Manservants are all over the place in Buckingham Palace, it seems. The Mirror newspaper claims it sent one of its reporters undercover to the palace to get a job as a footman set to serve President Bush's breakfast during his visit this week. No info yet on where Prince Charles was during all this fuss. (BBC)
In other news-about-Brits, John Lennon still sells. His handwritten lyrics to "Nowhere Man" were just sold at Christie's auction house in New York for $455,000 to an anonymous buyer. At the same sale, the Oscar won by Michael Curtiz for his direction of "Casablanca" sold for $231,500 to magician David Copperfield. (AP via Miami Herald)
Who knew? Hugh Grant is a sly one. He's been dating one Kasia Komorowicz for three years now. She's described as a "United Nations worker" -- whatever that is -- and she is the one who broke the news, saying, among other things, "He's a great kisser and we have a fantastic time." Guess they don't learn how to be discreet at the U.N. (IMDB)
Gov. Schwarzenegger sent out a press release about his inauguration that included the information that he would be dressed in Prada and his wife, Maria Shriver, would be in Valentino, thank you very much. This is a great new trend. Wouldn't it be great if the next question put to President Bush at one of his press conferences was "So, Mr. President, is that shirt from Lands' End or L.L. Bean?" Oh, I forgot. He doesn't have press conferences. (MSNBC)
Looks like the item here yesterday about former prez Bill Clinton talking to the Chinese about being a model for a menswear line and rice booze was not true. Too bad. But maybe he's free now to vie with Arnold for the job of Prada Man. (Gawker)
Does Eminem hate black people? The Source magazine has dug up a 10-year-old tape of Eminem rapping about race and played it at a press conference yesterday to add ballast to the magazine's allegations that Eminem is racist. A few sample lyrics: "All the girls I like to bone have big butts/ No they don't, 'cause I don't like that n----- sh--/ I'm just here to make a bigger hit ... Blacks and whites, they sometimes mix/ But black girls only want your money, 'cause they're dumb chicks ... Never date a black girl, because blacks only want your money/ And that sh-- ain't funny." But Eminem has issued a statement saying the bad rap is unfair and you've got to consider the source: "Ray Benzino, Dave Mays and The Source have had a vendetta against me, Shady Records and our artists for a long time ... The tape they played today was something I made out of anger, stupidity and frustration when I was a teenager. I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, who was African-American, and I reacted like the angry, stupid kid I was. I hope people will take it for the foolishness that it was, not for what somebody is trying to make it into today." (You can download the tape and the lyrics on The Source's Web site.)
Does Britney, like, love the love? Britney Spears, who just became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on being a star: "It's really weird I've been doing this since I was 16 ... You could never get used to this [adulation]. The best part is the fans -- the fans, like, loving you. And the free clothes. And doing what you love to do." (The Associated Press)
And we know Michael Jackson likes little boys. The question now (again) is how much. As the pop singer's Neverland ranch was being searched for evidence in connection with allegations that Jackson repeatedly molested a 12-year-old boy and shortly before a warrant was issued for the singer's arrest, Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman gave the following statement to the press: "We've seen this before; our response is 'Here we go again.' Michael has 24-hour-a-day supervision with him for the specific reason to protect him from these claims." (NBC News via MTV.com)
Sick of the love: "The Bachelorette" Trista Rehn on the suggestion that people might be sick of seeing cuddly pictures of her and her publicly picked fiancé, Ryan Sutter: "That's fine. I get sick of seeing myself, too. So I can sympathize with that." (USA Today)
Best of the Rest
Page Six: Former Elite Model Management chairman John Casablancas accuses lawsuit-winning underling Victoria Gallegos -- who was awarded $5.2 million after claiming she was forced to sit through secondhand smoke during her seven weeks on the job -- of having it in for his agency from the start; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver said to be looking for house in Bay Area instead of moving to Sacramento; Dan Aykroyd disses socialized medicine in Canada, where he's from; Dennis Rodman said to have been sober for one whole month.
Rush and Molloy: Uma Thurman denies allegations that she's had a nose job, says President Bush is "charismatic" and "funny" but shouldn't be running the country as his presidential reign has been "less than impressive"; Sen. John Kerry's stepson, Chris Heinz, says his stepdad's move to ditch campaign manager Jim Jordan "was mostly personality-driven" and "not an effort to revamp the campaign"; Ellen Burstyn's one-woman Broadway show "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" closes one day after getting mostly bad reviews; Naomi Campbell assistant files suit accusing model of hitting her, throwing a telephone at her, throwing her down on a couch and holding her prisoner in a Beverly Hills hotel room; Hanson brother Isaac turns 23, gets admitted to NYC hospital for undisclosed reasons; N.Y. Times restaurant critic William Grimes is moving on to other duties at the paper of record; Jai Rodriguez of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and James Getzlaff of "Boy Meets Boy" said to have looked "cozy" together while taking in Broadway show.
--Amy Reiter
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