MOVIES - May 26, 1989

The British tabloid press has seized on actor Mickey Rourke, branding him an IRA sympathizer since his announcement last weekend in Cannes that he had given money to “causes in Northern Ireland.” The Sun, Britain’s best-selling newspaper with a circulation of 4 million, called for a public boycott of his movies: “Don’t pay to watch Rourke,” said an editorial. “Those people in this country who are tempted to pay to see his films should ask themselves: Do I really want to subsidize terror?’ ” Other British papers have given the story wide coverage, depicting the actor as dangerous, naive and ignorant, with a romanticized view of the Irish Republican Army. In a statement from Cannes, the actor said that his remarks had been misunderstood, that he had not donated money to the IRA but, rather, supported humanitarian causes in Northern Ireland.