Charlton Heston

Michael Moore confronted Heston at his home in Bowling for Columbine about gun violence and NRA gatherings. The documentary also juxtaposed footage of the organisation's meetings with recent shootings. Subsequent critics accused Moore of combining footage from different locations or dates in a way that could make Heston appear more provocative.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

At the 2000 NRA convention, Heston raised a rifle above his head and delivered the phrase that became emblematic, "from my cold, dead hands", in a campaign explicitly directed against gun control proposals associated with Al Gore.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

At Harvard, Heston delivered a highly confrontational speech against political correctness, defending the use of traditional terms and arguing, in particular, that expressing pride in white identity should be possible just as with other identities. The speech was widely perceived as a declaration of cultural warfare.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Days after the Columbine massacre, the NRA held a reduced version of its annual convention in Denver. Heston defended holding the meeting and the rights of gun owners while thousands of demonstrators denounced what they regarded as insensitivity towards a grieving community.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Heston became president of the National Rifle Association and one of the country's leading public advocates of gun ownership. His position contrasted sharply with statements supporting gun control in the 1960s, which he subsequently described as views held in his youth.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Heston used a Time Warner shareholders' meeting to attack the distribution of Cop Killer, a song by Body Count and Ice-T, even reciting violent lyrics to confront executives with the content. The campaign contributed to intense pressure on the company.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Heston participated in the civil rights movement, notably the March on Washington, and supported certain gun control measures in the late 1960s. Decades later, he became one of the most prominent figures of cultural conservatism and defence of the Second Amendment.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

When Actors’ Equity initially refused to allow Jonathan Pryce, a white actor, to reprise on Broadway the Eurasian role he had played in London, Heston resigned from the union, condemning a decision he described as "obscenely racist" and an infringement of artistic freedom.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated