A few days ago, the estate of Elizabeth Taylor sold off her extensive jewelry collection. If only, if only. I would have loved any of her rings – her collection was legendary, and I do believe that the profits from the auction went to benefit Taylor’s beloved charities, like amfAR. Anyway, the auction exceeded everyone’s expectations and the total collection ended up selling for $115 million, and in the process, broke several world auction records. One of the lucky high bidders? Kim Kardashian, who must be blowing through her wedding money, right?

Kim Kardashian just dropped $65k to outbid a gang of serious jewelry nuts for 3 unbelievable jade and diamond bracelets that used to belong to Elizabeth Taylor … TMZ has learned.

Taylor’s entire collection of rare and expensive jewelry was auctioned off in NYC this week for a whopping $116 MILLION … and Kim was one of the bidders.

Sources close to KK tell TMZ … Kim idolized Taylor — especially after Kim did a magazine interview with Liz for a project shortly before her death. So when Kim saw LT’s 3 jade and diamond Lorraine Schwartz bangle bracelets on the auction block, she snatched ‘em up for a cool $64,900.

We’re told Kim believes jade harnesses energy … and now that she owns the bracelets, KK feels she will share a deeper connection to the Hollywood icon.

Kim is not in possession of the jewelry yet … but she’s expected to get ‘em sometime in the next few days.

[From TMZ]

In other Kardashian news, the NY papers are claiming that Kim and Kanye might be hittin’ it once again. They were rumored to be boning before she got with Kris Humphries, so maybe Kanye is Kim’s “rebound dong.” Can I just say? I don’t hate the idea of Kim and Kanye together. They make sense as a (crazy) couple.

It’s been little over a month since Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage. But rumours of a fresh love interest for the reality star were in the air last night.

According to a report in The New York Daily News, rapper Kanye West was ‘all over Kim,’ at an after-party following the star’s Watch The Throne concert in Los Angeles.

‘Kanye was eating Kim up like she was a piece of cake,’ a source from the party told the newspaper. ‘He was all over her – caressing her head, touching her waist. I think he was dying to kiss her, but there were too many people in the room,’ the insider added.

The pair, who are long time friends, were attending billionaire Ron Burkle’s party for Kanye and rapper Jay-Z who performed tracks from their hit album at LA’s Staples Centre. Kim, sister Khloe, mother Kris Jenner and Kourtney’s boyfriend Scott Disick all attended the show, and sat in the front row of a raised V.I.P section, according to the paper. Another source says Beyonce was sat next to them, as at one point in the concert, Kanye leaned over the stage to greet the Kardashians.

The source added that Kim looked ‘really happy,’ adding that she was ‘hip-hop dancing’ during the show and swigging champagne from a bottle.

And she certainly seemed to enjoy herself, tweeting: ‘Last night was KRAY,’ this evening, referring to a lyric on one of Watch The Thone’s album tracks

However, a source told People last year that Kim and Kanye are ‘just friends.’

‘There is nothing going on romantically,’ the insider said. ‘Kanye and Kim are just friends and have been forever.’

However, Kanye’s ex-girlfriend, model Amber Rose, last month hinted that the pair may have at one time been more than friends when asked on the Wendy Williams Show if Kim and Kanye.

‘I mean, Come on, like, you know,’ she laughed. ‘Come on! We’ll keep it cute.’

[From The Mail]

Yeah, I totally believe that. That being said, Kanye probably just wants to hit it and quit it. He’s not a relationship guy, despite that “thing” that he had with Amber Rose. I think we’re supposed to call Amber his “muse” right? Kanye doesn’t want to join the Kardashian Empire of Doom – he could never. But he’ll bone Kim on the side.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News, WENN and Fame.

Several celebrities have visited the protesters at the Occupy Wall Street gatherings throughout the world, including Tim Robbins, Penn Badgley, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin and Rachel McAdams. Many outlets have pointed out that celebrities are wealthy beyond most of our wildest dreams and are in no way part of the “99 percent” that OWS claims to represent. A lot of them are known activists, though, and it makes sense that they would lend their celebrity to a cause. Kanye West, not so much unless you count rallying against anyone who questions him. Kanye paid a visit to OWS, and he did it with his unique sense of defensive all-caps irony. He went down there in a getup worth $30,000, and that’s not counting his diamond teeth. I would say that $30k is more than most of those kids see in a year, but that’s not really accurate. Here’s more:

Kanye’s $30,000 protest outfit. If Kanye West visited Occupy Wall Street to protest corporate greed, he shouldn’t have worn a $355 Givenchy plaid shirt over an $82 Alexander Wang tee, $890 Balmain jeans, a $5,575 Love bracelet and a $23,500 Rolex watch. And to think, this was Kanye’s idea of “casual day!”

