Threats Don’t Dishearten The Queen And Her Court

Some people say the best way to avoid violence is to not draw attention. That’s why Queen Latifah was criticized for driving her $75,000 car into Harlem early on Sunday.

Shortly after arriving, the rap star/actress and two companions were accosted by two gunwielding carjackers who shot one of her friends before driving off.

But Queen Latifah says she’s not about to change her lifestyle.

“It’s the summer, it’s 125th Street, and I should be able to hang out anywhere, like all other people,” she says. “And I am going to come back to Harlem. (The carjackers) weren’t even from Harlem so I’m not going to blame them for this…. But cash rules everything around us…. We have to wake up and try to do something about the violence in our community.”

Loose talk

Pamela Anderson Lee on what life’s like with husband, Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee, after her recent miscarriage: “It’s difficult for anybody to go through what Tommy and I went through, but it’ll happen when it’s supposed to happen and we’re working on it full force.”

And all we can think of to say is ‘Oye, como va’

Carlos Santana turns 48 today.

And Grant us release from such Divine inanity

During Tuesday’s court session, at which alleged prostitute Divine Brown (Stella Marie Thompson) pleaded innocent to charges of committing lewd conduct with English movie star Hugh Grant, some entrepreneur types were selling T-shirts that said, “To Err is Hughman… To Forgive Divine.”

If he can just put it to music, he’ll make a mint

Country star Ty Herndon, arrested on June 13 for exposing himself to a Fort Worth-area cop, has settled the case. The indecent-exposure charges were dropped when he agreed to plead guilty to drug possession. He was sentenced to five years probation, a $1,000 fine and 200 hours community service.

Not if she can do than neat stem-tying trick with a cherry

So what was Natasha Henstridge’s favorite special effect from her hit film “Species”? “I like the part where my tongue goes through the back of a guy’s head,” she says. “I still watch it and go, ‘Oh, that’s cool!’ But I’m wondering, ‘If guys see this, will it be tough for me to get a date?”’

Quick, someone put a camera on Andre Agassi

Being a television sex star has its downside. Ask Dean Cain, star of “Lois & Clark.” “I’m going to dinner with Brooke Shields tonight,” the actor told TV Guide. “We haven’t seen each other in over a year, and we’re friends, but if someone takes a picture, (the tabloids will) be writing that Brooke and I are together again.”

Besides, he gets to have lunch with Tabitha Soren

So how does 49-year-old MTV chief executive officer Tom Freston keep fresh in a job that sets him right “in the middle of The Suits and The Kids”? Easy. “You know what it takes?” he asks. “Shallowness and the ability to fake sincerity.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster