November 23, 2024

About the author  ⁄ Gil Kaufman

Jay Z/Solange Elevator Video Sold For Big Bucks?

by 05/15/14

Was it worth it?

That’s the question you have to ask yourself, after reports surfaced of how much the now-fired employee who reportedly sold the video of Solange Knowles violently attacking Jay Z in an elevator received for leaking the recording.

Click Here To See Which Jay/Solange Story We Found Out Is Totally Fake.

While the reports could not be independently confirmed at press time, the New York Post’s Page Six said that the tape might have been sold to TMZ for up to $250,000.

“This was being shopped for five days to the highest bidder,” an unnamed source said, noting that famed Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer has been hired to find out who the source of the leak was.

Another source, also unidentified, reportedly told E! Online that the sale price for the tape sold by an unnamed female security guard was closer to $50,000-$100,000.

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Casey Kasem Found

by 05/15/14

One day after his family filed a missing person’s report, radio legend Casey Kasem’s location has been confirmed. According to reports, the 82-year-old former “American Top 40″ host, who suffers from a progressive type of dementia, was tracked down in Washington state in an undisclosed location.

“The family has grave concerns about his medical care,” a Kasem family spokesperson said in a statement. “The Kasem family will do everything in their power to bring their father home.”

Daughter Kerri, who was granted a temporary conservatorship by a judge on Monday, added, “We are grateful to local authorities for finding my Dad… We are one step closer to bringing him home.”

According to CNN, sheriff’s deputies in Kitsap County, Washington, performed a welfare check on Tuesday at an address provided by California Adult Protective Services. While there, authorities found Kasem and his wife visiting some unidentified people at a home, where the couple told deputies they were on vacation. Deputies left after determining that Kasem, who is no longer able to speak due to his illness, was not in any distress.

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Did Hunter Hayes Thaw The ‘Frozen’ Hot Streak?

by 05/14/14

What does it take to stop (or at least slow down) the juggernaut that is the “Frozen” soundtrack? Only Pharrell, Katy Perry, Lorde, Jason DeRulo, Lil Jon, Miley Cyrus, Kid Ink and Aloe Blacc. In other words, after a smokin’ 13 record-setting weeks at #1, “Frozen” finally got knocked down a notch by the NOW 50 hits compilation.

Now That’s What I Call A Debut
NOW 50 slammed into the #1 spot thanks to sales of 153,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. With its star firepower, the compilation easily bested “Frozen,” which slipped down to #2 (99,000) as sales blew past 2.6 million.

Welcome To The Party
The Billboard 200 top 10 was full of fresh faces, with four other albums joining NOW in the winner’s circle. Country cutie Hunter Hayes slid in at #3 with his second effort, Storyline, which moved 69,000 copies for his best debut to date, though not quite enough to pass “Frozen.”

Over on the iTunes chart, though, Hayes actually beat out NOW and “Frozen” to take the #1 spot.

Also debuting: Tech N9NE’s Strangeulation (#5, 36,000), indie rapper Atmosphere’s Southsiders (#8, 23,000) and guitar icon Santana’s all-star comp Corazon (22,000).

Just outside the top 10, Lily Allen made a quieter noise with Sheezus, which slid in at #12 (17,000).

Ariana And Iggy Hold It Down
After rolling to the #1 spot on the Billboard Digital Songs chart last week, Ariana Grande’s “Problem” stayed put (235,000), while partner Iggy Azalea also hung in at ...

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Watch Justin Timberlake And Michael Jackson Go Back To The Future In ‘Love Never Felt So Good’ Video

by 05/14/14

There are a couple of ways to cleverly make a music video to celebrate a new single from an artist who is no longer with us. You can cull some of their greatest moves into a kind of classic moments collage, recruit a current superstar to dance and sing alongside the fallen idol or have everyday people dance and sing joyously to the fresh track.

Or, as in the case with the “new” Michael Jackson video for “Love Never Felt So Good,” do all three.

The clip from the just-released posthumous Xscape album debuted on Wednesday morning (May 14) and it’s an exuberant fiesta of all things MJ, anchored by throwback glimpses of some of his legendary music videos — including “Thriller,” “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal” and “Bad.”

With acolyte Justin Timberlake joining MJ for a bonus track duet from the eight-song album, the clip is a celebration of all things Michael, from his most iconic dance moves, to the smile his music brought to the faces of people across the globe to, let’s face it, JT’s superbad fanboydom.

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Police Drop Jay Z $20 Million Master Tapes Extortion Investigation

by 05/14/14

The great Jay Z $20 million master tapes caper appears to be over. Less than a month after Los Angeles police opened an investigation into an alleged extortion plot over some of Jigga’s prized recordings, the case has been closed.

According to TMZ Jay’s camp has stopped pursuing a criminal extortion case against former producer Chauncey Mahan, which led the police to close their investigation.

Mahan was questioned last month over accusations that he was holding for ransom master recordings made between 1998 and 2002 that were reported missing in 2002. Mahan reportedly had the tapes in his California storage facility and had contacted Jay’s partners at Live Nation and said he was going to either auction the recordings or hand them over for a $100,000 “storage” fee. Mahan was not arrested in the incident, in which Jay’s team filed a grand larceny complaint with the New York Police Department while the Los Angeles Police Department investigated the extortion allegations.

While the LAPD confiscated the recordings, law enforcement sources told TMZ that Jay’s camp decided not to pursue the extortion charges. At press time it was unclear what would be done with the tapes.

