Justin Timberlake’s backstage rider demands have been revealed.

The heartthrob singer asked for Beano anti-gas tablets to be flown over from the US as part of his rider for the London leg of his FutureSex/LoveSounds tour.

Timberlake, who says the tablets help him digest food, has also requested two dressing rooms, to be kept at a constant 22 degrees Celsius, and continuous supply of Hershey chocolate bars.

[From New Zealand Herald]

This is not the best of rider requests. The most infamous is Van Halen, who wanted no brown M&Ms in a packet.

Prince demands a doctor to give him a vitamin B injection before each show.

Marilyn Manson is my kind of rider, requesting “every room he enters to be chilled to a deathly freeze with air-conditioning on full, a never-ending supply of Coca Cola and a bottomless bucket of ice. Add to that Haribo gummi bears, mini chocolates, Doritos, soy milk, assorted Kool Aid-sweetened, Hanson’s cherry vanilla and microwave popcorn.” I like this one because it is so sweet compared to his stage persona.

But my absolute favourite has to be Iggy Pop, who once requested seven dwarves, and broccoli to throw in the bin because he hates it so much.

These stories and others were found at Tales From The Rider.

Justin’s demands are the latest report of his cheeky behaviour, which has included spitting and throwing garbage at Swedish fans. Is Cameron Diaz starting a smear campaign?

Thanks to SplashNews for the header image.

Madonna is in New York without her husband, producer Guy Ritchie, and was photographed out jogging in Central Park with her ex boyfriend and the father of her first child, Carlos Leon, yesterday. More than one photographer was there, so it’s likely someone tipped them off and she’s anxious for all the publicity she can get despite the sour look on her face. She went out that night to the restaurant La Esquina with Shakira and her fiance, Antonion de la Rua, and they were said to have met Penelope Cruz, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher for dinner.

The group hit up club Butter afterwards, with Kutcher leading his old lady and Penelope Cruz by the hand. Janet Jackson was also at Butter that night.

It’s great that Madonna is getting out with her friends and all, and of course a little time away doesn’t mean there’s any trouble at home. I just can’t stand Madonna and would like to speculate on the state of her marriage.

Ritchie is now filming the movie RockNRolla in London. It will star Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson and rapper Ludacris. It’s said to be a comeback for the embattled director, whose career went downhill ever since he made Swept Away with Madonna in 2002. RockNRolla is a gangster film with a similar genre as his hit cult films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

Interestingly enough Madonna is trying her hand at directing too, and was working on Filth and Wisdom recently. It will be a short film based on her own experiences. I wonder how her husband feels about his wife making her directorial debut while he’s trying hard for a comeback.

Even though Carlos Leon is the father of Lourdes and still maintains a relationship with his daughter, how is Richie supposed to feel when he sees the pictures of them working out together? Leon was Madonna’s personal trainer when they fell in love. Of course a little friendly exercise doesn’t mean anything, but it’s Madonna so until there’s some decent dirt out about her I’ll have to make due.

In other Madonna news, she recently bought the $12 million house next to her home in central London. She also owns a 1,200 acre estate in Wiltshire, which costs $18 million. She owns at least five places in London, some of which are used by the Kabbalah cult.

I had to view these George Clooney shirtess pictures super close up, you know, for research purposes. That looks like Gillian Anderson on the boat. Someone is holding a child and she just had a baby at the end of November, 2006, so it might be her. In the last pictures I saw of her, her hair was long, so it might just be some random other person that resembles her slightly from far away. It doesn’t really matter and it’s not like they have anything going on, I’m just interested in who is hanging out with Clooney. He is shown on his powerboat outside his villa in Lake Como yesterday and is said to be with friends.

The guy is 46 and he looks pretty good to me.

Clooney announced yesterday that the Ocean’s Thirteen stars have raised a whopping $5.5 million to help some of the 2.5 million Sudanese people uprooted from their homes in Darfur. Clooney’s charity, Not On Our Watch, just gave $1 million to the U.N. World Food Program. He says the goal is to keep raising and distributing money for charities helping in the Sudan:

He said his group wants to keep emptying and replenishing the coffers of the humanitarian organization they co-founded, called Not On Our Watch, to focus global attention on the plight of the 2.5 million civilians in Darfur who have fled their homes.

“There are only a few things we can do - protect them where we can, and provide food, water, health care and counseling,” he said. “We’re just trying to get them to live long enough to get to the next step.”

