U.N. Me: Filmmaker roasts U.N. and gets media praise?

June 08, 2012

Writer

Glenn spoke with Filmmaker Ami Horowitz on radio today about his new movie ‘U.N. Me’ which must be a great flick because it bashes the U.N. and it’s getting positive reviews in the press at the same time. There’s a lot of power in the truth - and virtually no one can deny that the U.N. is a total failure.

Read the interview transcript below:

I want to tell you about, you know, our topic today kind of has been to create and to push back and to create a different environment and that we just can't sit around. And Ami Horowitz is a guy that we have had on before. He is a filmmaker and he's really funny, really funny, really talented, really smart. He has produced this new documentary called UN Me, and it's about the UN and how unbelievably corrupt it is. But what he's done is brought people together on the universal hatred of corruption. You know, it reminds me about three years ago, I think, I ran into George Clooney in the hallway and we talked for a while and we both agreed on Somalia. He was ‑‑ he was really upset that the world hadn't done anything and that the UN was incapable of doing anything, but he kept going back to the UN. We both agreed on ‑‑ or not Somalia but Darfur.

STU: Darfur.

PAT: Darfur, yeah.

GLENN: We both agreed on Darfur and we just ‑‑ we just disagreed on who was going to be able to fix it. I remember in that, in that conversation we talked about how incompetent the UN was. But liberals tend to think that they can ‑‑ "Well, we'll fix it. We'll just fix it." No, you can. No, you can't. And Ami shows you why you can't. Good reviews.

Ami, welcome to the program. How are you, sir?

HOROWITZ: I'm doing well, Glenn. I love you, man.

GLENN: Is it ‑‑

HOROWITZ: I just want you to know I'm a Beckite.

GLENN: I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But Ami, let me ask you this. The LA Times, the New York Times, Variety and the Washington Post are all giving this good reviews. Is that the ‑‑

HOROWITZ: The Examiner, Daily News, I can go on and on. It's the best reviewed movie of last weekend. I can't believe it.

GLENN: Is it a death knell, death knell to your movie that these liberal organizations like it?

HOROWITZ: I don't know how to answer that. I think people are ‑‑ I think people are getting pretty pumped that we have an issue. We're ‑‑ I think we'll all agree we're in a ‑‑ our environment is too divisive. We're separating ourselves from each other. We should begin together in an extreme time of need. And I think the UN has an issue. But I'm telling you the right, obviously we were, you know, at the Vanguard of this issue for a long time but now we took this movie to get the other side awake. You know what? If they care about human rights, if they care about human dignity, the UN is not an organization they should be supporting. I was just on MSNBC just this morning. It didn't go well.

GLENN: How'd that go for you? How's Mika? Is she as delightful as we all think she is?

HOROWITZ: They began the conversation by reading a UN statement they put out condemning the movie.

STU: (Laughing.)

HOROWITZ: You know, full of falsities, one‑sided, you know, your taxpayer dollars are well taken care of. They read it exactly the way my mother‑in‑law wrote it.

GLENN: (Laughing.)

HOROWITZ: And I made a crack at Chris Matthews' expense and they didn't take well to that. So it became contentious real quick.

GLENN: Now this bodes well for the movie then. This is good. This is good. All right. You actually ‑‑ I want to talk to you about two things. I want to talk to you about the movie, but I want to start here. You are a filmmaker who, you know, saw the Michael Moore stuff and you've seen the way the culture is going that they have all ‑‑ the left has all of the pieces.

HOROWITZ: Yep.

GLENN: And you said I'm not going to let that happen?

HOROWITZ: No way. It is too big a part of cultural war for us to seed it to the left. The left made a massive mistake years ago when they decided not to compete really in talk radio, and you guys dominated, right? You and Rush and Sean and all those guys took it over and never looked back. And they made a massive miscalculation. And now they cannot get their foot back in the door. It's just too late.

The same thing is happening when it comes to film making and documentary making. They have gotten a formula which works and they have done an excellent job, and it's a phenomenal propaganda tool. And we've been left in the dust, and I don't want that to happen. I'm putting ‑‑ this is a ‑‑ this movie UN Me, it's a beachhead. It's a flag saying we're not going to see this territory to you and we're going to play, you know, your game essentially. And that's what I had to do. And I had to hire ‑‑

GLENN: See, I ‑‑ go ahead.

HOROWITZ: I had to hire guys from the left. I had to hire guys from the Onion, from the Daily Show, Michael Moore's writers and, you know, a guy who edited 30 Rock and the guy who shot Borat, In Keeping Truth. And those guys were the quality guys I needed to make this movie, and that's what we did.

GLENN: But I will tell you this, Ami, while one side is propaganda, one side is, you know, rolls with things that are not true. What you're doing is you're rolling with the truth, no matter which way it cuts.

HOROWITZ: Exactly.

GLENN: That's the difference because the propaganda stuff eventually comes undone and I contend that's why the networks are failing, that's why so much of Hollywood is failing. Everything is failing around them because it's propaganda. This is true.

What was the ‑‑ what was the reaction of the guys who were from the left that were working on this movie. When you finished and when you were going through everything, where do they stand?

HOROWITZ: You know, it's amazing. They were very initially obviously standoffish, right? Here's a guy, rightwing guy who's making a movie about, you know, an issue that the right cares about. And I began to walk them through kind of the way the story's going to unfold and they thought it was intriguing. And I'm telling you after every interview we did, the crew's head was blown off their shoulders. They could not believe the things that they were hearing. Couldn't believe the things they were seeing.

GLENN: For instance, give me ‑‑ give me some examples.

