February 2012 Archives

Did Rick Ross murder someone?

It doesn't seem so, but 39-year-old Gregory Paul Nesbitt was found shot dead outside the rapper's Miami home early Wednesday morning. His body was located just inside the gate on the front lawn, and his car was nearby.

Ross lives elsewhere, using the home as a combo guest house and recording studio. Investigators say he wasn't present at the time of the shooting.

Still, they want to speak to him, according to the Miami New Times. He's not a suspect, but he could have information on who should be considered one.

Sean Young arrested. Why is this not surprising?

The Ace Ventura: Pet Detective actress has had a messy past. She was kicked out of an Oscars party in 2008, and battled alcoholism on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew. She even wore a homemade Catwoman costume back in the 1980's.

Now, she's making headlines for allegedly slapping a security guard at the Governor's Ball. Los Angeles police have confirmed she was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery.

A North Carolina appeals court has ordered Jayceon Taylor, better known as The Game, to pay $5 million to 5 Greensboro police officers who accused the rapper of defamation. The Game lawsuit, originally filed in 2010, involves footage that appeared in a DVD entitled ‘Stop Snitchin Stop Lyin.’

The DVD included a “heavily edited” film recording taken while the rapper was being arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct. It was then marketed as containing “the entire footage of [Taylor] being wrongfully arrested and brutalized by the Police in North Carolina.”’

A woman is accusing Chris Brown of cell phone theft, according to a report filed with the Miami Beach Police. Christal Spann claims the incident happened after she snapped a photo of the singer as he sat in a Bentley outside a local club on Sunday night.

Brown allegedly put his hand through the window, snatched the phone from her hand and took off. Not before saying, "B----, you ain't gonna put that on no website," of course.

Pilar Sanders is not a gold digger. No, her estranged husband Deion Sanders only brainwashed her into believing she is a "gold digging ho."

This bizarre claim is one of many included in a civil lawsuit Pilar has filed against Deion and Deionadra, his daughter from a previous marriage. She's accusing the pair of attacking her emotionally, including on social media sites like Twitter.

She wants $200 million -- $50 million in actual damages, and $150 in punitive damages.

Grace Kelly's grandson, Monaco Prince Pierre Casiraghi, suffered a broken jaw in a New York City bar brawl that allegedly began as an argument over supermodels.

The fight broke out about 2:20 a.m. Saturday, and ended with former Manhattan club owner Adam Hock, 47, hauled off to jail, the New York Daily News reports. But what led up to the fight is in dispute.

Hock, a former Rutgers football star who once owned the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square, claims the 24-year-old Prince and his posse started it all by harassing some supermodels at Hock's table.

Newly released police video shows country superstar Randy Travis' slurred reaction to his public-intoxication arrest.

"Really? Are you kidding me?" Randy Travis says in the video taken by a police cruiser's dashboard camera and obtained by Dallas-Ft. Worth's KXAS-TV.

"No sir," a Sanger, Texas, police officer responds. "Maybe once we get to jail, we can figure out who ... get some more information on you, who you are."

"Are you kidding me?" Travis asks again.

Singer Whitney Houston's funeral is set for Saturday in her native New Jersey. But a dispute about where Houston will be buried is pitting her famous mother and cousin Dionne Warwick against the rest of her family, reports say.

Whitney Houston's mother Cissy, 78, and Warwick, 71, wanted the late singer to be buried in Atlanta, where many of her fondest memories took place, the website TMZ reports. Other relatives want Houston buried in her native New Jersey.

The dispute suggests Whitney Houston's burial preferences were not specified in writing. There is a way to do that -- but the best way may not be via a will.

Rumors of pills, alcohol, and a bathtub drowning are circulating in the wake of Whitney Houston's unexpected death. But the coroner's office is awaiting toxicology tests to determine how the singer died.

"We won't make that final determination until all the tests are in," a coroner's spokesman said at a news conference, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Results of Whitney Houston's toxicology tests could take up to eight weeks, KNBC-TV reports. Why so long? And what's involved in a toxicology test anyway?

It seems that producers of the new Jersey Shore spinoff have found a new home for Snooki and JWoww: Jersey City.

The show has reportedly finally gotten the necessary film permits. But it doesn't come without any strings attached.

The dynamic Shore duo will be under the police department's thumb.

Former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight was arrested in Las Vegas this week. Suge Knight's marijuana possession charge may end up costing him.

After all, he's currently serving a three year unsupervised probation sentence. His probation stemmed from driving with a suspended license.

Officials stopped Knight's Bentley when he made an unsafe lane change, according to The Hollywood Reporter. After they pulled him over they ran his name. That's when they discovered the music mogul had other warrants in his name for traffic violations.

Pop star Katy Perry had millions of reasons to celebrate "Last Friday Night," to quote one of her songs -- after she signed off on a divorce filing that revealed a settlement with soon-to-be ex-spouse Russell Brand.

Katy Perry is apparently so happy with the settlement, she added a smiley face to her signature on the divorce papers. (You can see Perry's signature doodle at the website Radar Online.)

