‘FBI Lovebirds’ Producer Uses Actress Kristy Swanson’s Reported “Death Threat” As Fundraising Tool

A day after pro-Trump actors Kristy Swanson and Dean Cain retweeted what Swanson described as a “death threat” over their involvement in writer-producer Phelim McAleer’s planned performance piece FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers, McAleer is using the tweets for fundraising.

Calling theater “the most leftist of all the arts,” McAleer writes in his fundraising pitch today: “It is shocking! They claim to love the arts and the Hollywood left is always giving awards congratulating themselves about how brave they are, but no one from the left or Hollywood has condemned this death threat to artists and their audience – just for telling the truth.”

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Dean Cain & Kristy Swanson Star As Real-Life Text-Happy FBI Agents In Stage Play From 'Gosnell' Writer

The contretemps started Wednesday with news that Cain and Swanson will portray FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in a one-night-only crowdsource-funded stage reading of the real-life duo’s now-infamous anti-Trump text messages. The reading, set for June 13 at the Mead Theatre in Washington, D.C., will be filmed and posted on YouTube.

After word of the reading spread, Swanson tweeted a Twitter exchange (since deleted) in which someone using the name @Sponson wrote, “Have the Capitol Steps open, lock the doors, and set the theater on fire.”

In retweeting Sponson’s message — the context is unclear — Swanson wrote, “It is a death threat on @RealDeanCain and me, an entire theater production, and an entire theater full of people. Needs to be reported.”

The actress subsequently added, “So it looks like this death threat was taken down, that is a good thing. But the person who posted the Threat (sponson) has NOT been banned.”

Today, McAleer passed along the threat to his supporters, writing: “Well that didn’t take long. Minutes after announcing our plan to film the actual treasonous texts of the FBI Lovebirds, we received our first death threat.”

Politico was the first to break the story about how one-time Young Superman Dean Cain is going to play FBI agent Strzok in a verbatim reading of the love-struck but anti-Donald Trump texts between him and his lover Page. The texts also reveal how they plotted to stop him from being elected.

“Obviously, the establishment hates that we are exposing this story and producing FBI Lovebirds: UnderCovers,” McAleer wrote. “They hate the truth and they especially hate that we are telling the truth through the theater, which is the most leftist of all the arts. So as usual, their response was to threaten violence. Which is why we need your help more than ever.”

McLeer’s Indiegogo page today reports that the project has raised $13,285, from 172 backers, 13% of its $95,000 fixed goal with 27 days left to go.

The fundraising tactic did not go unnoticed on Swanson’s Twitter page. In the “death threat” thread, one responder wrote: “It’s OK yo see a play with D list celebrities. No problem. Just don’t lie about false threats to drum up ticket sales.” Said another, “Nice publicity for a play trying to get funding.”

Other responses generally were supportive of the actress. “Simple advice,” wrote one. “Arm yourself. Find a handgun that is small yet effective at close range that conceals well. Nevermind the law on carry, id be damned if im going to depend on the police to prevent my murder when i could do it myself. Id rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6.”

And in what appears to be an unrelated Twitter beef Wednesday, Swanson was accused by another tweeter of rousing the kind of antipathy she’d earlier decried. The actress had defended her friend, the conservative actor Scott Baio, in some seemingly ongoing Twitter battle involving Baio and Nicole Eggert. “This guy & many attacked my friend @ScottBaio yesterday, I defended Scott,” Swanson wrote. “Then this same guy sends several attacking tweets to me but then deletes them all. He then locks his account, then unlocks his account to post this tweet claiming he is a victim & then blocks me. #twisted”

The person to whom Swanson refers had tweeted, “I had to lock my account last night because of all the threats I was getting in from Baio fans and Kristy Swanson fans thanks to both of them retweeting me saying I believe you Nicole. The irony is when they say ‘why are you so hateful and evil, btw go kill your self or find me.'”

Former star pitcher-turned-BlazeTV host Curt Schilling offered to lend Swanson a hand: “Let me know if you want to find out his name, where he lives and anything else to out him…” The former Major League Baseball pitcher posted the message on Swanson’s Twitter page Wednesday afternoon. It remained on the page today.

Here are some of the other tweets mentioned in this story:

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