Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- When Bobby Brown debuted a new song titled "Don't Let Me Die" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Wednesday night, some media outlets assumed it was a tribute to his late ex-wife, Whitney Houston.
The reports highlighted certain lyrics, including, "I didn't realize that every breath I took was from you, you were my air." Bobby also sang, "I guess I [messed] up pretty bad, I didn't know who you were, I didn't know what we had, now I'm stuck living in the past, trying to get the pieces back, but I guess now you're gone."
However, Bobby's rep denies to E! News that the song refers to Whitney. The song reportedly was written before Whitney died in February.
ABC News(NEW YORK) -- A Ukrainian reporter who tried to kiss Will Smith on the mouth was instead met with a backhanded slap to the face.
Russia’s Life TV caught overly affectionate reporter Vitalii Sediuk and the actor on camera at the Moscow premiere of Smith’s new film, “Men In Black 3.”
After a hug and a pat on the back, Sediuk leaned in toward Smith’s face and started going for kisses, prompting the star to push him away.
“He tried to kiss me on my mouth,” Smith said on camera seconds after the incident. “This joker, he’s lucky I didn’t sucker punch him.”
It turns out kissing interview subjects is part of Sediuk’s schtick and he is known as quite the prankster, TMZ reported.
Before the kiss seen around the world, the reporter, who posed as a fan, was known for presenting Madonna with a bouquet of hydrangeas. She graciously accepted the flowers despite the fact she had said in previous interviews she did not like them.
Moments later, the singer was caught on an open microphone at a press conference telling the person next to her she “absolutely loathes hydrangeas.” The video went viral and garnered millions of views.
Alo Ceballos/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- It's Lady Gaga to the rescue on this Sunday night's episode of The Simpsons, which is also the season finale. In the episode, Gaga arrives in Springfield and ends up helping Lisa, who's become a social outcast.
In an attempt to boost her social standing, Lisa anonymously writes positive things about herself on the school blog, but the plan backfires and she becomes even less popular. Gaga is the one who helps Lisa realize that being yourself is much better than trying to be like everyone else.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Gaga says she was "really excited and surprised" to be invited to lend her voice to The Simpsons, and notes that she had been "sort of itching to do some TV again" -- bonus points for if you remember Gaga's 2009 guest spot on Gossip Girl. Gaga calls the script for her Simpsons episode "incredible," and adds, "It's so funny. I come to Springfield on a train...I come to make the people of Springfield happy." Once there, she says, "I run into Lisa and I decide that it's my mission to pull Lisa out of her slump and give her hope again."
Gaga says that participating in the long-running show was actually a bit intimidating for her. "They're so wonderfully talented," she tells ET. "I think I was more nervous than I have ever been because I have so much respect for them I just wanted to do a good job."
ABC/Ida Mae Astute(NEW YORK) -- Get ready, New York. A “starmageddon” of presidential fundraisers is about to hit town.
The Obama campaign announced Friday that actress Sarah Jessica Parker will next month host President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and an expected star-studded cast of donors for an event dubbed “A New York Night” at her private Manhattan home.
Joining the crowd will be several lucky grassroots supporters and winners of an online sweepstakes by a contribution of “$3 or whatever you can,” Parker said in a fundraising email.
“As a woman, a mother, and an entrepreneur, I need to believe our country can be a place where everyone has a fair shot at success,” she wrote.
“This November’s election will determine whether we get to keep moving forward, or if we’re forced to go back to policies that ask people like my middle-class family in Ohio to carry the burden -- while people like me, who don’t need tax breaks, get extra help.”
Parker says of the event, “it should be fabulous.”
Earlier this month, the Obamas attended a similar event at the Los Angeles home of actor George Clooney. Ticket sales for the event and the online sweepstakes raised more than $12 million for the 2012 campaign. It was the president’s single most lucrative fundraiser ever.
The 150 tickets sold for the event went for $40,000 apiece. The online haul for the Clooney event alone was in the “millions,” an Obama campaign official said.
The campaign has regularly promoted contests to court grassroots cash, including chances to win an all-expenses-paid trip to have lunch or dinner with the president. The initiatives are reportedly highly lucrative.
Jamie McCarthy/WireImage(LAS VEGAS) -- This year's Billboard Music Awards, set for Sunday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will be quite the star-studded affair. The telecast, which will air on ABC, will feature performances from Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber, LMFAO, The Wanted, Nelly Furtado, Usher, Linkin Park and Chris Brown.
In addition, Katy Perry will be debuting a new song, "Wide Awake," on the telecast, and Whitney Houston will be posthumously honored with the Billboard Millennium Award. Jordin Sparks and John Legend will perform a tribute to Whitney, and her daughter Bobbi Kristina and sister-in-law, Pat Houston, will be on hand to accept the award.
As if that weren't enough, Stevie Wonder will also be be presented with the prestigious Icon Award during the ceremony and will be saluted with an all-star tribute during the show.
Of course, there also will be some awards handed out -- lots of them, since Billboard has so many different charts. Adele, LMFAO, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne are the top nominees for the awards, with Adele leading the pack as a finalist in 18 award categories, including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist. LMFAO are finalists in 17 categories, while Rihanna is nominated in 13 categories and Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne are each nominated in 10 categories.
Taking a look at just a few of the top categories, the nominees for Top Artist overall are Adele, Gaga, Wayne, Katy Perry and Rihanna. The nominees for Top Billboard 200 album are Adele's 21, Michael Buble's Christmas, Lady Gaga's Born This Way, Drake's Take Care and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV. The nominees for Top Billboard Hot 100 song are "Rolling in the Deep," "Party Rock Anthem," "Give Me Everything," "Moves Like Jagger" and "E.T."
