I never thought I'd say this, and I'm probably alone here, but I've grown a soft spot in my heart for Verne Troyer. He seems to be getting the raw end of the deal with this disgusting sex tape scandal, and to add insult to injury, he's still sharing a house with his ex-girlfriend who sold the tape to TMZ in the first place.
'She's still in the house,' Troyer said, noting that he’s taking legal action to force her out, but their situation 'makes it even harder, to, you know, not strangle her.' According to the actor, his brunette ex has been taunting him. 'I saw her when I left today, and she was calling me names and stuff…so I can't get away from it,' he said, choking back tears.
Troyer said friends, family and attorney are helping him pull through the mess, but that the embarrassment 'has already started affecting [work opportunities].'
But the real "aww" factor came into play when Verne shared my favorite Heath Ledger on-set story to date. CONTINUED »
Dane Cook is currently undergoing a legal battle about the always-newsworthy dog poop. No, seriously. Evidently his landlord thinks Dane isn't picking up his dog's poop, but Dane claims he is. And, of course, TMZ is on the case.
The testimony is riveting, as Dane's lawyer insists the poop in question does not belong to his dog because "medium to small-sized dogs create a thumb-sized poop" — smaller than the feces found in the yard. The landlord countered back: "I know what Beast's pooh looks like, unfortunately. It's a dog's signature. Signature. Signature pooh."
[Source]
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]
Verne Troyer is now a mini litigant in a a $20 million lawsuit filed yesterday afternoon against TMZ, the often stupid but rarely wrong gossip site he claims violated his rights by publishing and airing portions of his sex tape.
Troyer alleges the tape was obtained illegally before ending up in the hands of the same porn purveyor who released One Night in Paris, the Oscar-nominated drama about a rich girl who sleeps with terrible men to feel fleeting notions of worth.
Surely, this whole dustup has nothing to do with obtaining free publicity for Troyer's new film, The Love Guru, which is currently tanking at the box office. And racist.
From TMZ, Hollywood's notorious hive of ill-bred bullies: "So our spies at a few Hollywood restaurants have weighed in on celeb tippers and gyppers. And the verdict is in."
Classy! We can't wait for Levin et al's item on which studio execs are the best at Jewing down actors' salary demands.
Oh: The bad tippers are the Beckhams.
Early this morning, a house in Dix Hills, NY, owned by 50 Cent — the house, in case you were wondering, that 50 Cent is trying to kick the mother of his child out of, prompting her to sue him — burned down. Shaniqua Thompkins, their son Marquise, and four other people were in the house when it caught fire. They were all transported to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. Something about the “intensity” of the fire aroused suspicion among fire officials, who said some sort of chemical might have been used to start the fire.
Interestingly, sources tell TMZ that earlier this week, a meeting between the two parties got so heated that a member of 50 Cent’s entourage “went nuts” and trashed the office. A police report was later filed.
Thanks to Jack Black, who has no interest in playing coy to spite Us Weekly and TMZ, Angelina Jolie has finally confirmed that she is indeed pregnant with twins.
In an interview to air on Access Hollywood tonight, Jack, who is promoting the new movie Kung Fu Panda at the Cannes Film Festival with Angie, inadvertently let the news slip; that, in turn, forced her to admit what the tabloids told everyone from the start of her pregnancy. Don't underestimate the powers of the tabs, Ang. They are creepier than one might expect.
[Source]
Last night celebrated Britney's return to a television show other than TMZ, and it's safe to say that the whole bit has grown tired. Neil Patrick Harris, bless his heart, was forced to share every scene with Brit, and we can only assume it's punishment for publicly (and correctly) stating that How I Met Your Mother did not need stunt casting.
The best line of the night belonged to Brit's character Abby, who said she "didn't want to steal any attention away from America." Interesting, because that's all Britney seems to be capable of doing.
