Fox News gossip Roger Friedman, who’s spent the last few weeks chronicling the build up to the Sex and the City movie in between Michael Jackson updates, on the film’s “one odd thing … which still doesn’t make sense”: “We never see of the girls’ families. Carrie’s elaborate wedding doesn’t include even a mention of parents or siblings. Charlotte’s pregnancy, ditto, includes no doting grandmother. I dimly recall some mention of Miranda’s family in the TV series. Here they are non-existent.” [Fox411]
FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman, in dissing Oprah, conspicuously continues his tirade against black people. Or maybe just Barack Obama supporters? [Fox 411]
Whew. FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman returns from Mariah Carey album reviews to his area of expertise: Michael Jackson. The pop star, now wallowing in expired fame as Janet Jackson’s older brother, paid $3 million to his Neverland Ranch creditors as a way of buying himself another 60 days from their auctioning off his old circus pad. He’s already eaten halfway into his extension and a white knight, much like his children’s faces, doesn’t appear to be showing himself anytime soon. [Fox 411]
Above: Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman’s item that ran this morning about Stop Loss actor Ryan Phillippe and homewrecker Abbie Cornish.
Below: A sneaky edit made to the item after it was published. [HP]
BACK TO BLACK On Sunday, FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman published what could have easily been a Clinton camp-fed item about how black celebs aren’t supporting Barack Obama’s campaign with donations. He listed Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Denzel Washington among those who haven’t followed Oprah’s lead. But what about … Eddie Murphy, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Camille Cosby, Tyler Perry, Tyra Banks, Phylicia Rashad, Dennis Haysbert, Tracey Edmonds, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Gabrielle Union, Hill Harper, Holly Robinson Peete, Jamie Foxx, Nia Long, Morgan Freeman, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Regina King, Jasmine Guy, Debra Lee, and Michael Jordan? [Stereohyped]
Newly installed NBC programming wunderkind Ben Silverman is losing his shit over Rosie O’Donnell. In a word, it’s love … at first Nielsen. So says Roger Friedman, who reports Silverman is “telling friends” that he’ll do anything to get Rosie on the Peacock’s roster. Silverman is said to want Rosie for a primetime game show as well a daytime competitor to The View.
But that’s not the real news from Friedman. We hear the Fox gossip is celebrating his birthday this weekend. We’re sending over a Pop Burger gift certificate.
Roger Friedman’s outting of Bob Scheiffer as a Katie Couric bad PR plant continues to reverberate. In his FoxNews.com column yesterday, Friedman fingered Schieffer as the CBS insider behind Katie Couric’s publicity troubles — ratings, on-set tension, feuding with CBS’ in-house PR diva Gil Schwartz, producer hopping rationales. The evidence of Schieffer’s doings: His airtime on the CBS Evening News has been decreasing. Or something.
Schieffer is cited as the source behind Gail Shister’s Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday column – the front page, very-insider article from the woman who just had her TV industry column canned – where she laid out claims that CBS execs feel Katie’s hiring was an “an expensive, unfixable mistake” and that she could be gone after the 2008 presidential election.
Not that those sentiments aren’t common knowledge at this point.
CONTINUED »
Like many of you, we love nothing more than good ol’ media catfight (like that girl-on-girl kerfuffle at the Times!) Which is why we’re enjoying this little gem Intern Wendy dug up, in which Fox 411 columnist Roger Friedman takes a potshot at resident nutjob, Nancy Grace. As Friedman writes:
And then crazy ol’ Nancy Grace borrowed our story last night on CNN Headline News. She managed to take everything we’d reported and mix it up in a Cuisinart until several people were all talking at once and making no sense.
And while we empathize with Friedman, we’re forced to wonder: how was last night different from every other night?
