Dori: Al Gore is a hypocrite for selling Current TV to Al Jazeera

Current TV is now Al Jazeera America after environmental activist and former Vice President Al Gore sold his network to the oil-rich government of Qatar.

Dori has long disapproved of Al Gore, but now he’s calling the former Vice President a hypocrite.

The deal, made official Thursday Jan. 3, was reportedly rushed at the end of 2012 to avoid the higher tax rate that would kick in this tax season.

“So Al Gore, who’s born rich, has lived rich his whole life, and now has become almost a billionaire by being the ultimate government insider scam artist,” said Dori, “But according to the New York Times he was trying to rush the sale of Current TV so he could avoid paying higher taxes.”

According to experts, beating the tax deadline would have saved Gore $9 million in taxes since the capital gains tax has gone up from 13 percent to 23.5 percent as a result of negotiations in Washington, D.C.

But just two months ago the former Vice President was quoted, saying that the very rich should pay more taxes.

“The single most popular proposal we had was to reduce taxes on working people and to lift the higher rate,” said Gore in an interview with Reuters on Nov. 14. “Let’s give an incentive to work, and let’s ask the most fortunate in our society – including me and you – to do our fair share.”

Insiders say that Current TV was sold for about $500 million and that $100 million will go directly to Gore, who has a 20 percent stake in the network.

But Dori says it’s not just the fact that Al Gore tried to evade taxes by rushing a deal that makes Dori think this deal is deplorable; Al Jazeera is financed by the ruling family of Qatar, which is paying for the network with profits from oil sales.

“Al Jazeera is financed by big oil worldwide. So he stands around and talks about the evils of global warming and how horrible carbon emissions are,” said Dori. “But he thinks nothing to sell his network to the highest bidder when that network is completely financed by Arab oil.”

The new owners of Current TV are already facing backlash from some of its former carriers.

Shortly after the deal was made official, Time Warner Cable dropped Current TV from their listings, defeating the supposed purpose of the acquisition, which was to gain access to a wider English-speaking audience.

However, the network will continue its operations under its new name, Al Jazeera America, on DirecTV, Comcast, Dish, Verizon and AT&T.