Much to Harvey Levin’s glee (chagrin?), the FCC has labeled his syndicated half hour of celebrities walking to and from Starbucks, the valet guy, and Kitson as a proper news program. Why is that even a big deal? Because if it weren’t news, then political candidates could demand “equal access” opportunities if TMZ gave airtime to a competing hopeful. Levin’s show qualified as “a bona fide newscast because it reports news of some area of current events in a manner similar to more traditional newscasts.” God bless American, where Lindsay Lohan smoking a cigarette is news.
Screen grabbing TMZ, Team Arianna kinda forgot they were also exposing the identity of Billy Bob Thornton’s 14-year-old son. [HuffPo Media]
Harvey Levin’s TMZ.com used to be a media darling, with the blogs rushing to defend its easy jokes and celebrity pitfall chronicling. But lately, the backlash has been stirring, whether its the site’s picking on aging or weight-gaining stars or its borderline racist humor. And now it’s run afoul of a single media practice that’s actually for the good of society: protecting the identities of sex abuse victims.
In reporting on allegations of sexual abuse against Billy Bob Thornton’s son, TMZ not only named the 14-year-old boy (not that it’d be terribly hard to figure out), but also runs a photo of the boy, who, courtesy a relationship with a 22-year-old woman, is the “alleged victim of ‘unlawful sex.’”
THIRTY MILE ZONE, AND THEN SOME Harvey Levin might be angling for another TMZ spin-off with People’s Court Raw, where users select two videos two battle against each other in debate. That said, his D.C. gossip site never got off the ground, and TMZ sidekick sites like Star vs. Star are pretty much a waste of Internet space. [Portfolio]
In July of ‘07, we shared with you the rock that TMZ.com’s Gillian Sheldon was wearing when she accepted partner Tim Heckendorf’s proposal. Tomorrow, it’ll be joined by a wedding band, when the happy couple exchange vows at a ceremony outside Los Angeles. An early congratulations to them both! And in good fashion, we’ll probably bring you the wedding dress on Monday.
Shocking only in a “we’re surprised it took this long,” TMZ.com is facing a lawsuit from Anna Nicole Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, on charges of libel. Namely, she says an April story on the site, which claimed she had a relationship with her stepbrother, hurt Virgie’s chances of gaining custody of Anna’s daughter Dannietlynn. Along with TMZ, three other bloggers were named in the suit, including a one Lyndal Harrington, whose blog we cannot find on The Google. (Maybe this is it?) Court docs are here.
Lindsay Lohan stops by TMZ to poke fun at herself, a ratings favor offered to Harvey Levin with the slim hope he might lay off her for 12 to 14 hours.
Though everyone in the entertainment media already receives TMZ.com’s barrage of email fire on a daily basis, common folk can now get their latest DUI news on the go with the gossip blog’s new mobile site. Did Paris run a red light? Is Lindsay on Robertson? Did Nicole go shopping for baby clothes? Just point your cell phone’s browser to TMZ.com to find out! And if your phone is tricked out enough, you’ll even be able to watch video clips of David Spade leaving The Ivy. Hope you have that unlimited data plan!
Four-time felon and O.J. Simpson setter-upper Thomas Riccio supposedly scored a cool $165,000 from TMZ.com in September in exchange for the audio tape of Simpson screaming at sports memorabilia collectors during that infamous spell in Las Vegas.
“While he initially sought $2 million, Riccio settled for the six-figure payout, which is still likely the largest sum paid by a gossip site for a story,” reports The Smoking Gun, which, like TMZ, is owned by Time Warner. “In its original report about the tape, TMZ stated that it had “obtained” the recordings, avoiding any mention that their procurement was secured by a $165,000 check delivered to Riccio’s Los Angeles home.
“Riccio signed a TMZ contract containing a confidentiality clause barring him from disclosing details of the financial transaction, presumably so that future “sources” don’t use the $165,000 payoff as a template in their negotiations with the site, which is co-owned by Time Warner’s AOL and Telepictures units. TMZ is apparently the only Time Warner entity that is allowed to pay for stories or tips (that corporate roster includes CNN, magazines like Time, People, and Sports Illustrated, and small outfits like The Smoking Gun).”
Heh. People doesn’t pay? Cute.
TMZ has previously denied to us that they ever pay for tips, but it is common practice to pay “license fees” for photos, videos, and, apparently, audio tapes. Between paying for baby photos and reimbursing its subjects for “location fees,” how else do you think Time Warner subsidiaries get scoops through their accountants’ books?
While we imagine Richard Johnson and Paula Froelich sometimes raise their voices at each other in between telling off publicists, the type of Page Six infighting we’re really enjoying is happening at their struggling dot com.
The three-month-old PageSix.com just pointed toward the exit sign with Sean Borg, the “mover and shaker’ on the London social scene,” as he calls himself on his website, and all-around opportunist. After spending just a few months with the gossip website, Borg fell victim to his own success … in running his mouth.
And he had a little problem, some say, being a little too imaginative with his gossip stories. Those who know Borg might call him a “master two-facer,” and we’ve heard plenty of anecdotes to explain the superlative. CONTINUED »
Here’s a lecture series we’re sad to be missing. Loyola Law School Entertainment & Sports Law Society is hosting a symposium titled “”The Paparazzi, Celebrity Bloggers…and the Lawyers Who Represent Them.” On the panel: Warner Bros. Entertainment SVP and general counsel Jeremy Williams (read: TMZ’s attorney), Perez Hilton legal counsel Michael Amir, and John Tehranian (the fellow pictured here), a Loyola visiting professor and the attorney to Perez foe X17 (who we’ve had our own share of dealings with).
