BobbyD

Lindsay Lohan To Be Charged With Felony Tomorrow

33 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

TMZ has learned ... Lindsay Lohan will be charged with felony grand theft tomorrow.

Sources connected with the case tell us ... the single count of felony grand theft will be filed at Airport Court in L.A. Wednesday morning.

Lindsay will be arraigned at 1:30 PM. She must be present for the hearing.

Lindsay will be charged with stealing a $2,500 necklace from an L.A. jewelry store.

If convicted, she could be sent to California State prison.

L.A. district attorney holds off on charging Lohan

'Absolutely nothing will be filed today,' D.A.'s office tells E! News

By Josh Grossberg

E!online

Lindsay Lohan can breathe easy...for now.

E! News has confirmed the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will not be charging the troubled starlet today with felony theft for allegedly swiping a $2,500 necklace—which means mom Dina Lohan, can go back to fuming over "Glee" dissing her on its post-Super Bowl broadcast.

So where's the Lindsay case stand?

"Absolutely nothing will be filed today," D.A. spokeswoman Jane Robison tells E! News.

Right now, longtime Lohan nemesis Danette Meyers (who prosecuted the actress's DUI case) is still going over the evidence presented last week by the LAPD.

If Meyers agrees with police that a felony charge is warranted then a criminal complaint will be filed. But because Lohan would be considered a nonviolent offender, the D.A. would not dispatch police to take her into custody. Instead, Team Lohan would would either negotiate a surrender or prosecutors would just set an arraignment date for her to appear.

.Over the weekend, Lohan attorney Shawn Chapman Holley issued a statement saying, "We vehemently deny these allegations, and if charges are filed, we will fight them in court, not in the press."

Meanwhile, sources close to the Lohan family seem to be in denial about the seriousness of the alleged felony, which carries a maximum three-year state prison sentence.

"No one [in the family] really thinks she's going to get charged," said the family insider. "They believe she didn't steal the necklace. They think it's a non-case."

After all, mom Dina has more importaint things to fixate on, like getting dissed on "Glee" when on last night's episode Katie Couric branded Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester the "Loser of the Year," besting Dina for the honor.

That's criminally funny.

—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum and Katie Rhames

Dina Lohan fights back: 'Glee' writers 'need to be nice'

Show pokes fun at Lindsay's mom during post-Super Bowl episode

Dina Lohan is not pleased with "Glee" for first making fun of daughter Lindsay, and now her directly.By Natalie Finn and Katie Rhames

E!online

updated 39 minutes ago 2011-02-08T00:41:25

Super Bowl Sunday never seems to go well for the Lohan family.

A year after a perceived slight from the E-Trade baby, the much hyped post-Super Bowl episode of "Glee" included an actual dig at Dina Lohan. After a cheerleading stunt gone wrong, Katie Couric informs Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester that she beat out Lindsay Lohan's mom and her dog, "Sparky Lohan," to make the list of the world's biggest losers.

Well, she didn't just beat Dina. She also beat out Tiger Woods, the economy and 9 percent unemployment.

Considering this isn't the first time "Glee" has winked at the zeitgeist with a Lohan insult, did mama Dina's claws really come out this time?

"The show has targeted everyone from gays to lesbians, Asians, disabled and each other...several groups are going after the producers including mothers' groups," Dina exclusively tells E! News.

"It's a shame as the dance numbers are amazing, but the writers need to be nice and more creative as opposed to being hurtful. They are sending the wrong message to the youth that are watching. Oh, and I must get a 'fifth' dog named Sparky...as far as Katie Couric is concerned, she has a short memory when the tabloids were trashing her a few years ago—and she's a mom!"

Well, trashing someone for not pulling the CBS Evening News out of third place isn't exactly the same thing, but...OK.

Lindsay was, according to her mom, really upset after Gwyneth Paltrow, playing a substitute Spanish teacher on "Glee," taught her class phrases that meant "Lindsay Lohan is totally crazy, right?" and "How many times has Lindsay Lohan been to rehab?"

Last year, E-Trade's Super Bowl commercial featured a milkaholic baby named Lindsay, prompting the starlet (whose Cannes-to-court-to-Betty-Ford legal troubles were still ahead of her) to sue for $100 million, picking such a high figure presumably to make a point.

Lindsay Lohan Facing Three Years in State Prison Over Jewelry Theft

By Hollie McKay

Published February 05, 2011

|FoxNews.com

Lindsay Lohan hit headlines (again) last week when she was accused of stealing a $2500 necklace from a Venice boutique, which she claimed she simply borrowed and her stylist forgot to return, but the matter is turning into something much bigger than a mere miscommunication.

Lohan will be charged with felony grand theft as early as next week, according to TMZ, and faces a maximum three years in a state prison if convicted.

Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Steve Cron, told us she may very well be prosecuted over the incident - although it is hardly likely she would be sentenced to a full three years.

