LAS VEGAS – Linda Ronstadt not only got booed, she also got the boot after lauding filmmaker Michael Moore and his new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” during a performance at the Aladdin hotel-casino. Moore called the casino’s action “simply stupid.”
Before singing “Desperado” for an encore Saturday night, Ronstadt – who is scheduled to perform Tuesday in Seattle – called Moore a “great American patriot” and “someone who is spreading the truth.” She also encouraged everyone to see the documentary, which is severely critical of President Bush.
Ronstadt’s comments drew loud boos, and some of the 4,500 people in attendance stormed out of the theater. People also tore down concert posters and tossed cocktails into the air.
“It was a very ugly scene,” Aladdin President Bill Timmins said. “She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose.”
Timmins, who is British and was watching the show, said he didn’t allow Ronstadt back in her luxury suite and she was escorted off the property. Ronstadt had been booked for only the one show at the theater.
Moore, in a letter to hotel management that he released to The Associated Press, said “to throw Linda Ronstadt off the premises because she dared to say a few words in support of me and my film, is simply stupid and un-American.”
Hotel spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said it wasn’t Ronstadt’s message per se that management objected to, but, “She wanted to incite the audience, and she incited them to the point where they were very upset. … She was hired to entertain, not to preach.”
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