassed for him.
O'Keefe seems to target African-Americans in his "Gotcha" stunts. His brand of Racism is the new "Blackface."
thinking the same thing.
Ditto in the biblical sense.
me too.
No, pimps and hookers really do dress like that. Didn't you ever watch In Living Color??
Watch Jonathan McCoy in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyp8y8SkUM Some of us have seen this but not the follow-up.
Young Mr. McCoy has gone to
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/endthen...
and started a Petition to End the Word Now!
QUOTE: "The "N" word should be deleted from the English language. Public use of it in songs aired on the radio and in movies should be forbidden. Those who oppose to ban its use on the air should be fined."
I really can't add any more to what this young man has started except to ask that we spread the word on his petition after we each sign it!
We can reach the goal very quickly and effectively in our community. We should reach 100,000 in a short while if we keep spreading this.
Let's Make this happen.
An "independent" flim-flam mmaker of bogus video clips who has right-wing financial connections and lies about it. Who'da thunk?
While it's interesting to find that O'Keefe has previously been funded by the right to produce an ugly (and racist) video duping black individuals into thinking they've won a contest, it's not quite the smoking gun that I'd hoped for. Definitive proof that he took funding to make the ACORN videos is what is really needed. The evidence presented by the Village Voice allows him to still claim his ACORN "project" was self-funded.
Just ask him how he was able to run the Centurion for free on very nice looking paper!
You can't buy tape or transport or gear or travel for $1300. I call BS.
BTW, maybe someone should Faux stalk them and see what kinda counter tops they have.
p.s. I'd love to see their IRS forms. No visible means of support? It does sound like a pimp and his ho.
I'm glad to see that my characterization of him as a having a sugar daddy on the Village Voice comment section is filtering into the overall narrative of him. Having had a history with the kid longer than any of you and anyone else on the blogosphere, I gotta say this kid has whipped up alot more than he has bargained for. Just keep the light shined on him.
Something called "CampusReform.org" with an ad imploring "Stop the Liberal Campus Monopoly / Be a Campus Reformer" is being served to C&L by Google Ads in the slot following this story.
Take a look:
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8126/wingnut...
I have managed to ignore because they are like billboards on websites. Advertising things I either don't care about or that just encourage me to spend money on things I don't need.
Hey, if they are going to pay per click,
let's let them pay for our use of the adds to then promptly ignore their ads. Let's encourage everyone to run their coffers dry...
BTW: I also encourage you to fill the return postage paid envelopes for GOP petitions with lead. Hey, let them pay for the postage to have a lead brick telling them to where to go.
I am all for it. At least then maybe they will lose some of their lobbyist money.
Should we be shunning PayPal and telling people to do the same? Should C&L find an alternate channel for accepting donations?
Can Republicans FOR ONCE be honest and open, instead of their usual lying, cheating, and stealing?!? If these Republicans had no shame about what they are doing, then it would not be difficult for them to be honest about it.
How unsurprising that this O'Keefe clown has a (secret) sugardaddy. The saddest part of this is that there are actually guys out there who emulate Karl Rove. O'Keefe is one of Karl's Kids, one of the up and coming swine lieutenants.
Karl's selfish world view, ruthless tactics, and bottomless bad faith are the base point for these kids. Karl's dishonesty and corruption is their precedent.
"...a gay man who has railed against the evils of "multiculturalism."
This is almost as funny as gay Log Cabin republicans.
Is that supposed to be an example of hardship and poverty, the extent of their sacrifice while filming Der Ewige Acorn?
Wow.
The sweepstakes video sounds awesome -- torture-porn for racists.
The more you look into the GOP hierarchy, it is literally dominated by homosexual males. I'm sure a psychiatric researcher could explain the dynamics, but it is certainly true. They can become mega rich and yet still pursue these bizarre vendettas against the liberal gays they see as "perverted scum". Look at some of the truly hateful comments Andrew Sullivan made against gays he saw in San Francisco. He used disgusting epithets to slander them. What is fascinating, is that all these self-labeled 'Conservative' gay men always ALWAYS choose to live in totally liberal areas if not complete gay ghettos. Another perfect example is Andrew Sullivan who rails against the coastal cities of the "decadent Left" and the virtues of America's heartland, yet chooses to live in DC's Dupont Circle and Provincetown.
and by having associated with that crowd of fools at Rutgers, I can definitely tell you that there were many instances that set my gaydar off. nothing specific... just the way they carry themselves. obviously such passion for ideals that are so wrong was alone enough to make me think these cats were very confused.... also the whole railing against gay marriage bit.
This is an example of Ronnie RayGun's trickle-down economics. Money trickles down from the RNC through this PayPal sugar daddy to O'Keefe's pockets, and he uses it to harass working class people who think they're going to get some prize money. This is about as low as you can get. What a scumbag. I'm feeling an overwhelming urge to bitch-slap the smarmy bastard.
...after all, we're all a hypocrite now and then.
