ABC/RICK ROWELL(NEW YORK) -- With yet another talent show featuring singers about to debut, the battle of the judges is heating up. ABC’s series, Duets, debuts Thursday May 24, and one of its judges, John Legend, is not holding back with his thoughts on the competition.
When E! asked Legend for his thoughts on Britney Spears and Demi Lovato being drafted as judges for the next season of The X Factor, Legend replied, “It should be very interesting...It’s interesting when people, you know, are judging singing competitions when they aren’t really singers.”
Legend's fellow Duets judges Kelly Clarkson and Robin Thicke were more tactful with their responses. Clarkson told E!, “I’m excited for both of them. I’m a big fan of both of them. Both of those girls are super sweet."
Thicke added his two cents, telling E!, " ... Everything Britney does, she excels at. Demi is a lovely young lady, and I'm sure they'll do nothing but make the show a lot more fun to watch."
Duets will pair its star judges with contestants for, you guessed it, duets.
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- Rumors hit the Internet Tuesday saying that actress Tia Mowry Hardrict was fired from BET's The Game, the very series she helped bring back to the small screen after it was canceled by the CW.
And although many are saying Mowry Hardrict's departure was due to a breakdown in salary negotiations, a rep for the 33-year-old actress stated in an email to ABC News Radio: "It was a mutual decision and not based on salary negotiations."
"[She's] just focusing on all of her new and up-and-coming project," the rep added.
In fact, Mowry Hardrict has a lot on her plate right now. Her new pregnancy guide, Oh, Baby!: Pregnancy Tales and Advice from One Hot Mama to Another, just hit bookshelves on Monday. Also, her Style TV reality show with twin sister Tamera Mowry Housley, Tia & Tamera, premieres its second season on June 11. In 2011, the show became Style TV's most-watched series premiere ever. Not to mention, Mowry Hardrict is starring in ABC Family's upcoming musical The Mistle-Tones alongside Tori Spelling.
Sources say co-star Pooch Hall, who plays her husband Derwin on The Game, won't return for season six as well.
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The first of two men to file a sexual battery and sexual harassment lawsuit against John Travolta may revisit his case after dropping his complaint earlier this week.
The unidentified masseur has hired high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, who tells People magazine, "Mr. Doe's lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice which means that he is still legally entitled to file another lawsuit against John Travolta if he chooses. We are in the process of conferring with him regarding the next steps, which he may wish to take."
The masseur had claimed Travolta attempted to have sex with him during a massage at a Beverly Hills hotel, but photographic evidence released by Travolta's attorney to the media seemed to show that the actor was in New York at the time of the alleged incident.
A second masseur has made similar allegations in a separate lawsuit.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Disco and pop music icon Donna Summer has died, ABC News has confirmed. The singer passed away after a battle with cancer and died in Florida. She was 63 years old.
A statement from the family of Summer's husband, Bruce Sudano, reads: "Early this morning, surrounded by family, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith. While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."
The statement ends with a request to make a donation in Summer's name to the Salvation Army, in lieu of flowers.
Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, Summer -- a five-time Grammy Award winner known as the Queen of Disco -- revolutionized dance music with her seminal hits "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love." Those tracks established her career and were followed by a string of hits, including "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls" and "Dim All the Lights."
Summer continued her career into the '80s with hits like "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real." The first woman and the first African-American Artist ever to win a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, for "Hot Stuff," Summer was shortlisted for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but to date has never been inducted.
Summer's chart achievements and awards were numerous. She was the first artist ever to score three consecutive number-one double albums. She scored at least one Top 40 hit in every year from 1976 to 1984. Her presence on Billboard's Disco/Club Play chart spanned from 1975, with "Love to Love You Baby," through 2010, with "To Paris with Love."
In addition to her five Grammy Awards, Summer won six American Music Awards and was the first African-American woman to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award, for "She Works Hard for the Money." She was honored twice by the Dance Music Hall of Fame; she herself was inducted as a recording artist, and her song "I Feel Love" was also inducted.
According to Billboard, Summer is survived by her husband, three daughters, and four grandchildren.
