If TMZ's shtick is breaking courthouse news, then FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman's beat is charity scandal. More than happy to dig through the non-profit records of Scientology and Kabbalah, Friedman turns his attention to the Britney Spears Foundation, the pop star's erstwhile attempt at doing good for humanity. But like Ms. Spears' personal life in recent years, the foundation is suffering its own troubles. Tax filings from 2006 show the charity was nearly $200,000 in the red; some $150,000 came in as revenue, but $345,000 went out as expenses. Some red flags, in case you were looking for them: $50k was earmarked for Britney's summer camp for kids, but that's all but closed down; some $214,000 for grants are listed, but without any specifics for what those grants are for; and one of two people listed on the foundation's payroll is a former cop previously embroiled in a charity scandal.

CONTINUED »

Like any do-gooding multi-hundred-millionaire movie star, Hancock's Will Smith is involved in the philanthropy scene. He's also, as prying eyes have woefully pointed out, been involving himself with the Tom Cruise scene, which means of course that he's basically a raving Scientologist trying to hold in his inner homo, because that's what the cult is about, right? Back in 2004, Smith donated $20k to something called "HOPE: The Hollywood Education and Literacy Program," which is the church's "literary program," where children get homeschooled and, we're guessing, brainwashed in their formative years. Now, he and Jada have been plugging a way at their New Village Academy, a private school they're funding that will open in December, which got the LAT treatment over the weekend. Naturally, the first word out of the school's mouth is that it is not a Scientology facility. (Even Will and Jada still insist they aren't of the church.) But a certain anti-Scientology crusader is casting his eye of suspicion on this educational institution, mostly because of a … goat.

CONTINUED »

It's coverage like this that the Times was talking about over the weekend when it came to mega-celebrity and uber-brand Lance Armstrong: The man may be able to campaign for cancer research and attach his name to a new health website, but where the paid-for marketing goes, so too does the gossip chronicling. Which means every time he shows up to a late night talk show, the gossip blogs will caption his photos entering and exiting the set with "homewrecker," thanks to him "stealing" Kate Hudson away from mentally fragile Owen Wilson; his name won't be boldfaced without the mentions of his various liaisons with Sheryl Crow (a couple years), Tory Burch (a couple months), and Ashley Olsen (a couple minutes). But this really isn't a case of Mr. Armstrong "tolerating" or "dealing with" this type of coverage.

CONTINUED »

Paul Newman, who the National Enquirer says has six months left to live after battling lung cancer, might be the last decent guy in Tinseltown. Perhaps understanding that he's on his way out, he's taken his entire stake in salad dressing and cookie company Newman’s Own … and given it to charity. All $120 million worth. Newman is no stranger to giving away heaps of cash to the deserving: He's long supported a wide range of under-the-radar causes, while supporting his own international Hole in the Wall Gang organization. All of which most major news outlets have already written up in their prepared obits.

In an effort to aid those who were affected by the May 12 earthquake in China, Northwest Airlines is asking customers to donate WorldPerks miles to The Salvation Army – which is "actively participating in the disaster relief efforts to help survivors who are suffering from the loss of their homes, belongings and loved ones" – and plans to match donations up to one million miles.

From Northwest's WorldPerks Terms of Service: "Award travel has no cash value and will not be refunded."

Way to pitch in, guys.

Was Harvey Weinstein so furious with Page Six's report about Sharon Stone's amfAR antics that he bum rushed every other gossip in the industry asking for a counter attack?

That's what we've been hearing since the Post's item ran on Saturday, which chronicled Stone, who hosted the event, which raised $10 million, crawling into Diddy's lap to discuss his crack budget and spending hours on "self-indulgent commentary."

Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company helped underwrite the event, scored at least one coup: Fox 411's Roger Friedman battled back against Page Six, as we discussed earlier today, defending Stone's hosting abilities. Nevermind that Friedman and Weinstein are friends, and part of the gossip's Cannes column was spent talking about the film Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which Weinstein's company will be distributing abroad.

So after all the chatter about what Katie Couric's big announcement on this morning's Today show would be, and the revelation that she and NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson would be announcing a joint one-hour cancer telethon, here's the big reveal. And yes, Katie's legs are on display.

So was it hard to get the competing networks to work together on this? Of course not!, says Katie: "It was wonderfully easy, really. I think the opportunity to do something for the greater good, to set aside our competitive differences, to raise money and awareness for something that affects all of us … I think everyone said, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"

The only question that needed sorting out, then, was which network's morning show would get to make the big announcement. Guess that decision was made from a ratings standpoint.

CONTINUED »

Bless any celebrity that takes on the unenviable task of entertaining the wealthy and powerful at a charity event in an effort to raise money for a good cause. That's what Sharon Stone did at the annual Cannes event for amfAR, the AIDS research organization whose capitalization nobody can quite get right, hosting the four-event auction that nabbed a cool $10 million, with an assist from Madonna.

But Stone's method of scrounging up cash didn't win everyone over.