"There is a likelihood. It seems to me that she got caught stealing that necklace and it appears that somebody talked her into returning it a week later and had someone drop it off but it was too little too late. She had already stolen it, so I think she will get prosecuted," Cron surmised. "It's unlikely that she is going to get 3 years in state prison because although she's screwed up repeatedly on probation, but she certainly can get a lot more time in county jail. Judge Fox could give her 6 months for violating probation in Beverly Hills and another judge who hears the case on grand theft could decide to send her for more time in county jail or he could send her to state prison. It's more likely that she is going to go to an extended period in county jail. It wouldn't be 30 or 60 days, it's going to be a substantially longer sentence than that."

However, Lohan's camp is maintaining that she is absolutely innocent.

"We vehemently deny these allegations and, if charges are filed, we will fight them in court, not in the press," Lohan's attorney Shawn Chapman Holley told TMZ in a statement.

"This whole story is crazy. $2500 is tip money to Lindsay, if she wanted the necklace that badly she would have bought it," said our insider. "She's going to get to the bottom of this - it wasn't stolen."

Deidre Behar contributed to this report.

Damn.

Lindsay Could Skate Because of Jewelry Store Delay

2/3/2011 9:30 AM PST by TMZ Staff

The jewelry store at the center of the Lindsay Lohan necklace investigation may have compromised any prosecution by waiting more than a day before calling the cops ... sources tell TMZ.

The owner of Kamofie & Company claims Lindsay walked out with the $2,500 necklace on January 22, yet she did not inform the LAPD until the 23rd. Our sources say the jewelry store owner claims she tried contacting Lindsay's people on the 22nd to ask them to return the item, but couldn't reach anyone. Here's the snag ... the owner simply could have walked down the street and knocked at Lindsay's door.

Lindsay claims the store loaned her the necklace. Fact is ... jewelry store owners have thrown themselves at Lindsay, asking her to wear their stuff. The picture shows Lindsay on January 7, posing with another jewelry owner who gifted her an expensive necklace.

In order to charge Lindsay, the D.A. must prove she had a specific intention to permanently take the item as she walked out the door.

Lindsay Tipped Off to Search Warrant

52 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sources connected with the Lindsay Lohan necklace caper tell TMZ ... they believe Lindsay was tipped off after the judge signed the search warrant yesterday ... and she returned the jewelry before her house could be raided.

We've learned the warrant was signed by Judge Katherine Mader at 3:45 PM Tuesday. The LAPD was making plans to execute the warrant -- which authorized cops to search for the necklace at Lindsay's home in Venice, CA.

But somehow -- before the search was conducted -- Lindsay's stylist showed up at an LAPD substation and returned the $2,500 necklace.

Sources connected with the case tell us ... they believe someone told Lindsay the warrant was in play. Otherwise, they say, why would she have her stylist go to the LAPD to return the jewelry rather than the jewelry store?

Our sources believe Lindsay tried making a preemptive move, but we're told ultimately returning the jewelry won't be a factor in deciding whether to prosecute her.

J.Lo Is Furious That 'Idol' Is All About Steven Tyler

By Rob Shuter Posted Feb 1st 2011 05:40PM

Who predicted 'American Idol' would be in deep trouble without Simon Cowell at the helm? Me, you, everybody, that is until Steven Tyler stepped up to breathe new life into the decade-old series, thrilling just about everyone -- save for Miss Jennifer Lopez.

"This was meant to be Jennifer's big comeback," an insider complains to me. "The entire re-branding of the show was built around her, but now it's all about Steven 24/7."

While Jennifer's the one normally lavished with attention, I'm hearing she's getting annoyed with all the people asking her about the Aerosmith legend.

Snarked my source: "She's mystified at how this happened and has made it very clear to the producers that the cameras need to spend a little more time adoring Jennifer's favorite idol -- herself!"

And although it may be a little too soon for 'Idol' to be congratulating themselves on another season well done, the doom and gloom theories that this would be the show's last year on the air are all but silenced.

"The show has experienced year-to-year declines of about 10 percent for the last several seasons now, so everyone expected ratings to drop," a TV insider tells me. "The only question was how much they drop. And although the show did drop, it still produced huge numbers easily beating all its competition. Last week's episode was actually up from last Thursday's episode by nearly 18 percent, and was down only 9 percent from the equivalent episode last year."

At the end of the day, it's shaping up that Steven has saved this show. Word of mouth about him and the quality of singers is getting stronger and stronger ever week, and so far he's even managed to get us to forget the departure of Simon Cowell. Sorry, Jennifer, we still miss Paula.

Follow Rob on Twitter for Scoop All Day Long!

David Arquette Checks Out of Rehab

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 30th 2011 06:42PM

Nearly one month after entering himself into a rehab facility to treat problems with "alcohol and other issues," David Arquette has checked himself out.

Arquette completed his treatment on Sunday. "He has competed his treatment and has left," his rep tells PEOPLE. Another source told PEOPLE that Arquette is "in great spirits. He's feeling good and he's ready to move forward."

Arquette had checked into rehab at the beginning of January. The actor moved into a live-in rehab facility to address an alcohol problem following a New Year's Eve party at Arquette & Beacher's Madhouse Theater, located at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. According to its website, the venue features a "Flying Midget bartender" and had the "atmosphere of a circus."

A source close to Arquette told TMZ at the time that he was seeking help because it was "the right thing to do for his family." PEOPLE quoted another insider who confirms the star entered rehab for "drinking and depression, not hard drugs."

