Yesterday, news broke in the New York Times that after 12 years on stage, Broadway's Rent would close. Except culture boy Campbell Robertson wasn't supposed to get the scoop. Rather, a forum member on BroadwayWorld.com, a news and community site for the theatre world, posted the news on the site on Tuesday evening, the night before the Times story ran.

Except it was promptly removed by a forum moderator, and, according to one source with knowledge of the situation, promptly sent the forum member an email about how "BroadwayWorld.com does not post gossip."

Or, for that matter, exclusive news. (The endless threads about Clay Aiken being gay, however, remain.)

To bring the matter full circle: Yesterday's article from Robertson ran the same day Caryn James trumpeted theatre websites like BroadwayWorld.com for forging a new online frontier. Silly, right?

END OF THE WORLD AS WE PREFER IT After 12 years selling overpriced merch and warranting a terrible film spin-off, Broadway's Rent is shutting its doors. Following the closure of Les Miserables earlier this month, Rent's absence leaves us with The Little Mermaid for reasons to hate New Broadway.

• Simon Cowell is producing a new reality show, where celebs learn to sing. We pray it's more Reese Witherspoon a'la Walk the Line than Bai Ling on VH1. [Billboard]

• Jermaine Dupri wants to publish a memoir about his life in the music industry, including his relationship with Janet Jackson. The book, titled Young, Rich, and Dangerous will most likely be boring, self-indulgent, and arrogant. [Page Six]

• The Black Eyed Peas continue their sell-out by headlining the Honda Civic Tour. We guess their other corporate affiliates (Apple, Dr. Pepper … the NBA) won't mind. [MTV]

• Creed's Scott Stapp is engaged to Miss New York 2004. Everyone else still considers him a total freakin loser. [CNN]

• Hey all you RENT fans — get your super secret bootleg recordings of rough drafts of songs from the musical here [The Modern Age]

• Sheryl Crow says that she doesn't need fertility drugs • she's going to exercise herself preggers. (Doesn't Lance Armstrong have like one ball or something anyway?) [People]