Posts
Don't mess with 50 Cent when it comes to his name and image. The rapper is suing Taco Bell for using his name without his permission in their "Why Pay More?" campaign. The ads were promoting cheap eats for 79, 89 and 99 cents and had asked Fiddy to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent, while also sending a fake letter requesting the name change to various media outlets. 50 Cent is suing the chain restaurant for $4 million in damages. Meanwhile Taco Bell is defending itself, claiming, "We made a good faith, charitable offer to 50 Cent to change his name to either 79, 89, or 99 Cent for one day by rapping his order at a Taco Bell, and we would have been very pleased to make the $10,000 donation to the charity of his choice."
Congrats go out to third-time daddy Ethan Hawke. He and wife Ryan Shawhughes welcomed a girl, Clementine Jane Hawke, on Friday in New York. Ethan has two children with his ex-wife, Uma Thurman. Ryan used to be the nanny to their two kids and she and Ethan got married last month in New York.
Paris Hilton has vowed to address all false rumors about herself on her MySpace blog.
She's also a regular caller to Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM show to denounce these reports, like the one she denied today about crawling over 10 soccer players at Villa just to get close to Cristiano Ronaldo last Wednesday—only to be dissed by the star athlete.
So then why did she feel the need to tell Ryan that she has "learned to not pay attention"?
"[Benji and I have] made it a rule that we don’t even read that stuff anymore," says Paris.
"I have too many important things going on to pay attention to some writer who’s sitting in their office bored and who’s just gonna write mean things."
It's OK, Paris. You don't have to pretend like you're too cool to care. Heck, everyone from L.C. to Kanye logs on to blog about their side of the story. Might as well join the fray.
LONDON - The darkness around Batman has deepened: While audiences were shattering weekend box-office records in the U.S., Christian Bale was in London, where his mother and sister reportedly leveled assault allegations against the star of "The Dark Knight" that have yet to become clear.
Bale said the allegations were false Tuesday, hours after the Wales-born actor was arrested, questioned by London police and released on bail. The 34-year-old actor spent four hours talking with authorities but was not charged.
British media reported that Bale's mother and sister told police he assaulted them at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before attending the European premiere of "The Dark Knight." The Sun newspaper said the complaint was filed by sister Sharon Bale and mother Jenny Bale.
"Christian Bale attended a London police station today on a voluntary basis," read a statement from Bale's lawyer, Simon Smith, of the London-based firm Schillings. "Bale, who denies the allegation, cooperated throughout, gave his account in full of the events in question, and has left the station without any charge being made against him by the police."
A woman thought to be Bale's sister Sharon told reporters "it's a family matter" from her home in Corfe Mullen, 110 miles southwest of London. A man who answered the door at the home of Jenny Bale in nearby Bournemouth said she did not want to comment.
The reports surfaced just days after "The Dark Knight," which co-stars Heath Ledger as Batman's nemesis the Joker, took a record $158.4 million at the box office in its opening weekend. Ledger, who took the iconic villain to a deeply disturbed and diabolical place, died earlier this year of an accidental drug overdose in New York — a circumstance that has only added to the movie's brooding mystique.
Asked Tuesday whether Bale had been arrested, a London police spokesman did not refer to him by name but said: "A 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault."
The spokesman requested anonymity because he is not authorized to be identified under police policy. British police do not name suspects who have not been formally charged.
The force later said in a statement that the man had been released on bail pending further inquiries and told to return in September. It did not specify the date.
The Sun said police did not question the actor Monday because they did not want to interfere with the premiere of the movie. The next scheduled stops on the film's European premiere tour were Madrid, Spain, July 23; and Tokyo on July 28.
In the sequel to "Batman Begins," Bale reprises the role of wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne and his crime-fighting alter-ego Batman, a brooding vigilante superhero still scarred by the murder of his parents.
In his destructive battle of wits with the Joker, Batman pushes his own ethical boundaries, and ultimately is forced into the shadows. Winding up what may be the darkest — and most critically acclaimed — superhero movie ever, Bale's Batman truly becomes, as coined by Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred: "The Dark Knight."
Bale first made a splash as the child star of Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987 and as an adult has made his name with intense screen roles. His earlier films include "American Psycho" and "The Machinist."
Bale is the youngest of four children and is the stepson of Gloria Steinem. Her assistant said Tuesday that the author and feminist leader was at a writing retreat and unavailable for comment.
Bale's current project is playing John Connor in "Terminator Salvation," scheduled for filming this week in New Mexico. The film "will continue to shoot with Mr. Bale when he has completed his International tour for 'The Dark Knight,'" said Lee Anne Muldoon, unit publicist for the movie.
A records check turned up no criminal record for Bale in the Los Angeles area, where he's lived with his wife, Sibi Blazic, and their young daughter.
Today 8:00 AM PDT by Gina Serpe
Maybe they should have called it The Really Dark Knight.
Batman star Christian Bale has been arrested in London after turning himself in to a police station to undergo questioning on allegations that he assaulted his mother and sister.
The incident allegedly took place in the box-office champ's Dorchester Hotel room in London on Sunday, the day before the blockbuster film's European premiere.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson tells E! News that Bale presently faces "no charges, all we are saying at the moment is that a 34-year-old male attended a central London police station this morning, by appointment, and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault.
"He currently remains in custody."
Per standard Scotland Yard procedure, suspects are not named until formally charged, but the age and allegation match up with the Bale reports.
It's unclear what exactly went down, but the Welsh-born Bale's 61-year-old mother, Jenny, and 40-year-old sister, Sharon, reportedly went to a Hampshire police station to make the allegation. The local cops subsequently turned the case over to London's Metropolitan Police.
Although his family lodged the charges prior to Monday night's premiere, police waited until today to question Bale to allow the event to go on without headline-grabbing interruption.
Bale made a promotional appearance on the U.K. morning show GMTV Monday morning, hours after the alleged assault, and he was his typical serious self. A production source tells E! News the actor "seemed fine" during the segment.
(Originally published July 22, 2008 at 6:18 a.m. PT.)
