Conservative Columnist Claims Witnesses to Disney CEO F-Bomb

I reported, Wednesday, on a claim by conservative columnist Tom Borelli that Disney CEO Robert Iger had cursed him out at the company's annual shareholder's meeting.

I contacted a Disney spokesman, who gave a different account. Borelli's foundation put out a press release yesterday that included my reporting, and refuting Disney's account of the event. Borelli has his own witnesses:

The following are statements from Tom Borelli, Deneen Borelli (Tom's wife and fellow of Project 21, who was present), and Steve Milloy (co-director with Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, which Tom was representing at the stockholder meeting, and also of the National Center for Public Policy Research's Free Enterprise Project, who was listening to the live audio webcast of the stockholder meeting as it took place):

Here's the thing, neither of Borelli's witnesses heard Iger curse at Borelli. Milloy wasn't even there, but describes listening to the webcast. Here are excerpts of what they said:

Mrs. Borelli: Tom completed his proposal. While returning to his seat, he extended his hand to Mr. Iger. Mr. Iger did not shake Tom's hand. Then, Tom had a surprised look on his face and immediately went back to the podium and repeated what Mr. Iger told Tom.

Steve Milloy:I was listening to the live audio webcast. Tom completed his presentation. There was a short pause; then I heard Tom's voice. It sounded like he was near to the microphone, not at the microphone. He said, 'He just told me to go f- myself,' or something like that.

So, Borelli's witnesses witnessed Borelli claiming that Iger cursed at him. Milloy brings up the gap in the audio, but it's not surprising that they would cut out Borelli's explicitly quoted claim.

This is not to say that Borelli is lying, but at best, it is "He said, he said."

What's undeniably true is that Borelli and Disney executives don't see eye to eye. Whether Iger actually uttered an expletive, he clearly has no fondness for Borelli.

At issue was Borelli's claim. that Iger has refused to sell the rights to the ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11" for personal political reasons. Disney asserts that they think the film is "a loser" in the DVD market, and says they are open to offers for rights to the film.

Borelli's allegations, and Disney's response, can be seen on page 77 of Disney's 2009 proxy report. A webcast of the meeting is available here.

The film was also the subject of an emotional confrontation at this year's CPAC gathering between filmmaker John Ziegler and journalist Max Blumenthal. Ziegler's last film, "Blocking The Path to 9/11," deals with some of Borelli's claims.

According to Friedland, Borelli is well-known to them, having pressed the point repeatedly at shareholder meetings.

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