Buzz Briefs: Britney Spears, Madonna

Plus: Jessica Sierra, Wesley Snipes, David Letterman, Jessica Sierra, George Clooney

Comments 10

NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2008

(CBS/AP) 
Britney Spears Has More Car Trouble

Britney Spears' car was impounded after police found it abandoned on the street.

Police said Spears was driving Monday night when she had a flat tire on Sunset Boulevard sometime before 8 p.m.

"She left it unattended and it was blocking traffic, so it was towed," Officer Karen Smith, a police spokeswoman, said Tuesday of Spears' car.

Police said it was unlikely the 26-year-old pop star will be ticketed because the car was disabled when it was left in the street.

"She probably will have to pay to get her car out of the impound lot," Smith said.

Spears was hospitalized last week after an hours-long standoff at her home that was triggered by a custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline over the couple's two young sons. A court commissioner granted custody of her children to Federline the next day.

The singer has had a series of problems involving her car in recent months. In October, she ran over a photographer's foot.



Jessica Sierra Sentenced To One Year In Rehab

2A judge is sending Jessica Sierra to rehab.

The former "American Idol" contestant was sentenced Monday to a yearlong stint at a California rehabilitation clinic and three years' probation.

Sierra, 22, was arrested last month for disorderly intoxication and resisting officers. She remained jailed Tuesday in Tampa.

In July, she entered a California rehab facility that was to be documented on the VH1 reality show "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Circuit Judge Daniel Perry said he didn't want the sentence to be another screen test for Sierra.

Perry said he doesn't "want anybody glamorizing the fact that she's a drug addict."


Wesley Snipes Tax Evasion Trial Location To Stay Put

3A federal judge has denied Wesley Snipes' most recent request to have his tax-evasion trial moved from the central Florida city of Ocala.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Monday the motion was meaningless because the change of venue request applied only to some counts and not all.

Hodges also said the motion cited no legal authority for an appeal, making it "frivolous both on the merits as well as the absence of any established jurisdiction" for the appeals court, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Snipes' lawyer, Robert Barnes, filed the motion last week in an attempt to delay the trial, scheduled to start Jan. 14.

The actor's legal team argued Snipes cannot get a fair trial in Ocala, located about 80 miles north of Orlando. Snipes previously filed two motions to dismiss or transfer the trial because of racial prejudices.

Lawyers argued Snipes had the right to a trial in New York, where he lived between October 2000 and April 2005 when the offenses allegedly occurred, or in Orlando, where he also has a home.


Madonna And Hubby Visit Mumbai

4Madonna visited a crowded Mumbai slum Tuesday, where impoverished residents showered her with rose and marigold petals.

Madonna didn't speak to journalists, and a New York-based spokeswoman for the 49-year-old singer wasn't immediately available for comment.

Millions of people live in makeshift huts in slums along railway lines and roads in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment center.

Wearing a black jacket, T-shirt and jeans, Madonna spent nearly 45 minutes with residents of the downtown shanty township.

She was accompanied by her husband, Guy Ritchie, and Australian author Gregory David Roberts, who made the Mumbai slum his home in the early 1980s.

Roberts worked for the city's crime bosses and set up a free health clinic in the slum when he took refuge in Mumbai after escaping from an Australian high-security prison.

The slum features prominently in Roberts' best-seller "Shantaram," which is being adapted into a film starring Johnny Depp and directed by Mira Nair.


Letterman's Scruffy Look Is History

The late-night funnyman had the bushy beard he grew while off the air during the strike by the Writers Guild of America shaved Monday on his "Late Show." One barber buzzed the beard with an electric razor; the next one lathered him up and finished the job with a straight razor.

"We have to say goodbye to an old friend tonight, and I'm just sick about it," Letterman said.

He said he was "being pressured" to shave, although he wouldn't say by whom. Not shaving added 15 minutes to his day that he could use to goof off, he said.

He had fun with newspaper photos and cartoons about his beard, including one in which a couple sat at home watching his show. "Shhh," one said to the other. "He's about to do his opening fatwa."

Guest Tom Hanks brought Letterman a first-aid kit for a small cut above the lip.

"Shaving beards on TV," Hanks said. "That's what shows without writers do."

Letterman's show and others recently reached a deal that allowed their writers to return to work.


George Clooney On Canceled Golden Globes Show, Kidman's Pregnancy

E! News host Giuliana Rancic snagged George Clooney at the Critic's Choice Awards to get his take on the writer's strike and its impact on the Golden Globes. Clooney also set the record straight on whether or not he would cross a Golden Globes picket line.