Nile Rodgers, founder of Chic and one of dance music's architects, tweeted, "For the last half hour or so I've been lying in my bed crying and stunned. Donna Summer RIP."
Summer was most recently seen performing with Seal in David Foster's 2010 PBS special Foster & Friends and on America's Got Talent, performing with former contestant Prince Poppycock.
AFP/Getty Images(CANNES, France) -- The battle for bin Laden is on — that is, the battle to bring the killing of the Al-Qaeda leader to the big screen is on.
At the just-opened Cannes Film Festival, The Weinstein Company is close to buying Code Name Geronimo, a movie about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. And, according to the Los Angeles Times, company chairman Harvey Weinstein has pretty much decided to release it in the fall — ahead of the presidential elections and the release of another bin-Laden-assassination film, Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty.
Sony Pictures had decided not to release Zero Dark Thirty, which features Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain, until December 19, presumably to avoid politicizing the film. The movie was already the subject of Congressional scrutiny over whether the administration had leaked classified information to the filmmakers.
Weinstein, who rolled out Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 the summer before the Bush-Kerry contest in 2004, apparently has no such qualms.
Code Name Geronimo is directed by John Stockwell, the actor-turned-director behind such films as Dark Tide and Blue Crush. According to industry gossip website Deadline Hollywood, the deal for the film, which is still in post-production, is being negotiated in the $2 million range on the basis of a trailer and additional footage.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the film centers on the CIA, U.S. military brass and the Navy Seals who took the risky mission. The film is reportedly more modest in budget and scope that Zero Dark Thirty. Though Geronimo may have first-to-screen advantage, Zero Dark Thirty comes with a more impressive pedigree. It’s by the same team behind the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker — Bigelow and fellow Oscar-winner, screenwriter Mark Boal.
By the way, The Hurt Locker producer who shared in the Best Picture Award, Voltage Pictures’ Nicolas Chartier, has switched sides in this battle. He’s the producer behind Geronimo.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Forbes magazine has released its annual list of The World's Most Powerful Celebrities, and American Idol's Jennifer Lopez tops the list for the first time ever.
According to Forbes, once Lopez landed the American Idol judging job, it revived her career and gave her a platform to build her empire. She now has big endorsement deals with L'Oreal and Gillette, a clothing line at Kohl's, a fragrance line, and another show, Q'Viva!, with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.
She has a strong social media presence, with 12 million Facebook fans and 6.6 million Twitter followers, and she's reportedly earning $20 million for her second season on Idol.
Oprah Winfrey is in the number two slot, with pop sensation Justin Bieber rounding out the top three.
The rankings were determined by money earned and fame.
Forbes defines fame as "media visibility in print, television, radio and online, plus social media power," which the magazine measures by looking at a celebrity’s presence on Facebook and Twitter. Money earned was determined only by dollars earned between May 1, 2011 and May 1, 2012.
Other celebrities who made the Forbes list:
#7 -- Kim Kardashian #9 -- Tom Cruise #10-- Steven Spielberg #12 -- Tiger Woods #13 -- Angelina Jolie #20 -- Tyler Perry #22 -- Jennifer Aniston #28 -- Brad Pitt #29 -- Ryan Seacrest #34 -- Ellen DeGeneres
The Walt Disney Company/Marvel Comics(LOS ANGELES) -- It was only a matter of time, but Marvel's The Avengers is now the biggest movie of the year to date.
Through Tuesday, the superhero film has earned $389.5 million at the domestic box office, according to Hollywood.com. The total eclipses that of The Hunger Games, which raked in $387.9 million.
The Avengers currently ranks ninth all-time at the worldwide box office and 13th all-time at the domestic box office. It has earned $1.036 billion globally.
Theo Wargo/WireImage for Tommy Hilfiger(LOS ANGELES) -- Earlier this week on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jennifer Lopez said she doesn't know if she'll return to American Idol next season. There are now multiple reports claiming she will in fact leave the Fox competition.
A source tells E! News that Lopez is "just too busy" to continue with Idol.
Similarly, an insider who spoke to Us Weekly says, "There is just too much going on for her right now."
