A sex tape was made available for sale online Friday, allegedly featuring "Gossip Girl" fan favorite Leighton Meester
‘Gossip Girl’ star has not confirmed authenticity of video
By Matthew B. Zeidman
NEW YORK (Hollywood Today) 6/19/09 – Leighton Meester, the brunette co-star of “Gossip Girl” and arguably the heart of the popular CW franchise, has been blindsided by the online dissemination of a sex tape allegedly featuring the transplanted New Yorker and her ex-boyfriend.
The video in question was released Friday by Celeb-hotline.com, a Web site specializing in the sale of nude and other controversial clips featuring high-profile celebrities, such as Paris Hilton, Angelina Jolie and Lindsay Lohan.
While the site merely suggests that a sex tape featuring a woman resembling singer Britney Spears may be real, telling subscribers to “decide for yourself,” it insists the material purportedly featuring the 23-year-old “Gossip Girl” actress is “100% the REAL Leighton Meester.”
Los Angeles broadcaster KTLA has estimated the video, if authentic, was filmed 5 years ago. Neither Meester nor her reps have spoken publicly regarding the film, though the site’s owners’ would be leaving themselves open to a costly libel lawsuit if it were proven Meester was not the subject of the tape, making it less likely to be a phony.
It was not immediately clear who owned the site, which was registered through an online proxy service, or who solicited the video. Celebrity tabloid Web site TMZ quoted company spokesman Kevin Blatt early Friday as saying Celeb-hotline.com was eager to complete the then-pending sale.
Blatt, who has billed himself online as a publicist and “celebrity sex tape broker,” has previously brokered the sale of sex tapes featuring Hilton and “Austin Powers” co-star Verne Troyer. He and TMZ were among those sued by Troyer last year, who alleged his tape was stolen (TMZ posted clips of the video online). After Troyer’s ex-girlfriend admitted she had been the one who leaked the sex tape online, both sides reached a settlement limiting further promotion without Troyer’s permission.
Meester is best known for her “Gossip Girl” portrayal of cunning queen bee Blair Waldorf, a high school senior at a posh prep school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Earlier in the decade, she also appeared on a number of other television dramas, including “24,” “House” and “Veronica Mars.”
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Tuesday that David Letterman's apology was a victory for free speech and exploited young women, but this writer believes it is in fact an affront to the U.S. Constitution
Comedian’s apology to former VP candidate sets terrible precedent
By Matthew B. Zeidman
NEW YORK (Hollywood Today) 6/17/09 – When the much-hyped feud between late-night host David Letterman and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin began last week, it appeared to simply highlight how the Alaskan governor couldn’t grasp the concept of satire or understand that political celebrities needed to take comedians’ barbs and move on. It struck a great blow to free speech this week, however, when Letterman caved to public pressure and Palin’s unrelenting accusations that he was making light of pedophilia and retracted his quip on the air.
Letterman’s controversial Top Ten list, which jokingly suggested that Palin’s daughter was “knocked up” by checkered Yankees luminary Alex Rodriguez during a trip to Yankee Stadium, was obviously aimed at 18-year-old Bristol Palin, who gave birth to her boyfriend’s child earlier this year, and not 14-year-old Willow Palin.
Letterman did the right thing by quickly acknowledging that he did not realize the younger Willow was actually with Palin at the ballpark and not Bristol, and things should have ended there. However, they did not.
Palin, who had often complained about being bullied and misrepresented by the media, saw an opportunity to turn the screws on a public critic and went for the jugular. Instead of taking one on the chin and moving on, she decided to wage an all-out war on Letterman, continuing to insist that his comments were aimed at her now-humiliated underage daughter and that it was a tasteless joke about statutory rape and sexual exploitation.
Whether Letterman felt pressure from network big wigs who may have feared a loss of advertising revenue or was simply worn down by Palin’s PR war, the popular funnyman issued a serious apology during his broadcast Monday night, saying that he regretted the joke and was the one at fault for not realizing viewers would interpret it to be about Willow Palin.