Courteney Cox came out in support of her estranged husband after his decision. "I really admire David and his choice to take charge and better his life," the actress told PEOPLE earlier this month. "I love and support him."

Arquette checked himself into an unidentified facility over the holiday weekend following months of erratic behavior that included several revealing conversations with friend and shock jock Howard Stern. Many of the revelations to Stern included intimate details of his love life -- or lack of a love life -- with Cox.

Charlie Sheen Checks In to Rehab

42 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

Charlie Sheen voluntarily checked himself in to an undisclosed rehab facility earlier today ... and his show "Two and a Half Men" has been placed on indefinite "hiatus" while he undergoes treatment.

"Two and a Half Men" producers released a statement saying, "Due to Charlie Sheen’s decision to enter a rehabilitation center, CBS, Warner Bros. Television and executive producer Chuck Lorre are placing “Two and a Half Men” on production hiatus."

The statement continues, "We are profoundly concerned for his health and well-being, and support his decision."

Sheen's publicist tells us, "He is most grateful to all who have expressed their concern."

As TMZ previously reported, Sheen had a briefcase of cocaine delivered to his mansion during a 36-hour bender earlier this week ... and was hospitalized early Thursday morning for a hiatal hernia.

Trashed. And who are the "girls"?

$cieno chaperones.....

 

Minions. :4biggrin:

Who aren't allowed to be photographed.

Just me, or does she look trashed?

Wouldn't you be, if you were married to the one who shall not be named? :4biggrin:

Kings of Leon Drummer Suggests Ryan Murphy Go ‘Buy a New Bra’ [update]

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/...commented-24h-5

1/26/11 at 12:30 PM

Consider it broughten! Yesterday, Glee creator Ryan Murphy said, "Fuck you, Kings of Leon" in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, slagging the band for not giving the show permission to use their songs. While singer Caleb Followill was quoted trying to ratchet down the tension with Murphy ("This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show"), drummer Nathan Followill is having none of this measured-response business. Nathan just tweeted, "Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go. See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say fuck." Anyone curious how to best lose the high ground, note that telling a grown man to "buy a bra" is a very effective way to go. UPDATE: Ryan Murphy has given a response to, ahem, Perez Hilton.

Murphy wrote:

"Just read Nathan Followill's Tweet…in which he implied I should ‘get a manicure and buy a bra.’ Wow. That's a homophobe badly in need of some education. I'm all for manicures, don't wear a bra. Would guess most gay dudes don't. But it's telling that Nathan can reduce a group of people to a mean-spirited cliché, in a time where young gay men are killing themselves all over the country because of hatred like this.

That said, I would love to sit down with Nathan or any member of Kings and Leon, and tell them how on Glee we actually love their music, and support their artistry…but cannot condone or even laugh at their clear disdain of gay people."

Followill then tweeted in response, "I'm sorry 4 anyone that misconstrued my comments as homophobic or misogynistic. I'm so not that kind of person. I really do apologize."

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Hot Business of 'Glee'

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hot-...ee-75593?page=3

3:10 PM 1/25/2011 by Shirley Halperin

(Page 3)

Credit for the show’s music choices belongs almost entirely to Glee’s resident music nerd: Murphy himself. He says his only formula for considering the three to five songs that might appear in an episode is that they “offer something for everybody.” Murphy tends to favor show tunes and standards because, he says, “a lot of that stuff isn’t taught or the young audience is not exposed to it.” He first noticed a reaction from the show’s predominantly teen audience when Michele sang the Broadway showstopper “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” “It hit the Top 5 of iTunes, and I could see the Funny Girl original soundtrack rise through the ranks,” Murphy recalls of the December 2009 Season 1 finale. “That was pretty amazing, to reinterpret something that I have great fondness for and give it a whole new audience.”

Artists are seeing a ripple effect, too. While synch rates are down — the price tag for a hit song is in the vicinity of $25,000 (a fee the songwriter splits with his or her music publisher) — exposure through Glee often results in a dramatic jump in catalog sales. After September’s Britney Spears episode, the pop star sold 35,000 incremental units among five songs, one of which, “Stronger,” saw a spike of 1,160 percent, according to David Bakula, senior vp analytics at Nielsen Entertainment, who recently submitted a 70-page report titled “The Power of Glee” to Sony Music for analysis. Spears’ 2004 greatest-hits album also saw increased sales of 413 percent. “The halo effect is pretty significant,” Bakula says. “It isn’t all about tracks. Our research found that it was more about the artist as a whole.”

Still, even with Glee’s undeniable popularity and selling power, certain artists demand a premium for their songs. “We went after Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself,’ and it was jaw-droppingly expensive,” Murphy says. “Around $200,000. We couldn’t do it because the episode would’ve been so over budget.” Then there are artists whose catalogs are off-limits. Glee’s best-known rejection: Kings of Leon, who rarely license their music. Murphy’s message to nonbelievers the Followill brothers? “F--- you, Kings of Leon,” he says, raising the volume of his monotonal interview voice ever so lightly. “They’re self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.”

Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill tells THR: “This whole Glee thing is a shock to us. It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t even seen the show. It came at the end of that record cycle, and we were over promoting [“Use Somebody”]. This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.”

Another rock star on Murphy’s black list? Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who recently revealed that he draws the licensing line at Glee. “Glee is worse than Grease, and Grease is bad enough,” he said in an interview. Murphy’s response: “Usually I find that people who make those comments, their careers are over; they’re uneducated and quite stupid.” Worth noting: GNR allowed a hokey Glee-like arrangement of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to be used in the 2008 Will Ferrell comedy Step Brothers.

Besides, Murphy adds, tons of top-notch talent are clamoring to get on Glee. The latest to approach him for guest spots: Stevie Nicks and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom he’s trying to write in, and Anne Hathaway was recently announced (she plays Kurt’s lesbian aunt). Even former Idol judge Simon Cowell requested a sit-down with Murphy. "I went to his house, and the meeting was simply: How did you come up with this, and why didn’t I think of it?"

In a way, Glee has out-Idol’d Idol. It gets its music to market faster, and those songs are burning up the charts. It’s the sort of forward momentum few Idol alums get, and as Idol struggles to regain its credibility, it could look to its former follower for direction. Murphy insists he never saw it as competition. "We couldn’t touch Idol’s numbers," he says. "People are unnecessarily harsh on that show. I bow down to it."

Perhaps in a nod to Idol’s impact, Murphy is organizing a charity effort called Glee Gives Back. “We just got approved for a million dollars over the next three months to fund arts-education organizations,” he says. “It’ll also include proceeds from DVD sales. It’s very important to me and to Fox that we establish scholarships in schools.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ryan’s got a sick brain: sick in a good way, sick in a bad way, just sick." — "Glee’s" Matthew Morrison

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even though one of the main criticisms of Glee is that its portrayal of high school is unrealistic, in looking back at Murphy’s experience in Indianapolis, where he was "out" during his teens, it plays like a signature script. Take Murphy’s first concert: Hall and Oates in 1981. “I put eyeliner on to go to the show, and my mother hit the roof,” he recalls. “My parents were very Midwestern Catholic, so to be doing a pop star new-romantic look? Altar boys don’t do that. But I said, ‘No, I’m not changing how I look,’ and I got in a lot of trouble.” Once he arrived at the venue, Murphy found a community of like-minded people and "had a ball" in one of the first times it felt normal to be different.

"I don’t think Glee reflects the real world all the time; it reflects the world I wish it would be," he says. "Within that utopia, I want every episode to end with the viewer uplifted." For Murphy, that means rewriting the Beverly Hills, 90210 rulebook. At Ohio’s McKinley High, the kid in the wheelchair (Artie, played by Kevin McHale) can dance, the girl with Down syndrome (Becky, played by Lauren Potter) is a cheerleader, and the outcasts are popular. Even the jocks, led by sweetheart quarterback Finn (Monteith), steer clear of stereotypes, prompting us to wonder, what was Murphy’s relationship like with the football players at his school? "I dated them," he says with a laugh. "I was popular because I was really confident. The jocks were my allies. And I had quiet little relationships with a couple of them."

The football fetish — which started with Episode 4 in which Colfer re-enacts Beyonce’s "Single Ladies" dance with the rest of the football team as a field-goal try — continues with the Super Bowl special. Initially, the idea was for Murphy to do a supersized episode, with Fox and NFL sponsor GM kicking in an additional $2 million. But though the sky was the limit and the network was clearly putting its faith and muscle behind his high school musical, Murphy resisted.

"We’ve taken a lot of criticism for doing tributes to Madonna, Britney Spears and Rocky Horror Picture Show … and everyone thought we were gonna try and out-top ourselves," he says. "But no matter how big you get, you’re not gonna please everybody, so the consensus was, let’s not do a big episode of Glee, let’s do a really good episode of Glee.

"We’re editing now, and it feels similar to the pilot: a lot of heart. It’s important in that it deals with the gay bullying theme, and it’s about music bringing disparate people together. It’s quite a beautiful little fable."

For all its warm and fuzzy intentions, Glee is not without its controversy. Murphy constantly pushes the envelope with racy scenes and she-didn’t-just-say-that zingers like the time cheerleader Santana (Naya Rivera) coos “You can drill me anytime” to a dentist played by John Stamos. “There is a line, and Ryan has upon occasion stepped over it,” Walden admits. “And when he does, he is told so by his viewers. But no risk, no reward. They don’t know where the line is unless they are pushing up against it. My kids are 7 and 10, and they aren’t allowed to watch every episode. This is a show about high school students, and the appropriate audience starts in high school, as far as I am concerned.”

Singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge is a fan of the show and says her 13-year-old daughter “lives and breathes Glee, Lord have mercy!” Yet Etheridge, a major advocate of gay rights, admits to finding some of the subject matter a bit risque: “The teenage sex and the pregnancy, these are at the forefront of a mother’s mind.” Still, Glee advocates like Rock of Ages executive producer Janet Billig, a music industry veteran and a mother of two, say that, at the very least, racy story lines “start a conversation. I let my 8-year-old watch Glee, and we’re able to talk about relationships, being dumped by friends and boys and Kurt being gay.”

