“Corporations hate America,” said Michael Moore to a classroom of enthusiastic NIU students.

The controversial filmmaker spoke at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon from Michigan to students enrolled in COMS 496M at DuSable 148.

As part of the course, titled “The Films of Michael Moore,” communication professor Jeff Chown contacted Michael Moore to speak sometime during the semester.

After a semester of e-mails and letters from Chown, Moore replied two weeks ago and set up the phone conference.

Moore called the classroom and was greeted with a small wave of feedback. Moore answered sarcastically, making a high-pitched noise into the phone as if to greet the feedback.

The discussion was setup as a phone forum: students asked questions and Moore answered them via speaker phone. Moore ripped into conservative radio hosts (“ARGH!” Moore said, mocking the angry hosts) and took a shot at the Northern Star, which published a few anti-Moore online columns earlier in the semester.

Most of the questions were liberally slanted to the point where Moore asked the conservative students to speak up.

“I asked them to be fit. I wanted students to ask questions that wouldn’t be insulting or rude,” Chown said.

The response to Moore’s provocation failed to yield a large debate.

The interview extended past the hour mark at which it was supposed to end. Moore spoke for a total of an hour and half, leaving the last three minutes for a speed round.

Students asked Moore a variety of simple questions, from what kind of beer he drinks (Moore doesn’t drink) to whether Moore would wear an NIU hat on television or in one of his movies. His response, which ended the forum, was met with a furious applause.

“That would be sweet,” Moore said.

Chown will teach another Moore class in the spring semester of next year and hopes to get Moore as a live speaker next time.

“We’ll work through CAB and a couple of speakers groups to help get Moore,” Chown said.