Simon Cowell cleans house at ‘X Factor’: report

Simon Cowell cleans house at ‘X Factor’: Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones reportedly won’t return (NYDN) Simon Cowell has cleaned house at “The X Factor” – with a fire hose. Reports in rapid succession Monday night had host Steve Jones, then judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul not returning for next fall’s second season of the Cowell-produced Fox show. “I won’t be hosting next seasons X Factor which is a shame but I cant complain as I’ve had a great time,” Jones posted on Twitter. “Good luck to everyone on the show.” A source in Scherzinger’s camp told E! News that the decision to leave the show was the singer’s. The purge seems to answer the question of exactly how…

Viola Davis wins lead actress SAG award

Viola Davis accepts the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘The Help’ onstage during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Deep South drama “The Help” won three prizes Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, including best actress for Viola Davis and supporting actress for Octavia Spencer. “The Help” also claimed the guild’s ensemble award, the show’s equivalent of a best-picture prize. Davis and Spencer won as black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi. Jean Dujardin won the lead-actor honor…

50 Cent to tweet nude photo if Giants lose Super Bowl

(HuffPost) Rapper 50 Cent is a betting man and he’s about to make this year’s Super Bowl a little more interesting. The 36-year-old rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, reportedly won a $500,000 bet on the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game, but he’s wagering even more on the Giants’ ability to take down the New England Patriots on Feb. 5. The Hollywood Gossip first pointed out that Fiddy recently accepted a bet from Twitter follower@MyBestAssets that will cost him more than cash if the Giants lose: The rapper quickly responded to the bet agreeing that he’ll post a nude photo of himself and@MyBestAssets said she’d post photo of both her “boobs and face” if the Giants win. Will…

Common explains hip-hop feud with Drake

(theGRIO) –PARK CITY, Utah (AP) – The Sundance Film Festival became the unlikely center of hip-hop’s latest feud when actor-turned-rapper Drake and rapper-turned-actor Common came to town. Common was promoting his role in upcoming family drama “LUV,” while Drake was performing at one of the many late-night parties. The two have traded insults recently via their raps, but Common said he didn’t want to say anything else about Drake not in rhyme form. “I feel like I said everything I really needed to say on the record. I just looked at it as like ‘Hey, it’s just a hip-hop battle,’” he explained in an interview this week. “The time to talk is on record as far…

Demi Moore rushed to hospital after 911 call, entering rehab

Demi Moore rushed to hospital for reported substance abuse; Actress to enter rehab months after split from Ashton Kutcher (NYDN) Two months after her split from Ashton Kutcher, a painfully thin Demi Moore was rushed to a hospital late Monday and is entering rehab, sources told the Daily News. “Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health,” her publicist Carrie Gordon said in a statement to the Daily News. “She looks forward to getting well and is grateful for the support of her family and friends,” Gordon said. Moore, 49, was taken to an unnamed Los Angeles-area hospital after paramedics spent more than a…

Star Jones making guest appearance on ‘The View’

NEW YORK (AP) – Apparently enough time has passed for Barbara Walters and Star Jones to reunite for a day. “The View” announced on Wednesday that Jones will appear on the daytime talk show on Feb. 22 to promote an awareness campaign about heart disease among women. Walters and Jones had a falling out in 2006 when Jones, one of the five original co-hosts of the daytime chat show, exited “The View.” ABC decided not to renew her contract and Jones took Walters by surprise by announcing on June 27 that she would be leaving the show. That exit came more quickly than expected. Walters wouldn’t allow her back the next day. Walters later said that…

If ‘Red Tails’ flops, are black audiences to blame?

Cuba Gooding, Jr. in ‘Red Tails’. ‘Red Tails’: If George Lucas war film flops, are black audiences to blame? (theGRIO) Red Tails, a biopic about the heroic Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots, and arguably the most expensive film ever made with a predominately African-American cast, opens this weekend. The film has arrived with enormous hype and has renewed debates about whether ‘black films’ can succeed at the box office. Rightly or wrongly, the financial success, or lack thereof, of Red Tailsmay be seen as a barometer of black audiences’ buying power. Which begs the question: if Red Tails fails to meet expectations will African-American filmgoers be to blame? The film, which was largely financed by legendary Star Wars director and producer George Lucas, boasts…

Kobe Bryant’s divorce could cost him $75 million

(theGRIO) Kobe Bryant will reportedly have to fork over at least half of his assets — totaling $75 million — to his soon-to-be ex-wife Vanessa Bryant. Turns out their decision to not get a prenuptial agreement could take a serious toll on his bank account. USA Today reports: Kobe Bryant’s divorce – and lack of a prenuptial agreement – could cost him as much as $75 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. Christopher C. Melcher, a Los Angeles-area family law attorney, told the newspaper that a prenup could have limited the rights for spousal support and some property rights for his soon-to-be ex-wife Vanessa. “It could have saved half of his fortune,” Melcher told the Times. Bryant’s net…

Octavia Spencer wins actress honor at Golden Globes

Los Angeles (CNN) – Michelle Williams carried home a Golden Globe Sunday night for her portrayal of movie legend Marilyn Monroe in “My Week With Marilyn.” “Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for putting in my hand the same award that Marilyn Monroe herself won over 50 years ago,” Williams said as she accepted for best actress in a film comedy or musical. Since the Globes separates dramas from comedies — unlike the Academy Awards — Williams was not competing against Meryl Streep, whose portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “Iron Lady” may be her toughest Oscar competitor. Streep’s Globe category — best actress in a drama film — was set…

Nene Leakes premieres as Coach Roz Washington on ‘Glee’

(theGRIO) Footage of NeNe Leakes as coach Roz Washington on Glee is now available. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star will be playing the role of the new swim coach on the upcoming season.There has been some controversy about the dialogue Leakes has been given on the show. Lines like “I have never seen lips like that on a white child” and “forty acres and a pool” have been deemed racially offensive by some. Check out some of the early footage below and judge for yourself. Watch NeNe Leakes as Coach Roz Washington on Glee