Will Phelps Lose Medals Over Ad Blunder?

Michael Phelps could be in hot water -- not the cold bathtub he appears to be in -- for his recent photo shoot with the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. Photos of Phelps taken by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz were leaked on the Internet late last week, violating the International Olympic Committee's controversial Rule 40, which states athletes can't promote any non-Olympic sponsors from July 18 to Aug. 15. Punishments for the rule range from fines to a stripping of medals. The campaign was set to begin on Aug. 16 in order to comply with the IOC's campaign against ambush marketing. Someone jumped the gun and the photos appeared on a wide variety of websites starting on the second Tuesday of the Olympics. Louis Vuitton denies releasing the photographs, as does Phelps' camp. Rule 40 states "a competitor or a team may lose the benefit of any ranking obtained in relation to other events at the Olympic Games at which he or it was disqualified or excluded; in such case the medals and diplomas won by him or it shall be returned to the IOC." In other words, Phelps could theoretically be stripped of his medals from London....More

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Momma Jackson Says She Was Duped, Reported Missing

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mother of Michael Jackson said in court papers she was kept from communicating with outsiders while at a resort in Tucson and was unaware she had been reported missing. Katherine Jackson declared in the documents obtained Thursday that she had no idea she was the subject of a search until she accidentally heard a TV report. She said she was told her doctor had ordered her to rest and she was flown to Arizona. At a spa, her cell phone was confiscated along with her IPad and she said she was kept in a room with no working phone or TV service. She said she asked about Michael's children and was told they were fine. The disclosure marked the latest development in a series of events that began when Katherine Jackson was reported missing but later turned up at the spa with family members. The documents were released after a judge reinstated Katherine Jackson as the guardian of the children in an arrangement that also keeps their cousin as temporary co-guardian. Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff said during a hearing that an investigator who looked into the children's care found that the late pop star's 82-year-old mother was an excellent guardian and the children love her very much. "I think the kids are in terrific hands," the judge said. "It appears from the report that Katherine Jackson has done a wonderful job and cares about the children very much." Beckloff noted that the children, Prince, 15, Paris, 14 and Blanket, 10, also have a close relationship with their 34-year-old cousin TJ Jackson, who was named temporary guardian last week after working closely with Katherine Jackson since Michael Jackson died. TJ is "incredibly respectful" of the family matriarch and she is respectful of him, the judge said. Beckloff said he will finalize the arrangement later in the month but for now will issue letters of co-guardianship allowing both Jacksons to make decisions about the children's welfare. TJ Jackson's new co-guardianship status is temporary, but the judge could make it permanent when he convenes the next court hearing on Aug. 22....More

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Rihanna STILL Wants Chris, Has No Love Life

Conservative is not a word that comes to mind when you think of Rihanna. Between the racy outfits — both onstage and off — at least 17 tattoos, wild hairstyles, over-sexualized lyrics, and late-night partying, the singer comes off as very rebellious. But she insists she's not like that in all aspects of her life. "I have been conservative in my love life … it's pretty much nonexistent," Rihanna says in the August issue of Harper's Bazaar, despite her very public romances with Chris Brown, Drake, and baseball star Matt Kemp. "If I come across someone who I find really cool, I'll hang out. But the minute I find that we're getting too close, I just — I don't let people in." Perhaps that's because she was already very badly burned by one love in particular. After Brown beat Rihanna, now 24, so badly following a pre-Grammys party in 2009, the relationship instantly ended — but those strong feelings for the "Turn Up the Music" singer didn't diminish as quickly. "When I was in love, I fell so hard. I was really, really, really in love," she tells the mag. "The way it made me feel was priceless. And in a blink of an eye my whole life changed. Everything that I knew was different. I never thought I'd feel that pain in my life. I'm afraid of feeling that again." Yet she put herself back in that situation when she had Brown, 23, collaborate on the mix of her song "Birthday Cake" earlier this year. Rihanna admits that she wanted to work with an artist who would be "shocking" to her fans and the world, but she didn't exactly expect the mega backlash she got for reuniting with the hot-tempered R&B singer. "I understood that people had every right to be concerned about it," she says. "But I didn't see it that way because I'm in a different place."...More

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Chris Brown Brawls with Drake in Bar

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police investigated a report Thursday of a bar brawl involving hip-hop stars Drake and Chris Brown and their entourages in which bottles flew and five people were injured. Brown tweeted a photo of himself with a cut chin, then later removed it, as well as other messages about the fight, including epithets and taunts. A representative later released a statement saying Brown, his girlfriend and friends were the victims of a "brutal attack." At least five people were injured during the fight at the club W.i.P. (Work in Progress) in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood early Thursday, police said. A 25-year-old man suffered a serious cut to the head, two other men and two women suffered minor cuts. At least three were hospitalized. Police were looking at surveillance footage and talking to patrons who witnessed the melee. No arrests have been made and no complaints filed. "Chris and his party are cooperating with NY authorities who are pursuing this incident further," Brown's representatives wrote in a statement. Neither star was on scene when police arrived around 4 a.m. Thursday. It's not clear what prompted the fight. Both Brown and Drake at one time dated singer Rihanna. A representative for Drake said the star was on his way out of the club when the altercation began. "He did not engage in any activity which resulted in injury to person or damage to property," according to the written statement...More

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Paltrow Calls Beyonce the N-Word

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has come under attack for using the N-word when referring to a photo of two of her African American friends Jay-Z and Beyonce. When partying on stage with the couple during a Jay-Z and Kanye Watch The Throne stop in Paris Friday, Paltrow tweeted a photo with the message, "Ni**as in paris for real @mrteiusnash (the dream) tyty, beehigh." Many who took offense to Paltrow using the derogatory term slammed her online. Amanda Seales called Paltrow's comment "wreckless." A post on popular African American blog site, Bossip.com, said "Gwyneth might be getting a little too comfortable around her black friends …" On Sunday, Paltrow defended using the word. "Hold up. It's the title of the song!" she said in response to a post from blogger B. Scott. "Single Ladies" producer The Dream came to Paltrow's defense. "WE GIVE THE WORD TO MUCH POWER!" he wrote on his Twitter page. As an African American person, I agree that Paltrow's use of the N-word was inappropriate. But I believe I understand why she thought making the reference was okay. During the U.S. run of Watch The Throne tour, Jay-Z and Kanye closed out the show with the infectious sing-along song. They performed 9 encores in Los Angeles the night I attended. If you've gone to a hip hop show, you know that crowd participation is mandatory....More

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Man Claims He Got Beat Up By Justin Beiber

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are investigating a complaint that Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber roughed up a man who was taking pictures of the performer at a suburban shopping center, police said on Monday. Deputies were called on Sunday to an outdoor shopping area in Calabasas, about 23 miles northwest of Hollywood, by a man who reported having just had an altercation with Bieber, the sheriff's department said in a press statement. According to the statement, the man said he was taking pictures of Bieber, who was with his girlfriend, actress Selena Gomez, when the singer "physically battered" him. Bieber's publicist with Island/Def Jam Music Group could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the sheriff's department, Lillian Peck, declined to give further details about the nature of the alleged confrontation or any injuries suffered by the man. But Peck said the man, who was not identified by police, complained of pain, and after requesting medical attention was treated on the scene by paramedics, then taken to a local hospital, where he was examined and later released. Bieber, 18, who has professed a determination to maintain a squeaky-clean image, had left the shopping center with Gomez, 19, before officers arrived, according to the man with the camera. Peck said sheriff's deputies are investigating the case as a misdemeanor battery complaint and were looking for any possible eyewitnesses, but she did not know whether they had contacted Bieber about the incident. The Hollywood news website TMZ.com reported that the man behind the complaint was a professional celebrity photographer. Citing accounts of witnesses at the scene, TMZ said the paparazzo was blocking Bieber's car as the entertainer was trying to leave and that a scuffle ensued after Bieber got out of his car, asked the man to leave and the man refused...More

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Director Waters Caught Hitchhiking

We don't advocate picking up hitchhikers (they might have hooks or axes or really bad breath), but this story about a rock band picking up a happy (and famous) traveler is too cool to ignore. Indie band Here We Go Magic were traveling through Ohio in their van when they came across a hitchhiker on the side of Interstate 70. The man looked a lot like legendary film director John Waters. So, the band turned around and took another look. Turns out it was John Waters, the icon behind the groundbreaking "Pink Flamingos," as well as "Hairspray" and "Cecil B. Demented." The rock group, on their way to Chicago for a gig, posted a play-by-play of their encounter to their Twitter feed and relayed their adventure to DCist. Waters was a real charmer. "He got in the van and he got all tangled up in the seat belt, it was really adorable. That was the first thing that happened. We're traveling in a van and there are all these seat belts that block your way. You know, the ones that go from the side to the seats in the middle. So he was totally tangled and he didn't even remove himself. He just sort of sat down, entrenched in seat belts. He was a perfect gentlemen." More

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Kanye Has a Wardrobe Malfunction

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian had a date night on Friday and the rapper had a hard time keeping his pants on . . . literally! Check out the superstar as he flashes some serious skin. Plus, Joey Lawrence celebrated his 36th birthday in Vegas with his little bros Andy and Matthew, and boy do these two guys look a lot different than they did during their days on the '90s sitcom "Brotherly Love." Also, Kristen Aldridge caught up with Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night in Washington D.C. Video

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