[From In Touch, print edition, October 31, 2011]

I would have given Kanye a pass if his outfit was worth say $3,000. That’s outrageous but it’s just your average really expensive outfit, with one of those high end watches that is ridiculously expensive instead of batsh*t insane expensive. Instead he wore a watch worth more than any car I’ve ever owned. (I buy used.) He also piled on the gold jewelry without even thinking twice about whether it was tasteless or not. What is the need for crap that costs this much? I guess if people will buy it, they’ll make it. It kind of proves the protesters’ point.

Oh and Kim Kardashian almost said “let them eat cake” in regard to the protestors, but she was merely observing that they were being served really decent dessert. “Inside Edition” had a segment a couple of nights ago about the chef who has been serving gourmet meals to 1,000 down at OWS every night. In this article about it in the NY Post they make it sound like the protesters are living high on the hog since they’re being given five star meals. It’s not like they’re demanding it. People are volunteering their time to help feed them, and for a long time they were getting free pizzas from well wishers around the world.

photo credit: Fame

Apparently, Kanye West hasn’t received enough media attention since he promoted his latest album last fall. During that tour of terror, he milked his previous Taylor Swift and George W. Bush outbursts of their last conceivable drop of worth by whining that Swift never defended him and then freaking out on the “Today” show. Since then, Kanye’s been pretty chill, so he must have gotten bored and, as a result, decided to say some nonsensical things onstage at the Big Chill Festival at Eastnor castle in England over the weekend. The results were, according to TMZ, both hilarious and pathetic:

Call him Air Fuhrer … because this weekend, Kanye West compared himself to both Michael Jordan and Adolf Hitler during a performance in England.

West was performing at the Big Chill music festival Saturday night … when he went on one of his signature rants … this time focusing on the hardships of being so painfully misunderstood.

“I walk through the hotel and I walk down the street, and people look at me like I’m f**king insane … like I’m Hitler.”

He continued, “One day the light will shine through and one day people will understand everything I ever did.”

Moments later, Kanye suggested that he needed to be the MJ of music, “Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much f**king going on in music right now and somebody has to make a f**king difference.”

Michael Jordan and Hitler folks … Michael Jordan. And Hitler.

[From TMZ]

So the question is this — does Kanye truly believe that people look at him like he’s the grande dame of the Third Reich, or is he purposely spouting nonsensical crap to create a faux controversy? I think it’s a little of both, actually, with emphasis on the latter; and to be honest, I’m not sure where Michael Jordon comes into this other than Kanye just talking about how simultaneously villified and great that he fancies himself to be. This little stunt is much like the time that Kanye wanted his album artwork banned so that he could complain about it and play the martyr. In other words, this outburst is a classic Kanye episode but just a little more ridiculous than usual.

For illustrative purposes, here’s Kanye walking down the street after arriving at London’s Heathrow airport. If you take five tequila shots, squint sideways, and draw a funny moustache on him, you can totally see the resemblance to Hitler, right?

Photos courtesy of Kanye performing at the Big Chill Festival on 8/6 and in London on 4/20 courtesy of Fame

I could have sworn that we just heard that Mary-Kate Olsen was dating Justin “understand my scenario” Timberlake, but that was her twin, Ashley. Mary-Kate is the weirder (that term is relative) one and she was last with a hipster artiste type, Nate Lowman, but they broke up last year. We haven’t heard much about Mary-Kate’s dating life since. (Although she was linked to the guy that basically every NY-based actress/model rebounds with for a hot second, Josh Hartnett.)

Anyway The Enquirer has a story this week claiming that “friends” are telling Mary-Kate to “stay away” from player Kanye West. They don’t outright say that Kanye and Mary-Kate are together, just that it looks suspicious since Mary-Kate was hanging all over Kanye at his birthday party. He would be bad news for her, obviously, since he’s bad news for just about any woman who would deign to go near his diamond teeth. Can you imagine what gets caught in those things? Those are his real teeth and are not a grill.

Mary-Kate Olsen’s sizzling new friendship with Kanye West has friends fearing she’ll slip into a dangerous lifestyle.

The 25 year-old former “Full House” star was spotted with the rapper during his 34th birthday bash at New York’s SubMercer nightclub on June 8.

“Mary-Kate was giggling in a dark corner as they sat close,” revealed an eyewitness. “She looked like she was really into him.”

