Kate ackson Was Too Upset to Be a Part of Farrah Fawcett Tribute

Charlie's Angels star Kate Jackson pulled out of joining the Farrah Fawcett tribute at the TV Land Awards on Saturday - because her pal's death is still so fresh.

Fawcett lost her battle with cancer last June and her Charlie's Angels castmate is still struggling to come to terms with the loss.

So she had to pass on the opportunity to pay tribute to the late actress, alongside Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith at the awards show in Los Angeles.

In a statement to fans, the actress explains, "Farrah was not only my friend, she was an iconic star who allowed us to hit the ground running that first season and spun us into the stratosphere.

"Emotionally, it was simply too soon for me to join my co-stars."

Paparazzi!: Sexy "Pea"

Fergie sashays along with her Black Eyed Peas bandmates on Idol Gives Back, American Idol's charity concert, Wednesday in Pasadena, California.

Bolivian President Says Eating Chicken Turns Men Gay -- Is He for Real?

The president of Bolivia has said that eating chicken turns men gay.

Evo Morales told a conference on climate change: "The chicken we eat is loaded with female hormones. So, when men eat it, they tend to deviate from their manhood." He added that he only eats non-genetically modified chicken to avoid becoming gay or effeminate.

President Morales' remarks angered one of Argentina's gay groups, which questioned his logic.

The president of the Argentina Homosexual Community campaigning organisation, Cesar Cigliutti, told AFP: "It's an absurdity to think that eating hormone-containing chicken can change the sexual orientation of a person.

"By following that reasoning, if we put male hormones in a chicken and we make a homosexual eat it he will transform into a heterosexual."

Morales also argued that eating treated chicken could turn men bald.

He said: "Baldness, which seems normal, is a disease in Europe. Almost everyone is bald and it's related to the food they eat. Among the indigenous people there are no bald men, because we eat different things."

'Glee' Season Finale Sounds Awesome

The Glee season finale will be bitter sweet: a totally great episode, but unfortunately the last one for a while. So, how do we know it'll be fabulous? Well, three backup dancers were injured in the finale filming -- so it's got to be action-packed and well worth the aches and pains, right?

Apparently one of the dancers careened into the camera, and there were more bumps and bruises throughout. No one was seriously hurt, but it was ugly enough for the shows executive producer to hand out first aid kits to the dancers as parting gifts! Which definitely makes up for everything, of course.

According to E! Online, a bottle of "blood remover" was also on-hand during the filming of the show-choir "Regionals," which pits the New Directions against Vocal Adrenaline. Sounds like it's going to be a fight to the finish.

There are 7 more episodes lined up to air before the season finale June 8th.

More Glee for Madonna?

Glee creator Ryan Murphy is already in talks with Madonna to stage a sequel to his episode tribute to the Material Girl, which aired in America on Tuesday night.

The Madonna special, which featured the Glee cast performing the pop superstar's songs, was a big hit among TV viewers - 13.5 million people tuned in to see the episode.

And Murphy wants a second shot at Madonna's hits.

He tells http://www.ew.com/, "Madonna and her people are into it and want it to happen."

Madonna and her family were treated to a preview of Tuesday's episode. The Material Girl admitted she was a big fan of the one-off special, branding it "fantastic" and "genius".

Glee star Jane Lynch was thrilled Madonna loved her tribute episode - insisting the cast is "humbled and honored" they won the Queen of Pop's approval.

She says, "I heard Madonna loved it. So we're really happy. Mission accomplished! She's all over our show. We're really humbled and honoured that she released a statement."

The Madonna-inspired Glee episode will be rebroadcast this Friday night on FOX.

Robert Downey Jr. to Play Wizard Of Oz?

Robert Downey Jr. is reportedly set to team up with director Sam Mendes to bring the Wizard Of Oz back to life.

The original 1939 movie, starring Judy Garland, became a cinematic classic, while another film based on L. Frank Baum's books, Return To Oz, was released by Disney in 1985.

Now movie-makers are preparing to return to the Emerald City on the big screen in a new picture about the wonderful wizard, titled Oz The Great and Powerful.