It’s a responsibility Colfer, who’s often described as the heart and soul of Glee, appreciates; his Globes acceptance speech pretty much said it all. "I get hundreds of e-mails every day from kids all around the world,”"he says. "One 7-year-old wrote me that watching Kurt makes him feel like he’s not alone; others say: ‘This story line saved my life. … I felt worthless until Kurt stood up for himself.’ It means the world to them, and that makes my job so gratifying. It’s a great gig."

One of the show’s rare missteps was the steamy October cover of GQ featuring Michele and Dianna Agron half-dressed in schoolgirl outfits and suggestive positions. “We really didn’t get a chance to handle it; it was an after-the-fact thing,” Newman says. “If we had our choice, we would have liked to have avoided it; it wasn’t great for the brand.”

For his part, Murphy was blissfully oblivious at first. “I must be so liberal and out of touch because when I first saw that cover, I said to Gwyneth Paltrow, who was with me on set, ‘Oh, Lea looks so pretty,’ ” he recalls. But even Paltrow could see the storm clouds coming. “She said something like, ‘Get ready.’ It didn’t cross my mind there would be this big controversy. … But I never judge the actors because I know they all felt bad about it. And I think all parties involved learned a lesson about how parents look to the show as something inspirational and aspirational. We all realized that we have to be a little more careful when it comes to sexuality.”

What the hell is wrong with people? They said no when asked so why did this Murphy guy need to start shit over it now? People do stuff like this then wonder how come they get into the messes they do No usually means no.

 

ps not a fan of Kings of Leon and couldn't name a single song they do.

Totally, agree. I think Ryan Murphy pitched a big ass fit. I mean, c'mon dude...so ONE group doesn't want u to use their songs on your crappy show. You have so many other stars lining up to kill to be on your show or use their music. Yes, I think Glee is crappy...also couldn't tell you a song that KOL have sung either. I watched the Glee Pilot and was like, not bad...but don't see how I could sit through that mess weekly.

But most of my female & gay friends think it is delightful. :4biggrin:

Kings Of Leon Vs. 'Glee': Nathan Followill FIRES BACK At Ryan Murphy In Homophobic Rant

Posted: 01/26/11 01:59 PM

The 'Glee' vs. Kings of Leon rivalry just grew serious.

A number of months ago, the rock band declined to allow the FOX series 'Glee,' about a high school choir, to cover its songs in a future episode. 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy, in a feature in The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, hit out at the band.

Here's how Nathan Followill, the drummer of the band of brothers, replied via Twitter: "Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go. See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say fuck."

Murphy is openly gay, and the show deals with many issues faced by homosexual students in high school.

Realizing how his comments could be seen, Followill later tweeted: "I'm sorry 4 anyone that misconstrued my comments as homophobic or misogynistic. I'm so not that kind of person. I really do apologize."

Still, he hasn't taken down the original post.

Followill was enraged by this quote from Murphy:

"F--- you, Kings of Leon," Murphy said via the magazine. "They're self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It's like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music."

Do fans punish stars for bad behavior?

Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen may anger viewers, but 'The Beaver' and 'Two and a Half Men' unlikely to suffer

By Michael Ventre

TODAYshow.com contributor TODAYshow.com contributor

Mel Gibson has a movie coming out in March called “The Beaver.” It’s about an executive who can’t communicate, so he uses a beaver hand puppet to express himself.

The premise alone is enough to make you wonder how this film got made. But because of the notoriety Gibson has gained both with his drunken anti-Semitic rants and the more recent allegations of abusive behavior leveled by his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, attention instead will be focused on the fact that it represents Gibson’s “comeback” film.

Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen may anger viewers, but 'The Beaver' and 'Two and a Half Men' are unlikely to suffer. Americans have short memories, and a long history of entertainers with issues.

Gibson has come to represent not only a fallen star looking to resurrect his career, but also a coterie of individuals with similar rap sheets in the entertainment business. Charlie Sheen has been a negative publicity machine, generating headlines involving drug and alcohol abuse and charges of domestic abuse. Chris Brown had his infamous incident with girlfriend Rihanna, and recently caused a stir with rants he made on Twitter that involved homophobic slurs.

Should the public support these people? Or should fans avoid buying any entertainment products from individuals who have acted abominably outside their careers?

“Ultimately it depends on the audience member,” said Robert J. Thompson, a professor of communications and pop culture expert at Syracuse University. “From a rational standpoint, there have been a lot of people in the entertainment business who have had bad lifestyles but they were really good at what they did.

“If we made a rule that we would not consume products or things from people who did bad things, then there would be a lot of creative products we wouldn’t buy.”

Sheen is an interesting example. It may be that it's easier for fans to say they'll boycott entertainment produced by a bad-boy movie star than a television star because moviegoers must physically put down money to see a film. And he's never exactly had a squeaky clean off-screen persona.