Palin publicly accepted Letterman’s mea culpa the following day and, proving what damage the apology had done to the public’s long-established right to poke fun at public figures and their families with impunity, called it a victory for free speech, thanking members of the armed forces for fighting to protect free speech overseas and expressing her hope that “that right [would] be used to promote equality and respect.” In other words, the thin-skinned Palin believed free speech was only sensitive, politically correct speech and that forcing a public critic into retracting a satirical comment worked to preserve that free speech.
Yes, Palin and her supporters had the right to express their discontent with Letterman’s joke, just as he had the right to make the joke in the first place. However, a politician applying intense public pressure to a satirist until he retracts a negative statement is in no way a hard-won blow against the enemies of free speech. On the contrary, it is the antithesis of free speech.
Indeed, Palin is at fault for trying to advance her personal and political agendas on the back of the U.S. Constitution, but Letterman is not a blameless victim. After his initial clarification, he should have dropped the subject and let the issue blow over in the coming weeks. Instead, he took the easy way out and set the stage for subsequent tests of the First Amendment.
The next time there is a public disagreement between a critic and a public figure, be it a politician, actor, athlete or other celebrity, all that public figure need do is accuse the critic of a terrible insensitivity to pedophilia, racism, sexism or some other hot-button societal woe. One can only hope that when that happens, the critic will have enough fortitude to draw a line in the sand and say “no further.”
American college student Amanda Knox, seen here with Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito before their arrest on murder charges in 2007, will testify on her own behalf in Perugia, Italy on Friday
American student to take stand during murder trial
By Matthew B. Zeidman
PERUGIA, Italy (Hollywood Today) 6/11/09 – After more than a year and a half confined to an Italian jail after being accused of murdering her British housemate, American university student Amanda Knox will take the stand in her own defense.
Knox is scheduled to begin testimony on Friday, five months after the start of her trial. One of her Italian defense attorneys, Carlo Dalla Vedova, has told the media his 21-year-old client wants to tell her side of the story and is fully prepared to do so.
The University of Washington student, who was participating in a one-year study-abroad program, and 25-year-old local boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been accused by prosecutors of brutally murdering English citizen Meredith Kercher, 21, as part of a satanic sex ritual.
During Knox’s lengthy incarceration, her family and legal team have accused Italian officials of attempting to frame the young collegian in order to cover up their own mistakes early in the investigation.
Among the allegations leveled at police and prosecutors by the defense include interrogating Knox over a period of several hours without legal counsel. Knox’s reps claim that police abused her physically and verbally, coercing her into admitting she was present at the scene and that her boss from a local bar committed the murder. The man she accused was quickly exonerated.
DNA evidence linking Knox to the scene was also brought into question after police video proved the forensics team collected the evidence weeks after their initial sweep of the crime scene, raising the possibility that investigators may have accidentally transferred Knox’s DNA from elsewhere in the home.
The defense has also complained to the media that lead prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, who is currently under investigation for professional misconduct and abuse of power, has a history of trying to prove satanic involvement in unsolved murder cases.
In the past, Mignini has claimed an unidentified serial killer from a string of murders he investigated ranging back to the 1960s must have been part of a satanic cult. He also allegedly held an American author recently investigating those killings for three hours without cause and accused him and his Italian colleague of being part of a satanic conspiracy.
The author, Douglas Preston, quickly left Italy, but his Italian colleague, Mario Spezi, was arrested on charges of slander and defamation against Mignini and obstructing a police investigation. Preston claimed that during questioning Mignini told him an English interpreter was unavailable and discouraged him from summoning a lawyer.
Despite the defense’s claims, Knox has faced difficulty during trial due to intense tabloid and prosecutorial focus on her aloof public behavior during the investigation and trial and allegedly rampant sexuality. The press quickly dubbed her “Foxy Knoxy” after her MySpace username.
Knox’s family and friends have disputed her public image as an unrepentant, sex-crazed killer, saying that her MySpace content was not meant in seriousness and that her public behavior has been taken out of context.
