Video Punker James O’Keefe Targets Susan Sarandon; Fails.

James O’Keefe, he of heavily-edited video infamy, targets actress and environmental activist Susan Sarandon in his latest attempt to try to make the left look hypocritical. He gets people to meet with him by lying to them and then having people misrepresent who they really are.

Once again, O’Keefe’s evidence is edited video clips drawn from a meal with an industry figure that is surreptitiously recorded by the journalist’s accomplices. O’Keefe’s goal is to show that Hollywood figures will take financing for a proposed anti-fracking film even if they know that the money comes from a backer whose motive is to keep the U.S. dependent on the Middle East for energy needs.

This time around, O’Keefe zeroes in on Sarandon, primarily through an associate of hers, Chris Talbott, who is a producer and director who has known the actress at least since working postproduction on Dead Man Walking, the 1995 film that earned Sarandon an Oscar for best actress.

The actress is seen at a film event suggesting that a representative meet with “Muhammad” — an O’Keefe associate — in her stead. The scene switches to a lunch meeting with Talbott, who positions himself as a conduit between the phony “Muhammad” and Sarandon.

However, the attempt to make Sarandon and her associates look bad backfires, as they actually look good.,

The O’Keefe actors involved in the sting — one identified as an “ad executive,” the other as “Muhammed” — don’t have much luck getting Talbott to agree to do anything outwardly nefarious, like lie about taking money from an anti-American oil sheik to make a movie that attacks fracking, a controversial technology for extracting natural gas, a competitor to oil. He demurs, suggests alternatives and says he’ll think about the proposal.

“I know that Susan is going to feel that, if it’s anonymous backing, and if anyone should find out, despite our best efforts to keep it a secret, that there will be, like, blowback that would impact her, for instance, right?” Talbott asks. “Maybe being transparent about it gives us an edge in terms of getting the movie seen and takes away that risk.”

D.B. Hirsch

D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.