A media email message from the Museum of the Moving Image on Monday afternoon said that Iranian director Jafar Panahi would not be coming to America next week to promote his upcoming Sony Pictures Classics release, "Offside." It read:

Please note that the March 6 appearance by Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been cancelled due to the U.S. government's decision to rescind Mr. Panahi's travel visa.

Quickly, Reverse Shot and The Reeler reported the news, but within just a few hours of the MMI announcement, Sony Classics requested a correction. "Jafar was NOT refused a VISA, he just has not received it yet," wrote a Sony exec who picked up the news from indieWIRE's blogs page. After a quick bit of research to find the apparently false posts, I referred a PR rep for the film to the individual bloggers...