Outspoken Avatar director James Cameron has sparked a war of words with Fox News' resident firebrand Glenn Beck. Speaking at a press junket, Cameron called Beck a "f---ing asshole," while Beck hit back at the director on his TV show, dismissing Avatar as a "smurf-murdering movie." What's behind the mouthy pair's enmity? A brief battle guide:
What exactly did Cameron say about Beck?
When asked for his opinion on Beck during a press junket for Avatar's DVD release, Cameron was concise: "Glenn Beck is a f---ing asshole. I've met him. He called me the Antichrist."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Did Beck actually call him the Antichrist?
Yes. In 2007, Beck, then working for CNN, said that Cameron was "officially running for AntiChrist." Beck admitted as much on his show this week. "I did call James Cameron the Antichrist," he said, but added: "Only because of the Celine Dion song [in Titanic] — horrific, really."
So Cameron is upset about a harmless joke?
Not exactly. Beck failed to mention the context of his Antichrist remarks, a Beck TV segment about a 2007 Cameron documentary called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," which the host found offensive. The movie, says Alex Ben Block at THR.com, "casts doubt on the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Is that the only reason Cameron dislikes Beck?
No. Cameron — who's promoting Avatar as an environmental parable — deplores Beck's scepticism about man-made climate change. "I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon," Cameron said in the same interview, "and shoot it out with those boneheads."
What did Beck make of that?
"Since [Cameron] took my Antichrist joke so seriously," Beck said on his show, "I guess I have to ask James...stop threatening to shoot people in the street!"
Sources: Fox News, THR.com, The LA Times
-
American universities are losing ground to their foreign counterpartsThe Explainer While Harvard is still near the top, other colleges have slipped
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
-
Elon Musk’s pivot from Mars to the moonIn the Spotlight SpaceX shifts focus with IPO approaching
