Heath Ledger Has a Supermodel in His SightsHeath Ledger has been stalking Gemma Ward around town and also tried hitting on (taken) Heather Graham. The server who brought Chelsea Clinton the wrong appetizer at Irving Mill may or may not have been fired. Calvin Klein is vandalizing his Houston Street billboard for the opening of the New Museum on the Bowery. NBC honcho Jeff Zucker doesn’t want the strike to end because retail advertisers have already bought up ad space, and now production costs are zero. Kimora Lee Simmons was overheard saying that the reason she invited Russell Simmons’s new girlfriend, Porschla Coleman, to meet the “major players” at Simmons’s birthday last month is because she “wants this stupid bitch to get a clue.” Seagram heir Edgar Bronfman Jr. just bought an $18.75 million condo in the Carhart mansion on East 95th Street.
intel
Marty Markowitz Has High Hopes for Hasid With Homophobic PastGregarious Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz recently sparked the ire of Brooklyn’s gays with his endorsement of former city councilman and fifth-district Civil Court judge candidate Noach Dear. Dear, an Orthodox Jew with a history of anti-gay and anti-choice sympathies (he famously led the opposition against the landmark 1986 City Council Gay Rights bill), has already amassed quite a few campaign dollars; the Brooklyn Heights Courier reports his campaign is worth over ten times that of his sole opponent, Manhattan resident Karen Yellen. “I made a decision [to endorse him], whether it’s right or wrong,” Marty told New York yesterday, seeming to already doubt his endorsement of the controversial candidate. Given the power of the purse, Dear is widely expected to win tomorrow — when residents of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Dyker Heights, and Parks Sunset and Borough cast their votes. What’s puzzling is that Markowitz has been a longtime ally of the gay community, so the Dear endorsement leaves a lot to be explained. We caught up with Marty (who, incidentally, still says he doesn’t know if he’s running for mayor) yesterday during the Brooklyn Book Festival and asked him about earning himself a potential fagwa.
gossipmonger
iGreedySony chairman Howard Stringer called Steve Jobs “greedy” at the Allen & Co. conference. The main character of Doug Stumpf’s Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy may be based on pervy billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise went to the Biography Bookstore in the West Village and then to Magnolia. Joe DiMaggio’s brother Dom is not pleased the Yankee Clipper’s diaries are for sale. Stone Phillips is leaving Dateline, and he bought his longtime assistant an Audi as a parting gift. Matt Damon wants Al Gore to run for president. Ashlee Simpson helped beau Pete Wentz conquer his fear of flying so Wentz could get to the Hamptons via seaplane. Democratic Leadership Council Chairman Harold Ford Jr. hung out with Jay-Z, Nas, and Kid Rock in Southampton. Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany brought their 4-year-old to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
gossipmonger
Donald Trump Has ‘Jealous Enemies’Donald Trump claims that “jealous enemies” are spreading rumors that contractors working on his Atlantic City properties haven’t been paid for their work. After much deliberation, Daniel Boulud has decided to name his forthcoming Upper West Side bistro “Bar Boulud.” Jade Jagger had some serious air rage on a flight from London. Paramount head Brad Grey allegedly said that the reason Dreamgirls wasn’t nominated for a Best Picture Oscar is that “everyone hates David [Geffen].” Jim McGreevey’s wife is planning a tell-all.