Rudy Hermann Guede, a 22-year-old local man originally from the Ivory Coast, has already been convicted of participating in the murder of Kercher, who was found in her home with her throat cut and windpipe crushed. Prosecutors used DNA evidence to prove their case against Guede. He is in the process of appealing his 30-year prison sentence.
N. Korea puts U.S. relations in greater jeopardy by putting American writers in hard prison camps
By Jeffrey Jolson and wire reports
Laura Ling to split rocks for 12 years for N. Korean story about people splitting that country
TOKYO (Hollywood Today) 6/8/09 - There is is little President Obama can do to rescue the two American female reporters in North Korea that might not set off a nuclear attack on S. Korea or Tokyo.
The women worked for Al Gore’s news agency have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
The N. Korean’s high court said they committed “hostile acts”, in a move certain to raise tensions with the US. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were each sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labour” for illegally entering the country and committing a “grave crime”, said the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The California-based broadcasters were arrested in March while filming a report about North Koreans attempting to cross the narrow Tumen river into China. Kim Jong Il’s North Korea, considered a renegade nation by many, has shown it has the nuclear ability and missile capacity to reach South Korea if not Japan. While its limited missile capacity might not reach California, Tokyo or Seoul would be a catastrophe.
N. Korea said the pair had entered the country after crossing the river, along its north-east border with China. Other reports said the women had been arrested on the Chinese side by North Korean guards who objected to being filmed. Their cameraman and guide managed to evade capture.
The women are unable to appeal because they were convicted by North Korea’s highest court.
Their trial has been surrounded by absolute secrecy since it began last Thursday. No members of the public or foreign observers were allowed inside the court, and the women have been allowed just one visitor - the Read the rest of this Hollywood Today story »
David Carradine was best known for his role in 1970s TV series 'Kung Fu,' in which he played a Shaolin monk
72-year-old celebrity allegedly found hanged
By Matthew B. Zeidman
BANGKOK, Thailand (Hollywood Today) 6/4/09 – Acting veteran David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel Thursday, allegedly by his own hand. Investigating police officer Teerapop Luanseng told the Associated Press that the 72-year-old former star of “Kung Fu” apparently hanged himself late Wednesday or early Thursday and that foul play was not suspected.
The “Kill Bill” actor was in the country filming an undisclosed project. According to the Associated Press, an autopsy would be conducted Friday.
Carradine most recently appeared in action sequel “Crank: High Voltage” earlier this year and did voiceover work in 2008 for “Death Race,” the remake of the 1975 film in which he co-starred, “Death Race 2000.” He was part of an acting legacy, which included father John Carradine, half-brother Robert Carradine and niece Martha Plimpton.
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today/LBN) 6/3/09 - California voters may have struck down the same-sex marriage proposal, yet New Hampshire’s governor, John Lynch, has signed legislation that makes the state the sixth to allow same-sex marriage. The law will take effect in January. New Hampshire joins Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and Iowa in recognizing same-sex marriages. We all at Hollywood Today are mostly for same-sex marriages, just cause it will be a hoot when they start learning about same-sex divorces. And you thought opposite-sex divorces could get spiteful …
Britney Spears was unexpectedly joined onstage by an allegedly tipsy fan Saturday in Uncasville, Conn.
Police tell gossip site 20-year-old was drinking
By Matthew B. Zeidman
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (Hollywood Today) 5/4/09 – Britney Spears ended the American leg of her “Circus” concert tour Sunday, but the performance wasn’t nearly as memorable as the night before. During the first of two appearances at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night, an allegedly drunk fan rushed the stage and was mere feet from the singer when a backup dancer took action, ushering him away.
Celebrity tabloid TMZ posted amateur video of the event, which showed 20-year-old Kyle King running up the stairs and dancing within arm’s length of the singer as she sang recent hit “Womanizer” while clad in a modified policewoman’s uniform. After the dancer escorted the young interloper away from Spears, other performers pulled him off camera.
Connecticut State Police, who placed King under arrest, told the Web site he had been drinking. They charged him with breaching the peace for his original actions and interfering with police for refusing to cooperate with officers while in custody.
Spears, 27, didn’t noticeably react to King’s presence and the show continued with minimal deviation from the routine from the backup dancers who handed him over to security.
The “Circus” tour, officially titled “The Circus Starring: Britney Spears,” began on March 3 in the celebrity’s home state of Louisiana in New Orleans. The last North American performance will be on Tuesday at Montreal’s Bell Centre, before the tour restarts in Europe on June 3.
Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich will not be appearing on NBC's 'I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!' after a federal judge refused to allow the politician to travel internationally while under indictment
Judge refuses former governor trip to Costa Rica
By Matthew B. Zeidman
CHICAGO (Hollywood Today) 4/22/09 – He was poised to be the next big star of train-wreck reality TV, but it was not to be for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the politician, who is currently facing corruption charges, from leaving the country to participate in NBC’s “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!”
“I do not have confidence that things will not go astray if I modify bond conditions,” Judge James Zagel stated during Tuesday’s hearing.
Blagojevich had planned to join supermodel Janice Dickinson, “The Hills” couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt and “American Idol” castoff Sanjaya Malakar, among others, fighting for survival in the jungles of Costa Rica. He claimed the appearance fee paid to participants would help pay for his legal defense.
Blagojevich was arrested on Dec. 9, 2008 and subsequently released on bond. The corruption charges are related to his alleged attempt to sell President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat in exchange for money or political favors.
Despite fellow Democrats’ call for his resignation and their demands he not seat a replacement senator, Blagojevich named former Illinois attorney general Roland Burris the state’s new U.S. senator later in the month. He was impeached and removed from office by the Illinois legislature by an almost unanimous vote in January.
Since the scandal broke, Blagojevich has been media savvy, appearing on “Larry King Live,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Today Show” and “The View.”
The new season of “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” will be its first after a 6-year hiatus. It originally aired on ABC and featured, among others, model Tyson Beckford, former MTV VJ Downtown Julie Brown and former Howard Stern associate “Stuttering” John Melendez. The winner was Cris Judd, former husband of entertainer Jennifer Lopez.
A 26-year-old woman allegedly sneaked onto Britney Spears' Los Angeles property Thursday morning armed with a camera and camouflage gear
Woman in camouflage cited for trespassing
By Matthew B. Zeidman
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Today) 4/17/09 – Britney Spears was back in Los Angles Thursday night to perform her first of two shows at the Staples Center, but the entertainer’s Hollywood mansion was where the action was. An alleged prowler was arrested and cited for trespassing after sneaking onto Spears’ property earlier in the day.
According to the Associated Press, the 26-year-old suspect, Miranda Tozier-Robbins, was found by the “Break the Ice” singer’s security team wearing camouflage, carrying a camera and peering through the home’s windows. Police took Tozier-Robbins into custody and, in addition to trespassing, charged her with disorderly conduct.
It was unclear what Tozier-Robbins’ motive was for purportedly stealing onto the Spears compound, though the Louisiana native’s high profile and recent personal turmoil have made her a favorite target of obsessed fans and cutthroat paparazzi alike.
Spears, in the midst of her “Circus” tour, is again set to perform at the Staples Center on Friday, before she heads to Anaheim, Calif. on Sunday and Monday and Oakland, Calif. the following Wednesday. After that, she has eight more North American shows before an eight-night stint at London’s O2 arena in June and a final appearance in Manchester, England.
Unlike the romanticized image of 18th-century swashbucklers put forth by Hollywood (see above), modern-day Somalis often turn to piracy as one of few ways to earn a living in their anarchic nation
Obama vows to stop rise of piracy off African coast
By Matthew B. Zeidman
WASHINGTON (Hollywood Today) 4/13/09 – Sunday’s rescue of American freighter captain Richard Phillips from his pirate captors was a seamless success for the U.S. Navy, but the deaths of three out of four of the would-be hijackers have spurred harsh words from fellow pirates in Somalia.