HOROWITZ: I'll give you a great example. When we were interviewing ‑‑ when we were interviewing the Iranian diplomat representing Iran in Geneva and this guy was talking about how that we have no problem with gays as long as they stay in their homes, or as long as they agree to sex changes. Then we have no problem with them. I mean, when he was agreeing that, listen, women shouldn't have the right they have anywhere else in the world because women want to be oppressed.

When they were hearing these words coming out of these guys' mouth and, of course, you know, we're making cracks and jokes about it to kind of add levity to it, these guys were shocked. They were shocked, they were blown away and they became true believers.

GLENN: Okay. The last thing I want to cover with you is, because the movie speaks for itself and I want to ask you as a listener to go and support this movie. It's out, find it in your local theatres, find it wherever you can. It is U.N. Me and support it.

HOROWITZ: It's on video on demand with most of the major cable companies and it's also on iTunes. You can watch it, just replace 90 minutes of Snookie with 90 minutes of a movie that can actually blow you away.

GLENN: No, it's not ‑‑

STU: We need to get our Snookie. Don't count that time, I'm sorry.

GLENN: No, I'm not cutting this. U.N. Me, find it wherever you can, and support it and watch it. Now, here is the place that I wanted to take you the last place. You went down to Occupy Wall Street about a year ago I think with us.

HOROWITZ: Less than that.

GLENN: You went down and you did this amazing piece and while that was a little dicey, it wasn't like this. You actually, you had your life threatened outside of your apartment I believe in New York, right?

HOROWITZ: Indeed.

GLENN: Okay. Tell that story and then I want to ‑‑ and then move into the Ivory Coast hotel room

HOROWITZ: Yeah. You know, it was a few months ago. It was actually, I think it was November. And I just walked out of my apartment in the upper west side of Manhattan and there was a dude standing right outside my door, very well dressed, dapper looking guy and he just simply said to me, he asked me if I was Ami Horowitz and I said yes. And at that point my spidey sense started tingling a little bit. And he said, is this movie more important than your family? And I was in a state of shock. You know, I wish now I would have put, you know, that Kung fu grip in a headlock but, you know, of course you're just kind of stunned.

GLENN: Ami.

HOROWITZ: He just turned on his wheels, went to a waiting cab and off he went.

GLENN: Ami?

HOROWITZ: Yes?

GLENN: Ami, I've seen you. You don't have Kung fu grip.

HOROWITZ: Hey. Come on, man, that ain't cool.

GLENN: No, no. Okay. Now take me quickly to the Ivory Coast.

HOROWITZ: So the Ivory Coast we essentially uncovered peacekeepers had slaughtered unarmed Ivorians and so we were there, you know, filming it and we did this whole piece on girls, you know, peacekeepers gone wild and all the crazy stuff that the peacekeepers do there. And we got back from a full day of shooting, got back to the hotel room on the Ivory Coast and I walk into the room and my safe was open, my money was there and my passport was there. The SIM card from my phone was gone. I slept with a hunting knife under my pillow because, you know, kind of a tough area. That was gone. And there was simply where a mint would have been a picture on my bed with a guy ‑‑ a picture of a guy with his head blown right off. A not‑too‑subtle warning about staying on the Ivory Coast.

GLENN: The documentary is worth seeing. The reason why I bring this up is this is a filmmaker who believes in what he says. This is a filmmaker who is really, really talented, very smart, very funny, and the truth is here. And the truth that people can unite on. This is not a right issue. This is a ‑‑ this is a human issue that the left has evidenced by good reviews in LA Times, New York Times, Variety, Washington Post and me, it is something we can all agree on and it is something that this particular filmmaker has risked his life to tell. Go right now to iTunes. I have it right here on my iTunes. It's U.N. Me and watch this film. Please support Ami Horowitz.

HOROWITZ: Or video on demand with your cable company.

GLENN: All right. Is there anything else you'd like to throw in there?

HOROWITZ: I love you, man, I love you.

GLENN: Thanks, man, I appreciate it. You're a fantastic filmmaker.

Are Gen Z's socialist sympathies a threat to America's future?

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In a republic forged on the anvil of liberty and self-reliance, where generations have fought to preserve free markets against the siren song of tyranny, Gen Z's alarming embrace of socialism amid housing crises and economic despair has sparked urgent alarm. But in a recent poll, Glenn asked the tough questions: Where do Gen Z's socialist sympathies come from—and what does it mean for America's future? Glenn asked, and you answered—hundreds weighed in on this volatile mix of youthful frustration and ideological peril.

The results paint a stark picture of distrust in the system. A whopping 79% of you affirm that Gen Z's socialist sympathies stem from real economic gripes, like sky-high housing costs and a rigged game tilted toward the elite and corporations—defying the argument that it's just youthful naivety. Even more telling, 97% believe this trend arises from a glaring educational void on socialism's bloody historical track record, where failed regimes have crushed freedoms under the boot of big government. And 97% see these poll findings as a harbinger of deepening generational rifts, potentially fueling political chaos and authoritarian overreach if left unchecked.

Your verdict underscores a moral imperative: America's soul hangs on reclaiming timeless values like self-reliance and liberty. This feedback amplifies your concerns, sending a clear message to the powers that be.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out more polls HERE.

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

PHILL MAGAKOE / Contributor | Getty Images

Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck resurrects the 9-12 Project to support Charlie Kirk's family

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

Glenn's Show Prep

U.N. Me: Filmmaker roasts U.N. and gets media praise?

Are Gen Z's socialist sympathies a threat to America's future?

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Taking up the torch

Start small and local

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Picking up his torch

Two turning points, decades apart

A time for courage

Glenn Beck resurrects the 9-12 Project to support Charlie Kirk's family