Oliver Stone Calls Obama A 'Snake,' Says 'We Have To Turn On Him'

Outspoken Director Calls Obama A 'Snake'

After calling Edward Snowden a "hero" last month, it's no surprise that outspoken director Oliver Stone has taken President Barack Obama to task again for his National Security Agency spying controversies.

“Obama is a snake,” Stone told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Monday. “He’s a snake. And we have to turn on him.”

Stone claimed Obama's much-maligned NSA programs, which collect phone and other electronic data from millions of Americans daily, help more to stifle protesters than they do to track down terrorists. The director cited the Boston Marathon as a chief example.

“The Boston Marathon, they were so busy tracking down potential protestors … that they missed the bombers,” Stone said. “It’s never about terrorists. It always becomes about the way J. Edgar Hoover did it; he brought all the weight of government to bear against protesters. He didn’t like protesters. He thought they were left-wing communists. He never could find the proof, but by the time the Vietnam War came around, as you know, 500,000 people were on the list, and they were being eavesdropped on. And where are we now? Same place.”

Stone, who himself served as an infantry soldier in the Vietnam War, has spent much of his career announcing his liberal viewpoints and making political films like "JFK," "Nixon" and "W." Continuing to punctuate his anti-Obama stance, the Oscar winner commended Russia on granting asylum to Snowden.

“I’m proud of him for doing it,” Stone said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We need more countries to stand up to the U.S.”

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