Perry's Feb. 3 filing states she and Brand "have entered into a comprehensive written settlement of all issues" -- including how to split millions of dollars of the couple's community-property assets, and perhaps even their cats.

An Iowa woman has been arrested for trying to blackmail Amy Duggar as part of a nefarious plot to remove her and her family from the airways. Her goal was to get TLC to cancel the Duggars' reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting.

Teresa Hunt, the woman in question, sent a letter to executives, demanding that they pay her $10,000 or cancel the show. If they refused, she would release details  and "intimate photos" that purport to prove an affair between Amy and a 56-year-old male musician.

Actor and reality TV star Gary Busey has filed for bankruptcy -- a move his publicist likens to that of other "great American institutions" like General Motors and American Airlines.

Sounds like he may be looking for a bailout.

Busey, 67, may be considered a Hollywood icon, but his brand isn't what it used to be. While Busey once starred in blockbusters like 1987's "Lethal Weapon," he's more recently been seen on reality TV shows like "Celebrity Wife Swap" and "Celebrity Rehab."

Now Busey is seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, the website TMZ.com reports.

For Amber Portwood, a rehab sentence is likely preferable to spending years in jail. The Teen Mom was originally sentenced to lengthy five-year prison term.

She received three years for a drug violation and two years for a probation violation, according to the Long Island Press.

Portwood is currently in custody. The reality TV star has been in jail in Indiana since last month. She entered a plea deal with prosecutors to spending time in a rehab facility instead of a jail cell.

Guess what, M.I.A.? A FCC fine may be all yours if the NFL or NBC get fined for your middle finger during halftime. It seems that liability for M.I.A.'s NBC middle finger snafu may have been addressed in her contract. The NFL reportedly had her sign a contract that mentions FCC fines.

The agreement explicitly stated that she would take responsibility for any FCC-related fines resulting from her on-screen behavior.

M.I.A. took the stage alongside pop icon Madonna and rapper Nicki Minaj during the Super Bowl's halftime show.

Kody Brown and his four wives -- Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn -- have overcome the first hurdle in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Utah's bigamy law. A federal judge has ruled that the Sister Wives lawsuit may proceed against Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Buhman.

Buhman had threatened to prosecute the polygamist family even though Brown is only legally married to Meri -- the other relationships are "spiritual unions."  However, Utah's bigamy law criminalizes being married to one person while cohabitating with another.

Country crooner Randy Travis is likely singing the blues after his arrest for public intoxication outside a Texas church early this morning.

Police in Sanger, Texas, about 50 miles north of Dallas, responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle in front of the town's Baptist church, the website TMZ.com reports.

Police approached the vehicle and found Travis inside, smelling of alcohol and with an open bottle of wine, the Denton Record Chronicle reports. Travis was hauled into jail about 1:30 a.m. -- and held for about four hours.

Why so long?

A federal judge has ruled that the Batmobile is copyrightable. Yes, it's that special.

At least DC Comics thinks so. The company sued Mark Towle, owner of Gotham Garage. He builds and sells Batmobile replicas to comic book geeks with money.

DC and its parent company Warner Bros. believe the replicas violate their Batmobile copyright and trademarks -- that Towle is somehow making people think his cars are authorized replicas.

This in spite of a clear disclaimer on his website.

Reggae star Elephant Man has been charged with rape. Elephant Man, real name is O'Neil Bryan, was arrested earlier this week in Jamaica.

Popular abroad, Elephant Man has had his share of U.S. successes. His 2003 song "Pon De River" was an international hit. He was also previously featured on tracks with Wyclef Jean, Twista, Lil John, and Busta Rhymes.

A 31-year-old woman filed a report with the Jamaican Sexual Offenses and Child Abuse Department.

The town of Hoboken will not be the site of the newest Jersey Shore spinoff.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer has denied the show the filming permit it needs to shoot scenes within the town.

The town's film commission weighed the issue. The commission included local heavyweights such as representatives from Health and Human Services and Environmental Services. It seems that their conclusion was simple. Allowing Jersey Shore to film in Hoboken would negatively impact their citizens' quality of life and safety.

Former "Home Improvement" sitcom star Taran Noah Smith is all grown up -- but the ex-actor apparently still has some room for personal improvement when it comes to parallel parking and alleged drug use.

Police in Burbank, Calif., arrested Smith, 27, in connection with driving under the influence and drug possession about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports. (However, several other sources, including the local Burbank Leader, reported Smith was arrested early Wednesday.)

Smith, who played the youngest son on the 1990s TV show "Home Improvement," had stopped his car at an odd angle in front of a fire hydrant, police told the Times. That aroused officers' suspicions, but an incriminating smell led to Smith's arrest.

The halls of Hogwarts will remain standing -- and so will the gift shops at Universal theme parks.

NBC Universal has settled the Harry Potter font lawsuit, and will continue to plaster merchandise with P22 Type Foundry's Cezanne Regular font.

Alas, your Hogwarts stationary set and Hedwig pillow will not become collectors' items for another few years.