More information is now being made available about Mario Majorski, the crazy person who snapped and stormed the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood yesterday armed with two samurai swords. Of course, the confrontation ended in death when the building's guards shot and killed Majorski, a former Scientologist.
So, a gay couple in West Hollywood is getting famous for hanging an effigy of Sarah Palin from their roof!
Some people think it's hilarious and take pictures, others think it's in poor taste and say things like, "What if someone hung a Barack Obama mannequin from a noose?" To which we reply: Do you know anything about history? And also SOMEONE HAS!
News broke today that Vanity Fair and the National Security News Service are in a legal battle with the United States Navy over documents they believe prove John McCain's involvement in a car accident that injured or killed another person.
Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge "developed from first-hand sources" of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from the public. And in documents suing the Navy to release pertinent information, lawyers for the NS News Service allege that a cover-up may be at play
Yikes! But maybe not…
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BODY FOUND; LIKELY HUDSON'S NEPHEW "The Cook County medical examiner's office is investigating reports on Monday of a child's body found in an SUV in Chicago, a spokesperson for the office told CNN. The Chicago Tribune — citing the medical examiner's office — reported that the body of a boy was found Monday morning in a white SUV connected with Julian King, the missing nephew of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson."
-Mollygood
What in the world happened since Friday? You got to Philly for two days and suddenly Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother die in a tragic shooting, and that Arkansas anchorwoman whose home was broken into last Monday dies of injuries related to the attack.
Anne Pressly was only 26 years old and working as an anchor for KATV in Arkansas, when her home was broken into and she was beaten and stabbed. She survived in critical condition until the weekend, and then passed away. Pressly had had a small part as an Ann Coulter-ish commentator in W. Police are questioning whether or not the break-in was random, or if the anchor was targeted for the attack because of her high-profile career.
Either way, it is a tragic way to start the week. At least Barack Obama got to give a heartfelt prayer for Jennifer Hudson during his interview with A.C. Slater on Saturday.
In early 2005, the nation was shocked by the official revelation, after months of tabloid covers suggesting it, that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were splitting up. Of course, the official announcement came long after the couple made the decision to break up — and, stupidly, after the Christmas holiday when nobody cares about the news — but just in time for beacon of journalism Us Weekly to sic reporters Mara Reinstein and Joey Bartolomeo on the couple and, in five days, spit out a 40,000-word (large type) print book. An amazing feat of (ripped off?) reporting and celebrity news spin, to be sure.
And now, People is ready to carry on the tradition of rush publishing. CONTINUED »
The two police officers involved in the death of mentally unstable Brooklyn man Inman Morales have been stripped of their field duties following an investigation into the incident. Neither Officer Nicholas Marchesona, who Tasered the unarmed Morales off a 10-foot high ledge, causing him to fall to his death, or Lieutenant Michael Piggot, who ordered Morales Tasered, were fired.
After the jump, Piggot and Morales' slap on the wrist in the style of a 1950's sitcom, where it belongs.
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No, seriously, the NYPD will kill you. "Even if I'm a naked, unhinged man wielding only a light bulb?" you ask. Yes, even then.
We can be sure of this because that's exactly what Inman Morales was: nude, screaming non sequiturs and maniacally waving around a neon light on a ledge about 10 feet off the ground in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Police in a smaller town might have let Morales shout himself hoarse until he got hungry enough to go back inside. New York police shot Morales with a Taser, subsequently causing him to fall face-first, temporarily paralyzed, into the street below. The 35-year-old died a few hours later in Kings County Hospital.
Witnesses say one of the only intelligible parts of Morales' ranting was this: "You're going to kill me."
Police are reviewing whether or not Tasing Morales was proper protocol.
Video of the incident after the jump, because that's just how the New York Post (and we, apparently) do.
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Poor Michael Lohan. In just one short week, the former prison inmate publicly fought with his daughter and ex-wife and suffered the loss of his father. But things grew worse over the weekend when Lindsay failed to show up for her grandfather's wake in Long Island, choosing instead to spend her time shopping in Manhattan with girlfriend Samantha Ronson. This forced Mike to discuss Lindsay's absence with the always sympathetic X17 photo agency, which we assume will be followed up with another preposterous exclusive with OK! magazine.
Heath Ledger was paying $22k for his loft in SoHo at the time of his death in January. Now, the apartment is back on the market, with a four thousand dollar boost in price. What's weird about this story of the post-postmortem rent increase is…..didn't the one of the Olsen twins own that apartment? (Yes, the listing price in that post is one grand less than the one that is quoted now.)