All five video clips from last night's episode after the jump, if you can sit through them. CONTINUED »
You can be sure it's a huge day in the TMZ newsroom: Britney and K-Fed are back in court today for their child custody hearing. And Brit even showed up, looking like she had bathed and put some effort into her clothing (no grease stains!). It's a huge turnaround after the last time she attempted to go to court with Sam Lutfi and Adnan Ghalib in tow; one thing that hasn't changed, however, is good ol' TMZ, who is streaming live outside the courthouse. It's fascinating, if you like staring at a horde of desperate photographers and random cars.
The roving band of lepers and ponces at TMZ have published a feature entitled "Fat After Fame," in which they identify and then mock celebrities who have dared gain weight over the course of their careers.
This photo of Jason Castro has been circulating the Internets lately, fueling rumors that the 21-year-old American Idol contestant smokes weed. Problem is, there's no proof the picture isn't doctored — or that the smoke coming out of his mouth is the product of marijuana. (In fact, Jason is known to go to friends' houses to play music while the boys sit outside together and smoke cigars.) And if there was evidence of him smoking weed, it would be out by now. Those TMZ staffers are diligent.
But that aside: Who the hell cares? Some people are claiming that he's a Christian, therefore there's no way he smokes weed — which is faulty reasoning, as it considers a lack of "sin" the requirement to practice religion. And if this is the worst thing someone can find about him, then so be it. So he may smoke occasionally — the guy is also a truly good soul and has done more charity work in his college career than most do in a lifetime (and no, we're not talking about Idol Gives Back). Let the man sing — preferably shirtless — and be done with it.
Last night's episode of TMZ featured a very special guest star in the form of Lindsay Lohan, who posed as one of the employees and poked fun at herself. We'll hand it to TMZ and LiLo: We didn't see it coming, and she pulled it off nicely. But now we're afraid she's started a new trend, and we can't handle weekly celebrity guests on TMZ attempting to resurrect their careers.
Last night on American Idol, David Cook chose to sing "Little Sparrow" from the Dolly Parton songbook. It was, to borrow some Randy Jackson lingo, another solid performance from David — who was rushed to the hospital after the show finished taping.
David was reportedly experiencing heart palpitations and high blood pressure during the show but stayed until the end against producers' requests. He was released late last night after being given medication to lower his blood pressure.
According to an Idol exec, David has been stressed because his brother Adam, who has cancer, experienced a setback this past week. (Side note: The AC on David's guitar is in honor of Adam.)
The magical TMZ moles have discovered who's singing what tonight on American Idol. (The theme is songs from the year each contestant is born.)
If this list is true, we can tell you right now who will be in the bottom three.
Let's just get it out of the way: Britney's over-hyped appearance on How I Met Your Mother aired last night — and we're going to hate ourselves for saying this, but it wasn't as bad as we thought. We were so shocked by our reaction that we pondered the meaning of life until we realized that, after seeing her for months having mental breakdowns on TMZ, anything else is a relief.
The rest of her appearance after the jump. CONTINUED »
It's the end of an era*:
First on Jossip: The New York Post’s attempt to take on TMZ.com is officially offline. We hear from inside the PageSix.com hen house that they’ve abandoned their online effort, effective immediately. The announcement was just made internally. Visitors to PageSix.com are redirected to Page Six proper. So, what, no more infighting?
*And by era, of course, we mean a few months of desperate attempts to take down Harvey Levin.
Everyone's favorite dread-headed American Idol contestant isn't just good-looking — he has a heart.
Soft-spoken Jason Castro, a junior at Texas A&M, was inducted into the Aggie Men's Club this past fall — an organization that provides a "social atmosphere of Christian fellowship and brotherhood." They're currently on a trip to Honduras, donating time and money ($14,000) to build homes and orphanages.
TMZ spoke to Chris, the Club's president, who's now in the country's poverty-stricken capital, Tegucigalpa. Chris spoke highly of Jason — saying Jason would likely have joined the 14 guys who are in Honduras right now … but for Idol.
TMZ is trying to spin it like Jason chose Ryan Seacrest over the orphans, because that's what TMZ does. Our obsession with Jason has made us blind, however, so we just fell more in love.
[Source]
Editor
