Why does Mickey Rourke look like an extra in a production of ‘Cats?’

The heat is on as actors Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke duel over who will take the Best Actor Oscar at the 2009 Academy Awards.

The longtime pals friends could come crashing down around them now that both somewhat eccentric stars are receiving critical acclaim-and Oscar buzz-for their hit 2008 films, Milk (Penn) and The Wrestler (Rourke).

And Mickey isn’t going down without a fight.

On Monday, The Daily Beast released a text message a L.A. entertainment insider had allegedly received from Mickey regarding his Oscar rival, and let’s just say Sean’s stellar portrayal of gay activist turned slain councilman Harvey Milk wasn’t enough to impress old Mick.

In fact, not only did Rourke call Penn a lousy actor in the short message, but he also branded him a homophobe.

“Look seans an old friend of mine and i didnt buy his performance at all—thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides hes one of the most homophobic people i kno [sic],” the message read.

(For a homophobe, he sured looked comfortable swapping spit with James Franco.)

Mickey’s publicist denies the report, maintaining that “there is no Oscar feud between Mickey and Sean. They have known each other and been friends for a very long time. Mickey attended the New York premiere of Milk to support Sean and only has the greatest respect for him.” She adds that Rourke is ”completely unaware of the text.”em>