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Hip-hop singer R. Kelly posted $750,000 bail and was released Thursday after spending the night in a Florida jail, according to MTV News. Kelly was arrested Wednesday on 21 counts of child pornography. MTV News reports the Cook County, Ill., state attorney's office indicted the singer on seven prosecutable acts under Illinois child pornography laws, including intercourse, oral sex, masturbation and other sexual contact with a minor. All charges relate to one girl born in September 1984. Kelly will be returning to Chicago on Friday to be booked.
Celebs
A Miami-area hotel security guard was the lucky one to find Sir Paul McCartney's fiancée's engagement ring. McCartney and his intended, model Heather Mills, were staying at the Turnberry Isle Resort and Club while McCartney was finishing his tour stop in Ft. Lauderdale last month, when the ring was lost. The guard found the diamond and sapphire ring Wednesday in some bushes below the room where the couple was staying. Reuters reports a hotel spokesman has denied a British tabloid slant that the ring was lost when McCartney threw it out the window after having a fight with Mills.Nash Bridges star Don Johnson and his wife, Kelley, welcomed their second child, a boy named Jasper Breckenridge Johnson. The baby was delivered Thursday in Los Angeles. The couple have one daughter, Grace, 2.Steve-O, the guy who did all the crazy stunts on MTV's Jackass, is putting out his own video, Don't Try This at Home. This time, he gets to do even more outlandish stunts, some of them completely naked, including having five shots of vodka injected into his veins and being pelted with fireworks. He told the Associated Press he'd rather be known for making people laugh than for doing crazy stunts.Movies
Angela Bassett has joined legendary singer Bob Dylan for the film Masked & Anonymous. The story revolves around Jack Fate (Dylan), a wandering crooner released from prison to do one more concert. Bassett will play a woman who has a past with Fate. The film also stars Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges.Sam Rockwell is in negotiations to star with Nicolas Cage in the drama Matchstick Men, directed by Ridley Scott. In the same vein as Paper Moon, a con artist (Cage) with an obsessive-compulsive disorder discovers he has a daughter he never knew. Rockwell would play the con man's partner.Music News
Michael Jackson takes a stand. According to a story in the London Evening Standard, the Gloved One is waging war against record companies, including his own label, Sony, accusing them of forcing artists into "slavery" by trying to squeeze profits from them under the guise of spiraling costs. He has recruited a lawyer and civil rights activist to help him in his crusade. Madonna, Sting, Eric Clapton, REM, Neil Diamond and Elton John are said to be among the stars supporting the campaign.The rock band Korn will be performing a 90-minute live concert to be simulcast to 40 movie theaters around the country Monday. The relatively new concept in movie-going is to help the band promote their new album Untouchables. Tickets are being sold and given away on local radio shows.