Top Story: Suge Knight Back in the Hoosegow
Rap mogul and founder of Death Row Records Marion “Suge” Knight was sent back to prison for 10 months Thursday for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub, Reuters reports. The Compton-born record executive was arrested after the incident, which happened last month outside the White Lotus Club, a celebrity hangout frequented by the likes of Hugh Hefner, Jennifer Garner, Jewel and Jessica Simpson. The arrest was the second parole violation for Knight. He was paroled from prison in 2001 for an earlier assault conviction and arrested in December 2002 for associating with reputed gang members, but was cleared of most of the allegations against him and ordered to perform community service plus 61 days in jail. In fact, jail may be the safest place for the music exec. According to a Los Angeles Times report, Knight may be the ultimate target of a series of gang slayings that killed four people close to him: “Word on the street is there’s a hit out on Suge Knight,” said Det. Michael Caouette of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Queen Latifah Gets Breast Reduction
It’s not your imagination. Rapper turned actress Queen Latifah tells USA Today that she had breast reduction surgery in April and went from “well over an E cup” to a double D. The 33-year-old Oscar nominee says she also lost 25 to 30 pounds in the past year through exercise and eating right. But Latifah said back pain forced her to consider surgery. “It took a year and a half to make that decision. It wasn’t for confidence or image. I’m the anti-Hollywood girl.” Latifah has become a spokeswoman for a new line of undergarments called Curvation.
Jam Master Jay Reportedly Feared for His Life
Ronald Washington, a lifelong friend of Jason Mizell, who was shot and killed at a recording studio in Queens, N.Y., last year, told police the Run-DMC rapper was carrying a .45-caliber handgun and feared for his life the night of his murder, CNN reports. Washington, who is currently detained on armed robbery charges in New York, did not disclose why Mizell, also known as Jam Master Jay, feared for his life that night, but his lawyer, Dana Grossblatt, said he has shared the reason with police. She also said Washington described to police and named the two men he claims he saw heading inside the studio minutes before he says he heard the gunshots that killed the rapper. Neither police nor prosecutors have named any suspects in the case or have stated a motive for the killing.
French Actress Marie Trintignant Dies
French actress Marie Trintignant died Friday in a French hospital, a day after she was flown back from Lithuania in a coma after sustaining severe head injuries following a violent incident with her boyfriend, Reuters reports. Trintignant‘s family has filed a complaint in a Paris court against her partner, Bertrand Cantat, the frontman for the French rock band Noir Desir, alleging premeditated grievous bodily harm and failure to help a person at risk. The 39-year-old singer was admitted early Sunday for alcohol poisoning and a suspected overdose of medicine or drugs soon after Trintignant was rushed to the same hospital in a coma with severe cerebral hemorrhaging. He appeared in court in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius Thursday and was placed under formal arrest for two weeks while police investigate.
Garner Stays With Alias Through 2008
Actress Jennifer Garner is finalizing a new deal that will keep her on the ABC drama Alias through the 2007-08 season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Garner, who won her second straight Emmy nomination for her role as undercover agent Sydney Bristow, is expected to receive a substantial raise. Under the new pact, Garner‘s salary will go from about $40,000 an episode to about $150,000 an episode. Alias is returning for a third season in the fall on ABC.
Dave Matthews, Mos Def Named for Shortlist Music Prize
Dave Matthews, Mos Def, Tom Waits, Tori Amos, Perry Farrell and the Neptunes will serve as judges for the 2003 Shortlist Music Prize, which honors the year’s most creative and adventurous albums. According to The Associated Press, other judges include Chris Martin, Flea, Pete Yorn, Erykah Badu, Spike Jonze and Cameron Crowe. Music industry veterans Greg Spotts and Tom Sarig created the prize in 2001; past winners include N*E*R*D and Sigur Ros. The Shortlist Organization said this week a list of about 100 nominees will be released in late August with 10 finalists named in mid-September. The prize will end with a multi-artist Los Angeles concert in October with the winner receiving a $5,000 cash prize.
Ringling Bros. Accused of Animal Cruelty
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the nation’s largest circus, will have to defend itself against charges that it mistreats elephants that perform under the big tent, the AP reports. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Welfare Institute, The Fund for Animals and Tom Rider, a former Ringling Bros. elephant trainer filed the suit in 2000, claiming circus employees routinely beat the elephants with sharp bull hooks, keep elephants in chains for long periods of time and forcibly remove baby elephants from their mothers before they are properly weaned. A federal judge Wednesday declined to dismiss a lawsuit because Asian elephants are considered an endangered species under federal law.
Role Call: Verbinski and Cage in Weather, Dead of Night Gets Remade
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl director Gore Verbinski and actor Nicolas Cage are in negotiations to star in and direct, respectively, The Weather Man for Sony Pictures Entertainment. The project is about a divorced Chicago weatherman up for a new job on a network morning show in New York who must first make peace with his e