A scathing Page Six report last week had a spy recounting her jokes about Diddy's budget for crack and all the sob stories she told about herself. "Her whole speech was about her," said P6's source. "What she has done, how her crusade had affected her . . . all with the backdrop of dying kids on the screen behind her. Then, it was [bleep] this, [bleep] that throughout the whole auction. It was vulgar beyond belief … At one point she actually said one of the items from the auction could be hung from 'your [beep] ring.'"

That didn't sit well with Fox 411 gossip Roger Friedman. Which is why he's on the attack today against Page Six's report.

CONTINUED »

Madonna helped amfAR raise $10 million (up $3m from last year) last night at its annual Cinema Against AIDS AmFar dinner in Cannes by auctioning off her diamond encrusted Karl Lagerfeld custom-designed handbag (including her lip gloss, lip balm, magnifying mirror, hair clips and lozenges, and, uh, used blotting paper), snagging about $1.5m, and a private two-song performance before one of her concerts, which grabbed about $600k. [Fox 411] More impressive, however, was that Madonna got Guy Ritchie to attend with her.

How does a huge entertainment giant that's a subsidiary of an even larger media behemoth respond to an international natural disaster? By sending money? Food stuffs? Enlisting staffers to volunteer?

No.

Viacom's MTV is responding to the Myanmar/Burma cyclone disaster by asking others to do something. But they've made a 90-second video for the pitch!

CONTINUED »

The stars of Sex and the City are having a hard time booking magazine covers — no editor wants them, we're told, because they just don't sell; SJP in particular. (Vogue and Marie Claire are said to be among those who passed.) And while they might be struggling for that type of press, it's not like it'll impact your decision to see the movie. Of course you will!

But what if you could attend the premiere and meet one of the show's stars? That's what an eBay charity auction is offering: With a high bid hovering at just over $15k, anyone with semi-deep pockets can buy their way into attending with porn starlet Kristin Davis, where you can ask her all about those nude photos going around.

Proceeds go to Oxfam America. Answers go to us.

In 2006, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie each donated more than $4 million to their own Jolie Pitt Foundation, which handed out more than $2.3 million in its first year. One million dollars went to both Doctors Without Borders and to the Global AIDS Alliance.

Exactly zero dollars went toward a cult or one of its programs.

Meanwhile, between People's $4.1 million, British OK! Hello!'s $3.5 million, and other international sales of baby Shiloh's first photos, the Jolie-Pitts racked up some $10 million from selling their daughter's pics in '06, all of which was all supposed to go to a single undisclosed charity. Either that charity wasn't their own, or it seems like a few pennies have gone missing.

We own a Product (RED) iPod Nano. It is shiny, and the red goes really well with a Nike Dri-FIT tee we wear to the gym a lot. We bought the RED iPod out of pure vanity, not to support HIV-positive children in Africa. Hopefully that pisses off Bono, because that was our secondary goal. He's just so smug about his philanthropy.

The U2 fontman's Product RED, which has enlisted corporate support from the likes of Dell, Motorola, Apple, and Armani, is, like any charity, deserving of accolades. Up to a point.

As with all philanthropic endeavors, many of the dollars coming in – in this case, from the sale of consumer goods – goes to overhead, and whatever is left over might wind up in the hands of the needy.

So despites the tens of thousands of RED products sold, a grand total of "just" $22 million $59 million has found its way to Africa so far. Okay, not exactly small change: In Rwanda, reports the NYT, contributions of $22 million have helped fund "33 testing and treatment centers, supplied medicine for more than 6,000 women to keep them from transmitting H.I.V. to their babies, and financed counseling and testing for thousands more patients."

But in March '07, AdAge reported RED companies spent $100 million in advertising, which yielded only $18 million for the charity. (RED countered by saying it spent $50 million on advertising, generating $25 million for the charity. Critics have called AdAge's report based mostly on conjecture, and we might have to agree with them.)

So how does all this money change hands? And is all the effort even worth it?

CONTINUED »

While we were eating Chinese food, Spencer Pratt was following the P.R. Christmas Eve tradition of serving food to the homeless. This was his second highly publicized good will trip to the Los Angeles Mission in two months. What a mensch, this one!

[Photo Credit: WireImage]

We’re all about charity here at Jossip. That’s why we give money in the tip jar at Starbucks and have partnered with Bid 2 Beat AIDS for their auction for the third straight year.

Back in the fall of 2004, we had an internship at [redacted]. During the night of the election, one of our co-workers wore a "Vote For Pedro" shirt. This was before we had seen Napoleon Dynamite and before we had graduated from college. Naturally, we were intimidated by this guy's superior knowledge of the geo-political situation. We didn't even know what Pedro was running for. Anyway, don't let our traumatic experience with Napoleon Dynamite stop you from bidding on this poster signed by star Jon Heder.

**Jossip has teamed up with the non-profit LIFEbeat and the Bid 2 Beat AIDS charity auction to raise awareness and provide support to the AIDS community. All funds generated go directly to LIFEbeat**