INDIE FILMMAKER TAKES ON FOX BROADCASTING
Published in Reel Chicago, August 2014
Rendering of Sean Fahey’s billboard concept
On Thursday, July 24, filmmaker Sean Fahey decided to tell people in Chicago, LA and New York that “Sean Hannity is an Idiot.”
He made the decision after watching an episode of Fox News, during which Hannity, the host, had refused to allow a guest to speak until the guest answered the question, “Is Hamas a terrorist organization?”
The guest was the executive director of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, Yousef Munayyer.
Fahey is the activist-director behind “Bailout,” an award-winning hybrid documentary that combines a drinking buddy road trip with an exploration of the 2008 mortgage crisis.
“I understand that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” he explains. “But Hannity clearly has an agenda: he demonizes Muslims.”
Since Munayyer would not give Hannity a “simple yes or no” to the Hamas question, Hannity would not give Munayyer a chance to say anything else. At one point, the news host implored his guest, “What part of this can’t you get through your thick head?” then ultimately dismissed him by saying, “You had your chance, you didn’t say Hamas is a terrorist organization. Goodbye.”
Director Sean Fahey
Fahey is not one to shrink away from such sniveling ideological muckery. In “Bailout,” he drove beyond the official cover story of the housing meltdown to uncover the facts and meet the people behind it. He has long considered Hannity to be nothing more than a “polarizer” whose show is “skewed to one side.”
“It doesn’t necessarily take brains to do what Sean Hannity’s doing,” he explains. “You can train a dog to bark, and Hannity has been barking on Fox for years.”
So he set off on another journey, beginning at the crowdfunding platform startjoin.com, where he describes Hannity as “a mental failure” whose “vapid existence is the shame of our times.” He plans to ultimately reach the three busiest airports in the country, where his efforts will be memorialized in gigantic signs that greet travelers with a denunciation of Sean Hannity’s intellect.
So far, the project has received pledges to fund nearly 70% of the $7,000 needed for completion.
Among the donors is Max Keiser, the Huffington Post writer, occasional BBC presenter and host of the Keiser Report.” Among the hundreds who re-Tweeted his message, “I just supported Help produce Sean Hannity is an idiot billboards,” was actor/comedian Russell Brand.
Fahey, who relocated from Chicago to LA in 2012, has consistently worked to push the sense of equality that motivates him to criticize Sean Hannity in words that can be seen for miles.
“Although my world view mighty not be something that you agree with,” he says. “at least have the compassion to allow someone to speak who has an opposing opinion.”
But his portfolio covers much more than the harsh reality of modern sociopolitics. Besides working on the sequel to “Bailout,” he’s also directing short films, commercials and music videos. Entertaining, yes; but still, as evidenced by this cross-continental, ensemble cast mash-up of a legendary movie scene, “mad as hell.”