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Maggie Gyllenhaal Maligned Online
by Charlie Amter Apr 26, 2005, 9:20 AM PT
Maggie Gyllenhaal is taking an online whipping for some comments on 9-11.
The actress, whose post-9-11-themed feature, The Great New Wonderful, just debuted at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, said in an interview last week with Manhattan cable channel NY1 that the United States is "responsible in some way" for the attacks.
"Because I think America has done reprehensible things and is responsible in some way and so I think the delicacy with which it's dealt allows that to sort of creep in," she said.
The interview sparked outrage from some New York firefighters, along with the usual conservative bloggers and Websites, prompting the actress' flack to issue a statement Monday.
The 27-year-old Gyllenhaal, best known for her roles in Mona Lisa Smile, Adaptation and the S&M comedy Secretary, expressed sadness for "everyone who suffered and everyone who died in the catastrophe."
However, she stopped short of an apologizing for her earlier comments and said the day, to her, represented "an occasion to be brave enough to ask some serious questions about America's role in the world. Because it is always useful as individuals or nations to ask how we may have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to this conflict."
That apparently wasn't enough to quell her critics.
"I hope she reconsiders her anti-American attitude, but maybe that's not realistic. Or maybe it will take something awful, like a nuke or biological attack, for her eyes to open up," waxed one poster on the right-leaning site freerepublic.com.
"She has nothing to contribute to my life that is any more comprehensible than the barking dog across the street. I'd like to give them both the same thing.....a swift kick in the butt," a less than impressed Netizen opined. Another non-fan wrote: "She's really talented and beautiful. She should shut up, act, and look pretty."
Some of the anti-Maggie minions were not content venting their fury on political message boards--taking their opinions instead to a Gyllenhaal fan site.
Maggie-gyllenhaal.net was forced to temporarily shut down its message boards for new members because the comments were getting too barbed for the site owner.
"She won't see the comments so please don't leave hate messages," the site administrator wrote Tuesday. "If you don't like Maggie, then don't waste your time on the site."
But don't expect Gyllenhaal to maintain a low profile online. She has reportedly been tapped along with Larry David and Gwyneth Paltrow to contribute to Arianna Huffington's forthcoming political Website the Huffington Post.
Meanwhile, Gyllenhaal's brother, Jake, also has a nose for hot-button issues.
The Day After Tomorrow star weighed in on global warming last week by attending an Earth Day event in the Arctic sponsored by Global Green USA and the National Resources Defense Council. He danced with local Inuits and urged governments to cut down on pollution and greenhouse gas emission.
"The Inuit people put a human face on global warming," he told reporters Friday. "They are literally melting away."
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