Filmmaker Michael Moore
receiving death threats

Michael Moore’s controversial documentary hasn’t even been seen in the U.S. — but that isn’t stopping Moore-bashers.

The gadfly filmmaker has been getting death threats over “Fahrenheit 9/11,” says a source. “People have been flaming his Web site,” says a source. “Really ugly stuff.”

Moore’s reps didn’t return calls for comment, but another Moore source, who knows nothing of the current threats, sighed, “I wouldn’t be surprised. He got threats after ‘Bowling for Columbine.’ ”

Meanwhile, someone is trying to make a documentary called “Michael Moore Hates America.” That filmmaker, Mike Wilson, is complaining on his Web site that he can’t get Moore to sit down for an interview. 

Scoop clarification: On Thursday, we reported that Michael Moore’s Web site had been flamed with hate mail and death threats over his new Bush bashing documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11.” A rep for the filmmaker called to say that couldn’t be true, because Moore’s site doesn’t have a message board. When asked if such threats had been e-mailed to the site, the rep said she “couldn’t comment for security reasons."

Clucking about chicken
Is Bea Arthur a terrorist?

The Golden Girl is the lead crusader in the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals’ campaign against KFC, and now the chicken company has accused PETA of “corporate terrorism.”

Last week, senior KFC exec Jonathan Blum testified before a senate judiciary committee, describing the pickets and phone calls and ad campaigns conducted by PETA against KFC. He also complained about PETA celebs like Paul McCartney, Pam Anderson, Russell Simmons and Bea Arthur, and asked that the group’s tax-free status be revoked because “their corporate terrorist activities do not warrant this benefit.”

“Any chicken will tell you that KFC are the corporate terrorists,” Arthur shot back later. “Not those trying to stop animal abuse.” The actress has been campaigning to stop KFC from using chickens that have been de-feathered live in a scalding tank.

The reactions from the senators were mixed. Republican senator Orrin Hatch of Utah agreed that aggressive animal rights groups should be classified as “terrorists.” Democratic senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, however, scoffed that “this administration aggressively stamps everything with a ‘terrorism’ label” and added that “most Americans would not consider the harassment of animal-testing facilities to be ‘terrorism’ any more than they would consider anti-globalism protesters or anti-war protesters or women’s health activists to be terrorists.”

Notes from all over

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images file

Jude Law’s clothes brought more at auction than Johnny Depp’s did. Skivvies worn by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star were sold at a U.K. charity benefit for nearly $3,000, according to Hello magazine, but then a suit worn by Jude Law went for over $3,600. “Apparently the British heartthrob was so pleased at having outdone his American contemporary that he jumped onto the stage and offered the shirt he was wearing for sale too,” according to the mag, which reports that the shirt fetched an extra $1,800.  . . . Bono stirred things up at the University of Pennsylvania. The U2 rocker was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law when he gave the commencement speech, and told the grads, “Wow! I know it’s an honor, and it really is an honor, but are you sure? Doctor of Law, all I can think about is the laws I’ve broken. Laws of nature, laws of physics, laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania…” . . . .Rodney Dangerfield — pothead? The 82-year-old comedian, famous for complaining that he gets no respect, told Rolling Stone magazine that he’s been getting high since he was 21 and got stoned at the White House when Ronald Reagan was in office. “As a kid I bought pot for $25 an ounce,” he says in the current issue of the mag.  “Decent s—t [today] costs you a minimum of $500 an ounce. An ounce! Oh, everything’s insane. Oh, everything’s wild!”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

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