That Time John Kasich Tried to Ban a Coen Brothers Movie From Blockbuster
Image by Getty Images
If there’s one thing John Kasich is clear on, it’s properly labeling movies at Blockbuster. Since it’s no longer the mid 90s, he probably won’t make it a large part of his platform. During the usually even-tempered GOP candidate’s lengthy political career, he took issue with the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers film “Fargo.”
Kasich was so offended by the brutality of the film, that he requested the local Blockbuster remove it from its shelves. He wrote about his shock after renting it for a quiet night in with his wife in his 2006 book, “Stand for Something: The Battle for America’s Soul.”
“It was billed as a comedy, but it wasn’t funny. It was graphic, and brutal, and completely unnecessary, and it rubbed us in so many wrong ways we had to shut the thing off right there in the middle… Next morning, I got on the phone to Blockbuster and demanded that they take the movie off their shelves,” he wrote.
Hopefully he doesn’t come after our Netflix queues.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.