"I think there are two reasons some viewers don't seem to have a problem with the headlines about Charlie," said Maureen Ryan, lead television critic for AOL Television. "The first is that he's always had a bad-boy image, so this wasn't exactly a new thing for him or his public persona. Also, his character is a playboy character — the reaction might be different if he were playing the wholesome father of small children on an ABC Family show. Truth be told, though, I don't really know why there hasn't been more of a public reaction about Sheen's behavior. I certainly do think that if this had been a female star engaged in these antics, the outcry would have been far more severe and condemning."

Larry Kehoe, a "Two and a Half Men" fan from Indiana, agrees. "(Sheen's) character on the show is more representative of his real-life persona than it is hypocritical of it," Kehoe said. "It's not like he's playing Father Flanagan on TV and then being Charlie Sheen in real life."

Kehoe also notes that a show's own likability can go far to make viewers forget about actors' off-screen antics, admitting "I tend to rationalize the more criminal aspects (of Sheen's behavior) away because I like the show."

Different celebrities and infractions, of course, receive different treatment by the public.

“There are so many variables,” noted Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com. “It isn’t just one size fits all. So much depends on the grievousness of the transgression and how sincere the attempt is at atonement. And frankly, the body of work. We give different latitude to people who do different creative things.”

Williams cited the examples of Michael Richards and Roman Polanski as two figures who hold vastly different places in the entertainment community.

Richards became a household name playing Kramer on “Seinfeld.” But he tainted that name with a racist rant at a comedy club in a misguided attempt at creating edgy comedy. “Nobody really cares if Michael Richards makes a comeback or not,” Williams said, pointing out that Richards’ star seemed to have already faded anyway before the incident.

Polanski is another situation entirely, she said. “He is one of my favorite directors,” Williams said. “But after the extradition (attempt) and the fact that he couldn’t be a man and admit what he did was wrong, I said I don’t want to support this person with my dollars anymore. And I love his work.”

She said she didn’t see the Polanski film released early in 2010, “The Ghost Writer,” and doesn’t plan to. “He’s living a perfectly luxurious life in exile,” she explained, “but I don’t want to give my $10 to support a sex criminal.”

Thom Geier, senior editor at Entertainment Weekly, said the celebrity who generates scandalous headlines is nothing new, and neither is the idea that audiences judge Hollywood’s miscreants on a case-by-case basis.

“I think if you look back historically, there are examples both ways,” he said. “There was Fatty Arbuckle, a silent film star (who was eventually cleared after an incident in which a woman died at a party), or Eddie Fisher (married to Debbie Reynolds, he had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950s), whose careers took real nose dives after real life acts that turned the public off.

“But there are also plenty who rebounded from personal peccadilloes and got back into the public graces. It’s hard to say that, short of something like O.J. Simpson did, what a celebrity would have to do that would completely turn people off.”

Tom Cruise is a recent example, said Geier, of a celebrity who seems to have withstood a spate of bad taste left in the mouths of fans. “A lot of people were turned off by Tom Cruise and his Scientology stuff, and the couch jumping on ‘Oprah,’” Geier said. “But he did a cameo in ‘Tropic Thunder’ that was hilarious, and people seemed to love him again.

“If you put out a good product, people will want to see it. If you make a good record, or movie, people tend to ignore the bad things you did.”

That is especially true, Thompson said, when you add time. In a culture dominated by the 24-hour news cycle, the public’s attention span is short, and generally speaking, so is the amount of time that people hold grudges against stars.

“With time, it begins to disappear,” he said. “There are probably some Mel Gibson movies people will watch 100 years from now. There might be trivia people, or film scholars, who will know about the scandals he was involved in during the 21st century. But those things tend to fade.

“The personal lives of these people recede into the arena of bibliographical scholars, whereas the things they leave continue to play in purity.”

Michael Ventre is a frequent contributor to TODAYshow.com.

Aaron Carter Enters Rehab for 'Addiction Problems'

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 24th 2011 05:10AM

Singer and former 'Dancing with the Stars' contestant Aaron Carter has entered a rehab center to get treated for "addiction problems."

E! Online quotes a source who said that Carter's move to the rehab center was not a based on a court-mandated order but his own choice to finally get help.

"He was struggling recently and needed this," the source said.

Carter's manager, Johnny Wright, said that the singer, 23, came to him a few months ago wanting to return to music and restart his career. Carter has been in Orlando, Fla., working on a new album and "perfecting his live show and his physical body."

Wright said, "Aaron, understanding the challenges and hard work it would take to get himself back to the top, requested to take some time before we started to heal some emotional and spiritual issues he was dealing with."

He continues, "Therefore he has chosen to enter a facility where he feels he will get the guidance and cleansing he needs that will help him on the music journey he's about to take. He asks that everyone keep him in their prayers and that they respect his privacy at this time."

While it is not known what the singer is being treated for, The Daily Mail reports that Carter has been linked to substance abuse issues in the past, and even appeared on 'Celebrity Rehab' back in 2008.

Carter was arrested for marijuana possession that year.

It has also been reported that older brother and Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter has been very supportive of Carter's move to the rehab facility and has visited him in the facility in between rehearsals for the NKOTBSB tour.

Producers Guild Awards Host Judd Apatow Rips Into Ricky Gervais

by Alex Ben Block

Apatow joins in the criticism of Gervais' controversial Golden Globes jokes.

