June 28, 2011The Blaze
There are those who love freedom of expression, as long as it’s not conservatives who are doing the expressing. Just ask Glenn Beck. On radio Tuesday, he told the stunning story of how he and his family were harassed during an outdoor movie in New York City’s Bryant Park.
For those unfamiliar with Bryant Park, it hosts weekly showings of classic films during the summer months. Attendees bring blankets and picnic dinners and sprawl out on the park’s great lawn while watching the films on a giant screen.
As Beck explained, he attended Monday night‘s public showing of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps” with his wife and daughter. During the film, he was ridiculed, had someone “kick a cup” of wine on his wife and on his blanket, and even witnessed another person stand up and yell, “We hate conservatives here!”
“These people were some of the most hateful people I have ever seen,” Beck said. “All I wanted to do is go out on a blanket with my family and have dinner in the afternoon sun and sit around Americans, not like-minded Americans, and just watch a movie in the park. And last night at about‑‑ when the movie was just about over, my wife and I got out because it was hostile.”
Later, when Beck left near the end of the movie, the crowd applauded.
“I don’t know what kind of victory you thought you won,” Beck said on radio in response, and later added, “I swear to you I think if I would have suggested, and I almost did, wow, does anybody have a rope, because there’s a tree here, you could just lynch me. And I think there would have been a couple in the crowd that would have.”
The story offered Beck an opportunity to deliver a message to conservatives:
All through the evening, I wanted to say to you today, please, please, please don’t ever treat anybody like that. If Van Jones comes and sits next to you, please don’t treat anybody like that, and then I realized I don’t have to say that to you. I was there at 8/28. I saw when people were pointing their finger in your face and calling you a racist, setting you up, egging you on, I saw how you reacted. I don’t have to tell you that.
Later in the evening, he admitted he had to call his daughter and console her because she was so distraught.
You can listen to Beck tell the story below:
