Paula Abdul Announces She's Leaving Idol, Bonnie Fuller Says She's Lying
Tonight Paula Abdul announced that she's leaving American Idol. Bonnie Fuller then stepped up to call shenanigans on Paula. All of this salacious drama played out on Twitter, naturally. About an hour or so ago, Paula issued a series of seemingly heartfelt tweets reflecting upon her time as an Idol judge (Can't you just see her weeping madly as she typed her tweets?) and thanking fans for all of their support of her. But then Bonnie Fuller popped up to call bullshit on Paula, saying that a new contract has already been signed and that all of this is just a publicity stunt. So who to believe here? The occasionally lucid ex-pop star, or the conniving former Gossip queen desperate to drum up publicity for her new internet gig? Though perhaps the biggest question of all is what the hell else is Paula Abdul going to do? MORE >>
Man Shoots Up LA Fitness Gym in Pennsylvania
5 people are confirmed dead and at least ten more wounded by gunfire after a man opened fire inside of a LA Fitness center in Collier township, a few miles south of Pittsburgh. According to witnesses at the gym, the shooter, rumored to be the pissed-off ex-boyfriend of one of the gym's members, entered a room where some sort of fitness class was being conducted, turned off the lights, and opened fire. MORE >>
Did Condé Nast Call In Its Sweetheart Loan to Annie Leibovitz?
Annie Leibovitz dug herself so deeply into debt that she was forced to mortgage her photographs to a high-end pawn shop to pay off her creditors. Who did she owe money to? None other than Condé Nast, her biggest patron. In December, Leibovitz borrowed $24 million from Art Capital Group, which makes its money by loaning artists cash and taking the rights to their work as collateral. When the artists fail to pay up, as artists often will, Art Capital sells the art to recoup. The loan isn't due until next month, but last week, Art Capital preemptively sued Leibovitz, claiming she was refusing to cooperate with the sale of her collection of photographs and homes in Greenwich Village and Rhinebeck, N.Y. The only way she will possibly be able to pay back the $24 million, Art Capital says, is by selling her homes and her catalog of photographs. But the Art Capital deal wasn't so much a loan as a debt consolidation. Leibovitz has taken out nearly a dozen loans on her homes in the last 15 years, according to mortgage documents on file at the New York City Department of Finance, and the deal with Art Capital consolidated them all under one handy debtor. According to a December 2008 mortgage document dated the same day as the loan from Art Capital to Leibovitz, Art Capital took over $15.5 million worth of various mortgages on Leibovitz's Greenwich Village and upstate New York homes. It was that $15.5 million worth of debt, one imagines, that drove Leibovitz into the arms of Art Capital. Which is why it's stunning to discover that she owed half of it to Condé Nast, which pays Leibovitz a reported $2 million a year to take pictures. One of the well-known perks of being a star talent at Condé Nast is low-interest mortgages guaranteed by the magazine giant's owner, Si Newhouse. According to this 2006 New York Observer story, more than "twenty Condé Nast executives, editors and even a couple of writers" have been loaned money to purchase homes by the company. In Leibovitz's case, two of the loans she has taken out over the years were from a company called Rhinebeck Properties LLC which, according to this document that handed over Leibovitz's debt to Art Capital, is based at Condé Nast's famous 4 Times Square address. The document is signed by John Bellando, Condé Nast's chief operating officer. Another person who's benefited from a Rhinebeck Properties mortgage is Condé Nast editorial director Tom Wallace. Rhinebeck Properties held two mortgages on Leibovitz's homes: A December 2006 mortgage for $2.5 million on her Greenwich Village townhouses, and a November 2006 loan of $4.7 million on her home in Rhinebeck, N.Y. All told, when Leibovitz did her deal with Art Capital late last year, she owed Condé Nast a total of $6.9 million—nearly half of her $15.5 million in outstanding debts. All of this raises some questions: If the debt on Leibovitz's homes amounted to $15.5 million when she went to Art Capital, why did she seek $24 million from them?... MORE >>
How Gay Is Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes?
