Amy Winehouse Reportedly Stole Coke From Kate MossWe’re not sure why this matters, as there’s no chance Kate is going to get it back. Plus, Jessica Simpson is thin again and Kevin Federline is getting fatter in today’s roundup of celebrity ephemera.
ByKatie Goldsmith
gossipmonger
Madonna Switches TeamsThe Material Mom took her kids, and Jesus Luz, to a Mets game — where she hung out with Anderson Cooper.
Tim Russert’s Son Luke Eyed for NBC Reporting GigThe son of late ‘Meet the Press’ host Tim Russert may get a gig on NBC. That and gossip about Ron Perelman, Patricia Duff, Lauren Conrad, and Bill Murray in our daily gossip roundup.
Rudy Daughter Caroline Drops the ‘Giuliani’Plus, Joan Rivers and Barbara Corcoran bite at each other, Pat O’Brien only has one more chance at ‘The Insider,’ and Blake Lively is surprisingly normal — in our daily gossip roundup.
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Ivanka Trump’s Totally Awesome Tussauds TraditionIvanka Trump has an assistant go touch up her wax statue at Madame Tussauds every week. Fourteen of America’s Next Top Models totally trashed their $6 million Tribeca loft.
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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.
company town
Mon Dieu! French Fraud Costs Bank $7 BillionFINANCE
• Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has some big plans at Davos this year: “Number one on my list is world peace.” [MarketBeat/WSJ, DealBook/NYT]
• Looks like Steve Schwarzman is green only with greed — his newest moneymaking scheme hinges on building huge coal plants in pristine locales in the American West. [Fortune]
• Société Générale, the second biggest bank in France, found that one of its “plain vanilla” traders had taken “massive fraudulent directional positions…far beyond his limited authority” that would ultimately end up costing the bank $7 billion. It is, according to the Times, “an exceptional fraud.” Seriously! Quelle balls! [NYT]
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Padma Leaves a Bad Taste in Fiamma’s MouthManhattan Moms, an East Coast equivalent of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County, will premiere early next year. A lot of the city’s foremost graffiti artists congregated for a book party at Auto in the meatpacking district. Billy Joel is in talks with the Mets to perform a bunch of gigs at Shea Stadium. George Steinbrenner will have a high school named after him in Tampa. Padma Lakshmi was rude to the staff at Soho eatery Fiamma, but Martha Stewart overtipped and was nice. CNN gave out an award to someone for forcing “one of the world’s largest oil corporations to pay more than $6 billion to clean up toxic waste in the Amazon rain forest,” but didn’t name Chevron as the company because they are an advertiser.
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Rachel Roy Is a Dash PreggersRachel Roy is pregnant. Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford toasted new friend Carrie Underwood with Cristal at Southern Hospitality. Ew, they serve Cristal at that place? Katie Holmes took Suri to have frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3. 50 Cent and Lance Bass talked smack about each other’s books. Anna Wintour skimped on the food (only cheese sticks and almonds!) at her Style.com party on Tuesday. Prince Albert showed up at the “Grace, Princess of Monaco” exhibit at Sotheby’s.
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Fashionistas Mad Wintour Likes Federer BetterAlice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet took offense to Molly Sims’s comment that the label was “lower end” by claiming that Sims begged for free pants and a plane ticket to the show when she modeled for her last February. Tennis stars Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova claim to be just friends, but they were out singing karaoke together till 5 a.m. the night after Djokovic lost in the finals. In other tennis news: Some designers were annoyed that Anna Wintour spent more time with Roger Federer at the U.S. Open than at Fashion Week shows. Details editor Dan Peres is expecting his first child with Aussie wife Sarah Wynter. Walmart competitor the Wholesale Department Store Union bought out a showing of Off Broadway show Walmartopia. Chef Todd English, of Olives fame, may open up a new place on 98 Kenmare Street. Liz Smith’s sources tell her that Rudy Giuliani is “a bad man and an erratic personality” but would make a good chief executive.
Katie Couric Orders Takeout From IraqOscar de la Renta doesn’t want any socialites at his Fashion Week show because they never actually buy his clothes. (Also, some models for Marc Jacobs are annoyed that he tapped The Hills star Lauren Conrad to stomp the catwalk for him). Kate Hudson is trying to get in touch with Owen Wilson, but has been rebuffed. New York Ranger Sean Avery claims he dumped Elisha Cuthbert, and not the other way around. East Village hipster hangout Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction is for sale for $5.5 million. Tommy Lee may or may not have had sex with a blonde girl in a room full of people at Dune in the Hamptons. Katie Couric placed an Italian food takeout order for her daughters in New York from Iraq.
company town
Question of the Day: What to Do When Rupert Calls?MEDIA
• Rupert Murdoch personally called several reporters at The Wall Street Journal, including Tara Parker-Pope, Kate Kelly, and Henny Sender, to try and persuade them to stay with the paper. Some staffers are jealous, others asking whether the media baron is already overinvolved. [LAT]
• Despite its huge ad counts, the Times Magazine is cutting first and business-class flights for reporters. From now on they’ll have to get masthead-level approval to avoid us plebes back in coach. [Gawker]
• Former Jane staffers hope subscribers trash the Glamour issues they’re being sent as substitutes for the shuttered mag. How Jane of them. [NYP]
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Oh, Poor Fashion WeekFewer Hollywood stars than usual are expected at Fashion Week when it starts September 5, because the Emmys and the MTV Video Music Awards are the same week. Dan Rather was confused by the “Thriller” dance stunt performed by Katie Couric’s staff last week, though he thinks her job is safe. Arianna Huffington may be dating Newark mayor Cory Booker. Cuba Gooding Jr., who is married with three kids, recently made out with five girls in one night at Tenjune. Jeremy Piven got into a heated argument with his mother at Nobu Malibu, though it’s unclear about what. Gwyneth Paltrow has been trekking around Spain with Mario Batali for a PBS cooking show (and hubby Chris Martin almost didn’t get into the premiere of her brother’s new movie). Cameron Diaz had a romantic dinner with John Mayer at Mai House in Tribeca. Residents of Martha’s Vineyard are happy that Larry David and Laurie are broken up and that Larry is dating again.
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Tinz and Olivia Hate Each Other More Than They Hate GenocideTinsley Mortimer and Olivia Palermo hate each other so much they couldn’t jointly host a benefit for Darfur. John Mayer took Mandy Moore to lunch (at La Esquina) and Cameron Diaz to dinner (at Indochine) on the same day. New School president Bob Kerrey, a former governor and senator from Nebraska, might move back to run Chuck Hagel’s senate seat. Ivanka Trump instituted a “no midriff, no bikini bottom” rule for her October Stuff magazine cover. Former Jets QB Joe Namath is now a grandfather, though his daughter is only 16. Billy Joel thinks his Hamptons benefit concert was overpriced — and not that good. A Mr. Chow is opening in Vegas. Giants safety Will Demps is done with groupies. A Maxim writer thinks Sanjaya and Adrian Grenier are doppelgängers.
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It’s His PrerogativeBobby Brown beefed up security in Australia because he still thinks Osama bin Laden is after him. Former party girl Taylor Stein, who just had a baby with William Lauder, has dated a lot of very, very wealthy older men. A documentary producer claims Bobby Kennedy got into a shouting match with Marilyn Monroe the night she died, and not in the bedroom where her body was found. Mom of the Year Dina Lohan is being sued for allegedly failing to pay back a $400,000 loan she used to jump-start Lindsay’s music career. ABC misspelled Whoopi Goldberg’s name in a press release announcing her as the new host of The View. Rudy Giuliani made up for the fact that the Yankees lost Eric Gange to the Red Sox by raising $350,000 at a Greenwich fund-raiser. Chelsea Clinton tried, and failed, to quietly read Harry Potter on the 6 train. CBS News execs are not pleased with the performance of some of the company’s interns. Tyra Banks attended a party for her Air Force cadet brother, who is going to Iraq.
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Gay Slur at the ‘Times’!The top photo editor at the New York Times allegedly called a co-worker a faggot during an office party, and now she may lose her job. Jane Pratt showed up for a Playboy Bunny audition; she was told her tan wasn’t good enough. Campbell Brown is leaving NBC for CNN. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony pride themselves on being “normal.” Hustler may publish the names of 30 politicians who frequented the D.C. madam. Natalie Portman wants you to know she does not get naked during Goya’s Ghost. Shakira wants her fiancé to sign a prenup. Calum Best played strip truth-or-dare with a “gorgeous, straight, black male” while Lindsay Lohan was in another room.
the morning line
‘Suicide in Buffalo Would Be Redundant’
• Blackouts, school closings, downed trees and power lines — and that’s just on the first day of snow! Bewildered Buffalo registers two feet of the white stuff, making for the snowiest October day on record. An auspicious beginning, that. [AP via NYT]
• Hey, you know what hasn’t happened on the Upper East Side in a while, if by “a while” you mean 48 hours? Raging flames and mass evacuations. Behold, then, a three-alarm fire in a historic — and thankfully unoccupied — townhouse on 70th and Park, six blocks from the Lidle crash and eight blocks from the Bartha place. Does God not like UES anymore? [AP via amNY]
• Istithmar, a Dubai-based investment firm, buys the W Hotel in Union Square, paying a per-room rate that beats the prices paid for the Plaza and the Essex House. The company already owns the Knickerbocker and Helmsley hotels and could well be the final bidders for Stuy Town. Cue the eighties-style the-foreigners-are-taking-over-New York hysteria. [NYS]
• Some Muslims are reportedly offended by the new Apple store on Fifth Avenue, finding its architecture too similar to the Ka’ba, the sacred edifice in Mecca. They should see the Rubik’s Cube. [ZDNet via Curbed]
• And Con Ed has released a “definitive,” 600-page report on the July blackout in Queens. We’ll only need six words to capture the gist. It was all someone else’s fault. The cited number of affected customers (6,800) also differs wildly from the city estimates (over 100,000). Damage control? On it. [WNBC]
