Michael Moore did not give out Lars Larson’s phone number per se. An event associate gave Michael Moore the number to Lars Larson’s cell phone. After Michael Moore dialed that number — without having given the number to the crowd! — an answering service picked up, and Moore intended on leaving a message.

By this point, Michael Moore had put the call on the speaker so we could hear. The outgoing message of the answering service was Lars Larson, who proceeded to give his home telephone number.

So, as an attendant at this event that drew a crowd of over 9,000 at the Portland Coliseum, I know that it was in fact Lars Larson who gave out his own phone number. Moore had no way of knowing that Lars would give his home phone number on that outgoing message.

But it’s not surprising that Lars Larson would distort the story and add his dramatic touch to it (saying he fears for his safety now), because this is most likely the most press he has ever received and will ever receive. This is his brush with the big time.

—Andrew Parodi Gervais