Clooney swipes at 'Gawker Stalker' site

Los Angeles, Apr 1 (AP) George Clooney is known as a prankster, but his plan to undermine a website that posts celebrity sightings is no joke, his publicist has said.

George Clooney is known as a prankster, but his plan to undermine a website that posts celebrity sightings is no joke, his publicist has said.

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Clooney has suggested swamping Gawker.Com's "Gawker Stalker" feature with false notes about stars' whereabouts, spokesman Stan Rosenfield said.

In an e-mail Rosenfield recently distributed on Clooney's behalf to other high-powered publicists, the actor calls for publicity firms and their clients to join the effort against the site that some have called a threat to celebrities.

"There is a simple way to render these guys useless," Clooney said in the message. "Flood their website with bogus sightings. Get your clients tot 10 friends to text in fake sightings of any number of stars.

"A couple hundred conflicting sightings and this website is worthless. No need to try to create new laws to restrict free speech. Just make them useless. That's the fun of it. And then sit back and enjoy the ride," Clooney writes, signing the note, "Thanks, George."

Rosenfield said he did not know how the e-mail, which was intended as private, was publicly released and reported yesterday by the New York Post.

Clooney's campaign may be bearing fruit. Rosenfield said he heard from two publicists whose clients were said by Gawker Stalker to have been spotted in New York when the stars were actually abroad.

Clooney, who received a best-supporting actor Oscar for Syriana last month, has weighed in before on celebrity privacy.