Tim Robbins and the Murdochs Find Common Ground

By: E&P Staff Long at odds, the Murdochs and the Robbins-Sarandons came together for a mutual cause at New York's Public Theater. But that doesn't mean there was no friction.

The event was a $100 ticket panel discussion following one of the final performances of Tim Robbins' satiric play about journalists, soldiers and the war in Iraq, called "Embedded." On the panel, besides Robbins and radio host/author Amy Goodman was David Asman, an anchor at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.

In the audience: Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert and publisher of the New York Post, and his wife Sarah, along with Susan Sarandon, Robbins' partner.

Just last year, the Post asked readers to boycott movies starring Robbins and Sarandon, calling them "Saddam lovers." Robbins had responded by saying that Murdoch's papers were "gossip rags masquerading as newspapers" and referred to their cable news network as "19th century Fox."

What brought Lachlan Murdoch into a room with the two actors? Turns out wife Sarah had recently been named to the board of the Public Theater, which is to receive funds from the benefit.

At the panel, according to a review in The New York Times, the matter of the boycott came up, causing Robbins to ask Fox's Asman what he thought of labeling someone a traitor simply for opposing the war. Asman said he had never called the two actors traitors and the issue was then dropped.

According to the Times, "Mr. Murdoch sat impassively, his hands folded in front of him, during the exchange." He did applaud later when Asman said some reporters, such as the late Michael Kelly, had described the horrors of the war.

When it was all over, Murdoch called the evening "great," according to the Times. Robbins commented, "It was a lively discussion, right?"