[Cerek the Barbaric]

I browsed through the articles I found. Most had the same basic information, but I found two that offered details the others didn't. Here is the first one.

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive...2004-linda.htm

Pop Singer Linda Ronstadt Fired After Getting Booed for Publicly Supporting Moore
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
July 20, 2004

Linda Ronstadt, a pop music legend who has chosen to espouse her liberal political views in recent weeks, got fired on Saturday by a Las Vegas casino after getting loudly booed for offering praise for left-wing producer Michael Moore's anti-Bush movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Ronstadt was performing a one-night concert at the Alladin casino on Saturday night and dedicated her encore finale of the Eagles classic "Desperado" to Moore, whom she described as a "great American patriot ... who is spreading the truth."

She continued her lauding of Moore by describing him as "someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help" with the release of his Bush-bashing film.(1)

Ronstadt encouraged concert-goers to go see the movie.

But the crowd of 4,500 immediately began jeering Ronstadt, tearing up and defacing concert posters and throwing cocktails at the startled singer. In fact, nearly half of those in attendance walked out of the show demanding a refund of their money after Ronstadt's vocal show of support for Moore.

Alladin President Bill Timmins, who was in attendance for Ronstadt's performance, described this as "a very ugly scene."

"[Ronstadt] praised [Moore] and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose," Timmins told the Associated Press.

As a result, Timmins made the decision to immediately fire Ronstadt and did not allow her to return to her luxury suite.

In addition, Ronstadt was physically escorted off the property to her tour bus because she "spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests and we had to do something about it," Timmins told the AP, noting that this was the first time he has ever had to do that to a performer at his hotel.

Tyri Squyres, a spokeswoman for Alladin, said Ronstadt "wasn't happy, but she was cooperative" as she was leaving the hotel property.

In a statement from the Alladin casino, they assert that Ronstadt was "hired to entertain the guests of the Aladdin, not to espouse political views."

Timmins said he was thinking about his customers who "come from all over the world to be entertained" when he made his decision.

"We hired Ms. Ronstadt as an entertainer, not as a political activist," Timmons told The Las Vegas Sun. "Whether you are politically on the left or on the right is not the point. She went up in front of the stage and just let it out. This was not the correct forum for that."

Realizing that he needed to do something after Ronstadt made her ill-advised comments, Timmins said he took prudent action to calm the upset customers.

"A situation like that can easily turn ugly and I didn't want anything more to come out of it," Timmons expressed to The Las Vegas Sun. "There were a lot of angry people there after she started talking."

Explaining that this situation is not about squelching Ronstadt's freedom of speech, Timmons said the concert stage was an inappropriate place for her to espouse her political beliefs.

"If she wants to talk about her views to a newspaper or in a magazine article, she is free to do so," Timmons noted to The Las Vegas Sun. "But in a stage in front of four and a half thousand people is not the place for it."

Timmins added to the AP, "As long as I'm here, she's not going to play."

Interestingly, Ronstadt had almost taunted Alladin into firing her in a published newspaper interview prior to her concert.

"I keep hoping that if I'm annoying enough to [Alladin], they won't hire me back," Ronstadt told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.(2)

Ronstadt has refused to comment on this incident.

Nevertheless, it seems Ronstadt was miffed at Alladin for billing her concert as a "Greatest Hits Tour."

"Driving into town I saw this big billboard up there with my picture on it saying 'The Greatest Hits Tour,'" Ronstadt told the audience according to the Las Vegas Sun. "That was news to us. We didn't know it was 'The Greatest Hits Tour.' "

But Squyres said Ronstadt's "management gave us the information and approved the ad" before the concert.

And this was not the first time Ronstadt had concluded her concert with a tribute to Moore. She has been making the same dedication to the controversial filmmaker on each of her national tour stops in recent weeks with similar reactions from the audience.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Ronstadt was performing at the Wolf Trap near Washington, DC and made her remarks about Moore before singing "Desperado," only to be interrupted and drowned out by groans and boos from those in attendance.(3)

(1) This section confirms that Ronstadt did do more than just say "I want to dedicate this song to Michael Moore". Unfortunately, it still doesn't list everything she said, but it seems clear it was more than just a 1-2 line tribute.

(2) This echoes the same point I made earlier. I couldn't help but wonder if Ronstadt tried to be deliberately "annoying" to avoid being invited back to Aladdin (although I still wonder why she couldn't just decline thier invitation to begin with?).

(3) This is an interesting tid-bit not mentioned in any of the other articles I found. Several mentioned that she had been doing this tribute to Michael Moore at all her stops, but none of the others mentioned that the reactions she had gotten (at some of the venues anyway) had been similar to the reaction at Aladdin.