The film will be a prequel to the Garland movie, based on Baum's work, and will tell the story of a young circus magician who ends up ruler of the magical country after crash-landing there in a hot air balloon.

Mendes, whose work on the next Bond film was put on hold indefinitely, is now in talks to direct the picture, while Downey Jr. has been lined up to play the wizard, according to Production Weekly.

The picture is one of a number of different Oz adaptations in the works, including a big screen version of hit stage musical Wicked, and Oz, which sees Dorothy's granddaughter sent to the Emerald City to "fight evil", according to the Los Angeles Times.

Paparazzi!: Viva Glam

Viva Glam spokesmodel Lady Gaga puts on a racy – and lacy! – performance in Tokyo Tuesday as part of the makeup company's Pan-Asia Viva Glam launch.

Paparazzi!: Who's That Girl?

Madonna makes a fashionable exit Tuesday from New York hotspot Monkey Bar – where she reportedly watched Glee's "Power of Madonna" episode.

Another Contestant Bids Farewell to American Idol

And then there were six. At the end of the two-hour-plus Idol Gives Back charity concert Wednesday night someone had to say farewell.

It was Tim Urban’s time to go. (Well it was about time. He may look great shirtless in his modeling pictures, but this guy surely cannot carry a tune. He should have been gone along time ago...like before Hollywood week!)

He had a better run than probably anyone — apart from friends and family — expected, largely because he always flashed an ingratiating smile, had better hair than most professional pop stars and was growing stronger as a performer week by week. But you may have sensed the end was near Tuesday night when Ellen compared him to a soup du jour that failed to please her that particular day.

Ellen’s light cleverness often gets to the essence of everything.

In an unexpected development, Casey James not only made his first trip to the bottom three (along with Tim and Aaron Kelly) but he also fell to the bottom two. Casey’s problem is turning out to be his jaunty, rock ’n’ roll consistency. He’s often better than Aaron or Siobhan Magnus, but their occasional lows make their highs seem all the more impressive.

A rocky mountain range is more striking than even the most fertile plain.

Meanwhile, the rest of the show went off in all sorts of directions, raising money and doing good with the participation of many celebrities. The best guest performer? Probably Annie Lennox, who taped a segment about an HIV-positive girl in Africa. She also sang from London. (All the Icelandic volcano smoke prevented her from catching a flight to the States).

And it was fun to see Mary J. Blige do “Stairway to Heaven” with Randy on guitar.

I also loved Joss Stone's performance, along with Carrie Underwood.

Of the comic guests, Wanda Sykes was far and away the funniest with a short but on-target monologue: She said she’d been wondering if Simon was bored this season. She also observed how cruel it is to force the losing contestant to sing each week. George Lopez's "elimination" segment was also very entertaining.

This week, Tim was spared that final performance since the show was running so late. He went out smiling like blazes, though.

Next week's mentor is Shania Twain and the six remaining contestants will be performing her songs.

Glee Feels the Power of Madonna

Madonna’s music transformed the hallways of McKinley High into a Material World in Tuesday night’s much-anticipated Glee.

While Sue Sylvester has made her share of outrageous demands, none was ever quite so much fun as her order that Madonna’s hits be blasted over the loudspeakers continuously throughout the day. As Sue says, “There’s nobody quite like the Material Girl to inspire,” and Mr. Schuester can’t help but agree. When he notices the girls are all feeling taken advantage of by the boys, he assigns the glee club to interpret Madonna hits.

A few of the glee clubbers -– and even one of their teachers –- consider Madonna’s message when they’re all faced with the same challenge: having sex for the first time.

Finn finally gives in to Santana’s advances thinking it will make Rachel jealous. But afterward he acknowledges sadly that he still feels like a virgin because it didn’t mean anything. Rachel, on the other hand, ultimately resists the pressure to have sex with Jesse. When she tells him she refuses to sleep with the enemy, he quits Vocal Adrenaline and transfers to McKinley High. Even Emma decides to take control of herself and her body and “do the nasty” with Will – but just like Rachel, she quickly recognizes she’s not ready.

