It would be unrealistic to say the end is near for TMZ.com, the gossip website founded by Harvey Levin that Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade put on the map. But all signs are pointing to trouble for the AOL-Telepictures celebrity venture. Readership is down. So is revenue. Top staffers are leaving. The spin-off show TMZ has lost its buzz. And TMZ.com just saw People.com overtake it for the No. 2 spot of most-visited celebrity websites (Yahoo's OMG is No. 1, thanks to all of the search giant's traffic dumping).
Oh, and that's on top of growing backlash within the gossip industry, as competing mainstream tabloid outlets, bloggers, and (we suspect, if traffic levels are any indication) readers are growing increasingly disgusted for what qualifies as "content" on the site.
Has TMZ already hit its peak — and started snowballing toward implosion? From numerous conversations with TMZ insiders, Levin confidantes, industry players, and fellow bloggers, the answer is a resounding "yes."
Mel Gibson isn't the only person interested in Britney Spears' love life as of late: TMZ has been keeping tabs on the pop star and her secret rendezvous with a mystery man. Sadly, that mystery man is all too recognizable — it's Adnan Ghalib, former paparazzo and Spears hanger-on.
TMZ's "sources" have reported that over the last few months Adnan has been entering the gated community where Brit and father Jamie live, but no one can say exactly what's going on. But we can! Adnan missed the spotlight, Britney missed her enabler, and it was time for a special reunion. And yes, there are text messages involved.
We know they have been texting back and forth, at times complaining that Daddy Jamie is too 'controlling' by trying to put the kibosh on the relationship.
But here's the deal. Daddy Jamie's job is to be controlling — that's what a conservator does. And, sources tell us, Jamie's concern over his daughter seeing Adnan is not just his opinion — the doctors who are treating Brit have told him it would be a bad thing for Brit to hook up with the dude.
Well, duh. If any doctor in America were to recommend that Britney associate with Adnan, someone needs to look into revoking that medical license.
[Source]
WE CAN'T IMAGINE WHY THAT DIDN'T WORK "Mel Gibson tried to play matchmaker between his son and Britney Spears, it has been claimed. … The Braveheart actor tried to hook Britney up with one of his twin sons, Edward – who was recently in rehab for cocaine and alcohol addiction."
Britney Spears returned to Los Angeles yesterday after having embarked on a vision quest to Costa Rica with crackpot holy man Mel Gibson. Immediately upon exiting the plane, the relaxed, invigorated Spears was greeted by bloodthirsty paparazzi screaming her name and calling her "baby," thereby erasing a week's worth of personal healing.
A boring but sad video after the jump.
CONTINUED »
• What awful, awful things happened to this man to make him want to live like this? [DListed]
• "Marc Jacobs = Andy Warhol" Um, no. [FS]
• Heather Mills is set to release a self-help book called Getting Healthy with Heather. Surprisingly, the book does not recommend marrying a music legend and then taking $50 million from him. [ICYDK]
• "10 Toys That Made You Gay" [CityRag]
• Britney Spears is still in Costa Rica with Mel Gibson, undoubtedly spending her days suntanning and learning of all the benefits of Catholicism. [HT]
GOOD INFLUENCES "Britney Spears and Mel Gibson are currently en route to Costa Rica on vacation together. … We spotted them leaving on a private plane to the Central American state early this morning. Sources tell us that Mel is taking Britney and her father Jamie for a mini-vacation."
GIBSON EMERGES FOR 'DARKNESS' "Mel Gibson is set to star in 'Edge of Darkness,' marking his first starring role in a feature film since 2002's 'Signs' and 'We Were Soldiers.' … Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers the corruption that led to his daughter's death."
The man who co-wrote Mel Gibson's hit horror movie, The Passion of the Christ, is suing the lying filmmaker for allegedly conning him into taking a salary inconsistent with the film's budget. Benedict Fitzgerald says that Gibson told him Passion's funding would be between $4 million and $7 million. In fact, Fitzgerald claims, the movie cost seven times that (IMDB says $30 million), and he wants more money. Pious Christian that he is, Gibson is now attempting to seal the film's financial records so that the public won't know he's a sanctimonious, traitorous cheater. God bless him.
Of the 10 movies on Yahoo's "Most Historically Inaccurate" list, preachy boozer Mel Gibson had a hand in three: The Patriot, Braveheart and Apocalypto. According to historians, the films include everything from anachronisms — "kilts weren't worn in Scotland until about 300 years after William Wallace's day" — to dangerous half-truths — "The conquistadors arriving at the end of [Apocalypto] made for unlikely saviors: an estimated 90% of indigenous American population was killed by smallpox from their infected livestock." If you're taken aback, 1) stop believing movies and 2) whaddya expect from a guy whose favorite work of non-fiction says people used to live to be 700?
DEATH AT MEL'S PLACE "A construction worker has killed himself at the home of Academy Award winning actor Mel Gibson. TMZ is reporting the 47-year-old worker hanged himself at Mel's Agoura Hills home near Malibu. He was found by the job site foreman. Mel was not at home when the tragedy occurred or when the body was discovered. A police source says no one from Gibson's family was living at the house, as it is currently under heavy construction."
HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY "Mel Gibson has called Heath Ledger's death this week a 'tragic loss.' But in recent years, Gibson had distanced himself from [Ledger]…after the Aussie star ignored his advice not to play a gay cowboy in 'Brokeback Mountain'…The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) branded Gibson as homophobic after a December 1991 interview in which he told Spanish newspaper El País: '[Gays] take it up the ass.' Gesturing toward his posterior, he added, 'This is only for taking a shit.'"
• Unfortunately, the tolls of the campaign trail do not care how inopportune the moment. [NYP]
• Nicely done, E!. [DListed]
• From behind, Matthew Perry looks like Mel Gibson. [PS]
• 23-year-old Scarlett Johansson is said to be engaged, meaning 25-year-old Scarlett Johansson is going to be divorced. [HT]
• At this point, a faux hawk is actually worse than a mullet. Perhaps it always has been. [ICYDK]
• Mena Suvari makes Beyond Thunderdome cute [INO]
• Matthew McConaughey gets some shirtless stretches in before some shirtless running. To be followed by a shirtless dinner and some shirtless Cranium. [CityRag]
• Flavor Flav was recently roasted in a Comedy Central special. The event varied only slightly from Flav's real life in which white people only laugh at him behind his back. [SH]
• The girls are keeping it as fair and gentle as you'd expect on Rock of Love. Listen for one to make light of another's car accident scarring. YAY, women! [DListed]
• In one of the smartest parenting moves of her career, Pamela Anderson puts her son in the care of others. [ICYDK]
• Tara Reid, again. [HT]
• Comparing Mel's drunken states. [CityRag]
• I can recall when I first heard my mother demoralize a man and call him a "fat fuck" and a "pussy." Oh, memories! [Yeeeah]
It's impossible—and in this case illegal—to assume from this picture that Palestinian supporter Mel Gibson, here in Costa Rica, is off the wagon and on the rum runner. However, it should be noted that if he were, it would be OK. Falling back into dangerous patterns is fine as long as you're abroad. Most historians don't know this, but that's what the Lost Generation was really all about.
[Source]
If you were like this woman and Mel Gibson was in your AA class, how hard would it be to not blab to all your friends or use as a funny tension breaker when you had to tell your dates why you weren't having wine? Keeping everything anonymous would as difficult as keeping everything sober.
Captain Cool (aka Mel Gibson) had another meltdown last evening, this time exploding at a Mayan scholar who dared question the factual nature of his cinematic bloodbath, Apocalypto. This is from TMZ:
It happened last night at Cal State University at Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. Gibson was speaking to a film class about his movies, and several members of the Mayan community came to hear the famous director.
After Gibson's presentation, the crowd was allowed to ask questions. Alicia Estrada, an Assistant Professor of Central American Studies at CSUN, challenged Gibson, asking him if he had read about the Mayan culture before shooting the controversial film. Gibson said he had.
Estrada persisted, stating that representations in the movie that the Mayans engaged in sacrificial ceremonies and had bloodthirsty tendencies were both wrong and racist. Estrada and others tell TMZ that Gibson exploded in anger, responding, "Lady, fuck off."
We're told Gibson also became extremely angry when members of the Mayan community protested on how they were portrayed in the film. The emotional Mayan members were escorted out of the room, and we're told Gibson screamed a parting shot — "Make your own movie!"
Gibson's publicist, Howard Rubenstein, told TMZ, "He needs more anger management training. It's time to be cool."
I guess this is unfortunate, but in Mel's defense, were I to write off every single person I know who has wanted to strangle a meddling historian, I'd be a pretty lonely guy.
While Gibson has apologized for his outburst, he stresses that he still stands by his research and his film's accuracy, saying, "What do these nitpicking bitches want? I saw From Dusk Till Dawn seven fucking times before Apocalypto began shooting."
[Source]
• Mischa Barton is the number two best dressed. And no, that's not when the only contenders are female teenage leads from the original OC cast. [PopSugar]
• Oh, that Hiro Nakamura, his face leaves infinite caption possibilities. [Bastardly]
• Kevin Federline should probably just become a professional wrestler. Well, he's certainly got the build. [People]
• Mel Gibson loves his DUI like a precious gift from a Christian God. [DListed]
• All Jake Gyllenhaal wants for his birthday/Hannukah/Christmas is a tea set and some socks. [Defamer]
• First of all, "Will It Blend" is my favorite game ever. Second of all, I want that blender. [Egotastic]
• Lara Flynn Boyle and Jack Nicholson broke-up long enough ago that she's already married? [INO]
• For me, Black Christmas is the worst trailer of the year, but that's because I'm a pathetic guppy. [Celebitchy]
• Doesn't Matt Damon realize that Jenna and Barbara Bush would be, like, the worst soldiers ever? [PopSugar]
• Mel Gibson may have a long lost daughter and grandson in Australia. For their sake I hope they're not Jewish. [DListed]
• Not to be outdone by Mary Kate, Hilary channels her inner child prostitute. [INO]
• George Clooney's early work. [CityRag]
• Aaaaand again. [Yeeeah]
• Lindsay, Paris and Britney are all very, very viral. [Egotastic]
• Diddy kills puppies and wears them. Now that's a battle I'll join, PETA. [BWE]
• When did 50 Cent become the joke version of himself? [Junkiness]
• Nicole Kidman makes movie about her marriage to Tom Cruise. [Socialite's Life]
Editor
