The Name ‘Kanye West’ Means Nothing to Vivienne WestwoodShe thinks he may be famous in America or something. Plus, Ruth Madoff was spotted faxing documents at a deli and Sharon Stone and Andre Balasz were seen canoodling. In the gossip roundup.
Michael Stipe Is Finally Okay With Being GayR.E.M.’s Michael Stipe finally comes clean about being gay in this month’s Spin. Marc Jacobs and boyfriend Jason Preston got into numerous screaming matches while on vacation together in Turks and Caicos and flew back on separate private jets. Danny Masterson had his 32nd-birthday party at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, and it had a mechanical bull. An unnamed socialite dropped from a size 14 to a size 0 by picking up a heroin habit. Eminem, however, has hired a personal trainer to help him lose weight.
gossipmonger
Predictably, ‘Lipstick Jungle’ Star Used to Lust After Andrew McCarthyLipstick Jungle’s Lindsay Price had a childhood crush on her co-star Andrew McCarthy. Tom Hanks walked past Eliot Spitzer’s apartment building on 79th and Fifth, but no one recognized him. A Madonna look-alike ran across the second-floor balcony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction at the Waldorf-Astoria, providing some levity to an otherwise boring event. Fashion Week will relocate to the Tenth Avenue rail yards after 2010. The Queens livery driver who faked the baby rescue weirdly will appear on an upcoming episode of The Real Housewives of New York City. A documentary about storied Tribeca nightclub the Wetlands opens Friday. Marc Jacobs’s boy toy, Jason Preston, got punched in the face outside Hiro after trying to get a guy who had thrown a drink at a girl to apologize.
party lines
Snoop Dogg Briefly Erases the Word ‘Bitch’ From His Vocabulary
Has chronic curser Snoop Dogg reformed his dirty language? At Monday’s Hip-Hop Summit Action Network awards gala at Capitale, honoree Snoop Dogg repented for some of the harsh language he’s used against women in his songs. “I’m not trying to do anything to offend nobody, but y’all’ve got to understand, I’m from the East Side,” he said. “I worked hard to become a man on my own. My mother showed me how, but she couldn’t really teach me how to become a man. My father wasn’t there. I never knocked him for that. But the playas that I learnt from, they taught me the wrong way.”
intel
Rejecting the Celebrity TransfusionEarlier today, we noted that the Us Weekly set seems to be migrating from Los Angeles to New York, what with Lindsay Lohan and Brangelina and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Brandon Fucking Davis all settling in, and Jennifer Aniston talking about moving. We don’t know exactly why this is happening. Could the Second Gilded Age, with its luxury apartment buildings and $400 omakase menus, have created a kind of reverse gold rush, with the very rich moving here to liquidate? Are they really running from the paparazzi, as they say? Or are glare of TMZ’s klieg lights, combined with the massive brown pollution cloud that hovers over Los Angeles, just really bad for your skin?
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The Soho Grand Is a WonderlandRumors of the demise of the John Mayer–Jessica Simpson relationship may be greatly exaggerated; the two spent Sunday night together at the Soho Grand. (Mayer is also still doing the stand-up comedy thing). Today show correspondent Jill Rappaport owns eighteen acres in the Hamptons. Johnny Damon hung out till 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, but he still hit a two-run double later in the day. Ivanka Trump and Zach Braff exchanged numbers. (Uh-oh. Does Jared Kushner know about this?) Warren Buffett, David Remnick, John Kerry, Ted Turner, and Jann Wenner, among others (ahem), were all rejected from Harvard. After asking for $5.5 million, Stone Phillips sold his penthouse on West 72nd Street for $4.35 million. Times managing editor Jill Abramson is suing the truck driver who ran over her foot.