The members of glee club aren’t the only ones who need a lesson from her Madgesty this week. When Sue reveals her hatred for Will’s hair is rooted in jealousy because she bleached her hair in napalm as a child and has since been forced to wear it short, Mercedes and Kurt offer to reinvent the Cheerios coach.

The result of their efforts just might be the best four minutes of Glee yet: a shot-by-shot remake of Madonna’s “Vogue” music video starring Sue Sylvester.

The shoot inspires Sue to mix up her style. She even dons a version of Madonna’s iconic cone bra over her usual tracksuit combo. But with the help of Principal Figgins, Sue ultimately realizes that to express herself best, she doesn’t need to copy someone else. In exchange for their help –- or to shake up the glee club further — Sue offers Mercedes and Kurt a spot on the Cheerios.

If you missed it, and encore presentation will be shown Friday night on FOX.

Paparazzi!: Playing Ball!

Score a winning basket? George Clooney sports a grin Wednesday during a basketball game on the set of his upcoming flick, The Descendants, currently being filmed in Hawaii.

“Charlie’s Angels” Alum Cheryl Ladd & Jaclyn Smith Reunite at TV Land Awards

How cool is this?

The ageless Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith were dazzling Saturday night at the TV Land Awards where Charlie’s Angels received an award and their late co-star, Farrah Fawcett was remembered in a tribute. (Nice of Farrah to receive her due after that infuriating Oscar snub last month.)

Cheryl and Jaclyn were handed the pop culture award after Ryan O’Neal introduced a Farrah who died last year.

USA Today reports that Jaclyn and Cheryl recalled when their show was a phenomenon in the 1970s. “We were rock stars,” Jaclyn said. Added Cheryl: “We had to sneak in the back doors of restaurants.”

The two were happy to receive the award acknowledgment, but Smith said it was “bittersweet, because we’re missing a lot of members of our family.” They include not only Farrah but John Forsythe, the voice of Charlie, who passed away earlier this month.

“It was so beautiful,” Cheryl said of the Farrah tribute.

“And well-deserved,” continued Smith, noting her omission from the Academy Awards’ recap of the year’s deaths. “It was sad she was left out at the Oscars, but certainly tonight she wasn’t. … You can see the distance her career went and how accomplished she became. And along with it, she was an interesting person, a good person to know, a good person to have on your side. I miss her.”

Cheryl and Jaclyn were members of the show’s cast for four and five years, respectively – longer than any of the other cast members including Farrah (1 full season plus three episodes in seasons 3 and 4), Kate Jackson (3 seasons), Shelley Hack (1 season) and Tanya Roberts (1 season).

They not only were the backbone of the show for most of its run, they are also two very lovely ladies who have conducted themselves with such grace and class over the years.

The gala will be aired on TV Land on Sunday, April 25th. Make sure you watch it!

David Archuleta's Twitter Panic: I'm Not Gay

David Archuleta took to Twitter this weekend after a report was published that he had been spotted at NYC's gay nightspot Club 57, despite the fact that the report acknowledged that he was only there to see dance artist Charice perform:

"So, was David bumping and grinding with some steamy Dominican muscle man? Hardly. David was there with his friend Charice, who performed a dance remix of her current hit single, 'Pyramid' at the coveted 1:30 a.m. spot. Reportedly, however, Charice and her entourage, which included David and his old band mate Eli, did do something terribly scandalous after the performance: They went to a local Pinkberry for ice cream."

Wrote Archuleta: "Mental note to self: always ask where before you go! Wasn't my kind of place lol, and I had no clue! I guess you live and learn."

He later added: "I wouldn't get into things like that intentionally haha."

And finally, "I didn't want you guys to be worried so had to let you know the facts."

Presumably Archuleta has a lot of gay fans. It's too bad he considers being thought of as gay something to freak out about."

OUT Interview: Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson Reveals Crush on Evan Lysacek

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is on the cover of the new issue of OUT magazine.

The gifted out star plays one-half of a gay couple raising a child on the hit ABC comedy Modern Family.

