Breaking: Tyra Banks Accused of Divalike Behavior-The talkshow hostess’ audience rebels against her; plus P. Diddy ices Cassie, and John Mayer lets Jennifer Aniston down not-so-easy in today’s gossip roundup.
Book Publishers Sadly Agree: Silda Not Likely to Tell AllBook publishers and editors agree that a Silda Spitzer tell-all is unlikely. Rachael Ray’s people disagree with yesterday’s Post item which claimed that Ray’s show may soon be canceled. Broadway vet Phillip Hoffman would like you to know that he is not the same person as actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The Duke of Westminster succeeded in getting British papers to drop rumors that he was Client 6 because libel laws are stricter in England. The owners of Cain, GoldBar, Upstairs, Marquee, and Butter had a poolside nightlife summit down in Cove Atlantis. Of all the times for there not to be a tidal wave.
gossipmonger
Nick Lachey and JCPenney Do Not Mix, Even If Paid to Do SoNick Lachey threw a hissy fit at a JCPenney party on Hudson Street, despite the fact that he was being paid to be there. Michael Strahan says he loves girlfriend Nicole Murphy, but isn’t sure about marriage. Execs at Sony are annoyed that Michael Jackson’s Thriller 25 is on the Billboard oldies’ chart instead of the Billboard Top 200 chart, despite the fact that it has six new songs. Nelly picked up the coat-check girl at Plumm. Outkast’s André 3000 is looking for an apartment in the city and just toured a multi-million-dollar penthouse on West 13th Street. Justin Timberlake gave menu recommendations to patrons at his Southern Hospitality.
gossipmonger
Bloomie and McCain: A Ticket Made in Independent Heaven?John McCain may or may not ask Mike Bloomberg to be his running mate. Harvey Weinstein belted out “New York, New York” at his daughter’s 10th-birthday party at Spotlight Live. Recently married Vogue editor and socialite Lauren Davis wants to find a “gestational carrier” for her baby. First daughter Barbara Bush watched the Giants win at the Village Pourhouse with 40 friends. Josh Hartnett went to Freemans and the Beatrice Inn on Thursday, while Helena Christensen just went to Freemans. Andy Samberg went to BAM to watch harpist girlfriend Joanna Newsome perform.
intel
Blogging ‘The Colbert Report’Last night, like you, we were thrilled to sit down and watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as they returned from their WGA–strike-induced hiatus. It was going to be great, we assumed. Either that, or it was going to suck, which would also kind of be great, in the whole “this will get us a lot of mileage by the office soda machine tomorrow” kind of way. So we tuned in, AND, in a Daily Intel first, we IMed about it with our culturally superior colleague, the Vulture blog. As it turned out, the two shows weren’t all laughs and rubber faces. In fact, The Daily Show turned out to be a bit of a tough act to swallow (and follow; as a lead-in, it must have cost The Colbert Report some viewers). Since Vulture knows more about the nuances of the writers’ strike, they are hosting our conversation about Jon Stewart’s somber effort. But below, here’s what Vulture editor Dan Kois and Intel editor Chris Rovzar had to say about last night’s glorious episode of Colbert:
Kois: HAHAHAHAH. “This is the ColberT ReporT.”
Rovzar: HAHAHA. We’re already laughing! He pronounced it the white-trashy way.
Kois: Wow.
Rovzar: Did you read that GQ story about when he changed his last name at Northwestern? I loved that.
Kois: No!
Rovzar: It used to actually be COLbert. With the “t” pronounced, when he grew up in South Carolina or whatever
Kois: So he just did it to be intentionally snooty? Awesome. ColBERTian, actually.
white men with money
Jimmy Cayne: The End of an EraFor Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne, his 74th year was a difficult one. In August, two of Bear’s hedge funds collapsed, heralding the subprime crisis and tipping off the worst losses in the firm’s history. Then there were the firings, the Wall Street Journal article that painted him as a slacker pothead (and also weird), plus the investor retaliations, the regulatory investigations, the whispers that, after 39 years of service, he might need to be canned. It’s enough to make anyone want to take refuge in golf and ganja. Which, the Journal and other media outlets are reporting, is what Cayne is doing. Citing “sources” who have been briefed on the situation, the papers are reporting that as early as today, Cayne will step down from his role as CEO at Bear Stearns and be replaced by Alan D. Schwartz. Cayne is “relieved,” one source told the Times. As with a great movie where the hero dies in the end, we knew this was coming, and yet still, we’re surprised. With his bridge addiction, his aversion to breakfast cereal, and his rumored affinity for the wacky tabacky, Cayne was a Wall Street original, an orchid in a sea of carnations, if you will. We’ll miss you, old chap.