Producers Guild Awards host Judd Apatow built his opening monologue around a profanity-laced attack on the way Ricky Gervais handled his Golden Globe Awards hosting chores a week earlier in the same room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“What did you think of Ricky Gervais?” he asked the black-tie industry crowd Saturday night. “I didn’t like him. I thought he was mean.”

Apatow, whose movies include The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, knocked Gervais for his controversial jokes.

“He had that joke about the guy on Lost,” said Apatow. “He said he ate everybody else. Let’s be honest -- Ricky Gervais just lost weight. Even now he’s four pounds away from not being allowed to do a joke like that. Did he lose weight just to make fat jokes? You think that’s how mean he is?"

Apatow had no problem with a Gervais joke about Charlie Sheen.

But Apatow added, “(Jay) Leno did it the week before."

“I think he’s an OK target," Apatow said of Sheen. "The people at CBS have said as long as he shows up on time, knows his lines, he can do whatever he wants.”

However, Apatow took exception to Gervais making a joke about The Tourist.

“(Gervais) says the characters were two-dimensional,” said Apatow. “Then he says he hasn’t seen The Tourist. So as a comedian, that’s not fair, is it? To make jokes about a movie you haven’t seen.

"I can’t do a joke about (Gervais’s movie) The Invention of Lying because I haven’t seen it. You haven’t seen it. None of us have seen it. So the joke would not work.”

Apatow also came to the defense of Cher, Hugh Hefner, Tim Allen, Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr. - others who were Gervais targets.

"(Gervais) made a joke about Tim Allen who was standing next to Tom Hanks," said Apatow. "Who looks good standing next to Tom Hanks? We all look like a piece of shit standing next to Tom Hanks. Warren Buffet would look like a piece of shit next to Tom Hanks.

"Tim Allen did 200 episodes of Home Improvement. He was in three of the highest grossing movies of all time. And his latest just crossed the one billion mark. Whereas The Invention Of Lying made $18 million dollars worldwide...Leave Tim Allen alone.”

Kim Kardashian blasts 'Teen Mom'

Reality star thinks MTV show is glorifying teen pregnancy

MTV's "Teen Mom" may be a big hit, but Kim Kardashian's no fan.By Natalie Finn and Katie Rhames

E!online

updated 1/19/2011

Kim Kardashian doesn't think teen pregnancy should become a trend. Seems like a pretty noncontroversial stance, right?

After seeing a "sad and disturbing" report on Today about a high school in Memphis, Tenn., that counted 90 students who were pregnant or had given birth in the past year, the E! star took to her blog and Twitter Wednesday to tell her fans that getting pregnant at a young age is not something to aspire to.

Kim Kardashian blasts 'Teen Mom'

"It seems that shows like 'Teen Mom' are all of a sudden making teen pregnancy seem cool in the eyes of young girls," she wrote on Celebuzz. "The kids from these shows are all over the news, even on the covers of magazines, and have been become almost like celebrities, but girls, these are not people you should idolize!"

So, what do "Teen Mom's" Amber Portwood and "Teen Mom 2's" Jenelle Evans have to say about that?

"There's actually a study that shows since the original '16 and Pregnant' aired, the number of teen pregnancies have gone down," Portwood exclusively tells E! News.

"Last time I checked, Kim Kardashian had a sex tape floating around on the Internet and I'm pretty sure she made a lot of money off of it," says the mother of 2-year-old Leah. "She made a sex tape when she was younger and she wants to bash the girls on 'Teen Mom'? If you read the articles about the show, they do nothing but talk about how the show reveals how hard it is for all of us. It doesn't glamorize anything! It shows the heartache we've all gone through. :4biggrin:

"We may be 'celebrities' because our face is out there, but it's only because we've done some bad things. That's not glamorous."

Well, the paycheck is a little glamorous...

"When I think back to when I was 16, there is no way I would even have considered having a baby," Kim continued in her blog. "That thought wouldn't even have entered my head. Having a baby is one one of the biggest, and most life-changing decisions a person can make and while I'm not saying that no teen is in the position to raise a child, having a baby so young shouldn't be seen as the trendy thing to do."

Jenelle, whose temper tantrums have taken center stage on "Teen Mom 2" and whose legal problems are already providing supplementary off-camera drama, wasn't quite as eloquent as Amber was. But it doesn't sound like she's interested in Kim's thoughts on the subject, either.

"I want to say, s--- happens," Jenelle says.

Sheen's ex still 'learning how to deal' with his antics

Denise Richards just tries to keep his wild ways from their daughters

Us Weekly

updated 2 hours 1 minutes ago 2011-01-19T23:34:05

Just days after CBS expressed a "high level of concern" regarding Charlie Sheen's recent bender in Las Vegas, Denise Richards says she's had enough of his wild ways.

"I think a lot of people are concerned about Charlie and my concern is obviously…what becomes difficult is things become so public," Richards told Access Hollywood on Wednesday. "I try my best to keep that quiet from our daughters because, you know, this is something I've never dealt with in my life until this situation."

Sure, it's great to celebrate yet another year on the air, but recognizing missteps is important to ensuring that the bad history doesn't repeat itself.

