This Is Why You Should Never Take Moral Lessons From Films You Stopped Watching Halfway Through

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Jordan Belfort (aka the Wolf of Wall Street) went to the 92nd St. Y to talk about how great and innocent and redeemed he is. The whole night was a predictable shit show with casual sexism and the like, but this bit struck me as particularly funny:

Belfort said people should realize that the actions portrayed in the film were bad and not something they should follow. “If you’re in this audience and you can’t go to see The Wolf of Wall Street and realize that that’s bad, then there’s something wrong with you. You are fundamentally screwed up. It’s obvious,” Belfort said. Belfort said that he idolized Gordon Gekko’s character in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. He said that had perhaps Gekko fallen, then he would have felt differently. “At least in The Wolf of Wall Street, I lose everything. My life is destroyed. I go to jail,” Belfort said.

In the end of Wall Street, Charlie Sheen wears a wire and narcs Gekko to the feds. Gekko is sentenced to more than a decade in prison and, upon his eventual release, a year of hard Shia.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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