Competing for Top Female Artist are Adele, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. The Top Male Artist category pits Bruno Mars and Chris Brown against Drake, Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne.
The nominees for Top Duo/Group are Coldplay, Lady Antebellum, LMFAO, Maroon 5 and The Black Eyed Peas, and the Top New Artist nominees are Foster the People, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Scotty McCreery and Bad Meets Evil, featuring Eminem and Royce da 5'9.
Presenters at Sunday night's awards include Taio Cruz, Gavin DeGraw, Gladys Knight, Natasha Bedingfield, Julianne Hough and actor Jeremy Sisto. The show will be hosted by Modern Family stars Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell.
The 2012 Billboard Music Awards will air Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage(NEW YORK) -- Donna Summer died of lung cancer, but her condition was “not related to smoking,” according to a statement released by her publicist Friday.
“Although she lost her battle to lung cancer at the age of 63, it was not related to smoking,” the statement said. “Ms. Summer was a non-smoker. Obviously, numerous factors can be attributed to the cause of cancer in general, but any details regarding the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of Ms. Summer’s case remain between her family and team of doctors.”
Summer, popularly known as the Queen of Disco, died at her Naples, Fla. home on Thursday.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- After dodging questions about his notably public divorce from pop star Katy Perry, and heckling a fan who taunted him about his ex at a recent stand-up show, comedian Russell Brand has broken his silence about his failed marriage with a pointed confession.
“I still love her as a human being, but sometimes when you’re in a relationship, I suppose it doesn’t work out, does it,” he said Thursday during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“I was very happy to be married to her. She’s such a beautiful human being and I just have only love and positivity for her,” Brand added.
The 36-year-old comedian filed for divorce from Perry, 27, in December, citing irreconcilable differences. The two had been married for 14 months, and it was rumored he wanted her to cut back on her partying.
“The interesting thing about what Russell said now is this is what I’ve been hearing all along from sources,” Ian Drew of Us Weekly magazine told ABC’s Good Morning America. “That Russell and Katy didn’t really have this big crashing animosity, that what really was at fault in the relationship … Russell realized she wasn’t at a place where he was in his life.”
Fresh off the divorce, Perry expressed her pain freely in February on stage at the Grammy Awards, performing the song “Part of Me.” Many believe the lyrics were aimed at Brand.
Up until now, Brand has been quiet about the split, but it has been rumored that he sent her an email expressing regret about the breakup.
But Drew said Brand never reached out to Perry.
“We should hang up the notion that Katy and Russell are going to reconcile,” he said. “They are doing what many people should be doing, which is splitting and ending things on a good note.”
The CW(NEW YORK) -- The CW is shuffling its primetime lineup for the 2012-2013 season while adding three new series into the mix.
The network announced Thursday that 90210, America's Next Top Model, Supernatural and Hart of Dixie will all move to new nights this fall. America's Next Top Model is adding international male model Rob Evans as a judge and Johnny Wujek, stylist for stars such as singer Katy Perry, as a creative consultant.
Gossip Girl will end its run with a sixth and final season, consisting of 11 episodes. The season will focus on revealing the true identity of Gossip Girl.
The CW's new shows are Arrow, an adaptation of the DC Comics character Green Arrow; Beauty and the Beast, a new spin on the classic tale; and Emily Owens, M.D., starring Meryl Streep's daughter, Mamie Gummer, as a young doctor.
The network's much-publicized Sex and the City prequel, The Carrie Diaries, will replace Gossip Girl on Monday nights, beginning in January.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The movie may be named for Battleship, the game, but it has absolutely nothing to do with it. First of all, I don’t ever remember Brooklyn Decker standing on my grid. And I’m confident I would. I would also remember having to sink water-dwelling, lizard-eyed extraterrestrials.
This Battleship stars Friday Night Lights and John Carter lead Taylor Kitsch as Alex Hopper, a highly intelligent, underachieving bad boy whose older brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsgard), forces him to join the family business. That business? The Navy.
Turns out the Navy sort of agrees with Alex. He quickly ascends to the rank of captain, although we're given absolutely no idea how that happens: he goes from a civilian arrested for stealing a burrito to impress a girl, to a Navy captain in a matter of one scene. No exposition necessary, I guess.
By the way, the girl he stole the burrito to impress? Samantha Shane (Decker), daughter of Admiral Shane, played by Liam Neeson. Hopper is getting ready to ask the admiral’s permission to marry Samantha but the admiral is confounded by Hopper’s lack of discipline. You could say Hopper drives the Admiral INshane. Or not.
And then -- the aliens attack! Why? We kind of invited them. How? See the movie. Sure, Battleship is dumb, but only in a mindless-summer-blockbuster sort of way. The aliens are fantastic and the destruction is epic, magnificent and never boring. While we as yet have little clue how Battleship is going to play here in the U.S., it’s already making a fortune overseas. That's good news for Taylor Kitsch, a talented actor who didn't deserve the poor business and marketing decisions that plagued the box office failure John Carter. Hats off as well to director Peter Berg for infusing some heart and guts into a banal script that could’ve gone terribly wrong.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator opened earlier this week. On Friday, it will be joined at the box office by two more new films. Here's a closer look:
-- Battleship: Loosely based on the popular board game, the action flick finds a fleet of naval ships defending the world against an alien attack. Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker and R&B/pop artist Rihanna star. Rated PG-13.
-- What to Expect When You're Expecting: The comedy, based on the best-selling book of the same, follows the lives of five couples who are all preparing to welcome a child. Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid and Chris Rock star. Rated PG-13.?