Cayne to Step Down As Bear CEO [WSJ]
Bear’s Cayne Will Quit As Chief Executive [NYT]
Earlier: Intel’s coverage of Jimmy Cayne
cultural capital
Any Takers for Big Lloyd?Artist Geoffrey Raymond, who has in the past peddled larger-than-life paintings of Maria Bartiromo, Dick Grasso, and Rupert Murdoch on Wall Street, was out on the Street today with his latest work, a portrait of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein titled Big Lloyd II (Now More Than Ever). The painting, an acrylic rendering of a smiling, multicolored Lloyd (“an excellent example of Mr. Raymond’s drip technique,” according to the artist’s statement) with the words “Big Lloyd I (.6 Billion)” lingering in the space above it, is indeed big, at four feet, five inches. It is available on eBay at a starting price of $3,999. “I painted it in acknowledgment of Mr. Blankfein’s stewardship of Goldman Sachs through a recently difficult environment on Wall Street,” sayeth the artiste. “It is either homage or fromage — whichever isn’t the cheese.” So far, there are no bids.
Big Lloyd Hits the Street [Year of Magical Painting]
Big Lloyd II (Now More Than Ever) [eBay]
neighborhood watch
A Cappella, Applebee’s Change the Face of AstoriaAstoria: This blogger doesn’t know which new arrival to the neighborhood is worse: the Broadway chorus-boy gays or the Applebee’s. [Manhattan Offender]
Bay Ridge: They’re gonna move the ugly-ass Gowanus Expressway onto a sleek cable suspension roadway and fill in the old area with emerald parkland! Well, wouldn’t it be pretty to think so. [NYDN
Cobble Hill: A developer wants to build townhouses on the empty land surrounding the pretty old Lamm Building on Amity Street, but locals object because the new houses wouldn’t face the street and leave room for backyards like all the other houses. Tense. [Brownstoner]
gossipmonger
Robert De Niro Pulls Out the Big Guns Against Art GalleryRobert De Niro sued an Upper East Side art gallery that gave twelve of his father’s paintings to a gallery in Rome as part of a debt-payment arrangement. Jason Binn had another kid. NBA commish David Stern, Derek Jeter, and Donald Trump showed up at the wedding of Ahmad Rashad and Sale Johnson, but estranged daughter Casey Johnson did not. Chris Noth and Steve Walter are thinking of moving their jazz club Cutting Room to Hell’s Kitchen. Ashlee Simpson begged photographers not to take her picture when she was smoking outside Angels and Kings. Theodore Sorensen, the lawyer who wrote JFK’s famous “Ask Not…” inaugural address, just bought at $10.75 million condo at 15 Central Park West.
in other news
Michael Jackson Has Been Living Right Underneath Our Prosthetic Noses!Michael Jackson has been spotted around town in New York periodically in recent months, but until today, we didn’t know where he was living. Turns out he’d been holed up with a private family in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, where he’d been “trying to be normal,” according to FoxNews.com columnist Roger Friedman. That’s less than an hour from here! Technically, that put Jackson miles and miles closer to our bustling city than he is to “normalcy.” Jackson has reportedly returned to L.A., but good for him for trying to introduce his family to the quiet life in the Jersey suburbs? Good for him. For a short time, his kids could finally have a normal life, going to the movies, attending public school, making regular friends. After all, if your new little friend has millions of dollars to spend at the Short Hills mall, who cares if he has to do it wearing a mask?
