Famously contrarian film critic Armond White has been removed from the New York Film Critics Circle. This news comes after an incident at last week’s NYFCC Awards dinner in which White heckled 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen, saying things like, “You’re an embarrassing doorman and garbage man.” This isn’t the first time White served as a one-man Statler and Waldorf, as he yelled at Robert De Niro and Viola Davis at the 2012 ceremony. In 2011, he didn’t have to heckle, because he hosted and voiced his complaints from the stage. Circle member and EW critic Owen Gleiberman called it a “sad moment” but one “Armond brought [upon] himself.” He made it clear that White’s removal had nothing to do with his opinions on films (“Armond tosses out provocations like grenades and eats acclaimed films for breakfast”) and everything to do with his behavior, which he called “a species of megalomania.” We highly recommend New York’s 2009 profile of White, which shines a little light on how he has gotten here. Dude hated Wall-E.
