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, the 58-year-old singer called Moore a "great American patriot" and "someone who is spreading the truth." She also encouraged everyone to see the film, 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," said Aladdin president Bill Timmins. "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 into her luxury suite and she was escorted off the property. "As long as I'm here, she's not going to play," Timmins said.

     Moore, in a letter to hotel management that he released to The Associated Press, said that "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."

     A hotel spokeswoman, Tyri Squyres ,said it wasn't Ronstadt's message that management objected to but that "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."