Is Mike Tyson losing it again?
Scotland's Daily Record reports that the feisty fighter came to fisticuffs over $600,000 worth of jewelry with the man who's promoting his upcoming U.K. fight.
According to the paper, Tyson exploded when he discovered that promoter Frank Warren had no intention of footing the bill for the extravagant gold and diamond baubles the problem-plagued pugilist acquired on his last trip to London, and that he himself would be responsible for the bill.
"We thought Tyson was going to kill him," a witness to the scuffle, which reportedly took place on Saturday night on the seventh floor of a London hotel, told the tabloid. "He flew into some rage and it was one hell of a sight ... Tyson threatened to put him through a window."
After security broke up the fight, "Warren looked in a very bad way," said the witness. "It didn't seem as though there was any doubt he was injured."
Tyson, however, denied ever hitting or threatening the defenestration of his promoter in a press conference. "There is a big line ahead of him," he explained. And Warren has dismissed the rumble rumors as "total rubbish."
Furthermore, when asked by another reporter if the two had a "crackup," the boxer responded, "I don't sell crack."
And he'll throw anyone out the window who says he does ...
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Someone needs a new publicist
"I'd kill to be arrested. Any publicity helps."
-- Martin Short on the lengths he'd go to see his name in bold-faced type, in the Toronto Sun.
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Survive this
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of discontentment and friction ...
"Gilligan's Island" mastermind Sherwood Schwartz has told the New York Post he's in talks with ABC about creating a two-hour TV movie based on his book, "Inside Gilligan's Island."
Among the island secrets Schwartz plans to reveal: Tina Louise, who played Ginger, hated her dumb image, and Jerry Van Dyke was up for the role of Gilligan, which went to Bob Denver.
Really, unless Schwartz is prepared to spill a little more castaway dirt than that (was, for instance, Mrs. Howell sneaking into the Skipper's hammock at night for a little tropical nookie? Inquiring minds want to know!), I think I'll pass on climbing aboard this three-hour tour.
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Getting it off her chest
"When Spike Lee puts ice on my nipples [in "Do the Right Thing"], the reason you don't see my head is because I'm crying. I was like, 'I don't want to do this.' I felt like Irene Cara in 'Fame.'"
-- Rosie Perez on the first time she doffed her duds for a movie, in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine.
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Juicy bits
Things could get real crowded, real soon at the home of Kate Winslet and her husband, director Jim Threapleton. Not only are the couple expecting their first child in September, it seems they could be joined any minute by a rabid stalker. The "Titanic" star has reportedly been e-mailed a series of death threats via the unofficial Kate Winslet Fan Club site from a stalker who said she wanted to visit the couple's new home and kill the actress. All together now, in your best Leo voices: "Rose!"
How is Posh Spice not like Monica Lewinsky? Well, for one thing, she and her husband, David Beckham, are decidedly not thrilled at the prospect of being the subject of an Andrew Morton biography. The celebrity couple has threatened to take out an injunction against the man who penned "Monica's Story" and "Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words" if he doesn't back off plans to document their lives and expose "the truth behind the headlines."
Forget Ramona and Rudy. If the network suits ever conspired to bring us a celebrity version of "Survivor," TV watchers are certain Kathie Lee Gifford would be the first to go. According to a recent telephone survey commissioned by TV Guide, 44 percent of the people polled think Cody's mom would be the first to go. And the most likely to be the last celeb standing? The Rock. So that's why they call him the people's champion.
Product-peddling sports stars like Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Johnson aren't the only scabs incurring the wrath of the striking members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Members of the glam unions are also lashing out at Ford Motor Co., which reportedly dealt with a dearth of non-union African-American stunt drivers for a recent Lincoln Mercury commercial shoot by hiring a white driver and painting his face black. After strike committee chairman Todd Amorde labeled the ad a "minstrel show," the car company expressed regret. But, quips one striker, "Ford has more than egg on its face now." Ba-dum-bum ... They'll be here all week, folks.
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