Saturday, September 27, 2008
Welcome Clay and Lindsay, Your 2008 Gay Homecoming Royalty!
9:35AM STV | Forget it — we’re not even bothering with happy hour tonight. We’re going straight for our Dirt Sandwich, a heaving helping of all the entertainment news and scandal that’s fit to consume from the busy week behind us. This episode features the uniquely robust flavor of Clay Aiken’s truth and consequences, the savory zing of Lohan/Ronson revelations, and a soothing aftertaste of Emmys, Dancing with the Stars and swimsuit legend Sarah Palin. How about some extreme face time with Joe Biden? Hungry yet? Fine — you can have the whole thing, crafted from scratch by Defamer’s resident video-delicatessen wizardess Molly McAleer. Bon appetit! More »
Diane Keaton: From Here to Obscurity?
9:15AM STV | No one around here really wants to have the Save-a-Fading-Hollywood-Icon conversation every day. But less than 24 hours after Ed McMahon’s sad, bought-and-paid-for declaration that “I am officially a rapper,” the quiet dumping of Diane Keaton’s new film Smother (or the fact that there even is a Diane Keaton film called Smother) leaves us no real choice. The Oscar-winner’s latest is her fourth consecutive Straight-to-Flopz™ effort since 2007, as well as the third during that time (alongside Because I Said So and Mama’s Boy) in which she’s portrayed a suffocating harpy mum. Worse yet — depressingly so — Smother is the first Diane Keaton film in our adult lifetimes that we didn’t even know existed until after it opened. Not. Cool. More »
Lifetime’s Plan to Poach ‘Project Runway’ From Bravo Just Got Snipped
8:55AM Kyle Buchanan | Designers, gather round: we’ve got an announcement. Though the sixth season of Project Runway is filming right now in downtown LA, it may be a long time before the episodes see the light of day — if ever. Already pushed to January 2009, Runway has just been rocked by a new development in the contentious lawsuit hatched when the Weinstein Company moved the show to Lifetime over the fierce protestations of proud gay parent Bravo. Now, the judge in the case has ruled against the Weinsteins, unravelling their plans like an errant thread pulled too far: More »
7:45AM Kyle Buchanan | Appletinis for Everyone: He’s known as a tomcatting party boy, but at Wednesday’s Outfest Legacy Awards, NBC topper Ben Silverman told the audience he had a confession to make (after first confirming that industry gossip Nikki Finke was nowhere to be found). “I debated whether or not to say this, as I am a bit of a press target,” he began tentatively, cradling the “Outtie” award he accepted on behalf of NBC Universal. The well-heeled gay audience craned forward; was Ryan Seacrest’s best pal “Beijing Ben” about to come out of the closet? Might this explain all those suspiciously well-informed WeHo jokes Silverman had made on KISS-FM? “No, it’s not me,” he continued. “But my mother is gay.” Silverman then got back to work on his latest fall revamp: Kath & Kim & Gay Bubbe. [The Advocate] More »
‘Bruno’ Takes Milan: A Sacha Baron Cohen Couture Scrapbook
6:55AM STV | After a lull in Bruno sightings that felt like an unfabulous forever, Universal’s $42-million dollar man leapt back onto the publicity hamster wheel Thursday with an appearance at Fashion Week in Milan. From the looks of the accompanying news video, things probably could have gone better with the police (have you ever spent the night in a squalid, rapey Italian jail?), but from the looks of the wire photos snapped before security shot out the lights, Sacha Baron Cohen’s trailblazing German model clearly outmatched any of the dingy frocks in Agatha Ruiz de la Prada’s spring collection. More »
America, Sarah Palin’s Got Talent!
6:35AM Kyle Buchanan | In her recent SNL skit, Tina Fey attracted some of the biggest laughs when she played vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a politician more adept at striking a pose than learning foreign policy. Now, thanks to the miracle of the YouTubes, we can check Fey’s moves against the real thing! Yes, the tape from Palin’s 1984 stint in the Miss Alaska competition has finally surfaced, and it involves the then-Sarah Heath donning a red swimsuit and doing a full round of turns for the audience and judges. The YouTube uploader promises more Miss Alaska clips soon, including Palin’s talent entry (playing the flute!). Until those surface, we have to ask: could Matt Damon pull off a one-piece so well? [HuffPo] More »
Natalie Portman’s Ex Not Afraid to Show Off the NSFW Bits She’ll Be Missing
6:15AM Kyle Buchanan | Until their recent breakup, the unlikely pairing of actress Natalie Portman with scruffy, Manson-resembling troubadour Devendra Banhart had people asking, “What exactly does she see in him?” We tried to explain that starlets love themselves some hairy hippies, but still, the naysayers would not be deterred. Now, Banhart may have provided some insight into the matter with the album art for his upcoming side project, Megapuss. Baring all in a very, very NSFW manner, the folk singer shows off what had until recently been the sole property of one Queen Amidala: More »
5:55AM Defamer Hollywood | Recoveries: After that horrible plane crash last week, it seems the sole survivors DJ AM and Travis Barker are doing a little better. AM has been released from the hospital in Georgia and is on his way back to LA. His publicist says, “While he is deeply saddened by the events, he is thankful for all of the love and support he has been receiving from fans and friends world wide. We ask that you continue to respect his privacy as he rests and heals and mourns the loss of his friends.” Meanwhile Jermaine Dupri just visited Travis in the hospital and told People Magazine all about it. “He’s doing good, he’s gonna be alright. He’s just got a lot of healing to do,” says the producer. What’s more, Travis is getting his hospital room all tricked out with iPods and computers so he can be more comfortable. “He’s supposed to send a message out to everybody in a couple of days to let everybody know that he’s feeling better.” Glad to hear it. [People] More »
BREAKING: MGM Bomb-Threat Tradition Revived; Building Evacuated
5:30AM STV | It feels just like old times today at MGM, where the dawn of a new, Weinstein-free era shines on the horizon and staffers are once again evacuating MGM Tower — “Running with boxes of precious scripts and screeners under my arm,” in one Defamer operative’s words — in the wake of yet another bomb threat. An official e-mail circulating now notes that the LAPD are en route and that, if everything checks out, operations are expected to resume around 2 p.m. We also hear that Fanboys was safely moved to an undisclosed location until Harvey arrives to pick it up after work; hopefully the worst is over. More »
