It’s one thing to be heckled for expressing a pro-Bush or pro-Kerry stance. It’s another to be ejected for being pro-Michael Moore. That’s what happened to Linda Ronstadt on Saturday night.

The singer was performing at the Aladdin in Las Vegas when she paused before her encore to praise Michael Moore, the Fahrenheit 9/11 director, as a “great American patriot” who “is spreading the truth.” She then dedicated the song Desperado to Moore.

People in the audience immediately began to boo and some left the theatre in disgust. Some tore down posters and began throwing drinks in the air, according to Bill Timmins, the casino president.

She “spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests and we had to do something about it,” he told the Associated Press.

Moore wrote a letter to Timmins, and posted it on his web site Monday night.

“What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called ‘The First Amendment.’ This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way,” he wrote.

“For you 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. Frankly, I have never heard of such a thing happening. I read that you wouldn’t even let her go back up to her room at your hotel! Are you crazy? For crying out loud, it was a song DEDICATION! To ‘Desperado!’ Every American loves that song! Sure, some people didn’t like the dedication, and that’s their right. But neither they nor you have the right to remove her from your building when all she did was exercise her AMERICAN right to speak her mind.”

Officials at the hotel later said that their move did not stem from the hotel’s political beliefs (because hotels are buildings, not free-thinking people), but rather because they did not want the situation to get worse.

Moore wrote that the casino and hotel owed Ronstadt an apology.

“And I have an idea how you can make it up to her — and to the millions of Americans you have offended,” Moore writes. “Invite her back and I’ll join her in singing ‘America the Beautiful’ on your stage. Then I will show ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ free of charge to all your guests and anyone else in Las Vegas who wants to see it.”


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