Here are some portions of his interview with OUT:

Each week Ferguson feels the pressures of playing a gay character, and although he has always been out in his privates life, until recently he remained hesitant about opening up about his sexuality publicly. “I just didn’t feel like it was doing [The Class] character any service, so I lived my life the way I had been living,” Ferguson says. “I just wasn’t doing it in the pages of Out or The New York Times. But with this show, it was never a question about quote unquote staying in the closet—which I’ve never been in.”.”

Although he has never been “in” in his personal life, Ferguson knows the responsibility he, and the show, has in introducing a gay family to Middle America. “We’re introducing this gay couple in a very safe way, and maybe that’s why right off the bat we’re not showing full-on make-out scenes, and we’re not showing them in bed together [initially]. But a lot of the people who are a little leery of ‘that gay couple,’ especially a gay couple raising a baby, are seeing this very normal grounding, loving pair. So we’re sneaking into so many Middle American living rooms, maybe more than any gay couple ever has before.”

Off the screen Ferguson has obsessions of his own, includin

g Ellen DeGeneres and American Idol, and the Winter Olympics catalyzed a not-so-secret crush on ice skater Evan Lysacek. Ferguson declares, “I’m not hiding it. I hear he lives in L.A. too, so it’s just a matter of time before we meet. Although I don’t know if he’s gay.… He’s a brilliant skater, and he’s also really handsome, and he seems like a really sweet guy, so I swoon when I see him.… I need to get out of the 20-year-old age bracket. Like, I have crushes on all of the Jonas Brothers. I assume that’s OK?"

You can read the entire story on the new OUT magazine available at newstands or by clicking here.

GLAAD's Jarret Barrios: ‘Ugly Betty’ Broke Ground for Latinos, Gays

MSNBC has a great interview with Jarret Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where he speaks of “Ugly Betty” and how it broke ground for both the Latino and gay population.

According to the post:

More groundbreaking was the show’s handling of its gay and transgender characters, said Jarett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Although initially played for laughs, “Ugly Betty” provided a sympathetic portrait of Meade scion Alex who transforms into the stunning Alexis. And it followed the bumpy love life of Mode’s gay fashion assistant Marc St. James.

But most of all, it showed how Betty’s family accepted without fanfare Justin’s love for musicals and the latest fashion trends, a tacit acceptance of his sexuality. Then, in this final season, Justin got his first kiss with a boy.

Barrios said too often gay characters are depicted on TV as adults without families.

“A gay teen is also a son, a nephew, a grandson,” he said. “As a man who is both Latino and gay (and a father), I liked the show because it depicted really my own experience and that of so many others in the United States.”

Barrios said the show paved the way for network depictions of gay teens and families in shows such as “Glee,” “Brothers & Sisters,” and “Modern Family.”

You can read the entire post here!

Crystal Bowersox Almost Quit American Idol

In a shocking turn of events, we have learned that Crystal Bowersox nearly quit the hit FOX reality show American Idol two weeks ago. If not for some fast talking by show host Ryan Seacrest, she may well have headed home to her family.

TMZ has learned that in the parking lot following the AI show two weeks ago, the talented Bowersox remarked that she couldn’t handle the competition, hated the attention and asked Seacrest, “What’s the point?” Several witnesses overheard the exchange and report that she said she missed her family in Ohio terribly and wanted to go home.

Seacrest told her that being on the show was like starting a business that could well earn her a recording contract and help her to become a millionaire. He brought the message home by saying, “The greatest thing I ever did was make enough money so I could buy my mom a house.” That comment apparently resonated with the talented young woman because she is still in it to win it. Go Crystal!

Crystal has been the strongest performer this season and has a real shot at becoming the next American Idol.

In early March, Crystal was hospitalized for a serious medical condition

Cheryl Ladd Almost Turned Down Charlie's Angels

Cheryl Ladd almost turned down her iconic role in hit TV series Charlie's Angels - because she feared fans would reject her for replacing tragic TV legend Farrah Fawcett.