Did Page Six get you all excited this morning about the possibility of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law doing a steamy gay love scene in Guy Ritchie's upcoming Sherlock Holmes? We scoured the screenplay for the movie's gayest scene. The New York Post's gossip column didn't have much to base its conclusion that Ritchie had given the sleuthing tale a homoerotic backstory except for Downey's quote in the News of the World earlier this year that his Holmes and Law's Watson are "two men who happen to be roommates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's bad-ass." That was apparently enough to put conservative radio host and family-friendly movie critic Michael Medved into a full-blown gay panic. "There's not a seething, bubbling hunger to see straight stars impersonating homosexuals. ... Who is going to want to see Downey Jr. and Law make out? I don't think it would be appealing to women. Straight men don't want to see it." Well, we got a hold of a copy of a script to see just how gay it is, and to Medved's relief (or secret disappointment?) there's no scenes of Holmes and Watson going Brokeback. Our version is dated March 18, 2008, so it may not be the final, final revision. But the only explicit sex mentioned is a half-naked post-coital shot of Downey and Rachel McAdams in bed. That doesn't mean, of course, that Ritchie didn't direct his actors to give the Holmes-Watson dynamic some sexual tension. Here's the script's gayest moment — a scene that comes early in the movie when Watson tells Holmes that he's getting married. I could see how it could be played gay, but be your own judge. Click images for a larger, more legible version MORE >>
Bill Clinton Frees US Reporters From Kim Jong-Il's Clutches
Bill Clinton went on over to North Korea, met the crazy dictator there, and won: North Korea has pardoned Current TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee for their slanders and calumnies. Reuters has the breaking news. You have to give Kim Jong-Il credit. As soon as the psycho dictatorial monster heard that his troops had snatched two US reporters last March, he knew he could leverage it into the appearance of respectability. Today, he did. Crazily. Original rumors were that Al Gore would be sent over to North Korea to fetch back Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who worked for Gore's Current TV. But Kim managed to get ol' Bill Clinton himself. Fuck a "vice" president. Clinton reportedly met with Ling and Lee, and it was "very emotional." We bet. For them, it's possible salvation. For him, hey, some other Americans in this fucked up country! More importantly: there seem to be serious hopes that the women will be coming back to America tomorrow. The White House is keeping its mouth shut, except to say what a private, nongovernmental mission Clinton is on. One report said that Clinton relayed a message from Obama to Kim, which the White House denied. Who knows. They can give the crazy man whatever soothing pablum he wants till Ling and Lee are out, then deny it all. This is essentially a hostage negotiation. Watch out, North Koreans can be tricky! Toothbrush-mustachioed xenophobe John Bolton is not happy about Clinton's trip. Huh. Don't you look like an asshole now, John Bolton? Oh yes—here you are on Fox News, just now, sounding like an asshole. MORE >>
The Great Condé Nast Receptionist Purge Widens
This could be the unkindest Conde Nast cut of all: A tipster tells us that "as of Monday, Glamour will no longer have a receptionist." And this may be only the beginning. In late March, Conde purged its receptionist ranks of those not on the "editorial floors"—taking receptionist staffing levels as low as they could reasonably go. Or so we thought. Our tipsters say that not only is Glamour laying off its receptionist (who's been with the company for more than 20 years); they also tell us there are rumors that Conde Nast is going to lay off "all" of its receptionists. Is such a thing even possible? Can America's most glamorous magazine publisher function after laying off all receptionists? We've contacted Conde and we'll let you know what they say. We hear that Glamour staffers have been told that "Managment or editorial staff will be in touch about what procedures for visitors will be going forward." Editors running out to fetch visitors themselves? This is your future, Conde Nast. [Now that McKinsey's ended Conde's newspaper subscriptions and laid off the poorest-paid employees they should have the company just about profitable again! Pic via.] MORE >>
Dov Charney: I Do Employ Uglies
Pacing American Apparel CEO and full-grown adult Dov Charney is denying our tipster's report that he's been purging his stores of "ugly" employees. But hey, would it kill you ugly people to be fashionable, at least? Dov gave the Globe and Mail this less-than-scathing denial: As for Mr. Charney, he wrote in an e-mail that he does want his employees to look good - but that doesn't mean they have to be good-looking. "At American Apparel, we strive to hire salespeople who have an enthusiasm for fashion and retail and who themselves have good fashion sense," he said. "But this does not necessarily mean they have to be physically attractive." So if you're ugly, at least wear something that shows off your ass. [Pic: Getty] MORE >>
Ruth Madoff's Financial Life Comes Full Circle
The trustee for Bernie Madoff's victims filed a $45 million suit against Ruth Madoff last week. He hasn't succeeded in getting any money yet, but he has succeeded in further humiliating Ruth Madoff! She is basically a grounded teenager now. See, the trustee was like, "Hey she has $2.5 mil, she lived the high life on all this stolen money, she needs to pay back the victims." And then Ruth was like "Me? I'm not living the high life, what?" So now the judge has ruled that Ruth Madoff has to document everything she buys that costs more than $100. Everything. Sez the Post: The purchases must be deemed "reasonable" by a judge, otherwise she could be held liable and in contempt of court. Ruth Madoff is exactly like a high school kid whose dad found out she used the "emergency" credit card he got her to buy booze. One more mistake, young lady, and it's bye-bye Visa, hello McJob. [Pic: AP] MORE >>
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