Now go get schooled by a group of men who will all cite case law to tell you why they’re important.
That TMZ is engaging in yet another brand extension – there’s the website, the TV show, and you might even be able to count the two dozen emails they send each day as a unit unto itself – is of little import. But TMZ’s move to MySpaceTV, where it will have a dedicated video channel, is: It’s another team up between the Time Warner website (which is technically a project from subsidiaries AOL and Telepictures) and News Corp. TMZ’s television show is produced with Fox Television and broadcast on Fox-owned stations, and now it’s new web brand will sit on News Corp.’s social networking site. Jesus, Rupert, just make a bid for AOL already.
If Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine can’t get his “Leave Britney Alone Law” passed – where licensed celebs would be entitled a 20-yard “personal safety zone” perimeter from all paparazzi – then perhaps current statutes will do the job: The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is arresting photogs for cheap offenses like jaywalking. The story was reported by TMZ. Among those detained: two TMZ photogs.
The most vehement example of PageSix.com’s mission to take on TMZ.com is going on right now, with Barron Hilton’s DUI arrest this morning, where he allegedly mowed over a gas pump attendant while pulling in the station.
Both sites are sending out breaking email news alerts, posting furiously on their sites, and claiming exclusives, though neither is offering much information the other isn’t.
At 1:02pm EST, TMZ lead with news of the arrest at 8:30am. By 1:08pm, they had updated their story after speaking with police, and received a description of the car he was driving (a black Mercedes), that he had a passenger in the car, and that he was in the middle of being booked. At 1:21pm, they were reporting no drugs or paraphernalia had been found in the car.
PageSix.com’s post timestamp has their first story on the matter at 1:44pm, with a family insider said to have delivered the scoop. By 2:01pm they could “exclusively reveal” Hilton “allegedly struck a garage worker with his car early this morning as he careened into a 76 gas station off the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.” (TMZ had the news at 1:25pm.) They’ve also got the attendant’s name, Fernando Pellez, and a quote: “I was knocked to the ground. The Mercedes lost control as it was turning into the gas station and Barron got out of the car and he was totally drunk and couldn’t walk straight.”
And at 2:32pm, they had older sister Paris’ reaction: “I am sad for my little brother. I hear he is doing OK. I am there for him and will be speaking to him in an hour or so hopefully to lend my support.” Though TMZ had, at 1:26pm, received a statement by papa Rick.
You’re waking up to rampant grabs for exclusive news that Angelina Jolie is once again pregnant … with twins! Star magazine’s senior exec editor Martin Gould sent out a late-night email claiming its their exclusive and “PLEASE ENSURE YOU CREDIT STAR AND LINK TO THE STARMAGAZINE.COM” (o-kay!).
Photo agency Bauer Griffin is hyping its own website scoop: “Sources have told only Bauer Griffin Online that not only is the pregnancy rumor true, and it’s twins, but that Angelina was spotted at the OB GYN office of the doctor who helped Nicole Richie.” That doctor is Dr. Jason Rothbart, whose fees just doubled.
Us Weekly seems to be falling behind, with only a Jan. 16 item that quotes George Clooney shooting down rumors of the pregnancy. Clearly he’s a stupid moron!
Even the disreputable photo agency X17 is claiming an “X17 XCLUSIVE,” with the balls to say that “other news outlets have been speculating that Angelina Jolie is once again with child, but an X17online inside source confirms that she’s not only pregnant, she’s expecting twins!” How xclusive!
Most surprising, however, is neither TMZ.com nor People have yet to post a story about it. It’s as if they’re waiting for a confirmation or something! And Bauer’s Life & Style and In Touch, which last week published one of its regular Angelina “Pregnancy News” cover stories – which is suddenly more relevant than the “Britney Spears: ‘I’m Not Crazy’” cover that hit newsstands Wednesday – is also absent from the conversation. And they live for Brangelina!
And if you think the new MySpace Celebrity has any updates for you, well, you’re probably one of those people who never decamped MySpace for Facebook.
Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. And she’s keeping it. And she’s 16.
We know what you’re thinking; we’re thinking it too. This is going to be the best Spears Christmas ever!
We’d blame Juno , but there’s no way Jamie Lynn has seen it.
Update:
A Christian publishing company has ended its deal to distribute Lynne Spears’s ironic parenting book, which we think is a mistake. That shit would sell like mitten-gloves at Urban Outfitters.
[TMZ]
• Lance Armstrong insults our intelligence (and makes us question his) by insisting he’s just friends with Ashley Olsen, and referring to her as a “nice, smart lady.”
• Spice Girls fill in for Kanye West at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Throughout the performance, Posh was overheard murmuring quietly to herself, “Th-th-that that don’t kill me. Will only make me stronger.”
• Meanwhile, Heidi Klum has altogether too much fun with her Bedazzler.
• Natalie Portman becomes the latest unattached celebrity to say she won’t get married until the gays do.
• TMZ: The doctor who “operated on Kanye West’s mom the day before she died” also left a sponge inside of another patient. And now there’s a warrant out for his arrest. Not that we’re directly accusing him of anything, mind you. But allegedly? He totally killed Mama West.
Did you know that the doctor who performed cosmetic surgery on Donda West nearly had his medical license revoked by the California Medical Board after sustaining multiple DUI’s? Did you know he wasn’t even certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery?
TMZ did! And odds are, so did Donda West.
Not surprisingly, the surgeon (who, as we now know, is no stranger to brushes with the law) is denying any/all wrongdoing. [Stereohyped]
[Image via TMZ]
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