Imus, Sharpton go head to head
Don Imus issued another apology on the Rev. Al Sharpton‘s radio show Monday for calling members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos,” while Sharpton called the comments “abominable” and “racist” and repeated his demand that Imus be fired.
“Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far,” Imus said of his own radio show last week.
When Sharpton started to protest, “If you walk away from this unscathed …” Imus interrupted: “How am I unscathed by this? Don’t you think I’m humiliated?”
Imus said he hoped to meet the Rutgers players and their parents and coaches, adding: “It’s not going to be easy, but I’m not looking for it to be easy.”
Meanwhile, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and about 50 others marched Monday outside the Chicago offices of NBC, carrying signs and shouting “Imus must go.”
The MSNBC cable TV channel simulcasts Imus’ show.
Couric’s treading water
Katie Couric says she’s “still getting my sea legs” after seven months as anchor of the “CBS Evening News.”
“It takes patience,” Couric says, adding she hopes to “establish the broadcast as smart and trustworthy, and me as a relatively intelligent person who deserves to be at the helm.”
CBS has consistently trailed NBC and ABC in the ratings since Couric took over, and her executive producer was just replaced.
Taking Umbridge
Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton wasn’t exactly flattered when a friend first suggested she’d be perfect for the part of Harry Potter’s first female nemesis, Dolores Umbridge.
“I read the book, and Umbridge is described as a short, ugly, toadlike woman,” Staunton says. “I thought, ‘Oh, thanks very much.’ “
But in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” set for release July 13, Staunton plays the villainess as an “apple-cheeked schoolmarm – drenched in pink angora,” Newsweek says.
Black window
Tobey Maguire, who returns May 4 in “Spider-Man 3,” says he isn’t sure he’d play the webslinger for a fourth time.
At least the new film has a “fresh story” for his character, he says: “The public is adoring him, and it goes to his head. He’s behaving arrogantly and is self-involved, which changes the feeling of the character for me. And it just gets darker from there.”
Bust a move
Jackie Chan has launched a Chinese TV competition to scout out new action movie talent, saying more than 100,000 people have already signed up for a shot at kung fu stardom.
“A lot of actors are good at fighting but (their style) is not beautiful,” the action star says. “If you can incorporate dance with an ability to perform kung fu, that would be better.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Harry Morgan (“Dragnet,” “M*A*S*H”) is 92. Actor Max von Sydow is 78. Actor Omar Sharif is 75. Sportscaster John Madden is 71. Actor Steven Seagal is 56. Actor Peter MacNicol (“Ally McBeal”) is 53. Singer-producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is 49. Musician Brian Setzer is 48. Singer-actress Mandy Moore is 23. Actor Haley Joel Osment (“The Sixth Sense”) is 19.