Ladd replaced Fawcett and played her character's sister Kris Munroe for 90 episodes between 1977 and 1981.

But the actress was convinced she'd face a bitter backlash from Fawcett's loyal fans.

She says, "I was really nervous because I was stepping in and hoping beyond hope the show would work with me in it. Let's face it, there were big shoes to fill. So I said, 'Ok, if I could be funny and make mistakes, then I have something to play that makes sense to me.'"

Ladd paid tribute to her predecessor at Saturday's TV Land Awards, where Fawcett was honoured with a special tribute - 10 months after she lost her battle with anal cancer.

Lisa Kudrow Details Ellen DeGeneres Family Tree Links to Madonna

Actress Lisa Kudrow put her family tree expertise to good use during a recent appearance on comedienne Ellen DeGeneres' talk show - by researching the host's ties to Madonna.

DeGeneres recently discovered that she and the Material Girl are distant cousins but was too busy to delve into her ancestry - so Kudrow, the brains behind hit TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?," did the work for her.

Appearing on DeGeneres' daytime show on Tuesday, the former Friends star revealed, "You're 11th cousins (with Madonna). What you share is your 10th great grandfather, his name was Martin Aucoin, from France... He had two daughters, Jean... That's your side. And another daughter, Michelle, and that gave rise to Madonna's side, and they moved to Canada.

"Then your fifth great grandfather... he's the one who moved the family to Louisiana in the late 1700s."

A stunned DeGeneres said, "That's pretty far back, that's pretty amazing."

Kelly Ripa:My Husband Pays Me to Keep My Clothes On

Kelly Ripa advised one couple on NBC's The Marriage Ref to get a stripper pole. But Ripa herself needs no such encouragement to spice things up at home – in fact, quite the opposite.

"He actually pays me money to keep my clothes on!" Ripa, 39, joked of husband Mark Consuelos at the Point Honors benefit on Monday night in New York, which she co-hosted with Bravo's Andy Cohen.

"I'm actually given money to put on a parka. 'Put your parka on! Here's another dollar. Put on that hat!' "

Consuelos doesn't agree – "Yeah, right," he says – but he isn't about to settle the argument, or any of their arguments, with a marriage ref of their own. "She always wins," he explains. "There's no use in having one!"

But as fearless as Ripa may be behind closed doors with her hubby, public speaking is a another animal.

"This is much scarier for me," the Live With Regis & Kelly co-host said of her duties at the gala, which honors lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders. "I always say I feel like the live morning show is just my living room and I'm just having coffee. Being at these important events where it matters what I'm saying – it's to raise money, and you want to give people a good show but still get the message out there."

Jake Pavelka Strips Down to His Tighty Whiteys on Dancing With The Stars

Reigning Bachelor Jake Pavelka channeled Tom Cruise in Risky Business on Monday night’s Dancing With the Stars by stripping down to his skivvies. And whaddaya know? He and partner Chelsie Hightower ended up in the top 3 for the first time!

“You leave it all on the dance floor, and there’s some skin out there, I think,” Jake said afterward. “Once in a lifetime opportunity! And my knees will heal.”

Maksim Chmerkovskiy stated to E!: “He’s desperate…with his pants off. I don’t blame him. You’re in the bottom two, you wanted the numbers, there’s nothing to lose, so he just took his pants off.”

To recreat Tom Cruise’s iconic underwear scene from Risky Business was, well, risky for Jake Pavelka.

He’s jumped into hot tubs on The Bachelor, but dancing the cha cha in undies required baby steps.

“I rehearsed for the first time in underwear and there was about five people,” Pavelka told People Magazine. “Then about 20 people, and then for dress rehearsal about 40 people. And then we did it tonight for about 25 million people.”

Pavelka’s partner, Chelsie Hightower, “was loving every minute of it,” she says. “I was laughing my head off.”
Meanwhile, Derek Hough was impressed: “I love how he just comes out and doesn’t hold back. He just goes for it,” he says. “There’s no way my chicken legs are ever making an appearance on this show!”

Dancing in his tighty whiteys paid off as he survived elimination this week.