Jacko Lived with New Jersey Family for Three Months [Fox 411]
Earlier: Why the Fug Isn’t Anybody Paying Attention to Michael Jackson?
gossipmonger
Ew, Lance Armstrong Is Hooking Up with Ashley Olsen?Lance Armstrong and Ashley Olsen hooked up at Rose Bar and then left at 2 a.m. The Jewish Theater of New York claims that the Times won’t review its plays because the paper is anti-Semitic; the Times says it won’t review its plays because they are bad. Kim Cattrall actually showed up to work before the other SATC cast mates for once. AOL chairman and CEO Randy Falco was roasted by Bob Costas and Brian Williams, among others. Ivana Trump made a kind of funny joke about Harper’s Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey being the devil in Prada at Denise Rich’s Angel Ball. (Diddy also left the ball with model May Anderson.) Michael Jackson went to Brooklyn to shoot a cover for Ebony magazine and was sweet despite prattling on about how much he likes kids.
new york fugging city
Why the Fug Isn’t Anybody Paying Attention to Michael Jackson?
With the Jolie-Pitts invading the city in their armored SUVs, we’re hardly surprised that other celebrity tidbits have been swept under the rug — clearly, by-the-hour updates of what Maddox is up to at the park would supersede news of what Tinsley has done with her hair, or which blast of hot air most recently burst from Trump’s blowhole. But for America’s First Family to eclipse even the dramatic return of deposed King of Pop Michael Jackson and his theatrically veiled kids does that mean we’re ready to forgive and forget with America’s most (in)famous man-child? Or is it that no one can be bothered to care?
gossipmonger
Michael Jackson Checks Out Other Masks and Wigs at ‘Lion King’Michael Jackson took his three kids to see the Lion King on Broadway, and they were all wearing wigs and baseball caps. An art dealer in Chelsea sued Christie’s for $7 million for allegedly selling him a fake Basquiat. Kanye West’s album is outselling 50 Cent’s, though 50 is still worth more money according to Forbes. Jennifer Lopez may be expecting twins, but that’d be news to Marc Anthony. The Dalai Lama likes eating at Masala Garden on West 79th Street. Vince Vaughn went into Marquee at 2:45 a.m. to hit on some girls. Hugh Grant cruised down a deserted strip of road in Southampton in a red convertible. Representative Charles Rangel subconsciously thinks Hillary Clinton is going to be president.
gossipmonger
Michael Jackson Is in New YorkDavid Chase is “heartbroken” that James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, et al didn’t win Emmy; Bill Maher isn’t sad he lost for the nineteenth time. Naomi Campbell told the Blacks in Fashion panel last week that she’s repeatedly been refused the cover of British Vogue, despite the fact that she’s posed eight times. Rosie O’Donnell declined to hawk her book on Oprah, instead opting for a Diane Sawyer interview. Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie drop off and pick up Maddox at the Upper East Side’s Lycée Français themselves. Marilyn Manson didn’t carry girlfriend Rachel Evan Woods’s luggage as the two strode through JFK. Judith Giuliani went shopping for Manolos at Bergdorf Goodman. Michael Jackson is allegedly holed up in a fancy midtown hotel and has left only once to take part in a photo shoot.
gossipmonger
Guv Love?The “tall and attractive” 25-year-old aide whom Jon Corzine may have been sitting next to at the time of his car crash was reassigned last month because she and the governor were allegedly getting too close. Larry and Laurie David may have split because Laurie had an affair with a married man on Martha’s Vineyard. Some Columbia Records staffers are worried that producer Rick Rubin has been named co-head of the label, given that he has no executive experience. Richie Sambora dumped Denise Richards during a Hawaii vacation a few months ago; she’d been expecting him to propose. Michael Jackson placed a number of odd, ill-timed room-service orders at an inn in Maryland, but he did bless the manager. Oliver Platt is an ardent supporter of the business tactics of George Steinbrenner, whom he plays in The Bronx Is Burning. Lindsay Lohan is dropping booze for bottled water.
gossipmonger
Diddy DissedDiddy’s longtime girlfriend Kim Porter has finally moved out (and on). Henry Kissinger is bummed he isn’t portrayed in Frost/Nixon. Chris Tucker impersonates Bill Clinton, and the former president can’t get enough. At Bergdorf Goodman last week, Beyoncé was barefoot and Katherine Heigl was hot. André Balasz has taken over the Chelsea Hotel and is setting his sights on the Pacific. White House in Hampton Bays paid Diddy $200,000 to host his Independence Day Party there. Ashlee Simpson might be at the Blackbook party in the Hamptons tomorrow. Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s on crutches, blames running into furniture for her injury; Helen Hunt, also on crutches, won’t say why.
photo op
Michael Wants That Back
Desperate to ogle some obsolete technology? You’re out of luck, unless you want to fly to Las Vegas. Guernsey’s auction house will be selling thousands of Jackson Five items tomorrow and Thursday at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, but Friday some of the highlights were displayed at the auctioneer’s Upper East Side headquarters in Manhattan. Behold, the microphone Michael used in the seventies.
