Armisen confirms exit from SNL cast
Fred Armisen has confirmed he has left “Saturday Night Live” after 11 years.
Armisen dispelled any doubt about his exit in an interview posted Monday by comedy website Splitsider.
“SNL” often doesn’t announce its cast changes, but the show’s season finale in May concluded with a farewell for Armisen and Bill Hader.
Armisen says he left partly because “Portlandia” was demanding more time and because “it felt like a very healthy, good time to do it.”
Studdard joins ‘The Biggest Loser’
“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard is joining the cast of “The Biggest Loser,” becoming the first celebrity to compete on NBC’s weight-loss reality show.
The balladeer nicknamed “The Velvet Teddy Bear” was crowned the winner of “American Idol” Season 2 in 2003, edging out Clay Aiken in one of the tightest votes in that show’s history.
Studdard’s weight-loss journey will be seen in the fall, when Season 15 of “The Biggest Loser” is slated to air.
Judge tosses Elmo puppeteer suits
Three lawsuits brought by men who said former Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash sexually abused them when they were underage were tossed out by a judge who said in a decision published Monday that the men waited too long to sue.
U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl said the claims must be barred because they came more than six years after the men reasonably should have realized that the physical and emotional injuries they’re suing over were caused by alleged encounters with Clash.
Clash was the man behind Elmo, the popular furry red monster, for 28 years.
Attorneys for the men promised an appeal.
Rapper’s death ruled an overdose
A medical examiner’s investigator says Chris Kelly of the ’90s rap duo Kriss Kross died of a drug overdose.
Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office in Atlanta said Monday that a toxicology screening showed the 34-year-old Kelly had a mixture of drugs in his system when he was pronounced dead on May 1. However, Honey said she did not know which specific drugs Kelly had used.
A police report says Kelly’s mother told investigators her son used cocaine and heroin the night before he died and had a history of drug abuse.
The birthday bunch
Writer-director Larry David is 66. Model-actress Jerry Hall is 57. Singer Michelle Branch is 30. Actress Ashley Tisdale is 28. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 27.