There she stays, Miss New Jersey
Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo is refusing to give up her crown despite demands from an anonymous person who’s trying to blackmail her with old photos.
Two packages of photos were sent last week to Miss New Jersey and Miss America pageant officials, with a letter saying they would be publicly released if she didn’t drop out of next year’s Miss America contest.
“Whoever this is, I think they’re a very miserable person and I really feel bad for them,” says Polumbo, a 22-year-old college student who won the New Jersey title last month.
“It really could be anyone,” she adds. “And it’s really disheartening to think it would be a (fellow) contestant.”
On Monday’s “Today” show, Polumbo said the photos show no nudity, pornography or underage drinking.
“I am not doing anything illegal,” she insisted.
Her lawyer says that fictitious captions attached to the photos were more troubling than the pictures themselves, but declined to give details.
Fruit of Lavigne?
Avril Lavigne is denying that her hit “Girlfriend” rips off the 1970s song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” by The Rubinoos.
“We are not so naive as to chalk it up to some sort of cosmic coincidence,” says former Rubinoo Tommy Dunbar. “The lyric, the meter, the rhythm – they’re identical.”
“I had never heard this song in my life,” Lavigne, 22, says of “Boyfriend,” adding: “All songs share similar lyrics and emotions.”
Do the Swim
Former ‘N Sync boy bander Lance Bass is joining the Broadway cast of “Hairspray.”
Bass will portray a ‘60s TV show host in the musical about a dance-obsessed Baltimore teen.
He’ll join Jerry Mathers, of “Leave it to Beaver” fame, who plays the dancer’s dad.
Oh, those feet of Clay’s
Singer Clay Aiken drew scrutiny from FBI agents but wasn’t charged after a dispute during a flight to Tulsa over the weekend.
A woman passenger reportedly gave the 2003 “American Idol” runner-up a “minor shove” because he had his foot on her armrest.
Aiken joked onstage Saturday night about being beaten up by a girl earlier in the day.
Arrested development
Victor Willis, the original policeman from The Village People, is planning his first performances in some 25 years after completing a drug treatment program.
The “Victor Willis Disco Dance Tour” is scheduled to begin in March and include concerts in the U.S., Australia, Britain, Japan, Norway, Germany and Canada.
Willis, co-author of “Y-M-C-A” and “In the Navy,” will come out on a motorcycle in his cop uniform and perform both Village People hits and solo material.
The birthday bunch
Singer Mavis Staples is 68. Actor Ron Glass (“Barney Miller”) is 62. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 60. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 49. Singer Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) is 37. Actor Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”) Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas (“American Pie”) is 27. Singer Jessica Simpson is 27.