The pair danced and had a great time, but a close friend warns that the actress is playing with fire.

“It wasn’t that long ago that Mary-Kate was partying hard and falling down at clubs in Hollywood and New York,” said the friend.

“I’m sure her family and friends – especially her twin sister Ashley – have already expressed their concern. But Mary-Kate doesn’t like to listen to anyone’s advice, so she’ll probably keep her friendship with Kanye, and that means the nights of partying will continue. I’m worried about her…”

Now pals fear Mary-Kate may feel compelled to go “toe to toe in partying with Kanye to get a leg up no the female competition,” says her close friend.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, June 27, 2011]

I can’t believe the Olsen Twins are just 25 years old. Their Boca style ages them considerably.

So this is ultimately a non-story, even by the Enquirer’s standards. Mary-Kate was up close and dancing with Kanye, but that doesn’t mean he’s cheating on his Victoria Secret Model girlfriend, Chanel Iman, or that Mary-Kate is even interested. It’s just all about Mary-Kate potentially partying too much again after her 2004 rehab stint.

I would like to see her dating again, and someone who is her speed. Who should she hook up with? Josh Harnett is still single.

This is MK at the Costume institute gala in May. Isn’t she lovely?

Photo credit: WENN.com

Kanye West, who once described himself as like a tree that feeds the branches of the people, has now let “the people” down with news that the Kanye West Foundation, which was founded by his mother and aimed to reduce high-school drop out percentages, has abruptly shuttered its doors. There’s no word yet from Kanye on why the charity has closed, which is strange, to say the very least, since Kanye generally speaks to “the people” and lets them know everything (and then some) about what he’s thinking and feeling. After all, he blamed his notorious interruption of Taylor Swift’s award acceptance speech for the fact that he had to let go some of his clothing company employees:

With the help of strong will, a lack of empathy, a li’l alcohol, and extremely distasteful and bad timing, I became George Bush over night. How deep is the scar? I bled hard. Cancelled [a] tour with the number one pop star in the world. Closed the doors of my clothing office. Had to let employees go.

Interestingly enough after that little rant, Kanye soon found the money to replace his bottom teeth with diamonds. This leads me to wonder what major purchase he might be planning after cutting the Kanye West Foundation out of his life too:

The charity named for the rapper Kanye West that was intended to reduce high school dropout rates has closed mysteriously.

Its former executive director, Joseph Collins, sent an e-mail to associates last month, telling them that he was looking for a job because the charity, the Kanye West Foundation, had closed, and its phone has been disconnected.

“I am reaching out to let you know that the Kanye West Foundation (kanyewestfoundation.org) has officially closed it doors after a successful 4+ years of programming and events,” Mr. Collins wrote in the e-mail, which was given to The New York Times by executives from two nonprofit groups that had worked with the organization. “It has been an incredible experience working with Kanye and the board to realize his mother’s vision and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to lead the Foundation.”

Reached by phone, Mr. Collins declined to comment. “You’d have to get in touch with Mr. West,” he said.

Efforts to reach Mr. West failed, however. Mr. West’s agency, WME Entertainment, referred calls about the closing of the charity to the performer’s publicist, Gabriel Tesoriero, but Mr. Tesoriero did not respond to e-mail sent to the address the agency provided.

Nor did a representative for Universal Music, where Mr. Tesoriero works, return a call.

Michelynn Woodard, listed as the organization’s chairwoman, did not respond to e-mails or phone messages.

The charity filed tax forms as if it were a private foundation, but it does not appear to have been financed by Mr. West, instead raising the bulk of its money from companies and individuals with whom Mr. West does business.

In 2009, for instance, Madison Square Garden gave it $151,754, and the retailer Karmaloop donated $20,000. The previous year, the charity received contributions from the concert promoters Live Nation Music Group and Goldenvoice.

The charity raised an average of $492,000 and made total grants averaging $18,080 in each of 2007, 2008 and 2009, the last year for which tax forms are available.

Grant-making slowed drastically — in 2009, the charity made just $563 in grants — after the death of Mr. West’s mother, Donda West, in 2007 from complications of plastic surgery. Dr. West was an English professor, according to the charity’s Web site, who founded the organization because she “was passionate about student success.”