[From SeattlePI.com]

Thanks to SplashNews for these pics.

Tab, The Calgary Sun, caglecartoons.com

Ah yes, the media circus that is Paris Hilton. Will it ever end? My guess is yes. Will that end be today? That’s a big no. So, for your reading pleasure, here is your daily Paris update.

The free bird left jail last night and went straight to her Grandparent’s home in Bel Air. And by home, you know, I mean really freaking huge estate. As many of you saw the pictures of her catwalk exit from jail, not all of you might know just what a big change that orange jumpsuit to the jeans and little jacket were: $448 Olive Green jacket by Petro Zillia, with $300 Marcello Toshi shoes. I’m guessing the orange jumpsuit cost a little less.

So Paris arrived to her grandparent’s house, surrounded by flowers, welcome home signs and balloons and cake. She spent the day in sweats being pampered and getting new hair extensions. Probably getting ready for her big interview with Larry King tonight.

On a charming note, Taco Bell sent a bunch of food over to the heiress. But instead of getting through the front gate, the food was distributed to all the media and paps outside. I don’t know why I find that charming, but I do. And today’s my birthday so I’m allowed to think what I want

Thanks to SplashNews for these pictures of the media camped out for Paris, and CagleCartoons for the header comic.

There are new, terrible details in the death of WWE Champ Chris Benoit and his family, as reported yesterday. Yesterday we were not told how everyone was killed, and today we were given some grisly details.

While there is no word as to how Benoit’s son was killed, it has been reported that Benoit was found hanging from a cord from a workout machine in his home gym. Prescription drugs and steroids were found in the house, but it is being reported that “roid rage” or becoming crazy and full of rage from steroids, was not the case:

“In a statement released to TMZ, WWE reps claim that the proof is in the Bibles left at the feet of Benoit’s two victims. “The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage. The wife’s feet and hands were bound and she was asphyxiated, not beaten to death. By the account of the authorities, there were substantial periods of time between the death of the wife and the death of the son, again suggesting deliberate thought, not rage. The presence of a Bible by each is also not an act of rage.”

The WWE were planning on airing a memoriam for Benoit, but in the light of the horrible details that have been emerging Vince McMahon said this:

Last night on ‘Monday Night Raw,’ the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit tonight. On the contrary, tonight’s show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, the WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world — entertain you.

This is a very sad and twisted story. My heart goes out to everyone that has been affected. I will post more details as they are released.

Benoit is shown in the header image in a 2003 picture attending a memorial service with WWE chairman Vince McMahon for wrestling legend Stu Hart. Photo from Philly.com.

Yes there are things going on in Hollywood that don’t involve Britney and Paris, and it delights me to write about them. So in true form, here is a recap of the events that went down at the BET Awards.

Update by Celebitchy: It’s Rose’s birthday today so she gets a pass for posting last year’s BET winners by mistake. Our apologies to everyone for the mistaken information in the earlier version. Here’s the actual list of winners:

VIDEO OF THE YEAR: Beyonce - “Irreplaceable”

BEST GROUP: Gnarls Barkley

BEST ACTOR: Forest Whitaker

BEST ACTRESS: Jennifer Hudson

BEST HIP-HOP ARTIST: T.I.

BEST COLLABORATION: Ludacris f/ Mary J. Blige - “Runaway Love”

BEST NEW ARTIST: Jennifer Hudson

BEST MALE ATHLETE: LeBron James

BEST FEMALE ATHLETE: Serena Williams

BETJ COOL LIKE THAT: Gerald Levert

BEST GOSPEL ARTIST: Kirk Franklin

BEST MALE R&B ARTIST: Ne-Yo

BEST FEMALE R&B ARTIST: Beyonce

VIEWERS CHOICE AWARD: Birdman and Lil Wayne “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy”

Here are links to videos of the performances, and there were some excellent ones:
- Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holiday sing “And I am Telling You”
- Performance by Ciara
- 50 Cent performing “Amusement Park”
- T.I. performing “Big Shit/Things Poppin’”
- Diddy performing with Keyisha Coles and Lil’ Kim
- Neyo performing “All Because of You”

And here’s Beyonce performing “Get me Bodied” followed by Kelly performing “Like This,” and joined by Eve:

And here are some awards:
- Chris Brown and Rihanna present best actress
- Alicia Keys presents the Diana Ross Tribute

Picture note from Celebitchy: Shown at the BET Awards are Rihanna, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Eve, Beyonce, Diana Ross, Michelle Williams , Kelly Rowland and Beyonce Knowles, Ciara, 50 Cent, Eve Pigford and Don Cheadle. Thanks to Splash News and WENN for these photos.