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Donald and Rosie, Still FightingDonald Trump tried to reignite his feud with Rose O’Donnell by sending Barbara Walters a giant framed bustier that O’Donnell wore in Exit to Eden. Usher’s fiancée may be pregnant, and it may not be Usher’s child. Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun had quite the send-off Tuesday at Jazz at Lincoln Center. A man is claiming to be Larry Birkhead’s former gay lover. Seagrams heir Matthew Bronfman unveils his Ikon condo complex in Williamsburg tonight. The father of deceased singer and socialite Kitty Carlisle Hart knew Abraham Lincoln. Nick Lachey is still sensitive about his divorce from Jessica Simpson. A lot of American films will screen at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Ryan Gosling won’t say whether his relationship with Rachel McAdams is over. Snoop Dogg’s love of video games and weed caused a chain reaction of snafus at the Pussycat Dolls’ UNICEF benefit at Cipriani Wall Street.
party lines
Snoop, Pussycat Dolls Rock Wall Street
The Cipriani/Deutsche Bank concert series opened its third season at Cipriani Wall Street last night, continuing its tradition of bringing artists like Mary J. Blige and Kanye West to perform private concerns for finance types and the pretty young things who may or may not love them. This year’s series benefits UNICEF and the Sarah Ferguson Foundation, and opening night finally answered an age-old question: Who do rich white people like more, Snoop Dogg or the Pussycat Dolls?
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Al for Hill?Al Sharpton claims he is not backing Hillary Clinton for president, despite a rumor that he and Bill smoked cigars in Harlem two weeks ago. Rupert Murdoch would back Michael Bloomberg for president, if Bloomberg were to run. A $1.5 million lawsuit against Beyoncé, regarding her House of Dereon clothing line, was thrown out. Michael Jackson was reported to have been hospitalized for pneumonia, but his flack says he’s just fine. Bravo is shooting a reality show about photog Patrick McMullan. Jenna Jameson hasn’t been attending meetings with mainstream producers regarding the film adaptation of her book How to Make Love Like a Porn Star because she’s allegedly unhappy with her vaginoplasty.
gossipmonger
That Big Party You Kept Reading Stephen Schwarzman Was Planning? He Had ItWall Street buyout king Stephen Schwarzman threw a party at the Park Avenue Armory. It cost $3 million. Lydia Hearst is only giving away her limited-edition purses to “role models”; Britney Spears asked for one at last week’s Heatherette show but was turned down. An executive assistant at Jive Records was fired for using interns to sell pre-release Justin Timberlake albums at $50 a pop. Registered nurse Judi Giuliani helped out a sick passenger on an airplane. Bill and Hillary are having Valentine’s Day dinner at a secret location tonight. Mario Batali won a lawsuit against his landlord at Del Posto. Paris Hilton will celebrate her birthday this Saturday with Nicole Richie and Snoop Dogg.
gossipmonger
Oh, Rats!Suge Knight on Snoop Dogg (who was arrested again Tuesday, this time with drugs and a gun in his possession): “He’s a rat. I don’t like rats.” Al Gore on Britney Spears’s refusal to wear underwear: “No comment.” Kelis on why gay men love her: “I’m like a gay man’s purse.” Candace Bushnell says Jay McInerney is very serious about sex. 50 Cent thinks Oprah caters to middle-aged white American women because “she’s become one herself.” Gambling-minded investors want to take over New York’s racetracks; horse purists aren’t happy. Lindsay Lohan has been attending AA meetings in Los Angeles. For exhaustion, of course. Andrew Cuomo forced two of his campaign operatives to pull out of a panel on politics. Naomi Campbell was going to be in a movie, but she made too many demands. Fabian Basabe avoided Amy Sacco recently because he’s suing her. Danny Meyer to open a Union Square Cafe in Tokyo. Sean Connery stood to make almost half a billion dollars from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he declined to play Gandalf. A month ago, Kid Rock went to a strip club, drank a lot. Matt Lauer held a door open for a woman with a stroller. Julianne Moore is so nervous about the opening of her new play she can’t eat. Michael Jackson watched the new Bond flick in his hotel room.
