Filmmaker Michael Moore celebrated reaching 5 million Twitter followers by donating thousands of dollars to organizations struggling to maintain funding under the Trump administration.
“I picked 5 of you to choose an anti-Trump group for me to donate $1,000 to,” Moore tweeted Sunday night, which also just so happened to be the one-year anniversary of that forewarning article he wrote on his website, where he correctly predicted Donald Trump would sit in the White House come January.
Moore, the man behind several projects taking aim at the president including the current Broadway show “The Terms of My Surrender,” went on to tweet at five of his followers, apparently chosen randomly.
Many of the more than 7,000 people who reacted to Moore’s tweet encouraged him to sign Trump’s name on checks to the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. But it doesn’t seem like the filmmaker plans on taking their suggestion.
He told winner Cassie Salinas, from Portland, Oregon, that her “incredible gift” to Planned Parenthood would be written in her name. Erin French, from Spokane, Washington, also chose the reproductive health care nonprofit to be the recipient of her $1,000. It wasn’t immediately clear which organizations the other three winners chose.
Some of his followers found his offer noble — especially those who won — but others found his $5,000 offer stingy.
“Wiki says Michael Moore is worth $50 million. Moore donating $5,000 to charity is like a working stiff giving 75 cents. Phony!” Tweeted Terry J. Richard, identified as a retired recreation reporter in his Twitter bio.
But Moore, currently working on a documentary titled “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which references the day Trump was declared president of the United States, is no stranger to shelling out cash for projects that challenge the administration. He most recently donated $10,000 to The Public Theater after its Shakespeare in the Park production of “Julius Caesar” lost backing from sponsors Delta Air Lines and Bank of America. The play was met with protests and backlash due to its title character’s similarity in appearance to the president.
