This is a pretty big one. Michael Moore’s new film, Fahrenheit 911, is being distributed by Miramax. The Disney Corporation owns Miramax. And Disney is telling Miramax that it will forbid the distribution of Moore’s film. In other words, if Disney has its way, you will never see Moore’s new film. This is the newest censorship play by media elements, after Clear Channel disconnected Howard Stern and Sinclair Media forbade its stations to show the Nightline broadcast which listed the names of American soldiers who have died in Iraq. Not surprisingly, all instances of recent censorship have favored Bush.

For those of you who are not aware, Moore’s film centers on President Bush’s relationship with the bin Laden family, and likely will also focus on the Bush-Saud connections and other Bush scandals related to 9/11. Originally, Mel Gibson’s film company was to distribute the film, but Gibson dropped it, and Miramax stepped in. Moore has been working on this film for a long time, and is only one week away from finishing it. The film has been selected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

So Disney’s decision, essentially, is to tell the American people that they are not allowed to see the film. Period. End of sentence. The reason? Moore claims that Disney CEO Eisner asked Moore not to distribute the film last spring because it might anger Florida governor Jeb Bush and cause him to yank away tax breaks that Disney enjoys in Florida, home of a great many Disney properties. Disney denies this, but offers no alternate explanation except to say that “the film is against the interests of the company because it would alienate viewers.”

Disney is using a contract clause which allows it to axe a film “under certain circumstances, like an excessive budget or an NC-17 rating.” Disney and Miramax are talking, but Disney says it will not budge–which could lead to arbitration. Moore himself says that “if I have anything to say about it, you’ll see it this summer — because, after all, it is a free country.” Irony noted.

Personally, I can see no legitimate reason for Disney’s actions, and the fact that Jeb Bush holds an incredible amount of influence over Disney in Florida makes Moore’s claim all the more believable. Moore is finishing work on the film, just before it is released at Cannes; fortunately, the Disney censorship move will not prevent the film from showing at the festival.

But it may mean that you won’t get to see it anytime soon. Miramax’s chairman Harvey Weinstein stands behind Moore, but that may not be enough. Still, the furor caused by this may be enough to reverse Disney’s stand. After Harper Collins threatened to destroy Moore’s already-printed book “Stupid White Men” in the wake of 9/11, a campaign headed by librarians changed their minds and the book became a huge No. 1 bestseller.

I would ask that all readers who want Disney to stop this to call or send email/letters to Disney. Alas, Disney makes it incredibly hard to find any way to contact them directly, but I have gleaned possible addresses from the Internet:

Disney’s Corporate Offices in Burbank: 1-818-560- 1000
Disney’s corporate address: 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, 91521
Michael Eisner’s email address (possibly changed by now, but it still goes to Disney): meistb@go.com or michael.d.eisner@disney.com

Talk to them, and speak loudly!