Lopez told Ellen DeGeneres this week that she is unsure of her Idol future in part because she has four-year-old twins to consider. She also has a summer tour with Enrique Iglesias on the horizon.
Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is keeping his fingers crossed that Lopez will commit to another season of the show.
He tells TMZ.com, "We want her back. I want her back."
Paramount Pictures(NEW YORK) -- Sacha Baron Cohen's new comedy, The Dictator, has irked some Arab-American groups who feel his character, a fictional North African dictator named Adm. Gen. Aladeen, casts an unflattering light on them.
For example, Nadia Tonova, director of the National Network for Arab American Communities, tells E! News, "I have not seen the film, but based on the trailer and interviews that I have seen him do in character, it really seems to be that it's perpetuating a negative stereotype against Arabs and therefore Arab-Americans."
Tonova previously criticized Cohen after he appeared on the Oscars red carpet as Aladeen and pretended to spill the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il onto Ryan Seacrest.
The director of the film, Larry Charles, rejects the notion that the character is offensive to Arab-Americans.
He tells ABC News Radio that Aladeen was inspired by several past dictators, such as Moammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Augusto Pinochet and Idi Amin.
"There's a wide range historically of dictators that you can draw from and they share many personality traits. It's not an ethnic thing. It's a personality disorder, in a sense," he says.
Sonja Flemming/CBS(NEW YORK) -- TV's highest-rated network is keeping its primetime lineup mostly intact for the 2012-2013 season.
CBS confirmed Wednesday that it is bringing back 19 of its series in the fall, though a couple of them are switching to new nights. Two and a Half Men, which will retain Ashton Kutcher for a second season, will move from Mondays to Thursdays, where it will air after The Big Bang Theory.
The Simon Baker drama The Mentalist will shift from Thursdays to Sundays.
CBS will introduce four new shows in the fall:
-- Elementary, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes drama starring Jonny Lee Miller as the legendary detective and Lucy Liu as a female version of his sidekick Watson.
-- Vegas, a 1960s-era drama starring Dennis Quaid as a Las Vegas sheriff and Michael Chiklis as his gangster-rival.
-- Made in Jersey, a drama about a young woman with street smarts who works at a New York law firm.
-- Partners, a comedy about two guys whose "bromance" is tested when one of them gets engaged.
CBS also has three midseason programs in the works: the cop drama Golden Boy, the comedy Friend Me, and the Mark Burnett reality series The Job.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- Charlize Theron opens up about aging, motherhood and relationships in an interview with InStyle magazine. As she gets older, the 36-year-old actress says she can feel her body changing and she’s OK with that. “Part of me understands I may not be in front of the camera forever, and maybe not just because of age, but because of me.” She notes that she has started her own production company, with an eye towards a behind-the-scenes future in Hollywood.
Theron has an adopted son named Jackson and hopes to be “10 percent of the mom mine was to me.” She adds that she wants her son to be confident and enjoy life.
When it comes to relationships, the Snow White & The Huntsman star says she’s always open to opportunity but is “not putting feelers out there now.” She muses, “I’m a relationship girl. That’s kind of just how I’m made.”
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- After two men filed lawsuits, alleging that John Travolta sexually harassed them, the actor's initial accuser has dropped his lawsuit, TMZ.com reports.
The masseur, identified only as John Doe, accused Travolta in a $2 million lawsuit of assault and sexual battery for allegedly attempting to have sex with him on Jan. 16 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Now, John Doe has filed dismissal papers, according to TMZ.
John Doe's dropped lawsuit comes after reports showed Travolta photographed in New York on the day of the alleged sexual assault.
Travolta still faces claims from a second unidentified masseur, who claimed that during a massage at an Atlanta resort in late January, the actor tried to force the masseur's hand onto his private parts and later performed a lewd act. The masseur says he left the room and complained to his supervisors and co-workers, after which Travolta unsuccessfully "demanded" that the masseur continue the massage.
A Chilean cruise ship employee named Fabian Zanzi has also claimed Travolta made sexual advances at him, according to E! Online. He told the Chilean news program Primo Plano the incident occurred during a Royal Caribbean cruise in 2009. He has not filed a lawsuit.