Remember the world-over, at our base or pinnacle if you choose, for quite some time it's been a fact that [$$$] undeniably makes the World-Go-Round! Bartering has worked very well for ages, to a certain degree, though it remains rather inefficient economically speaking. I state that for what it's worth.
Would I be willing to offer, sacrifice or surrender my meager belongings for an individual or group less fortunate then myself, the answer is yes, but it oddly stops at a certain point, at which time I feel I'm not in a position to give anymore. At what point can I justly be called selfish and should I even care if I'm called selfish... oddly for some reason I do. Moving on...
Random thoughts and questions that may and may not have bearing on the thread. eBay picks up PayPal for $1.5 billion( http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-941964.html ). I can't speak for others, but when it comes to taxes, I strongly side with the following opinion and current dilemma..."Should You Pay Taxes To Support Religious Schools?"( http://www.au.org/resources/brochures/should-... ) I wish my government didn't mandate that I support religion.
I'd often heard the Village Voice (NY) was a gay leaning periodical. I'm not that familiar with it or it's accuracy with regard to it's content. Though it would not surprise me that they'd have some good sources on the subject. I'd like to see them confirm the allegations of Mr. Thiel and get his opinion on gay marriage or how he voted of Prop 8... assuming he lives in Cali?
Take PayPal for instance, now owned by E-Bay I believe; eBay picks up PayPal for $1.5 billion... http://news.cnet.com/2100-1017-941964.html
I just spent the last hour or so looking into PayPal; Confinity Inc. is best known as the creator of PayPal.(After an IPO, the company was purchased by eBay) The Founders Fund a VC (venture capital) entity, http://www.foundersfund.com/
He allegedly stated...
"watched them on YouTube...he shares the view that taxpayer money should not promote human trafficking."
I'd be interested to hear Mr. Peter Thiel position on gay marriage. I normally associate abortion and gay issues as being a religious problem more so on the right then left. Absent Mr. Thiel's opinion, I'd say he's just after the almighty buck and I get that impression basically for his conflicting statements and actions.
"he shares the view that taxpayer money should not promote human trafficking." From his admittedly libertarian bias, it's all free market, free will... to hell with taxes get the government out of my way so I can run my business as I deem appropriate.
"human trafficking", human trafficking in what? Sex, slave labor. I think you'll find, he is Ok with trafficking humans when it comes to making a buck. I don't think his main concern was the pimping of the girl, it was the tax issue and Acorn. I'm not sure of the filmmaker concerns other then the conservative connections regarding abortion and taxes and Acorn in general.
It all boils down to money... who has it, who wants it, how much and how bad. PayPal was losing big dollars not to long before they dumped it on the market in an IPO. Keep your eye on the Federal Reserve and their players. I'm gonna go see who the underwriters were for that IPO.
Snip - They're somewhat tough questions, focusing on who, why and, perhaps most importantly, when. In the world after Enron, HomeStore, Tyco, Xerox and WorldCom, cynicism is to be expected. But eBay's purchase of PayPal also feeds right into the hysteria.
Corporate Cynicism, PayPal Style
[ http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/18532.htm... ]
Gay?
[ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?... ]
The company planned to sell 5.4 million shares at a range of between $12 and $14 to raise about $76 million with underwriter Salomon Smith Barney.
Acording to forbes... http://www.forbes.com/2002/02/07/0207paypal.html
Who better to time the market IPO, then "Salomon Smith Barney" and where are they now? Google → → → Salomon Smith Barney
Check the names out on this page :P
Salomon Smith Barney
COMPANY
Investment banker, formed 1997 by the merger of Smith Barney with Salomon Brothers. Salomon Smith Barney was merged into Citigroup in 1998.
[ http://www.nndb.com/company/009/000051853/ ]
I don't know what this is?
[ https://www.smithbarney.com/app-bin/homepage/... ]
"Statement of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Responsibilities" Seems it's just one big party?
"In O'Keefe's video, working class Blacks are shown jumping up and down in excitement - until they learn that O'Keefe is actually delivering a bill for $28,000, their share of the federal banks bailout."
Why did he only film African-Americans? Don't all taxpayers have to foot the bill? I guess it's not as funny when white people are duped.
i am issuing a yippie fatwa that all those right wing assholes are to be confronted non violently wherever they go!!! thay are accountable for their crimes
I'm just glad somebody exposed this glaring fly in the progressive ointment. The money argument made here sure does downplay the fact that the monies went to other projects. Shall we take as close a look at those who out right wing scandals?
Ad Hominem arguments against these two don't change the facts they exposed one scintilla!
Peter Thiel is also another scared, bedwetting, closet gay in the Reslug party.
A current firestorm over at FB because of a poll asking if 'Obama should be killed!'.
This time they've gone to far.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/9/28/7...!!
There is no way on Earth that even ONE of those people in the video ACTUALLY believed that those two kids were what they said they were - especially in inner city areas where there are real "pimps and hos".
As soon as I saw them I thought " no chance anyone actually believes them".
I am pretty sure if they came to me looking like that and claiming what they claimed I would have played along just to see what they would say.
Other than in "Risky business" this would not seem legit.
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