[From NYTimes]

So what are we to make of this? Perhaps Kanye West is just a really busy man who found that he didn’t have the energy or interest to keep a foundation running after the death of his mother, but he certainly doesn’t have problems with investing inane amounts of time typing an endless stream of Twitter diarrhea as well as attending exclusive events such as Paris Fashion Week (as shown in the below paragraphs). Still, you’d think that Kanye would want to honor his mother’s memory by making sure that the charity had the wherewithal to continue running and helping disadvantaged young students to graduate high school. Instead, Kanye either made a conscious decision to let the foundation run itself into the ground or he just figured that if you set up a charity and throw a few fund-raising events, everythng will just turn out okay. And clearly, things haven’t turned out well here, but charities are immensely disposable where many celebrities are concerned. As long as they intend to do good and get those all-important photo ops, the rest just doesn’t matter, right, Madonna?

Photos of Kanye West pouting at Paris Fashion Week and performing at last weekend’s Coachella festival courtesy of WENN

I hate wading into this issue, I really do. Fortunately, Kanye West is so far up his own ass that even his musings on abortion aren’t really political or controversial in the conventional sense. While Justin Bieber might spout an Jesusy anti-choice line, Kanye isn’t going to over-think the heated political issue. Kanye is going to breeze in with his own take. Kanye West doesn’t care about research or nothing! Kanye just tweeted something “an abortion can cost … up to 50gs maybe a 100.” So… Kanye thinks abortions cost $50,000? Up to $100,000?

[From Kanye West’s Twitter feed]

Well, at least Kanye’s message comes with a note to “strap up” which I assume means something about wearing a condom…? Back to the issue of abortions costing up to $100,000… Is there such a thing as a designer abortion? Like, a luxury abortion? That’s all I can think of now, that rich people will pay more for anything, including luxury abortions, and Kanye thinks this is normal.

Also – I’m still flabbergasted that Kanye got an invitation to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding. You know his outfit is going to be hot. He’s totally going to wear white. And a veil.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

VMAN Magazine just sent us their new Kanye West cover and cover shoot. The photos were done by Karl Lagerfeld, who apparently is a big fan of Kanye. Of course. I would love to sit around with Kanye and Karl… I was going to spin a tale about what that would be like, but I can’t even fathom that awesomeness. As for the photo shoot – eh. Do you think it was Karl’s idea to have those electric waves coming off of Kanye?

In other Kanye news, he just tweeted this:

[From Kanye’s Twitter feed]

I think that about sums it up, right? So, if you want to know what the cool kids are doing, they’re throwing down some kazoo on this bitch. I’m assuming he’s recording something…? Or maybe it just felt like a kazoo kind of day.

Photos courtesy of VMAN.

Here’s a completely unsurprising story that I want to repeat just to point out what a whiny little baby Kanye West is. Remember when Kanye West put out that ridiculous album art for “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” that featured a budget semi-nude painting with an evil Kanye character f*cking a phoenix while drinking a bottle of Sprite? It looked straight from Regretsy (credit: DListed) and ended up getting banned – according to Kanye. Kanye twatted about how his artistic genius was being squashed or something, but the “artist” recently admitted that Kanye told him to whip up something that would get banned – presumably just so Kanye could complain about it and earn more headlines.

It was all an act: Kanye West complained in October that the cover of his new album, ‘My Dark Twisted Fantasy,’ was banned (something that was publicly made never official), but it turns out, the controversy was exactly what he wanted.

West’s album’s controversial cover art, which featured a painting of West having sex with a phoenix and drinking, was painted by artist George Condo, who told The New Yorker that West specifically ordered controversy.

Having seen Condon’s paintings, Kanye selected the painter to do the artwork, and as Condo explains it, he wanted, “something that will be banned.”

In October, West angrily tweeted about the “banning,” saying:

In the 70s album covers had actual nudity… It’s so funny that people forget that… Everything has been so commercialized now.

I know that cover just blew yall minds … I wish yall could see how hard I’m smiling right now!!!

In all honesty … I really don’t be thinking about Wal-Mart when I make my music or album covers #Kanyeshrug!

I wanna sell albums but not at the expense of my true creativity.

So Nirvana can have a naked human being on they cover but I can’t have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings.

[From The Huffington Post via ONTD]

According to that interview with the New Yorker, Kanye reached out this artist, George Condo, and they spent five hours listening to Kanye’s new songs in preparation. Kanye picked the most sensational painting, and of course wasn’t able to use it for the cover. He ended up using Condo’s painting of a ballerina for the album along with a heavily pixelated version of the painting for the other releases.

So here’s the thing – now that we know that Kanye puts himself in these situations so he can drum up controversy and play the victim – how premeditated was his “I’m gonna let you finish” rant? He couldn’t have predicted Taylor Swift would win, but he’s changed his story on that issue so many times that it’s clear he’s milking it for as much publicity as possible. This is what Kanye does – he tries to work everything to his advantage, including his freakouts and outbursts.

