It's be a rough week for celebrity photogs. Normally content to snap pictures of Paris Hilton cruising into Hyde as she sings along to her first single and chase Lindsay Lohan off the road, now they're getting roughed up by their very subjects. Sure, celebs fighting with the paprazzi is nothing new (we're pretty sure that's how Justin Timberlake stayed busy in between records). But when, say, Woody Harrelson chokes a TMZ-employed photog – and it's caught on tape – you've caught our interest.
Paparazzo-about-town Josh Levine was on the receiving end of Harrelson's grip Thursday night outside Element in L.A.
As Harrelson left with three women and two men, Levine and other photogs began shooting. Harrelson became irritated and asked Levine to stop shooting. Harrelson then walked over to Levine, put his hand on the camera and asked Levine to stop. Levine said "All I'm doing is my job." Harrelson, who appears in "A Prairie Home Companion," then said, "I've asked you to stop, are you going to stop?" and Levine replied, "Not when you ask me like that." The video then shows Harrelson break the camera and the picture goes dead.
TMZ obtained a second video, shot by another photog, showing the altercation. The photographer began shooting just as Harrelson grabbed Levine's neck.
And over on our coast, the Daily News' John Roca – a staff photog, mind you, and not a paparazzo – was accosted by Jessica Simpson's security manmeat when he broke out his camera to snap pics at Pink Elephant in Southampton.
Dressed in a plunging bustier, miniskirt and iridescent heels, Simpson, 25, was stretched out on a raised divan inside a prime cabana at the Pink Elephant in Southampton, L.I., when Roca approached and asked to photograph her.
"As she turned around, I hit her with a volley of shots. Before you could say 'Madonna,' four guys pounced on me," Roca said.
Simpson's protectors grabbed Roca's camera - but not before he managed to pop out the memory card and stuff it in his pants pocket, he said. When one plunged his meaty fist into Roca's Brooks Brothers duds to retrieve the card, he tore the seam of his pants, the photographer said.
Simpson's talking head Rob Shuter blames Pink Elephant's security for the roughing up, though it's pretty clear it was Jessica's heavies keeping her bloodshoot eyes out of the tabloids.
Harrelson Chokes TMZ Photog — LAPD Investigates [TMZ]
Dustup with Jess' boys not a pretty picture for News fotog [George Rush and Jordan Lite, NYDN]
We were just forwarded this press which outlines Jeffry Rackover's birthday party in Bridge Hampton. Who the fuck is that you ask? Oh, he's a "jeweler to the stars." Like you care.
Anyways, what we love absolutely most about this press release is not that it was sent instead of an invitation (we're assuming — the release wasn't actually sent to us!), nor the fact that it actual admits to having Britney Gastineu at the party.
What we love most about this press release, sent from Grubman PR (who else?) is the loving description is bestows on Hamptons queen and PR mogul, Lizzie Grubman herself.
At his birthday party on Saturday night he drew many Hampton socials and celebrities at his private residence in Bridge Hampton despite the horrible monsoon going on outside. Notable guests included, Lisa & Britney Gastineau, Rosanna Scotto, Loraine Bracco & Jason Cippola, supper model Samantha Tannehill, society dame Jane Pontarelli, and glowingly pregnant Lizzie Grubman & husband Chris Stern.
For more glowing Lizzie, go here — for rest of the nauseating information about the party you weren't invited to, read on after the jump.
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• Al Gore gets in a huge fake fight with Lindsay Lohan … but that's all we know. Nikki Finke turned off the TV just before Al threatened to get nekked. [LA Weekly]
• The crazy Canadians use photos of George Clooney and Orlando Bloom to encourage women to spread their legs. [FMT]
• Note to Rocco DiSpirito: putting a book by your night stand is not equivilant to reading. [R&M]
• A fake Jimmy Buffett is on the loose in the Hamptons, conning clam shakers out of their hard earned … clams … and getting 40 year old tennis moms to get parrot tattoos on their cleavage. [Page Six]
• Ah, Newsday. Always bringing us the news we're dying to know, such as "what are the cast members of Beverly Hills 90210 are doing now?" That's right, kids — absolutely nothing. [Newsday]
Memorial Day is over, but amazingly things are still happening in the Hamptons. Rich, snobby people things, of course. And where there are rich, snobby people, there is golf. And where there is golf, there are golf clubs. Ok, you get where we're going with this … a Wall Streeter golf club.
Sebonack Golf Club, which opened for limited play last weekend in Southampton, N.Y., costs $650,000 for a membership that ensures accommodations at one of 15 four-bedroom “cottages'’ being built around the course. It is $500,000 just for golf.
Wow. We thought 20 bucks for a bucket at Chelsea Piers was pretty steep.
Well, that's some interesting news. Even more interesting, however, is the fact that a New York Times blog had the story, and the blog devoted to tall things Hamptons, The Beach, did not.