The Jacksons [Guernseys.com]
gossipmonger
Jacko PornoMichael Jackson is trying to reclaim a trove of Jacko memorabilia set to be auctioned off this month, some of which is pornographic in nature. Lindsay Lohan and “boyfriend” Calum Best got into a shouting match at the Soho Grand. Jerry Hall called Mick Jagger cheap. Billionaire David Koch boasted that he had graduated college when his wife was only six weeks old. The Office star Jenna Fischer slipped and fractured four bones in her back at Buddakan, but she’s okay now. Charles Barkley thinks Don Imus should just have been suspended, not fired. Top Chef contestant Sam Talbot backed out of his deal to open a gastropub on the Lower East Side.
gossipmonger
Saddam Lives?An agent claims to have forensic evidence and government documents that allege Saddam Hussein is still alive and well. Former CBS News reporter turned professional CBS basher Bernard Goldberg takes shots at Les Moonves and Katie Couric in his newest book. The relationship between 77-year-old Barbara Walters and 80-year-old Robert N. Butler is heating up. Arianna Huffington broke her cheekbone and got stitches after fainting in her office from exhaustion. Taxi tycoon Andrew Murstein bought a suite at Madison Square Garden for $500,000. The man accused of shaking down Oprah Winfrey claims he was set up by her lawyer, according to Radar. Exes Tom Arnold and Roseanne Barr continue to dislike each another.
gossipmonger
Al for Hill?Al Sharpton claims he is not backing Hillary Clinton for president, despite a rumor that he and Bill smoked cigars in Harlem two weeks ago. Rupert Murdoch would back Michael Bloomberg for president, if Bloomberg were to run. A $1.5 million lawsuit against Beyoncé, regarding her House of Dereon clothing line, was thrown out. Michael Jackson was reported to have been hospitalized for pneumonia, but his flack says he’s just fine. Bravo is shooting a reality show about photog Patrick McMullan. Jenna Jameson hasn’t been attending meetings with mainstream producers regarding the film adaptation of her book How to Make Love Like a Porn Star because she’s allegedly unhappy with her vaginoplasty.
gossipmonger
Maria Bartiromo Feels Pretty, Oh So PrettyBefore Maria Bartiromo was on MSNBC and flying on private jets, she lived a life out of West Side Story. Speaking of Bartiromo, Citigroup head Charles Prince may have leaked the jet-ride scandal to the media. Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos uploaded some unintentionally funny government-propaganda films to YouTube. Financier Henry Kravis complained that he wasn’t invited to Stephen Schwarzman’s blowout birthday party. Brad and Angelina needed beads and masks to escape from a New Orleans restaurant.
gossipmonger
Oh, Rats!Suge Knight on Snoop Dogg (who was arrested again Tuesday, this time with drugs and a gun in his possession): “He’s a rat. I don’t like rats.” Al Gore on Britney Spears’s refusal to wear underwear: “No comment.” Kelis on why gay men love her: “I’m like a gay man’s purse.” Candace Bushnell says Jay McInerney is very serious about sex. 50 Cent thinks Oprah caters to middle-aged white American women because “she’s become one herself.” Gambling-minded investors want to take over New York’s racetracks; horse purists aren’t happy. Lindsay Lohan has been attending AA meetings in Los Angeles. For exhaustion, of course. Andrew Cuomo forced two of his campaign operatives to pull out of a panel on politics. Naomi Campbell was going to be in a movie, but she made too many demands. Fabian Basabe avoided Amy Sacco recently because he’s suing her. Danny Meyer to open a Union Square Cafe in Tokyo. Sean Connery stood to make almost half a billion dollars from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he declined to play Gandalf. A month ago, Kid Rock went to a strip club, drank a lot. Matt Lauer held a door open for a woman with a stroller. Julianne Moore is so nervous about the opening of her new play she can’t eat. Michael Jackson watched the new Bond flick in his hotel room.
