[Cerek the Barbaric]

Your assessment is spot on, wellard. Moore is using this supposed suppression of free speech as nothing more than a ploy to generate free publicity for his film that will debut next week (or the week after) at the Cannes Film Festival.

In an interview with CNN, Moore admits that he was told by Eisner a year ago that Disney didn't like the film and wouldn't distribute it. Here is a link to the transcript of that interview. Michael Moore Interview on CNN

However, despite the proclamations of Moore (and the implication of the title of this very thread), Disney did NOT "forbid" the movie to be distributed at all. They said that Moore was free to seek other distributors or to distribute it himself. All Disney said is that THEY wouldn't distribute.

So there is no squelching of free speech here. Moore is just generating another one of his storms in a teacup to generate interest and publicity for his film. Can't really blame him for that. Why pay for advertising when you can just cry "Free Speech Wolf" and get all the free advertising you want. It's actually a smart move on Moore's part.

Of course, such redundant hypothetical hysteria on Moore's part does reduce his credibility in the eyes of some (myself being foremost in this group). Michael Moore has also said that the Bush family will not like his movie...they will really not like it. Given his views on the Bush Administration - and his penchant for slanting certain facts in his past projects - I would have to view his latest movie with a very skeptical eye.

But you may also be right about Disney deciding to ride the wave of free publicity themselves. Miramax has said they will take the matter to mediation. If Disney were to lose, they could present a very good case to Cousin Jeb that they tried to avoid distributing the film but could not. Then they can still get the "tens of millions of dollars" (according to Moore) in tax breaks AND reap the rewards from the distribution of the movie. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.