• In a surprising twist of fate, it was Whitney Houston who wowed at Barbara Davis’ annual Carousel of Hope ball, while Ivana Trump had to be removed for being a wee bit too intoxicated. [R&M]
• X17 leads the paparazzi and tabloid charges in a possible lawsuit against blogger Perez Hilton. [Radar]
• Angelina Jolie readies the legal clan to sue the director of a Cambodian charity she’s accusing of stealing funds. [Reuters]
• Madonna’s adopted baby hopeful David is already joining the Kabbalah cult. [Scoop]
• Scientologists can aim their thetan meters at Paula Redstone, who planted the sour seed on Tom Cruise that eventually brought Sumner’s distaste. [Page Six]
• Roger Friedman claims he had the Reese Witherspoon-Ryan Phillippe breakup scoop weeks ago — but decided not to run it. [Fox 411]
Today’s Fox 411 column from Roger Friedman included with it a little update about Jermaine Dupri’s split from Virgin Records’ Urban Division following the sales slump of girlfriend Janet Jackson. Also included? A reference to a previous column that, supposedly, broke the news “exclusively.” And all it takes is one mention of “exclusive” to get our Scoop Wars synapse firing.
From today’s Fox 411:
We told you exclusively on Saturday [Oct 21st], but it has since then been confirmed that producer Jermaine Dupri, boyfriend of Janet Jackson, has left Virgin Records, and the complete flop of Janet’s new album is the reason.
Oh, but wait, what’s that? You say that even if Friedman has the story on Oct. 21, the tag team Rush & Molloy had that story .. the day before? From R&M on Friday, Oct. 20:
We told you on Monday that Jermaine Dupri had threatened to quit his job as president of Virgin Record’s urban music division because he blamed his colleagues for badly marketing the CD of his girlfriend, Janet Jackson. Yesterday, sources said Dupri was in fact out of there. A rep for Virgin CEO Jason Flom had no comment by deadline.
And, to be sure, the Monday mentioned was Oct. 16, giving George and Joanna a full five-day lead on Friedman’s column. And the obvious winner in this round of Scoop Wars is: Rush & Molloy.
From the riveting gossip column on Fox 411’s Roger Friedman:
Just in case you were wondering, former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey was not enjoying himself last week on “The View.” Grilled like a hot dog by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the Gay American was nervous as hell. “His hands were shaking” during the interview, a set-sider reports
Thanks, Roger, but no. We weren’t wondering about McGreevey’s sweaty palms. What we are wondering is if your secret set-sider tipster is actually, uh, Rosie O’Donell? Maybe?
From Rosie’s blog, full of random haiku ramblings:
jim mcgreevys hands were shaking
in the green room
humanity trumps celebrity
grace enters for all
Friedman should just stick with the faux Ryan Adams sightings.
Mick Jagger Rolls With Scorsese [Roger Friedman, Fox 411 (Last Item)]
Normally, Ashlee Simpson can only be held responsible for ruining a usually decent Saturday Night Live music set. But for Fox 411 gossipist Roger Friedman, Jessica’s younger sister represents something more catastrophic.
Simpson, famous for lip-synching on “Saturday Night Live,” is outselling multiple Grammy-winner and legend Stevie Wonder two-to-one, despite positive reviews for his new album, “A Time 2 Love.”
This is proof, I feel, that the Earth is about to experience some terrible event worse than the Indonesian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina or the Kashmir earthquake.
Oh god! An Ashlee and Jessica duet?!
We love it when a gossipist just gives it to us straight without feeling the need to wind the story (usually, actually, just a punchline) around lengthy phrasing. This website gets away with it because, quite frankly, we’d be straight ripping off other columns otherwise.
So Fox 411’s Roger Friedman gets a token of our thanks for wrapping up Jennifer Lopez’s An Unfinished Life premiere behavior so nicely. And since it’s Fashion Week, that means not one but two 8-balls.
What readers need to know right away is that she had a personal team of five gigantic security guys who accompanied her to last night’s premiere of “An Unfinished Life.†They did not take their eyes off of her.
Also: She, superstar husband Marc Anthony, her mother and sisters dined in a private room at Megu after the screening.
Though Roger could’ve taken an even easier route: “J. Lo remains a diva.” Not quite the flair as the above, but it would’ve saved us a full minute we could’ve devoted to watching CNN blog reporter Jacki Schechner touch video screens.
But oddly, Roger makes no mention of the fact that, uh, J. Lo and hubby Marc didn’t even walk the red carpet, thanks to PETA protestors. That’s why she was apologizing (to the press) on David Letterman.
Editorial Director
