Edward Snowden Responds to Neil Patrick Harris’ Oscar ‘Treason’ Joke

NSA whistleblower and subject of “Citizenfour” says he “laughed” when the Oscars host said he “could not be here tonight for some treason”

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden was not at the Oscars for obvious reasons, but that didn’t stop the NSA whistleblower from being the topic of a funny one-liner from host Neil Patrick Harris.

After “Citizenfour” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, Harris said that “the subject of ‘Citizenfour,’ Edward Snowden, could not be here tonight for some treason.”

Many of Snowden’s supporters voiced their outrage over Harris’ joke on Twitter, but the exiled whistleblower, who was granted political asylum in Russia but would be arrested if he returned to the United States, at least saw the funny side of it.

“To be honest, I laughed at NPH,” Snowden wrote during a Reddit session on Sunday. “I don’t think it was meant as a political statement, but even if it was, that’s not so bad.

“My perspective is if you’re not willing to be called a few names to help out your country, you don’t care enough,” he said.

Snowden was joined on Reddit after the 87th Academy Awards by the film’s director Laura Poitras and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is featured in “Citizenfour.”

Poitras had some memorable lines of her own during the Oscars telecast, as she thanked whistleblowers and journalists who are “exposing truth” during her acceptance speech.

“Disclosures that Edward Snowden reveals don’t only expose a threat to our privacy, but to our democracy itself. When the most important decisions being made that affect all of us are being made in secrecy, we lose our ability to check the powers in control,” Poitras said with Greenwald at her side.

“Thank you to Edward Snowden for his courage, and for the many other whistleblowers. I share this with Glenn Greenwald and the other journalists who are exposing truth. Thank you.”

Poitras shared the Oscar win with Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky, who produced the documentary that beat out “Finding Vivian Maier,” “Last Days of Vietnam,” “Virunga” and “The Salt of the Earth.”

Along with the Oscar, “Citizenfour” won several other top honors in the race leading up to Hollywood’s biggest night, including the BAFTA and DGA awards.

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