Ok, because we worked all day Friday and some of yesterday, we have quite anxiously awaiting the return of everyone else to give us the goods on the weekend Hampton's gossip. We waiting unti 9 am, which is about as long as we can stand waiting for news, and we've come up empty handed.
We went to Page Six. Nothing. We went to Lloyd Grove. Nothing (big shocker there). We went to the blogs. Still, nothing.
And then we remembered The Beach. The blog that was supposed to be about blogging from the Hamptons. Of course we would look there for all the who wore what, who drank too much and hooked up with a quasi socialite celebrity, who threw the best party. And what did we get?
Great. They're back in New York and not yet spilling the weekend's gossip. The best part? Only 3.5 more days until these guys can go back to the Hamptons and return to the city without any dish.
Goodbye Long Weekend, Hello Steamy Subway [The Beach]
Oh, holidays. Three day weekends. Memorial Day. All the wonderful things that low level editorial assistants, interns, and office managers get to work overtime during so their bosses can go to the Hamptons.
But if you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't have a real job, or has a sugar daddy with a Park Avenue penthouse, this post's for you. Now that there are clubs in the Hamptons, blogger in the Hamptons, and even New York mag journos looking for waiters to write stories about in the Hamptons, it's no longer just a place for crazed PR people to run over droves of party goers or over privileged kids to bark out racial slurs.
We won't be there, but we hope you will try to take advantage of some of the wonderful things this great Long Island beachfront has to over. (Cue cheesy music in your head.)
• Omg, omg, omg. VMA parties? We so bet Carson Daily will come from the beaches of LA to the beaches of NY just to try and tongue you at Boutique! [Shecky's]
• We already told you Pink Elephant (pictured) would be opening. So, we hope you're already on the list.
• The party boys think you should go to the opening of Cain in South Hampton. We love the idea of a bunch of WASPS chilling in an African safari inspired club. Please, please send photos. [Urban Daddy]
• We hear from the coolest person we know that Star Room is going to be jumpin' jumpin'. But, if it sucks, you can blame us for blowing up your spot. If the New York article a few years ago didn't do that already.
• Oh, and we guess at some point, you're going to have to eat, so the new Hamptons blog, The Beach, is there to help you find some alternatives to white wine spritzers. Be prepared for long lines and mediocre service. [The Beach]
And if you're somebody who just loves their job so much you can't force yourself to leave it (or you're just broke) we understand. And we'll be blogging Friday and Monday … so send us your gossip bitches!
The uber world of Manhattan is being transported to the beach this summer, when Pink Elephant opens Hamptons. And you know Peter Davis and Patrick McMullan are totally creaming all over their Visionaires.
Complete with the infamous pheromone releasing scent machine, perfect for enhancing the roofies Hudson Morgan will drop in your Veuve, the Pink Elephant Hamptons is sure to attract the who's who of the "I really want to be somebody" crowd.
Currently the top Celebrity and Bottle Service VIP club in New York catering to Socialites, Jet Setters, and Europeans, PINK ELEPHANT continues its foray into the world of luxury by partnering with some of the world’s most exclusive and desirable brands (such as Petrossian, Cavalli, Valantino, etc.) to bring premium products and amenities tailored to the niche Hampton set.
The PINK ELEPHANT Southampton’s team also boasts a mix of New York’s most notable hosts, such as Mark Baker, Dirk Von Stockum, Ronnie Madra , Karl Alomar, and Marc Biron to give patrons a refreshing events menu over the summer in the form of sunset BBQs, pool parties and late night festivities.
And we fully expect the cast of Summer Share to grind on every table this new club has to offer.
Know what holiday is soon approaching? Memorial Day, known to city dwellers from the fashion industry to i-banking as Hamptons kick off (which itself is known as When Fabian Basabe Begins Hanging From The Rafters Weekend). While Sagaponack holds on to the title of America's most expensive zip code and Calvin Klein will surely host a party with a bevy of "pool boys," this summer isn't going to be all the same. You're used to an East End with just Star Room, Jet East, and Surf Club. And, gracing Jason Binn's den last summer, Cain. But it was an off-shoot. A one-time thing. A flash club, if you will.
Except Cain owner Jamie Mulholland was, in fact, just testing things out. Now comes word that he's bringing his Meatpacking District lucre vacuum permanently to Southampton — with the official kickoff on, you guessed it, Memorial Day. So as you and your girlfriends tackle traffic every weekend to rationalize your summer share, smile as the wind whips through your hair in the Mini Cooper convertible knowing that there will be a home – a permanent home – for Lindsay Lohan to get over Brett Ratner.
The full release (we wiped off the spilled Veuve Clicquot) after the jump.