Travolta's attorney, Marty Singer, has long denied the allegations against the actor. He responded to E! News regarding Zanzi, saying, "This is just another ridiculous claim by someone hopping on the bandwagon to get his 15 minutes of fame with a story about something that supposedly happened over three years ago."
Regarding the initial accuser dropping his claim, Singer tells E! News in a statement, "My client is completely vindicated by Doe No. 1 dropping his claims and dismissing his lawsuit." The statement continues, "We fully expect that my client will similarly be vindicated with respect to Doe No. 2, as well as with respect to any other person who makes meritless claims against John Travolta."
Jeoffrey Maitem/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Manny Pacquiao’s latest jab toward gay marriage has landed him on the wrong side of the rope in Tinseltown. Pacquiao was scheduled to be interviewed on the set of the TV show Extra at The Grove Wednesday but the owner banned him after his comments against gay marriage were made public.
“God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married,” said Pacquiao in a recent interview with The National Conservative Examiner. “It should not be of the same sex, so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Pacquiao’s comments arrive on the heels of President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage. The endorsement has managed to be a catalyst for both sides of the debate and has been met with a payload of opposition.
The 33-year-old boxer and Sarangani representative in the Filipino Congress, who’s also No. 33 on Forbes’ world’s most powerful celebrities list, has made no secret of his conservative politics after denouncing a reproductive health care bill that would benefit Filipinos seeking contraception.
It was reported that Pacquiao had quoted Leviticus 20:13 verbatim during the interview, which states, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
It then turned out that he had not said that, but not before the media frenzy took off and an online petition was created to encourage Nike to drop a deal they have with Pacquiao. Nearly 5,000 signatures were gathered before it was shut down.
Pacquiao, a devout Catholic, released a statement Wednesday on his website to clear up what he said during the interview.
“I’m not against gay people,” he wrote. “I have a relative who is also gay. We can’t help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical of are actions that violate the word of God. I only gave out my opinion that same-sex marriage is against the law of God.”
Another message on his official website further explains the boxer’s beliefs. "Pacquiao does not now and has never believed that people deserve death because of their sexual orientation.”
Besides Nike, the married father of four has deals with Monster Energy, Hennessy and Hewlett Packard.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images(PALM BEACH, Fla.) -- Tiger Woods' ex ElinNordegren is single again.
According to People magazine, Nordegren broke off her relationship with financier JamieDingman in January.
“She says Jamie’s a great guy -- and they’re still friends -- but I think it was just too early [after the divorce] for her to get serious with anyone,” a friend of Nordegren told the magazine.
The pair were first linked last summer. Dingman, the son of billionaire Michael Dingman, president of international investments firm Shipston Group Ltd., manages his father’s business in China. He and Nordegren’s pro golfer ex-husband reportedly share something in common -- a fling with former nightlife hostess Rachel Uchitel.
Nordegren lives with her two children in North Palm Beach, Fla., and is a part-time college student working on her psychology degree.
Mike Marsland/WireImage(CANNES, France) -- The stunts just never stop with Sacha Baron Cohen. At the Cannes Film Festival Wednesday, he paled around on a yacht with Elisabetta Canalis, the Italian model famous for once dating George Clooney.
Dressed as the star of his new movie, The Dictator, Cohen oiled up Canalis’ legs, showed her what was inside his speedo, and eventually threw her overboard in a body bag. Photos of Canalis lounging at a Cannes hotel after the playdate confirm she was not actually killed and disposed of unceremoniously.
Cohen also arrived at a Cannes press conference for The Dictator on a camel. All of this comes as The Dictator, which opens Wednesday, is getting lukewarm reviews compared to the raves showered on Borat, Cohen’s first big-screen satire.
“What’s shocking this time is how tame Sacha Baron Cohen’s newest wild man is, for all the kerfuffle the comedian can stir up on the promotional trail,” Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum said.
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- Rumors hit the Internet Tuesday saying that actress Tia Mowry Hardrict was fired from BET's The Game, the very series she helped bring back to the small screen after it was canceled by the CW.
