Hollywood's award season, never known for civility, is roiling from a heckling incident between "12 Years a Slave" director Steve McQueen and film critic Armond White.
At the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday night, White allegedly jeered McQueen as "an embarrassing doorman and garbage man" while he was presented the best director award by Harry Belafonte. McQueen dismissed the outburst, apparently not bothered by it.
In an email Tuesday to "12 Years a Slave" distributor Fox Searchlight, NYFCC chairman Joshua Rothkopf apologized to Fox Searchlight and McQueen for "the crass bit of heckling." In the letter, first posted online by Deadline Hollywood, Rothkopf said he was "mortified" that it came from one of the group's own members and pledged "disciplinary action."
White, an editor for CityArts, is known for his contrarian film reviews. He panned "12 Years a Slave" as "torture porn More