“From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill [the hostages],” said 30-year-old Somali pirate Jamac Habeb in an interview with the Associated Press. “[U.S. forces have] become our number one enemy.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to stem the growth of piracy off the lawless Somali coastline, which includes the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
“We remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region,” Obama said in a statement Sunday. “To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes.”
The sole remaining pirate is currently in U.S. custody and will likely be arraigned in an American court, which is permitted by international law, since the attacked ship was operating under a U.S. flag. Because hostage-taking was involved, the pirate in question could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty.
Phillips was rescued Sunday after five days on a stolen lifeboat, which was taken after the rest of the crew of the Maersk Alabama overpowered the pirate attackers and flummoxed the planned hijacking. The pirates originally asked for $2 million in exchange for Phillips’ release. Other pirate vessels had attempted to intercept the lifeboat, but were turned away by U.S. warships.
Military officials had standing orders to open fire on the pirates if they thought Phillips’ life was in danger. When one of the pirates pressed an automatic weapon to his back, Navy SEAL snipers on the U.S.S. Bainbridge opened fire, killing three of the hostiles. Phillips had previously tried to escape by swimming to safety, but swam back to the lifeboat after one of the pirates allegedly fired warning shots.
Somalia and its northeast African coastline have been a hotbed of piracy in recent years, following the collapse of the country’s military-run government in 1991. Area pirates commonly hijack commercial vessels and hold their crews for multi-million-dollar ransoms. The current transitional government has no law-enforcement infrastructure capable of restoring nationwide order.
Blake Lively's Disneyland blacklisting didn't stop her from getting chummy with Disney wunderkind Miley Cyrus at the 2008 'Teen Choice Awards'
Blake Lively discusses childhood run-in with park security
By Matthew B. Zeidman
NEW YORK (Hollywood Today) 3/25/09 – A recurring theme on The CW’s “Gossip Girl” is wild child Serena van der Woodsen’s checkered past, so it was somewhat less than ironic when actress Blake Lively, who portrays the teen socialite, admitted to a youthful indiscretion of her own on Tuesday’s “Late Show with David Letterman.”
“I was banned from Disneyland for a year, because I went to Disney prison,” the 21-year-old told the recently married host, whom she jokingly offered to whisk away to a remote polygamist compound with “Pretty Woman” star Julia Roberts. “I was really young. I was not responsible for this. It was my brother’s fault.”
Lively claimed that when she was 6 years old, her brother, who was 12 at the time, attempted to sneak the pair into the park by transferring another patron’s hand stamp onto their own hands with a can of hairspray.
According to the bubbly thespian, park security intercepted them at the gate and took them to the park’s holding area for interrogation. With no confession from either of the then-underage siblings, Disneyland agents released them with a warning and a year-long ban.
Lindsay Lohan (center), shown here with 'Mean Girls' co-stars Amanda Seyfried (far left) and Lacey Chabert, avoided arrest Monday thanks to her legal rep
Warrant rescinded by Beverly Hills judge
By Matthew B. Zeidman
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Hollywood Today) 3/17/09 – As promised, Lindsay Lohan’s lawyer got her out of a sticky legal situation Monday by convincing a Beverly Hills judge to rescind an arrest warrant issued against her client on Friday.
Apparently, the court believed the actress had stopped going to a court-ordered alcohol education program after receiving notification from one of the program’s officials, but attorney Shawn Chapman Holley explained that Lohan had merely switched groups and was not in violation of her probation.
Lohan had been attending the program as part of her probation stemming from a 2007 DUI conviction. Under the original agreement, she was to attend 18 months of sessions.
The entertainer is best known for her films, such as “Mean Girls” and “Georgia Rule,” and is scheduled to release her next movie, “Labor Pains,” later this year. She made headlines in 2008 by publicly revealing her romantic relationship with British DJ Samantha Ronson and for unsuccessfully offering to campaign for President Barack Obama.
