Morning Briefing:
Katie's parents made to wait: It can't be fun being Martin and Kathleen Holmes these days. While Tom Cruise's mother, Mary Jo Mapother-South, was there for baby Suri's delivery, Katie Holmes' parents had to wait two and a half weeks to meet their granddaughter, according to Fox 411's sources. "They are heartbroken," says the insider, but are afraid to speak out for fear Cruise will curtail their access to Katie and Suri even more. (Fox 411)
Universal pays $12 million for payola: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's payola case against Universal Music was finally settled on Thursday, with the world's largest record conglomerate agreeing to pay a $12 million fine for illegally offering radio DJ's perks like free trips and cold, hard cash to make sure its artists received radio airtime. While the company didn't admit to doing anything illegal itself, it did admit that "various employees and independent promoters acting on behalf of the company" acted outside the law. For instance, Universal spent a lot of energy and money to get Lindsay Lohan on MTV's "Total Request Live" -- a series of e-mails released in the case show a concerted effort to manipulate "TRL" into playing Lohan's songs more often, with one e-mail revealing, "We are hiring a request company starting Monday to jack TRL for Lindsay." (Associated Press, Fox 411)
Paris confused about her own name: Proving that she can still get headlines with brazen acts of public stupidity, Paris Hilton appeared at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles to promote her new cellphone game, "Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam." Arriving late, the heiress delivered her market speech, but couldn't recall the name of the game she was meant to be promoting: "I'm really excited to have my new video game, 'Diamondquest.' Thank you all for coming, and you can download the game." (Yahoo! News)
Also:
Brooke Shields is doing fine without antidepressants following the birth of her second baby, she tells People, saying it's "nothing like the first one." (People) ... After his surprising ejection from "American Idol," Chris Daughtry is now being offered a pretty decent gig as the lead singer of the band Fuel. (Associated Press) ... The paperback of James Frey's "My Friend Leonard" has just come out, and lest there be any confusion, Frey includes an author's note that admits it's partially made up. (Mercury News) ... NBC has fired a producer for plagiarizing a passage from another show for a short feature on the Kentucky Derby that ran last Saturday. The segment described how trainer Michael Matz "ran into the fire to save the lives of three children" after a plane crash, and the narrator paused dramatically to say, "Ran into the fire" -- an almost exact copy of a line delivered by Martin Sheen on "The West Wing." (Hollywood Reporter)
Money Quote:
Mel Gibson on the similarity between the brutal, human-sacrifice-ordering Mayan rulers in his new movie, "Apocalypto," and the current White House administration: "The fear-mongering we depict in the film reminds me of President Bush and his guys." (ContactMusic)
Turn On:
Oprah will be on the "The View" (ABC, 11 a.m. EDT) on Friday, and "Real Time With Bill Maher" (HBO, 11 p.m. EDT) has a heavyweight guest list: former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Princeton professor Cornel West and former White House counterterrorism head Richard Clarke. On Saturday, Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosts "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 11:30 p.m. EDT), and on Sunday, "The West Wing" (NBC, 8 p.m. EDT) says goodbye with its big series finale.
-- Scott Lamb
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