So did Mary-Kate jack the price of her Broome St. pad? If she's capable of such morbid decisions, you can't put it past her to purposely wait until the Dark Knight hit the theaters before putting the apartment back on the market to increase buzz.
That, or Little Olsen had nothing to do with the re-listing of the property, because she is too rich, too famous, and too thin to concern herself with such matters. That's what brokers are for. Brokers with incredibly bad taste or incredibly good timing.
If you stumbled through yesterday afternoon not knowing whether Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, the first black congresswoman from Ohio, had died — she did, eventually — you're lack of breaking news knowledge isn't to blame. The press is, which first said Tubbs died after being found unconscious in her car, when in fact she was still alive. At around 2:10pm yesterday, says WaPo's Capital Briefing, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Associated Press, and CNN (we also saw it on MSNBC.com for a smidge) said Tubbs had died, with anonymous sources providing the info. Except at that time, she was still alive, albeit barely. So while their sources got the story wrong, they did predict the future, and aren't those the best kind of sources?
Too much time has passed since Heidi Montag's latest assault on music, and luckily for us the "singer" decided to release a new single just in time for tonight's season premiere of The Hills. The new song is called "Overdosin" and makes us want to follow the title's lead.
New York City’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater hosted a 72-hour improv comedy marathon over the weekend, so it’s not surprising that the jokes eventually turned to Heath Ledger, Estelle Getty and Bernie Mac’s recent deaths. But guest panelist Brooke Shields was evidently caught off guard:
One, a comedic legend. The other, one of the music industry's most recognizable voices.
Skating Through Life professional Mary-Kate Olsen scored hash mark on her Notches of Privilege bedpost, with DEA officials backing down off their request to question her about Heath Ledger's death. Recall that the feds wanted to quiz Olsen about the OxyContin that Ledger had in his system, but had no prescription for, but Olsen wanted immunity before she talked, indicating that she might, like, having something to hide. Rather than get Olsen — just finished with a promo tour for The Wackness — in an interrogation room, the feds are closing Ledger's case, thus not moving on a grand jury subpoena against Olsen. Of course, the NYPD also let Olsen off the hook immediately after Ledger's passing, when they decided not to interview her then, even though she was the first person notified about his unconscious body and had her own security detail head to the scene.
The only way to get Mary-Kate Olsen to go on record with authorities investigating Heath Ledger's Rx-fueled death is to grant her immunity. This is different from the immunity she always seeks from the fashion police — those guys know no limits. The immunity she's after is from the feds; DEA agents are trying to ask her about some of the drugs, like OxyContin, that were found in Ledger's system and blamed for his death. Per-snaps Ms. Olsen was the illegal provider, given her previous romantic linkage to Ledger and her rumored enjoyment of such substances? If Olsen did provide the late Batman star with the drugs, she might be found legally culpable for what transpired after Leger's taking them, which explains why she wants a promise not to be prosecuted before providing any As to the feds' Qs.
Update: Even without immunity, Olsen speaks! Um, through her attorney, who says she "had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them."
LA Times writer Eric P. Lucas has had enough of the Heath Ledger hype and wrote a strongly-worded article to argue otherwise. Except instead of convincing everyone that the Oscar buzz is unnecessary, he makes the fatal mistake of insulting Heath and sending his diehard fans into an angry frenzy.
It was while watching a rerun of Golden Girls just now — cable news all day long is too much — that we learned of Estelle Getty's passing, after struggling for years with dementia. Playing Sophia on The Golden Girls for seven years, Getty's bitterly sarcastic character became one of those one-liner characters that any gay could recite at least 10 quotes from. Below, one of our favorite Sophia moments. CONTINUED »
Arriving in our mailbox this morning was this reminder that, exactly six months ago today, an actor who was not Heath Ledger died:
Hello! :)
I am a huge fan of the late Brad Renfro. Today, Tuesday, July 15th, marks 6 months since Brad's untimely passing. Is there anyway that you could mention something in honor of Brad on the anniversary of his death? This is a significant and sad day for Brad's family, friends, and fans who loved him dearly, and as a fan, I think it would be so nice to see someone in the media actually pay respect to him on this day of remembrance.
And we were totally ready to whip up a couple lines of copy noting Renfro's half death-day … until we got to the second paragraph of the email: CONTINUED »
Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary who arrived from Fox News, and most recently was a correspondent for CNN, died this morning following a three-year battle against colon cancer. He was 53.
It's always in times of death that even one's enemies find as many good things to say about you as your friends. So while Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch, Brit Hume, and the Bush administration has accolades ready for the soundbite, so too do those who found him most appalling, and spent at least part of their careers attacking him. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
