Roger Ebert Hit by New York Post Critic

Wow, those New York Post folks are edgy, aren’t they? During a screening at the Toronto Film Festival last week, NYP film critic Lou Lumenick throttled Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert.

Here’s the scoop: Apparently, Ebert was sitting behind Lumenick during the screening of a film that included subtitles. Since Ebert is unable to speak after thyroid cancer, he tapped Lumenick on the shoulder to see if he’d move his head so he could see the film.

More after the jump…you wanna know what I think about this, don’t you?

After a few tappings, Lumenick turned around and whacked Ebert with a binder. “[Lumenick] hit him so hard everybody could hear it,” a source told the Daily News. “Everyone freaked out and turned around.”

Lumenick did not respond to an e-mailed request for additional details, but Ebert, 66, wrote that the incident “has been blown out of proportion [and] is of little interest.”

But he also noted his wife, Chaz, who did not witness what happened, was alarmed when she learned of it. “Her reaction when she heard: ‘I’ll get a no-neck guy from the West Side to break his knees,’” Ebert recalled. “Just rhetorical, I trust.”

Good to know Ebert can still defend himself from the masses. And that his wife is ready to take people down if necessary. I like one comment on Lumenick’s column: “Do you beat little children and helpless pets, too?” Man, he must be feeling bad right about now.