Morning Briefing:
No Angel? Cameron Diaz swears her "boobs looked good" in those topless S&M photos snapped of her when she was a 19-year-old model that are now at the center of a grand theft, forgery and perjury case brought against the photographer who took them. Diaz said she was "exploring the possibilities of my body" when she posed for the pics. "The photos themselves were not offensive to me. I thought my boobs looked good ... at least I had that going for me," Diaz said, testifying under oath in the trial of photographer John Rutter. But what was offensive, she said, was Rutter's attempt to get her to pay $3.5 million in 2003 to prevent him from selling the pics to clients overseas anxious to paint her as a "bad angel" in a campaign timed to coincide with the release of "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." "I said, 'You're blackmailing me, John! This is extortion!' I was furious," Diaz told the court. "I never felt so violated. When someone says 'I have the intention of hurting you ...' It left a hole in my chest." (N.Y. Daily News, N.Y. Post)
Mee-yow: A man identifying himself only as "J.J." says he's in possession of an amateur porn tape featuring Colin Farrell and Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain that features the couple getting it on in various positions and a throwaway comment made by Farrell, while aiming the camera at Narian's white cat: "Baby, you have the most beautiful [kitty]." Alas, the tape cannot legally make its way to the market without the express permission of Narain and Farrell. And perhaps the cat. (Page Six)
Whopping pileup: Eminem is OK, but several people traveling with him on his Anger Management 3 tour are pretty banged up after their tour bus crashed into a couple of tractor-trailers while it was en route from Chicago to Denver. The crash took place just after 6 p.m. Wednesday on a highly trafficked section of Interstate 70 just outside Odessa, Missouri. According to a Missouri Highway Patrol accident report, the bus was traveling at a "high rate of speed" when its driver swerved to avoid a slow-moving tractor-trailer, causing the bus to slide to the side of the road. Then the driver overcorrected and the truck swerved back onto the highway, clipped the truck in question, struck a second 18-wheeler, flipped onto its side and set off a string of collisions involving other vehicles. Eminem's DJ, Alchemist, and his latest protégé, Stat Quo, were among the 11 people injured in the accident, but Eminem's label, Interscope, says the remainder of the tour will not be affected. (MTV News)
Too close to home: Tiger Woods says he was deeply affected by last week's London terrorist bombings -- because his mother was in a building right across the street from one of them. "I was very thankful that my mom is still here," Woods said during a break in play at the British Open. "It very easily could have been pretty tragic for me personally. I can only imagine everyone else who was involved -- where they lost a loved one or had loved ones hurt -- what they might have been going through." Woods said he didn't find out until a few days after the attacks how close his mother, who was vacationing before the Open, had come to danger. "I didn't know. She didn't tell me. She doesn't tell me anything," he said. "That's kind of how our family is. If you're injured or you're hurt or you're sick or anything, you don't tell anyone." (N.Y. Daily News)
Also: Awww The fine folks over at "Good Morning America" sent their competitors over at the "Today" show 500 helium balloons to congratulate the "Today" show staffers on 500 consecutive weeks of morning-show ratings dominance. Talk about good sportsmanship. (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown) Ali G's people are denying allegations that the comedian choked and threatened a New York Daily News photographer who tried to snap a picture of him and his fiancée, Isla Fisher, at the New York premiere of "Wedding Crashers" on Wednesday night. (N.Y. Daily News) Michael Jackson is said to have been so afraid that he might die in prison that he explored the possibility of having his body cryogenically frozen. (Michael Luckman's "Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection" via Rush & Molloy) Wesley Snipes has been labeled an "undesirable person" in South Africa after he was nabbed in Johannesburg for traveling with a forged South African passport. (Pakistan Daily Times) Christina Aguilera's rep insists her client injured her hand not in a fight with a fan, as has been reported, but rather in an accident at home, explaining, "Her dog knocked over a glass vase and she cut her hand while picking up the pieces." (Page Six) The Parents Television Council is taking aim at ABC, asking the FCC to fine the network for failing to edit out "obscenities" in a lyric from a Who song it aired in its Live 8 highlight special. (BBC News) The libel and defamation lawsuit brought by the brother of Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols against Michael Moore, related to comments made in "Bowling for Columbine," has been thrown out of court by a federal judge. (Associated Press) Christian Slater has turned down a plea deal offered by prosecutors in connection with charges of "forcible touching" brought against him in May after he allegedly grabbed a woman's booty as she was buying a beverage in a bodega on the Upper East Side. Slater's lawyer says the case "warrants dismissal." (Associated Press)
Money Quote:
Ben Jones, who played Cooter on the TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard," urging a boycott of the new "Dukes" movie because of what he sees as its overly racy take on the old show: "Basically, they trashed our show. It's one thing to do whatever movie they want to do, but to take a classic family show and do that is like taking 'I Love Lucy' and making her a crackhead or something." (Associated Press)
Turn On:
You liked it the first time ... Showtime is airing Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" on Friday night at 8 p.m. EDT.
-- Amy Reiter
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