Oliver Stone Defends Vladimir Putin In Bizarre, Seemingly Edited ‘Late Show’ Appearance
Oliver Stone appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday to promote “The Putin Interviews,” a four-night docuseries that debuted on Showtime on Monday, but the director of iconic films like “Platoon” and “JFK” made a series of statements during the CBS show that almost sounded like he was there to promote Russia’s president.
“He is a head of state. He has his own interests of Russia. I respect him for that, and I understand why he’s doing that,” Stone said on the show. “I never heard him badmouth the U.S. I heard him try to reach out and have a relationship with them.”
While the audience laughed at many of Stone’s statements, things apparently got considerably more contentious during the taping, according to a number of tweets from Silicon Valley’s T.J. Miller that were subsequently deleted.
“The entire @ColbertShow audience was aghast,” Miller tweeted. “He said Israel meddled in our election more than Russia…He made every wrong move you could make. He didn’t know his audience, he snapped at them. Colbert became visibly aggressive & he very well should have.”
None of what Miller referred to wound up on the broadcast — aside from the audience laughter — but Colbert did ask Stone whether he pressed Putin enough on his denial of Russia’s government hacking into the U.S. presidential election. To watch the interview, check out the video below.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