gossipmonger
A Thanksgiving Miracle!Former rivals Jeremy Piven and Jack Black “smoked a peace pipe at a friend’s house in L.A. and discussed their mutual admiration of each other.” Bill and Hillary had a date Friday. George Clooney asked for a girl’s phone number; Orlando Bloom prefers picking up chicks on the subway. A singer penned a song about Donald Trump. (Sample lyric: “Let’s all pay homage to me.” Sounds about right.) Jon Bon Jovi refused to get onstage with Michael Jackson in London, made Beyoncé do it. Andrew Cuomo and the Food Network’s Sandra Lee are getting serious. A woman is embarrassed because her name is dropped in a song by The Game. Morgan Freeman slept on a plane. Usher is in talks to play James Brown in a biopic. Scarlett Johannson fell off a horse, is okay. Ray Romano and his wife went to Las Vegas, had fun. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are now friends. The University of Colorado doesn’t allow Christmas parties. Paris Hilton will show up at your New Year’s Eve party for $150,000. A bunch of supermodels partied at a club. Which “prime-time cutie” has discolored fingers from inducing vomit? We don’t know, and we don’t wanna know.
gossipmonger
Paris Hilton (Finally) Embarrasses HerselfParis Hilton’s next movie is so bad even she doesn’t want to be associated with it. Karl Rove ran a great campaign for student-body president in high school. Michael Jackson’s kids are polite, ate cake. Bob Costas told Mario Cuomo, others that the Yankees should trade A-Rod. Exes Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal ran into each other at Capitale, talked. Liz Smith likes Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers. A lot. Marc Ecko bought a rhinoceros. Lawyer Lynne Stewart eats healthy. Madonna, who rents her English estate out for pheasant hunts, recently imported some new birds from France. Model Tyra Banks doesn’t like porn star Tyra Banxxx, who just made a new video. CBS is casting a reality show about lazy people. (But nobody bothered to show up! Rimshot!) Vanessa Minnillo and Nick Lachey went to a party, didn’t have their picture taken together. Ellen Burstyn wrote a book. U2 is moving its music-publishing biz out of Ireland, to avoid some taxes. Patrick McCarthy held a dinner for the new W, at which a photographer fell out of his chair. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is getting a big dinner at the Rainbow Room for being good to the environment; the Eagles will perform. Aretha Franklin is afraid of heights. “Page Six” is sorry for saying Vince Vaughn was “making out” with a chick he was actually just saying hello to. A blogger says Idaho Senator Larry Craig is gay.
gossipmonger
Amelia Earhart, Kim Jong-Il, and Paris HiltonEleanor Roosevelt had the hots for Amelia Earhart, according to Gore Vidal. Capitol Records CEO Andy Slater is running the company into the ground, according to an anonymous letter from underlings. Shanna Moakler says she didn’t punch Paris Hilton but hates her anyway. Martin Bashir’s daughter threw up, then he anchored Nightline. Roger Ailes thinks Kim Jong-Il’s pants don’t fit. Kathie Lee Gifford will star in Annie, wear orthopedic shoes. Palm Beach thinks Donald Trump’s American flag is too big. Carly Fiorina shares an agent with Cathie Black, does her own hair. The mother of Michael Jackson’s kids got her alimony reinstated. In 1912, Picasso, Chagall, Rivera, Soutine, and Modigliani shared a Paris apartment, which someone wants to make a movie about. Sienna Miller didn’t have her I.D. at a Pittsburgh bar, so she didn’t get served. Greg Kinnear, Jimmy Fallon, or Ed Cavanaugh might star in Young Frankenstein on Broadway. Bill Clinton said he liked Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech that Made Abraham Lincoln President, so Simon & Schuster is printing more. People ate lunch at Michael’s on Tuesday. One of Ted Turner’s bison burgers food-poisoned top Iraq soldier General John Abizaid. Nick Lachey couldn’t wear his hat in Houston’s.