According to Richards, it hasn't been easy shielding Lola, 5, and Sam, 6, from their father's frequent binges.

"I'm learning how to deal with it," she explained. "Just keeping a lid on it for our kids has been my main priority. It does become difficult."

Though she maintains a good relationship with her ex, Richards admit she doesn't understand Sheen's behavior — particularly his highly-publicized NYC hotel debacle with porn star Capri Anderson.

"The last two years, Charlie and I have been in such a much better place and it makes it so much easier for our daughters," she said. "When we went to New York, that was our intention — to have a nice time with the girls. I thought it was great that we could all travel together and go out to dinner and do things even though we're not together anymore."

"The events that took place after that, you know, it was...difficult."

Copyright 2011 Us Weekly

Exclusive: "Wasted" Christina Aguilera Passes Out in Jeremy Renner's Bed

USweekly

Wednesday – January 19, 2011 – 8:48am

Finding Christina Aguilera between his sheets was hardly a dream come true for Jeremy Renner. Popping up uninvited at Renner's 40th birthday bash on January 8, the singer, 30, got "wasted" then lay down in the star's bed, a source tells the new Us Weekly, out Wednesday.

A week later, Renner went on a rant about the incident at In Style's Golden Globe party after seeing Aguilera at the fete.

"Someone comes and tells me she's in my room," he told pals at the Jan. 16 affair. "I run up and open the door and I'm like, 'Um, hi. What are you doing?' She just starts slurring. Her boyfriend [Matthew Rutler] was rubbing her back. Who comes to someone's birthday party that they don't know and gets in their bed?! My parents were there!"

Adds another source, "Christina was a mess at that party. She acted like a fool. Her boyfriend was shushing her and telling her to go to sleep."

(Renner's rep says that Aguilera "was enjoying herself, but she wasn't in his bed.")

"It's going to be a night of heavy drinking, or as Charlie Sheen calls it, breakfast!" - Ricky Gervais

That quote had me crying...so I think he had some other zingers (the Scientology one was sweeet)...but he definitely needed to tone it down.

Lamar Odom: I Was Surprised By Khloe Kardashian's Intelligence

Tuesday – January 18, 2011 – 7:30pm

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian are madly in love -- but when the L.A. Laker first met the reality star in 2009, he admits he had some doubts about her IQ.

"I was kind of surprised at how intelligent she was," Odom, 31, tells Playboy's February issue. "You don't know what to expect. Next thing I know I'm spending every day with her. We just hit it off."

The couple famously tied the knot in September 2009 after 32 days of courtship -- and the Queens, New York native says he's been a changed man ever since. Once afraid to commit to just one woman, the Khloe and Lamar star says he's happy to take on the responsibility that comes with being a married man.

"With her I was like, 'If I do what I normally do, I'm going to lose her,'" Odom reasons. "'And if I lose her, I think it's going to hurt a lot.' Right then and there I knew. We were together every day."

Of course, spending time with Kardashian, 26, also meant hanging out with her famous family.

"They're a really strong family and fun to be around. I'm perfect for that. I come from a big family," Odom says. "I've always been on a team. I understand. The circus is what makes it tick and keeps it going."

Though they're happy to share their lives with millions of E! viewers, Odom insists there's one thing that's off-limits on their new reality show: alone time in the bedroom!

"When people see us in person, they see Khloe's not small. I'm not small. People see us and are probably like, 'Damn, I wonder how that looks,'" he says, adding that he wouldn't be embarrassed if a sex tape were to leak online. "We wouldn't have anything to be ashamed about, but no, that's not going down."

I would like someone to explain to me why "Hollywood" who is usually telling us in the midwest to not be homophobic (spelling), everyone is equal, practice tolerance, etc etc. But after reading all of this I am being to realize that it is all of Hollywood that is still in the dark ages. Double standard? Is anyone else looking at it the same way or am I in my own little world? Which is usually a good thing. :4biggrin:

Hollywood is telling the midwest not to be homophobic, so that all of Hollywood's "straight" leading men can come out. :4biggrin:

That is a good point about NPH coming out to the general public AFTER he got the role, but wasn't hollywood in on it? The casting directors, other actors, etc. knew already - right??

 

And I find TR almost annoying.... I think he got fired/left more because he was buddy-buddy with Katherine Heigl and they were just a couple of punks on the set to everyone else (although Isaiah Washington did pick the WORST thing to bitch back about, lol)

No doubt, P. Peeps in the business probably did know about Doogie being gay (like Rock Hudson, Liberace, etc). But he wasn't publicly "out" then...I'm sure he didn't tell the show's producers and casting directors that he planned to come out during the show's run, either. Hollywood knowing, and Joe Bob in Asshat, Mississippi, knowing...are a big difference.

However, it was definitely easier to cast him back then when it was a secret to the movie going public outside of Hollywood. I mean, we can see how many leading man roles he as gotten since is coming out, despite being talented...uhh...mmm...none. So at least we all can agree that NPH should be in high demand for leading man roles now, but he clearly isn't.

I do want to know why he isn't hosting the Oscar's. I should ask a friend and see if he officially turned it down...or maybe ABC might've had some problems with an openly gay host.