People: With Jacko, it’s odor in the court
Michael Jackson says he had no idea that the man he hired to produce a benefit recording for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks had produced gay pornographic movies.
The producer, F. Marc Schaffel, is suing Jackson for $3.8 million for what he says are unrepaid loans and expenses, and unpaid salary for work on the charity record called “What More Can I Give.”
Zia Modabber, Jackson’s former lawyer, testified Monday that the singer was “angry, upset” when he learned of Schaffel’s background and immediately fired him.
Schaffel testified earlier in the trial that Jackson sent him to South America in 2001 to deliver $300,000 to a “Mr. X” in Argentina.
“The main purpose of my trip was Mr. Jackson wanted to adopt some boys,” he said.
Jackson’s attorney denounced that as “an effort to smear Mr. Jackson with a remark that could be interpreted to hurt him in light of the (child molestation) case against him last year.”
‘Reality Bites,’ part two
A cast member on MTV’s “The Real World” has been charged with misdemeanor assault for biting her boyfriend during a domestic dispute.
Paula Ann Meronek, 25, allegedly bit her boyfriend several times when he refused to let her into their home early Sunday morning.
A “Real World” spokesman said filming is complete in Key West, Fla., and the arrest will not affect the show’s 17th season.
Bum’s rush hour
“Rush Hour” movie star Jackie Chan disrupted a concert by a Taiwanese singer-songwriter Monday in Hong Kong.
Chan jumped onstage and demanded a duet with Jonathan Lee. As audience members started to heckle him, he replied with an insult.
The 52-year-old action star was quoted in a news report as saying he was drunk.
Returning ‘Fire’
Eight years after his solo debut, Sean Lennon is releasing album No. 2.
“Friendly Fire,” due Sept. 26, follows “Into the Sun,” which was released in 1998.
The 30-year-old son of the late John Lennon says he “felt disillusioned with the machinery of the industry” following the first album, but never stopped making music.
Liz, thin? That’s rich
Old Michael Jackson pal Elizabeth Taylor says she won’t starve herself to be like Hollywood’s size-zero starlets.
“I wish I could be that size, but I can’t be,” Taylor, 74, tells Harper’s Bazaar. “I enjoy food too much. In the end, I’m too hedonistic. I enjoy pleasures.”
That includes clothes as well – though when she was married to Sen. John Warner, she says, she was told not to dress ostentatiously during his 1978 campaign.
“I ended up in a tweed suit,” she says. “Me. Little tweed suits. What I won’t do for love.”
The birthday bunch
Pianist Van Cliburn is 72. Actor-comedian Bill Cosby is 69. Singer Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) is 63. Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 58. Actress Cheryl Ladd is 55. Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 50. Actress Mel Harris (“thirtysomething”) is 49. Actress Lisa Nicole Carson (“Ally McBeal”) is 37. Actor Topher Grace (“That ‘70s Show”) is 28. Actress Michelle Rodriguez (“Lost”) is 28. Actor Erik Per Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 15.