It seems while Paris Hilton was serving her time in jail, she managed to order $145 dollars in outside snacks and beauty aides, all of which were delivered to her by the Sheriffs of Lynwood Prison.

Though jail inmates have to collect their food on their own, the hotel heiress had ‘sheriffs bringing her food’.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is; she’s a nobody,” the New York Post quoted a deputy at Century Regional Detention Center, as saying.

“She’s got sheriffs bringing her food. This was unbelievable,” the deputy added.

The following is just a sample of the things she ordered and consumed while filing her nails behind bars:

1. Packs of French vanilla coffee

2. Orders of chicken noodle soup

3. Toffee peanut treats

4. Banana nut muffins

5. Packs of chicken broth

6. A 1.75-ounce jar of Vaseline

The girl drinks an awful lot of chicken soup doesn’t she? But I can understand the Vaseline, I think that would be the one beauty product I couldn’t live without if I had all my makeup taken away from me.

But to have all this stuff deliverd to her by the Sheriffs, whereas other inmates have to collect these things on their own from people who visit them, I find that a little demeaning to the men and women in uniform. They’ve got more important things to do than go get her things like toffee peanut treats. It’s jail, not a hotel.

- Is Jennifer Garner pregnant again or is she just sticking her tummy out? [ICYDK]
- Jennifer Aniston is said to be bragging that her new boyfriend is a better lay than Brad Pitt. [DListed]
- Britney Spears goes out in a bra (site NSFW) [Drunken Stepfather]
- Krista Allen, George Clooney’s ex, is getting married to someone who can actually commit [I'm Not Obsessed]
- Liz Claiborne died at 78 [Evil Beet]
- Rihanna vs. Beyonce: no contest [Bossip]
- Britney wants K-Fed back [Gabsmash]
- Whose veiny arm is that? [Seriously? OMG! WTF?]
- Michelle Rodriguez is a bad ass [The Grumpiest]
- Brad Pitt filming a commercial [PopSugar]
- I love Jennifer Love Hewitt. She gained some weight, but she still looks fab. [The Skinny Website]
- Foxy Brown missed a meeting with her parole officer on the day she got beat up by her pimp ex-boyfriend’s hookers [Rhymes with Snitch]
- Kooky Hollywood Moms: Kathy Hilton [Gallery of the Absurd]
- Celebrity boob jobs gone wrong [CityRag]
- Enquirer cover: Best and Worst Beach Bodies [popbytes]
- Blind item: is Woody Harrelson stealing money from purses at parties? [Crazy Days and Nights]
- OJ Simpson practiced crying before interviews about his book [Hollywood Rag]
- Amy Winehouse carves her stomach in front of a reporter [Agent Bedhead]
- Josh Stone gets her head tattooed [The Blemish]
- Hilary Duff is buff [yeeeah]

PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, have announced their sexiest vegetarian winners for 2007.

Tens of thousands of votes have been counted and the results are in. PETA is thrilled to announce that Tonight Show band leader Kevin Eubanks has been voted PETA’s World’s Sexiest Vegetarian man for 2007, while American Idol superstar Carrie Underwood was voted World’s Sexiest Vegetarian woman. Red-carpet runners-up include sexy sleuth Kristen Bell, Spider-Man 3’s Bryce Dallas Howard, dashing actor Joaquin Phoenix, Heroes hottie Milo Ventimiglia, charming columnist Michael Ausiello, and 30 Seconds to Mars vocalist Jared Leto.

Kevin Eubanks has had support from Jay Leno on his Tonight Show, wanting to “bring honour” to the show.

Carrie Underwood reveals that she became a vegetarian at age 13 becasue she loves animals. I have often considered becoming a vegetarian as it would cut my food bills in half, but this isn’t listed as a reason on the PETA site for celebs going vego. Instead, they suggest it is to reduce pollution and cruelty to animals, and also for their own personal health benefits. Is this Natalie Portman’s beauty secret? If it is, then I am willing to give it a try.

Rose gives us some statistics on vegetarianism here.