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Can You Hear Me Now? Justin Bieber Accused Of Attempted Cellphone Theft

by 05/14/14

We just finished telling you about what a fun, epic Monday Justin Bieber had (even if some of us didn’t think he pulled the Indiana Jones thing off).

But apparently we missed one item: an alleged attempted cellphone theft. According to CNN, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson confirmed that the incident took place Monday night and that officers interviewed the alleged victim on Tuesday night.

TMZ reported that Bieber allegedly committed attempted robbery on Monday night at the Sherman Oaks Castle Park — the place where he appeared to be bragging about his mini-golf skills — after a woman saw the singer and his entourage getting into it with some other men at the batting cages.

Bieber reportedly saw the woman reaching for her phone to take pictures and demanded that she hand over the device so he could erase the images. The unidentified woman told TMZ that she refused to hand the phone over, so Bieber allegedly reached into her purse and took it, which led to a wrestling match with JB over the device. She claimed Justin tore the phone from her hand and tried to erase the pics but couldn’t because the handset was locked.

When Bieber, 20, handed the phone back and insisted she unlock it to see the photos, she reportedly did so and revealed she hadn’t taken any. A spokesperson for Bieber could not be reached for comment on the incident at press time. The woman later filed a complaint with ...

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Alec Baldwin Calls New York A ‘Mismanaged Carnival Of Stupidity’ After Bike Arrest

by 05/13/14

Here’s the thing about Alec Baldwin: He pretty much always gets the last word. And while that word often is NSFW, on Tuesday (May 13), he kept things pretty PG when he responded to being pulled over and put in a squad car by New York police after a bicycle-riding infraction.

According to reports, Baldwin was indeed cited for riding his bike the wrong way down a city street and not having proper ID on him when officers pulled him over on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. And, according to TMZ, police sources described the former “30 Rock” star as being “belligerent” with arresting officers while in custody.

Baldwin reportedly got a disorderly conduct citation on top of his bicycle infraction as a result.

All this, the star noted, even as police are nowhere to be found when tabloid photographers camp outside his home and scare his daughter.

And then things got real. “New York City is a mismanaged carnival of stupidity,” he added on Twitter, lashing out at officers who ticket citizens for “behavior once thought benign.”

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department could not be reached for comment at press time.

The incident comes less than three months after Baldwin penned a scathing essay for New York magazine in which he officially said good-bye to public life and implied that he would abandon the city for Los Angeles.

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12 More Jay Z/Solange Memes You Have To See

by 05/13/14

We may never know what really went down in that elevator last week between Jay Z and sister-in-law Solange. And while 50 Cent, of course, felt free to weigh in with a play-by-play analysis of the alleged Carter/Knowles family feud, he had plenty of company when it came to the meme-spawning.

In fact, there have been so many riffs on the surprising attack captured in footage leaked to TMZ that we collected a few that you can’t help but chuckle at:

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Shhh… Kelly Rowland Had a Secret Wedding

by 05/13/14

Kelly Rowland’s weekend was no big deal. She went to Costa Rica, hung out, and, oh right, got married in a hush-hush ceremony to her manager/boyfriend, Tim Witherspoon. The blessed event reportedly took place on Friday, and according to Us Magazine it was a “quick, simple ceremony — only around 30 people.”

Former Destiny’s Child bandmate Beyoncé was reportedly on hand, with both Bey and sister Solange arriving on a private jet just a few days after Sol’s alleged altercation with Jay Z following last Monday’s Met Gala. E! Online reported that immigration reports confirm the sisters flew into Costa Rica on Thursday night and left Saturday morning. Their mom, Tina Knowles, and fellow DC member Michelle Williams were also reportedly in the country over the weekend.

Rowland announced that the pair had gotten engaged in December on The Queen Latifah Show, telling the host, “He put a ring on it… it’s been a while. We’ve kept it very, very low — for years, to be completely honest.”

So far, Rowland has not mentioned the wedding on her social media feeds, but Beyoncé posted a photo that several outlets have suspected features an image of her in a bridesmaid dress.

It is the first marriage for Rowland, 33, who was previously engaged to NFL player Roy Williams.

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Crowning A Bearded Drag Queen Was The Least Shocking Thing At Eurovision 2014

by 05/12/14

The annual Eurovision song contest is weird. Like, supremely, unbelievably, too-odd-for-words weird.

Like, this band won in 2006.

For real.

And these grannies were in it to win it in 2012.

But this year’s contest made serious headlines when what was expected to be the tense song battle between the Russian and Ukranian entrants took a back seat to Conchita Wurst, a 25-year-old drag queen with a well-manicured 5 o’clock shadow from Austria. Conchita (the onstage drag persona of Thomas Neuwirth) crushed the competition with her song “Rise Like a Phoenix,” which chronicled her journey from a closeted young boy in a mountain village to a glamorous worldwide superstar overnight.

But here’s the thing, while the NFL’s still fighting against bias when it comes to its first openly gay draftee, Michael Sam, the glam, elegant Conchita made headlines, but wasn’t even the most surprising entry into this year’s finals. So, here are a few of our favorite Eurovision eye-poppers:

1. There Was Pollaponk From Iceland
Pollaponk

2. Romania’s Ovi And His Magic Circular Keyboard
Ovi

3. And This Duo, Who Were Conjoined At The Ponytail
Anastasia and Maria

4. Luckily, The Ukraine Brought Their Hamster Wheel
Mariya Yarmechuk of the Ukraine

5. What, Exactly, Does An Electrified Butter Churn Sound Like?
A Polish dancer performs with Donatan & Cleo

6. This Dude’s Hair, Seriously, Nice Work
Lorent Idir of ...</p>

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