Asked about his role narrating a controversial animated cartoon for California’s teacher union in which rich people are shown
urinating on the poor, outspoken left-wing actor Ed Asner asked a Fox News producer, “Can I piss on you?”
The exchange between the 83-year-old Asner and the unidentified Fox News producer took place Wednesday night outside a New York City theater where the actor is currently performing. It was aired a few hours later on Sean Hannity’s show on the Fox News Channel.
Here’s how the exchange went down:
The producer asked Asner about the video and Asner said: “I don't remember a thing I said on it or a word I said on it, but I agreed to do it for California teachers. I approve this message.”
The producer then specified: “I think the most controversial part the people are talking about it, there's a part of it where talking about things trickling down and they have like rich people peeing on poor people.”
Asner responded: “How disgusting. It should be reversed . . . Do you have any money?”
After the producer acknowledged that he had money, Asner quipped: “Can I piss on you?”
The Emmy Award winning actor who also has had a long movie career is perhaps best known for his role in the 1970s as Lou Grant, the grumpy news director on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Before becoming an actor in the late 1950s, the Kansas City, Mo., native worked on an assembly line for General Motors and served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe after World War II.
Asner, who supported President Barack Obama in 2008 and this year, is a self-described political activist, and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — a U.S. affiliation of the worldwide association Socialist International.
Asner’s narration of the controversial California teachers’ cartoon isn’t his first encounter with political controversy. Asner is one of several Hollywood celebrities regarded as “9-11 truthers.” Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, they disputed the government’s explanation of the attacks and urged further investigations into them.