Paris and her flat affect were on Larry King Live last night. I watched the whole damn thing on YouTube (linked below and available in several parts thanks to user mangoface) and was struck by how fake she was most of the time. She smiles and looks sort of scared and stuff, but overall she came off as bored and uninspired, with one exception that I’ll cover in another post. Even when she was describing emotion-filled moments like how she was elated to get out out of jail or had nightmares that people would break into her cell and harm her at night she kept the same even cadence to her voice like she was talking about a shopping trip.

Here’s most of what was said in the interview. I tried to make it conversational, but it’s like a live blog and it’s obvious that I typed it in when I was watching it:

Paris explained that the illness that got her out of jail for that home spray tanning session was claustrophobia, which she has suffered from her entire life. She said she had severe panic and anxiety attacks and wasn’t sleeping or eating, and that she had already served more time at that point than most people with similar infractions.

Paris said she was told she didn’t have to go back to court before she was hauled in again after being put on house arrest. She said it was terrifying. When Larry King asked her how she coped with the claustrophobia once she was back in she said she meditated, wrote, and read letters. She would close her eyes and imagine she was somewhere else, she said. She also used positive self talk to get through the days.

Paris said she went to the MTV Movie Awards before checking into jail so that she could avoid the whole media circus that was surrounding her house.

Larry King asks Paris what her problems are in life, and if she blames anyone for what has happened to her. She gives a really decent undoubtedly practiced answer that “I think in life, everyone makes mistakes, and we have to learn and grow from them. I’ve been immature in the past and made some wrong choices, but I’ve learned from them and I think that makes me the person I am today.”

Larry asks her about her friends and getting rid of them, and she says “I don’t want people who are not going to be beneficial in my life… and I cut a lot of people out.” She won’t name names, and says “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but they know who they are are.”

Paris read segments from her prison diary, which we’ll cover in a separate post shortly. The interview actually changed at that point, and a touch of the genuine person beneath all that makeup and plastic surgery came out. She actually got to me at that point, but after the next commercial break the mask was back on and she was back to her regular self.

Paris said that she’s had ADD her entire life and has been on medication for that since she was young. She’s never been addicted to drugs, she says when asked, and denies ever taking drugs totally straight faced.

She claimed she’s not a big drinker, that all the stories are false about her doing drugs and partying. She said “that’s not the person that I am… it really baffles me sometimes.”

When Larry asks her if she hung around with people who did those things, she said yes. When asked if she was photographed with people who did those things, she was like “I don’t know.”

She says people make up stories about her, and there’s nothing she can do about it.

She said she likes to go out and dance and spend time with friends, but that she’s not a big partier and that a lot of people don’t know she’s a serious businesswoman. She says the biggest misconception about her is that she doesn’t work.

She said Nicole Richie is like a sister to her and she hopes she doesn’t have to go to jail.

When asked about Britney Spears, you can see that she’s trying not to smirk (it’s in Part 5 of the interview linked below, at 2:40 in)

“Um, she’s [Britney's] a sweet girl. She’s a good mom, she loves her children. And again I think the media just likes to…

Larry: “They see her do things like go out in a car recklessly and not handle a child, they’re going to be concerned. Did she talk to you about that?” [when she drove with SP on her lap]

“I’ve seen her with her kids, she loves her kids. I think it’s hard for anyone when you’re in the spotlight so much, it’s very overwhelming at such a young age. I feel like a lot of these girls who move out here at a young age are given too much too soon. I’m just lucky that I have my parents who love and support me.”

She says she's handled the spotlight well, and that she considers herself normal. "I have a good heart. I'm a good person. I don't think of myself as any different from anyone else."

She says she doesn't dislike the paparazzi and that they're just trying to make a living.

When asked about Lindsay Lohan, she looks kind of cold and says "I wish the best for her." Larry asks her if she knows her well and she says "I know her." When asked if she has problems, she says "A lot of girls have problems." She then says "I don't have any friend in rehab" when Larry asks her about it, and lets out a little laugh.

She says she has a platform to bring exposure great causes instead of superficial things, and names kids, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis as her causes.

She draws a blank when asked for her favorite bible passage and it's kind of funny.

As for the new Paris Hilton and what the public will see she says "I've definitely matured and grown a lot from this experience. I'm 26 years old... and I have to just grow up and to be a more responsible role model... I want to be a good role model to these girls."

Here are links to video segments of the interview, which the above article uses for reference:
Part 1 (may be incomplete)
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Header image from Splash News.

Wright, The Detroit News, caglecartoons.com