This article is from the Michael Moore FAQ, by Edward Champion edchamp@slip.net with numerous contributions by others.
On Nov. 5, two days after the election, I was shooting a segment for our show
about a man named Ira Rennert. He is one of the richest men in the country
and he is considered by the EPA to be the top toxic polluter in the country.
Few people have ever heard of him and a search by our staff has revealed that
there is no video footage of him and only two or three known photographs.
Recently, Mr. Rennert has come into the public spotlight, not because of his
polluting, but because he is building the largest house in America out in the
wealthy Hamptons on Long Island. The $100 million abode will have 28 bedrooms
and 39 bathrooms.
So, on Nov. 5th, I went to his home and office to present him with our
"Man of the Year" award. Any guy who insists on 39 bathrooms is a guy we can
relate to.
The next day, we received a call from the New York City Mayor's Office of Film
and Television. They told us Mr. Rennert and his attorneys had called the
Mayor's Office to file a complaint.
Three days later, Ira Rennert went to court and sued us. He got a judge to give
him, unbeknownst to us, a temporary restraining order prohibiting us from
coming within 150 feet of his Park Avenue home or his Rockefeller Center
office. If we did, we would be arrested.
 
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