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Niche Media, home to Gotham magazine and "its summertime sidekick," Hamptons, (along with LA Confidential, Boston Common and Capital File) is headed for changes under CEO Jason Binn. In addition to Binn's plans to launch new mags in Atlantic City and Chicago, copy editors at Gotham are busy drafting up a new masthead..
Gotham EIC Jason Oliver Nixon, is slated to become the lifestyle editor for the five magazines the company currently produces, with managing editor Kei Jaminor set to take over the top edit spot
And Hamptons magazine, once solely dependent on its sister staff, will finally get its own editor, Cindi Cook. A little bit society, a little bit news, Gotham and Hamptons have managed to maintain a solid grip on this particular gossip "niche," with Page Six The Magazine acting as the closest publication to be considered competition.
"We don't trash people, we celebrate them," Binn told Forbes magazine last year.
Which may explain why you may of never heard of or don't read either of these pubs. Unless of course, you're being featured in one of them.
HOLY MASTHEAD! EDITOR SHIFT SHAKES GOTHAM MAGAZINES [Keith J. Kelly, NYP]
• Not only did Robert Downey Jr. move his nuptials with Susan Levin from Ron Perelman and Ellen Barkin's Georgica Pond estate to an undisclosed Amagansett locale, but he didn't even invite his almost-hosts to the Saturday wedding! Downey arranged to sell pics of the wedding to Richard Desmond's OK! magazine, but Perelman refused to let any snaps of his Creeks spread to be circulated.
• Jennifer Aniston's home invader David Hesterbey faces six years in prison if convicted, though right now he's pleading innocent. Meanwhile, Vinnie Vaughn's girl secured a restraining order against him.
• Mad magazine is looking at a surprising rise in readership (must be that Jon Stewart) and is riding its success with the launch of two new titles: MadKids and Mad Classics.
• Jon Stewart's new set loses the couch and, supposedly, turned the Daily Show host more ornery with his questions growing more "probing and incisive." Just like a real fake journalist.
• Was Simon Dumenco on to something? It seems boring advertising isn't just hitting September magazines, but major papers as well.
• Brad Pitt is setting up post-summer season shop in the Hamptons for two months after Labor Day while Angelina Jolie films The Good Shepard in New York.
• Out former New Jersey governor James McGreevey may be penning a tell-all, but now he's got former lover Golan Cipel writing his own memoir. Meanwhile, the ex-gov is playing house on Fire Island.
• Ashley Olsen might not be returning to NYU this fall as expected, but instead transfer to the same art school Mary-Kate is attending in California, no thanks to her relationship with Greg Chait, yet another nightclub owner (this time he's based in L.A.).
• The brief fling between Sienna Miller and Orlando Bloom is likely kaput, as the Lord of the Rings star is once again in the arms of sometimes-girlfriend Kate Bosworth.
• Nightclub queen Amy Sacco isn't content with just lounges and eateries — now she's launching the travel service Air Bungalow with an inaugural flight to Miami for this weekend's MTV VMAs.
• Neither Eddie Murphy or wife Nicole are waiting for their divorce to go through to return to the single life. They're both running around L.A. hitting celeb-riddled hotspots and neither are hiding it.
• Michael Moore headed off to the Pritikin Longevity Center & Spa in Florida, which is less "spa" than it is "fat farm."
• Bijou Phillips made good on her raucous reputation by bailing on a cover shoot for Justin Mitchell's Social Life magazine, leaving him out $5,000 and scrambling to find a new face for the cover. He ended up with Taryn Manning and Bijou ended up partying at Marquee.
• Michael Jackson foe Diane Dimond, of Court TV, is penning a 400-page tome on the pop star complete with "sources no one has ever heard from." Oooh!
• Hamptonites attending the Bridgehampton Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge were greeted with union workers picketing the Two Tree Stables site over owner Dave Walentas's treatment of employees.
• Don't leave the New York Daily News out of the Dolce & Gabbana low-rise "pubic pants" debate. They've got opinions too, ya know.
• Rudy Giuliani's smashed headlight gets an item all to itself.
We haven't heard much from last summer's Hamptons princess Anna Anisimova lately, but that doesn't mean the former Denise Rich estate inhabitant isn't making waves while Paris Hilton abandoned the East End for European shores.
It was Anna's chance to establish herself as a Hamptons icon these past few months, not just a summertime one-off. It might be too late already, since she's only got till Labor Day to impress the gossips, and so far we haven't heard much since her season kick-off. Interesting, because she suffered the same fate last year, waiting until the last minute to throw a press-worthy bash.
But c'mon folks, she's trying. Really. Hard.
Just look: She hosted the Annual Young Friends of the Mental Illness Prevention Center at her Hamptons pad, where,
From the second guest left their cars, they were transported to paradise as Hula dancers greeted guest with a warm Aloha and adorned them with Laies around their neck.
The storytelling continues, with bonus B-list socliaites, after the jump.
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