(Note that the part about Kanye asking for art that would be banned is not in the audio explanation of the interview on the New Yorker’s website. That must be in the print edition.)

Photos of Kanye at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade credit: PRPhotos

I saw this rumor floating around early Monday, and I decided against writing about it because it seemed like a pretty standard famewhore non-story that was likely started by Kamp Kardashian. And now it’s been denied and rejected, so why not dissect this mess? It all started when Media TakeOut reported a rumor that Kim Kardashian had gotten pregnant by Kanye West. Apparently, according to their sources, Kim and Kanye have been hooking up on-and-off over the past few years, with no strings attached. And then on one of the “five or six” times they hooked up on over the past few months, Kim allegedly got pregnant. According to Media Takeout, once again. They claimed that they had “overheard” an “insider” or something.

Anyway, Hollyscoop was the first site to get a denial:

The laughable report started on MediaTakeOut.com and made its way to several other websites within hours, but Hollyscoop can confirm EXCLUSIVELY that Kim is NOT pregnant.

A source very close to Kim tells Hollyscoop the report is “absolutely not true,” adding that the report is simply “ridiculous.”

MediaTakeOut reported, “Kim has been seeing Kanye [West] off and on for years now. But this summer, they [hooked up] five or six times.” The insider continued, “Kanye told her that he didn’t want anything serious, but Kim really likes him.”

Not only is this a stupid rumor, but Kim and Kanye haven’t even been photographed together in months. So where they came up with this is beyond me.

[From Hollyscoop]

And then Gossip Cop printed the denial, and now even People Magazine is reporting the denial, this one straight from Kim, who told the magazine, “The rumors are absolutely not true. I’m not pregnant.” I can’t believe People Magazine is now in the business of printing Kim Kardashian’s formal denials of a dumb story she probably started herself! WTF?

BUT – notice Kim isn’t denying getting on Kanye’s dong. That’s interesting. You think Gabriel Aubry is her “official” piece and Kanye is her “secret side piece”?

If there’s any sure-fire way for me to find my way back to Team Swifty, it’s for Kanye West to get on his high horse and bitch about her. My Team Swifty status has been in flux ever since the BS with John Mayer and Jake Gyllenhaal. I don’t care for the way she’s trying to front like she’s this perfect little fairy princess with an emotional age of 13 years old, all while boning Mayer’s douche dong and bitching about him in lyrics, only to snatch up/beard for Jake G. There’s a dichotomy there, and it’s unflattering. But I will go back to my Team Swifty status, because Kanye West is absolutely ridiculous. Last night, Kanye gave a surprise performance at The Bowery Ballroom (that was very well received), and in between songs, Kanye did what Kanye does best: martyr himself. In the world according to Kanye, Taylor Swift is the bad guy because not ONCE did she defend him, post-VMAs.

Kanye West is still angry at Taylor Swift. At a surprise performance of his acclaimed new album at NYC’s Bowery Ballroom around 1 a.m. Wednesday, West, 33, launched another attack against the country star, 20, whom he famously ambushed at the 2009 Video Music Awards. During his rant, West seemed to suggest that the Speak Now singer used the VMA brouhaha to bolster her fame.

“Taylor never came to my defense at any interview,” West ranted. “And rode the waves and rode it and rode it,” he sniped of Swift.

Swift wasn’t West’s only target. The “Power” rapper also dug into Matt Lauer, with whom he recently tussled on the Today Show.

West charged that Lauer “exploited” him as they chatted about former President George W. Bush, who lamented that West called him a “racist” for his handling of Katrina.

Bush had said that West’s comment was a “lowest moment” in his Presidency; West also objected to the Today Show playing a video clip of the VMA moment during their Today Show interview.

“Because [of] the popularity of me, they exploited that…That’s not what he f*cking said!” West railed. “That’s not what he said! He said it was one of his lowest moments. But it shows you—the way they try to villainize, the way they tried to do that.”

[From Us Weekly]

What was Swifty supposed to say, exactly? “You know that douche who stole my thunder and made me cry? He’s not that bad.” What’s worse is that Kanye is the one who keeps bringing this crap up! It’s not even about Swifty anymore, it’s about Kanye and his ego, and how he’s the next Jesus or whatever. Ugh. Go to NY Mag’s Vulture column to read more about Kanye’s rant – here’s an okay video of it too: