Simon Cowell’s public statements show that sexual harassment in entertainment isn’t confined to the boardroom or set. He made an obnoxious comment meant to be funny that he initiated the new American Idol judge, attractive songwriter Kara DioGuardi, 37, with a pajama party that included negligees for “the girls,” which presumably also means his coworker Paula Abdul, 46.

“It’s already a big happy family,” Abdul said Tuesday at the American Idol season 8 auditions held in New York. “We are so happy to have her.”

In fact, DioGuardi has already had quality bonding time with all three judges, says Simon Cowell. “We had a picnic last night. I wore jammies and the girls wore negligees and we kind of broke the ice,” Cowell joked. “We had cake until two in the morning.”

Joking aside, DioGuardi says the judges have welcomed her with open arms–yes, even Simon. “You were nice to me,” DioGuardi said to Cowell on the red carpet about their initial meeting. “You were actually OK.”

[From People]

That was a throwaway comment that Simon meant as a joke, but those are the type of jokes that intimidate and tell “girls” where their place is at work and in Hollywood - even if Simon didn’t consciously mean anything by it. It figures that Simon would say something like that, and it’s pretty telling that big dawg Randy Jackson didn’t make an appearance in his fantasy meet and greet with the new judge.

DioGuardi is largely considered to be a sane counterbalance to Paula Abdul’s often slurry, sometimes incoherent comments on the judges’ panel. Abdul says she’s thrilled to have her, though, and that there is no competition there.

“It’s about time another girl joined,” Abdul told PEOPLE Monday at the U.S. Open opening night celebration in Flushing, N.Y. “More girl power.”

Abdul, 46, who has been an Idol judge for the past seven seasons, says DioGuardi’s songwriter and producer experience will bring a different mix to the table. “She’s going to be a little more different and more from the industry standpoint.”

This isn’t the first time the pop singer has worked with DioGuardi. The two wrote a song for Kylie Minogue called “Spinning Around.”

Despite initial reports of a dustup after Abdul told a Phoeniz, Ariz., radio station Monday, “I am concerned about the audience and their acceptance … time will tell,” both Abdul and DioGuardi say there are no hard feelings.

“Anybody with the right brain would say something like that,” DioGuardi told reporters yesterday.

But will adding another female judge take the spotlight away from Abdul? “No,” says the singer. “This is great for the show. I’ve been waiting for this. I really have and people will love her. She’s great!”

[From People]

Now that Simon is all focused on getting DioGuardi naked he’ll stop bugging the crap out of Paula while they’re shooting Idol. She probably considers another woman a buffer from Simon’s obnoxious taunting. No wonder she’s so happy to welcome her on.

Here are photos of AI introducing Kara DioGuardi at NYC tryouts at Chelsea Piers yesterday. Ryan Seacrest and Cowell’s hapless girlfriend, Terri Seymour, are also shown.

Credit: Janet Mayer / PR Photos

Megahit producer Timbaland hints at a rift with Britney in a new interview with MTV. He says he would work with her again,but only if she apologizes. He won’t say what happened, just that “She knows what she’s sorry about.”

He says Britney doesn’t have a comeback story yet, that she hasn’t really let enough people help her and has royally screwed herself by trying to go it alone. It sounds to me like she told him she didn’t need his help and wasn’t nice about it.

Now Timbo has even more advice to give her about getting her career back on track. “She needs a story,” he said. “She has no comeback story. That’s the problem. She has to have a team. She needs to come back with Justin doing records; [then we’d see headlines like,] ‘She went back to her ex and she’s making smashes.’ [But instead she got] so big-headed and [was] like, ‘Screw you, screw you, I don’t need nobody.’ ”

So is there any chance for Spears to rectify the situation and possibly work with Timberlake and Timbaland? Yes, says the super-producer — if she apologizes.

“She should humble herself and make a phone call and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ She knows what she’s sorry about,” Tim said. “She needs to say, ‘I was wrong,’ and it’ll definitely move forward. … That’s all she has to say.”

[MTV.com via WeSmirch]

That’s good of the guy to say he’ll work with her, but he knows that Britney will make him a lot of money so it’s not like it’s all about charity.

Meanwhile the American Idol judges say they want to help Britney too. Yesterday Simon was talking smack about her, but today they’re extending a hand to get some free publicity:

“We have decided we can bring Britney back,” the normally caustic Cowell confirmed. “We are serious. We plan to buy her underpants, get her bigger shorts to perform in and get her away from her stupid friends.”

[Fox News]

That’s nice that they’re not telling her to work out, and are just talking about covering up properly. Of course Cowell outlined his comeback program for Britney yesterday and it involved hitting the gym, so it sounds like he lightened up a little when giving Brit this public appeal that she’s never going to take.

Britney is said to have stayed out until 6am the night before the VMAs, not 4am as was previously reported. Those extra two hours of sleep wouldn’t have made her able to magically dance and lipsynch properly, though.

And in related unsurprising news, her abs were tan airbrushed on before her VMA performance. I find it hard to believe she even let someone airbrush them on, considering how over-confident she was in her appearance. I imagine her saying “Ma stomach looks gud. Don’t point that gun at me.” I was wondering how she looked so cut with a normal stomach, but it didn’t occur to me that her abs were painted on. Someone did a good job, unlike Britney.

Britney is shown outside her lawyer’s office yesterday, where she had a four hour meeting with K-Fed which was said to be about custody of their boys. Thanks to Splash News for these pictures.

I hate American Idol. Fortunately, the country I live in isn’t a fan either, so last year’s NZ Idol winner didn’t even get a recording contract, just a car. Which was probably more useful to them, since no one was going to buy that album anyway. Then all the rejects from the previous two series, from when NZ Idol way in its heyday, got together and fought it out for $50,000. Unfortunately it wasn’t a Gladiator-style fight.

Anyway, it seems American Idol might finally have sucked the talent out of the pool, and is scraping the mildew at the bottom, according to Ryan Seacrest.

TMZ cameras caught the “Idol” host before his jog outside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in NYC on Sunday — sporting an iPod and an inconspicuous Ed Hardy hat. When asked about the upcoming season of the juggernaut that is “American Idol,” Ryan said they “weren’t great … for 20,000 people, we only found a few good ones.” Is that a change?

TMZ

Actually, the bad auditions are the best part, so maybe things are looking up for the show.

Another sign American Idol is on the way out – low ticket sales for its Idols Live shows.

Reports of attendance and gross receipts for the first 30 of the 57 shows scheduled for the tour, as recorded by Billboard Boxscore, show this year’s crop of 10 Idol finalists is falling short of last year’s concert performance.

No sellouts were reported for the first 30 shows, and only one topped the 93% of capacity mark. (That was the show in Glendale, Ariz., Idol winner Jordin Sparks’ home turf.) Of the 2006 tour’s first 30 shows, 17 were sellouts and another 10 exceeded 93% of capacity.

Nearly half (14) of the shows were below 60% of capacity. (Lowest was 38.9% in Birmingham, Ala., hometown of 2006 winner Taylor Hicks and 2003 champ Ruben Studdard.) In 2006, the lowest-capacity figure in the first 30 shows was 89.3%.

The 2006 tour was the most successful to date, but 2005’s was a lot healthier than the current version. Of the first 29 dates of 2005, 11 were sellouts and four more topped 93%.

USA Today

What will happen if the whole enterprise shuts down? How will record companies find talent? What will Paula Abdul do for a living?