Just a little trash-talking
Boy George on Monday started his court-ordered community service sweeping up New York City streets – and promptly got in a dust-up with the media.
“You think you’re better than me?” the former Culture Club frontman yelled at cameramen who crowded around him. “Go home. Let me do my community service.”
But he was in better spirits by the time a late-morning break rolled around, waving to reporters and asking, “How are you?”
The 45-year-old singer, born George O’Dowd, was ordered to spend five days working for the Department of Sanitation after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment. The officers who responded found cocaine instead.
He had asked the court for a somewhat more sophisticated sentence, such as helping teenagers make a public service announcement, holding a fashion and makeup workshop, serving as a DJ at an HIV/AIDS benefit or doing telephone outreach.
Better be a good fella
The actor who plays Tony Soprano’s muscle-bound bodyguard in “The Sopranos” will avoid a criminal mischief charge if he stays out of trouble for the next six months.
Louis Gross, 23, was arrested in April after a woman claimed that he broke into her home. His lawyer said Gross was staying with a friend and got locked out before the “misunderstanding” occurred.
As the Crowe flies
Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson are splitting up after nearly six years of marriage, her publicist announced Monday.
Hudson, the 27-year-old actress daughter of Goldie Hawn, and Robinson, the 39-year-old lead singer of The Black Crowes, have a 2-year-old son, Ryder Russell Robinson.
Mick loses his bark
On doctor’s orders, the Rolling Stones canceled Monday night’s scheduled concert in the Spanish city of Valladolid after Mick Jagger came down with laryngitis.
The group was forced to postpone the start of the European leg of the tour after guitarist Keith Richards suffered a head injury in a fall from a tree while vacationing in Fiji in April.
Two right feet?
Bow-tied conservative commentator Tucker Carlson of MSNBC will be among the celebrities competing on the third season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
Also heading to the dance floor: talk-show host Jerry Springer; actresses Vivica A. Fox and Monique Coleman; actors Harry Hamlin, Joe Lawrence and Mario Lopez; country singer Sara Evans; pop singer Willa Ford; former Miss USA Shanna Moakler; and former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith. Hamlin’s wife, Lisa Rinna, competed last season.
The new season of the show, which pairs celebrities of varying skill with professional partners, premieres Sept. 12.
The birthday bunch
Actress Rose-Marie (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”) is 83. Actor Mike Connors is 81. Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee is 62. Actress Debi Mazar (“Entourage”) is 42. Actress Debra Messing (“Will & Grace”) is 38. Actor Anthony Anderson (“Barbershop”) is 36. Actor Ben Affleck is 34. Actress Natasha Henstridge (“Species”) is 32.