Turn On:
Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey host "The Nobel Peace Prize Concert," featuring Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Joss Stone and others, on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on E!
Morning Briefing:
Bowling strike in Manhattan? New York pin-lovers are reeling at recent revelations that the most popular bowling alley in Manhattan, Bowlmor Lanes, was partially bankrolled by Yasser Arafat and Palestinian Authority funds. Bloomberg Markets Magazine yesterday reported that Arafat had sunk $1.3 million into the hip hot spot, host to many a company party (including a few of Salon's), bar mitzvah and NYU student outing, but the alley's owner, Tom Shannon, says he had no idea that his company had received money from Arafat as it was funneled through an intermediary. Shannon says he's now working overtime to sever those financial ties. "This information was never disclosed to us previously, and had we known the source of these funds, which represents approximately 2 percent of our company's equity, we never would have accepted them," Bowlmor spokeswoman Marcia Horowitz told the press. "We do not endorse their values, and we do not want to be affiliated with them in any way." (N.Y. Daily News, N.Y. Post)
"Who's Your Daddy?" Where's your decency? Despite one of its producers' best efforts to portray it as a sincere, well-meaning show that "came from a very pure place," the upcoming Fox reality show "Who's Your Daddy?" in which a person who was adopted as a child tries to pick his or her biological father out of a lineup -- and is awarded $100,000 for a correct guess -- is continuing to stir up outrage from adoptive parents and adoption organizations throughout the land. Fox has reportedly received more than 5,000 letters asking them to reconsider airing the show, including one from adoption advocate Adam Pertman, who wrote, "The very idea of taking such a deeply personal, complex situation and turning it into a money-grubbing game show is perverse, destructive and insensitive to others." But so far, Fox has offered no indication that it plans to back away from airing the first episode on Jan. 3. (Reuters)
Is someone off his meds? As you feast on your holiday meals and snuggle into the comfort of family and friends, spare a thought -- won't you? -- for Mike Tyson. The former boxing champ, having blown through a fortune worth untold millions and myriad wives and girlfriends, is now living alone in a cheap two-bedroom house in Phoenix. And he's sad. Very, very sad. "Dying can't be as bad as living," a depressed Tyson recently told the London Daily Mirror. "There's no way that dying can be as bad as living. But while you're living you have to live. I don't know what I'm doing. I just live, I guess, get some food. But I don't cook. I go to restaurants every night." And how does he fill his days? "I don't do anything. My life sucks." (Daily Mirror)
Should old acquaintance be forgot? New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove has suddenly shown himself to be a man of some bravery and standards (or at least a person with a flair for the dramatic): He's sworn off writing about Paris Hilton until she does something truly worthy of coverage, like "if she discovers a cure for cancer, wins the Nobel Peace Prize, launches herself into outer space -- or even gets her high-school diploma." In explaining the Hilton ban, Grove expresses outrage over the heiress' various transgressions -- cutting to the front of bathroom lines, continued shameless snobbery, jaw-dropping ignorance and, possibly worst of all, tipping badly. "The arc of Paris' 'career' -- from rich, witless party girl to rich, witless party girl with a hit television show -- is an insult to the American sense of fairness," Grove writes. Hear, hear! (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)
Also: Jennifer Lopez's first husband, Ojani Noa, is suing her for breach of contract after she fired him allegedly "without good cause or reason" from his job running her L.A. restaurant Madres in late 2002. (Associated Press) ... How easy-peasy was Diana Ross' time in jail for drunk driving? She got to keep her cellphone, order all her own meals and serve just half of her two-day sentence. The Greenwich, Conn., police chief now admits that he "made some poor decisions" in that case. (Associated Press) ... Bernard Kerik has resigned from his $500,000-a-year consulting job with Rudy Giuliani's company. Giuliani-Kerik, an affiliate of Giuliani Partners, will henceforth be known as Giuliani Security & Safety. "Though it hasn't been an easy decision, I feel it was the right one," said the shamed former NYC top cop. (N.Y. Daily News) ... Martha Stewart has posted a holiday message on her Web site pleading with "the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking." (MarthaTalks.com) ... Several healthcare companies have issued memos to employees urging them to be extra vigilant as Michael Moore works on his film, "Sicko," about the healthcare industry. (N.Y. Post) ... Johnny Ramone's widow and his mother are fighting over the particulars of his estate. (Page Six) ... And Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are said to be "working" on a sibling for 7-month-old daughter Apple. (Page Six)
-- Amy Reiter
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