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OPRAH GATHERING GOLD MEDALISTS
August
Rumor has it that Oprah Winfrey is trying to feature every single American Olympic gold medalist from the Beijing Games for a broadcast of her talk show to air on Sept. 11. The New York Post claims agents for several medal-winning athletes said they were contacted by Oprah's producers about appearing on the special, which marks the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Olympian Ronda Rousey - the only American ever to win a medal in judo - said yesterday on her own Web site that she would be appearing on Oprah "September 11th on some Olympic medalists special." The U.S. won 36 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, but Oprah's stage would have to hold much more than 36 people - as many of the medals represent entire teams of athletes. A spokesman for Oprah yesterday said the show "is not confirmed," however, the Post reports: "Rather than focus on the tragedy of the attack seven years on, an Olympic-champions show would be an irresistible piece of patriotism - marking the day with a positive note."
BRAXTON, SAPP, GREENE GOING 'DANCING'
August
It's official, Toni Braxton and Warren Sapp are confirmed members of the new cast of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," which debuts Sept. 22 with 13 celebrities vying to become a ballroom dance champion. Joining the duo will be 2000 Olympic track-and-field gold medalist Maurice Greene, Susan Lucci, Lance Bass, Cloris Leachman, Kim Kardashian, Ted McGinley, Brooke Burke, and Misty May-Treanor, who won her second gold medal for beach volleyball at this year's summer games in Beijing. Rounding out the cast are chef Rocco DiSpirito, Cody Linley of "Hannah Montana" and comedian Jeffrey Ross.
MOS DEF CO-PRODUCING "MOULIN ROUGE"
August
Mos Def, his brother Khalil Prescott-Bey and Rahman Prescott of Garden Grown Entertainment are teaming with two other production companies for the film "The Fabulous Moulin Rouge." The story, according to Variety, focuses on the Moulin Rouge as the first desegregated hotel and casino in Las Vegas that sprang up in 1955 and closed six months later under mysterious circumstances just as it was gaining momentum and attracting singers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. Shot entirely in Dubai, "The Fabulous Moulin Rouge" will feature a fictional African-American character who rises from mob debt collector to manager of the famed venue.Casino gambling is forbidden in Dubai, so the company plans to erect a replica of the casino.
TYLER PERRY GOING COLOR BLIND
August
His five movies have grossed $250 million, and he's sold 25 million DVDs. He's got a top-rated TV show, another about to be announced and 11 boxoffice-busting stage plays. He's landed a book on the best-seller lists and in October will cut the ribbon on his own studio complex. Perry, who Forbes says pocketed $125 million last year, also has achieved something that even Steven Spielberg can't boast: ownership of his work. The Hollywood reporter now says Perry is looking to broaden his fields of interest by shooting his first movie with both black and white lead characters starting with "The Family that Preys," out September 12. Despite naysayers who point out how vulnerable an "independent" can become if failures multiply -- Perry and his associates are unperturbed. "This is definitely the beginning of Tyler's next phase in the entertainment business," says Mike Paseornek, president of motion picture production at Lionsgate, which has released all of Perry's films and recently closed a new three-year, first-look deal with him. "Tyler is going to start working more with the Hollywood community, and that will bring a diversity of projects to him that he can then put his creative stamp on."
BERNIE MAC DIES AT 50
August
Actor-comedian Bernie Mac, who had been hospitalized for pneumonia, died Saturday at a Chicago area hospital, his spokeswoman said. He was 50. Reuters reports that his publicist Danica Smith confirmed the death in a statement but gave no further details. "We ask that his family's privacy continues to be respected," she said. Mac was said to be in stable condition and expected to be released from the hospital in just weeks. Smith had said Mac's bout with pneumonia was unrelated to his previous diagnosis of a chronic tissue inflammation, called sarcoidosis, which has been in remission since 2005, but now that report may be in doubt. In October 2004, Mac was hospitalized for what initially was described as exhaustion, but several months later, the actor reveled that he had been taken to the hospital with double pneumonia and sarcoidosis symptoms. He also disclosed that he had lived with sarcoidosis since 1983. Mac was best known for his roles in the "Ocean's Eleven" trilogy and other films, including "Guess Who" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." "The world just got a little less funny," Mac's "Ocean's Eleven" co-star George Clooney said in a statement. "He will be dearly missed." "Bernie Mac was a gifted talent whose comedy came from an authentic and highly personal place," Fox and 20th Century Fox TV, which co-produced "The Bernie Mac Show," with Regency TV, said in a statement. "He was a tremendous live performer and a wonderful actor." His role on "The Bernie Mac Show," earned him two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.
MAYA ANGELOU HONORED
August
Author Maya Angelou and TV producer Norman Lear have been chosen to receive the 2008 Marian Anderson Award, which honors artists whose leadership benefits humankind. The pair will receive their awards, as well as an accompanying $100,000 honorarium, during a ceremony to be held Nov. 17 in Philadelphia at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, reports the Associated Press. Angelou, 80, has written more than a dozen best sellers including "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," as well as three Grammy-winning spoken-word albums, poetry, plays and children's books. She also has written for television and film, serving on the board of the American Film Institute and as a member of the Director's Guild.
MORGAN FREEMAN AND WIFE FILE FOR DIVORCE
August
Morgan Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, have filed for divorce, according to the actor's longtime business partner. Bill Luckett, who co-owns a restaurant and blues club in Clarksdale, Miss. with Freeman, says the split was in the works way before Freeman's Sunday night car crash with female passenger Demaris Meyer, 48. A tabloid reported that Freeman, 71, and his wife have been separated since December 2007. The National Enquirer claims Colley-Lee consulted a divorce attorney after hearing that Freeman cheated on her with "a close family friend." "Myrna was terribly upset when she heard Morgan had become intimate with a woman who had been her friend," a source told the National Enquirer. Luckett told USA Today that he and the actor have been friends with Demaris "for some time." Freeman was driving her Nissan Maxima when he lost control of the vehicle and it flipped over several times before landing in a ditch near his home in Tallahatchie County, Miss.
BIANCA/BLONSKY FAMILY BRAWL
August
The New York Post is reporting that racial epithets may have sparked the recent airport brawl between "America's Next Top Model" contestant Bianca Golden, "Hairspray" star Nikki Blonsky and their respective families. The fight took place in the lounge of Providenciales Airport on the Turks and Caicos Islands as both parties were waiting to board a flight back to New York. A source claims the racial invective began when a member of Bianca's group proclaimed: "I don't want to sit next to any white b*tch." Then, when one of Bianca's male relatives who was holding a baby asked the Blonskys to move a piece of luggage from a seat so he could sit down, someone in the Blonsky family issued a retaliatory racial epithet and, apparently, the fight was on. Bianca's mother, Elaine Golden, was allegedly beaten by Nikki's father Carl Blonsky so badly that she was airlifted to a Florida hospital, where she remains in the intensive care unit with a broken nose and cracked skull. Nikki Blonsky and Bianca Golden also apparently exchanged blows in the melee. Blonsky's mother, Karen, told TMZ that Bianca, who's 5-feet-11, "punched 4-foot-11 Nikki in the head." Both 19-year-old celebs were arrested on charges of assault with "actual bodily harm," which carries a possible sentence of two years. Both young women were later released, but Nikki's father is still in jail on the island because his family is unable to post the $75,000 bail, a relative said. Carl Blonsky faces a potential eight-year prison term on a charge of "grievous bodily harm."
LAURENCE FISHBURNE LEADING "CSI" SUSPECT LIST
August
Laurence Fishburne is in talks to replace William Petersen as the star of CBS' veteran crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." Reuters reports sources as saying Fishburne is being heavily courted to play the new character, described as a doctor/scientist outsider to the CSI unit who has the same genetic profile as a serial killer but hasn't previously acted on any homicidal impulses. John Malkovich and Kurt Russell are also in consideration for the role.
MORGAN FREEMAN SERIOUSLY INJURED IN CAR ACCIDENT
August
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman has been injured in a car accident and was airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Stringer said Freeman, 71, is in serious condition. The hospital is about 90 miles north of the accident scene in rural Tallahatchie County in the Mississippi Delta. "The vehicle went off the edge of the road and flipped several times," Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Ben Williams said, and no other car was involved in the accident. The AP also reports that Williams said alcohol was not involved in the accident and they belive the actor may have fallen asleep at the wheel while on his way home. The accident happened about 4 miles west of Charleston, not far from where Freeman owns a home with his wife. Freeman was conscious after the accisent and talking to arriving officers, Williams said. He added that no citation had been issued in the accident. Both Freeman and a female passenger, identified as Demaris Meyer, were wearing seat belts, but the air bags did not deploy in the 1997 Nissan Maxima registered to Meyer, Williams said. He said he did not know the extent of her injuries.
JIM BROWN SUES SONY AND EA SPORTS
August
Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown is seeking a court order to stop Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. from using his likeness in a video game without his permission. The character, part of the "Real Old School Teams and Players' series, sports the number 32 jersey and is featured as a muscular, African-American running back in the game's "All Brown's Team,'' stated the complaint filed Friday in state court in New York. Brown, who wore the same number for the Cleveland Browns, said in the complaint that he "never signed away any rights that would allow his likeness to be used," according to Bloomberg.com. Professional athletes now typically sign union agreements allowing the use of their names and likenesses, but according to the complaint. Brown says when he played football, "The NFL had a league wide policy that players shall have no lawyers or agents when negotiating compensation. Video games were not invented yet and no union to obtain rights existed."
BERNIE MAC HOSPITALIZED WITH PNEUMONIA
August
Bernie Mac has been hospitalized in Chicago with pneumonia. His publicist, Danica Smith, says in a statement that the 50-year-old comedian is responding well to treatment and should be released soon. Smith says the pneumonia isn't related to an inflammatory lung disease that Mac also has. That condition has been in remission since 2005. Mac is a Chicago native who lives in the southern suburbs when not working.
HALLE BERRY SUES PAPARAZZI
July
Halle Berry has taken legal action against photographers she claims crossed the line in snapping a photo of her four-month old daughter, Nahla Ariela Aubry, on her private property. Evan Spiegel, an attorney representing Berry, said a criminal complaint has been filed and an investigation is under way after pics of the Oscar winner and her baby hanging out in the backyard ended up on the Internet and in two celebrity magazines, reports the Associated Press. Berry disputes the story given by Fame Pictures, the agency that distributed the photos, who claim the photos were taken when she was "out and about in Los Angeles." Spiegel said there are witnesses who saw the paps commit a "very blatant and invasive trespass" by shooting the pictures while the two were at home. "The paparazzi have gone too far," Berry said in a statement to The Associated Press. "I have long since come to terms with the fact that choosing a career as an actress has made me a public figure, but my baby has made no such choice, and unless and until she does, I will do everything I can ... to keep her out of the public eye," the statement read. In addition to pursuing criminal charges against the photographer, Berry is seeking to get the photos removed from the Web.
WILL SMITH TOPS HOLLYWOOD' MONEYMAKERS
July
Will Smith earned more money last year than any other film star, according to Forbes magazine's latest ranking of Hollywood's top earners. The "Hancock" actor raked in $80 million in 2007, beating No. 2-ranked Johnny Depp and his $72 million. Eddie Murphy, whose output last year included "Norbit" and "Shrek the Third," is tied at No. 3 with Mike Myers, each having earned $55 million. Cameron Diaz is the highest ranking female film star, with $50 million banked in her account last year. "Atonement" leading lady Keira Knightly earned $32 million, and Jennifer Aniston pulled in $27 million to rank No. 2 and 3 respectively. In terms of media personalities, Oprah Winfrey's $275 million haul in 2007 eclipses everyone and everything.
NEW US STAMPS HONOR EARLY BLACK CINEMA
July
The US Postal Service has released new 42-cent stamps to honor early black cinema. "Black and Tan, (‘29) " a 19-minute film featuring Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra, and "Caldonia, (‘45) " another short at 18 minutes film, showcasing singer, saxophonist and bandleader Louis Jordan are just a few of the early black cinema films to be honored. The Postal Service issued Vintage Black Cinema commemorative stamps in five designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps. The stamps are designed by Carl T. Herrman of Carlsbad, Calif. Vivid reminders of a bygone era, these vintage movie posters highlight various facets of the African-American cultural experience as represented in early film. Whether spotlighting the talents of entertainment icons or documenting changing social attitudes and expectations, these posters now serve a greater purpose than publicity and promotion. They have become invaluable pieces of history, preserving memories of cultural phenomena that otherwise might have been forgotten. "Hallelujah," a 1929 movie released by MGM is another poster in the set of stamps. It was one of the first films from a major studio to feature an all-black cast. Producer-director King Vidor was nominated for an Academy Award for his attempt to portray rural African-American life, especially religious experience.
MORGAN FREEMAN'S DONATES TEE TIME
July
An online auction benefiting hurricane relief victims featured a round of golf with actor Morgan Freeman that sold for $49,000. It topped the $10,300 that went for the black leather jacket worn by his "Wanted" co-star Angelina Jolie. Both lots also went for about 10 times their estimated value, according to E! Online. Freeman's $2,722 per hole also came with a rainproof golf outfit and a set of spanking-new clubs. The auction by CharityFolks.com was held to benefit the nonprofit Plan!t Now, which provides aid for those in hurricane-damaged and storm-prone areas across North America.
JEFFREY WRIGHT ARRESTED IN BAR FIGHT
July
Actors Jeffrey Wright and Josh Brolin, co-stars of Oliver Stone's forthcoming George W. Bush film "W," were arrested during a bar fight early Saturday morning in Shreveport, Louisiana, according to the Shreveport Times. The actors, who are shooting the film in Shreveport, were reportedly caught up in a fight at the Stray Cat bar. When officers arrived just after 2 a.m., Brolin and Wright - who plays General Colin Powell in the film - along with other bar patrons allegedly attempted to impede police.
JAMES BROWN TO CO-HOST 'INSIDE THE NFL'
July
"Inside the NFL" moves from HBO to Showtime this year and will be hosted by James Brown, who is currently under contract with Showtime's sister channel CBS under the corporate umbrella Viacom. Brown, who is replacing Bob Costas as host, will be joined on the long-running series with CBS Sports analysts Cris Collinsworth and Phil Simms, reports Variety. The program will air Wednesday nights on Showtime beginning Sept. 10 and follows a run on competitor HBO that began in 1977. In addition to their "Inside the NFL" duties, Brown will continue anchoring "The NFL Today" on CBS, while Simms will once again be paired with Jim Nantz, and Collinsworth will work for NBC on its Sunday-night football package.
PRODUCERS OF B.I.G. DOCUMENTARY SUED
July
A man featured in the documentary "Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" is suing its producers for $5 million alleging they included footage of him battling the rapper without permission. William Troy McCune, a rapper during the 80s and 90s, says he is featured "throughout the video and is a dominant feature in the extras portion," according to the complaint. "The use of the photograph, image, and likeness of the Plaintiff, in the video by the Defendants, jointly and severally, and acting in active concert was unauthorized." Other defendants named in the suit include director Peter Spirer, co-producer Dream Hampton, Rugged Entertainment, and Aslan Productions.
SNIPES FREE TO TRAVEL FOR WORK
July
According to the Associated Press, federal judge William Terrell Hodges granted Wes;ey Snipes' request to spend three days in London completing post-production on "Gallowwalker," and eight weeks in Bangkok, Thailand to film "Chasing the Dragon." The actor was convicted in February on three counts of willfully failing to file his income taxes. The 45-year-old has appealed the convictions and his prison sentence to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta.
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