"If the union decides to strike it, I'm not gonna cross a picket line, and that is how I've always been," Clooney told Rancic. "This is a one industry town. What matters is it is not just actors and writers that are unemployed. There are 100,000 people that are in trouble. They need to get people in a room and sit them down and lock the door until they come up with a solution."

Clooney also chimed in on Nicole Kidman's recent pregnancy announcement with husband Keith Urban.

"At least she is older than 16. ... I'm thrilled for her, it is pretty great," Clooney said.

Check out the full interview on E! News on Jan. 8 at 7p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT.


GOP Presidential Hopeful Mike Huckabee Appears On Letterman

Talk about judgment: Mike Huckabee says he has placed his political fate in the hands of David Letterman.

"If I win New Hampshire, it's because I did this show," the former Arkansas governor said Monday night on CBS' "Late Show" while taking a break from campaigning in the nation's first presidential primary.

"If I lose New Hampshire, it's because I did this show," he added to laughter and applause.

Unlike his appearance last Wednesday on late-night rival Jay Leno's NBC talk show, the GOP candidate didn't anger striking writers by crossing their picket line. Letterman has a separate agreement with the writers for his show.

Huckabee, who was heading back to New Hampshire for Tuesday's primary, told Letterman that campaigning was exhausting.

"Most days are 20 hours and they're pressure-packed," he said. "That's part of the deal. ... If you get into this race, you have to be prepared to go the distance."

Huckabee said he believed that most people run for president because they feel they owe the country and want to protect it.

"Also, you get to live in that really nice house that, you know, is down there in Washington," he said.

Letterman asked if there was an ideological difference between those who live in Iowa - Huckabee won the Republican caucuses there last week - and New Hampshire.

"What I find is, everybody's an American. And I don't care who they are and what they are, they want this country to quit fighting each other politically," Huckabee said. "It doesn't matter whether it's Iowa or New Hampshire or any other state in this country, people get it. I don't think Washington gets it. ... And they're so polarized, they have become paralyzed."

Meanwhile, fellow Republican candidate Ron Paul flew to Los Angeles for an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."


Cookbook Author Sues The Seinfelds

An author who claims Jerry Seinfeld's wife plagiarized her cookbook sued the famous couple on Monday, finding no humor when the comedian compared the three-name author to the three-name killers of John Lennon and Martin Luther King Jr.

The lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages for copyright and trademark infringement, was brought in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Missy Chase Lapine, the author of "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals."

"Jerry Seinfeld is an enormously wealthy and well-known comedian, and Jessica Seinfeld is his wife, but that does not give them license to slander and plagiarize," the lawsuit said.

The Seinfelds' lawyer, Richard Menaker, disputed Lapine's claims of defamation and plagiarism and suggested Lapine was seeking publicity to boost her book's sales.

"Both are without merit," Menaker said. "There's no truth in fact or law to this claim of plagiarism. The idea for Jessica Seinfeld's book came from her own experiences with her family out of her own kitchen."

And he said there was "no basis" for any kind of legal claim of defamation.

"Jerry Seinfeld is entitled to his opinions," Menaker said. "Even though Jerry Seinfeld is a public figure, he doesn't lose his right to free speech because of that."

In October, HarperCollins published Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food."


Taylor Hicks Looses His Record Deal

Taylor Hicks might have won "American Idol," but he doesn't have his record deal anymore.

The soul singer, who claimed the "Idol" title in 2006, has apparently been dropped by J Records, a label within Sony-BMG, which signs the show's singers.

"Taylor is going to record on his own for the next album," said J Records publicist Liz Morentin, who did not give further details regarding Hicks.

Another "Idol" winner Ruben Studdard of season two left his contract with J Records late last year, but continues his contract with 19 Entertainment, the company managed by "Idol" creator Simon Fuller.

Studdard is now at work on an upcoming album, but it will not be distributed by J Records, Morentin said. Studdard's previous album, 2006's "The Return," has sold only 236,000 copies.

Roger Widynowski, spokesman for 19 Entertainment, did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on Hicks' situation.

Hicks' self-titled, post-"Idol" album, released in December 2006, debuted at No. 2 on the charts. In the weeks after it was issued, however, the disc slid down the charts. While it sold a respectable 699,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan data, it did not reach the 1 million mark, unlike all the other debuts from previous "Idol" champs. It also did not register a hit song, unlike other "Idol" winners.

© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Back To Top