Clay Aiken may have grabbed her boobs, but Simon Cowell grabbed her heart- Beautiful Mezhgan Hussainy told RadarOnline.com that she and Simon are officially engaged.
Until now, there have been only whispers and rumors about the couple possibly getting married — but their plans have been a secret.
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Buildings in Detroit are left abandoned.
So what’s in the news round-up for tonight:
1. Rep. Charles Rangel, the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 34-year veteran of Capitol Hill, knowingly accepted Caribbean trips from a corporation in violation of House rules, the House Ethics Committee ruled Thursday. Shocker! Now will Nancy Pelosi and the rest of those liberal hacks demand that Charlie resign?
2. The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday…. but, but, but Obama said the worst of the economic crisis was over and his recovery package was saving and/OR creating jobs.
3. Just moments before the afternoon session got underway, C-SPAN’s cameras picked up audio of Biden chatting casually with participants. “It’s easy being vice president — you don’t have to do anything.” Whomever Biden was chatting with said, “It’s like being the grandpa and not the parent.” “Yeah, that’s it!” replied Biden. Of course he doesn’t do anything, he’s a bumbling idiot and can’t be trusted.
4. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said Wednesday he “absolutely” intends to relocate residents from desolate neighborhoods and is bracing for inevitable legal challenges when he unveils his downsizing plan. In his strongest statements about shrinking the city since taking office, Bing told WJR-760 AM the city is using internal and external data to decide “winners and losers.” The city plans to save some neighborhoods and encourage residents to move from others, he said. ”If we don’t do it, you know this whole city is going to go down. I’m hopeful people will understand that,” Bing said. “If we can incentivize some of those folks that are in those desolate areas, they can get a better situation.” Detroit can thank the unions and liberal leadership for its demise.
5. You may be upset or relieved to hear my news that Howard Stern definitely won’t be joining American Idol as the judge replacing Simon Cowell. Good, because as much as I respect Howard’s craft, he’d be completely wrong for a family show.
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From Deadline.com:
It was American Idol’s newest judge Ellen DeGeneres’ first day of taping the Hollywood segment, and she was excited and nervous, sources tell us. But then that turned to anger. Because, our insiders say, Simon Cowell was an hour and a half late for the taping. And Ellen stewed while she waited. She had reason: to accomodate both her talk show hosting duties and her American Idol judging duties, she had moved up her schedule so that now she shot the talk show earlier in the day and then jumped in the car to go to Idol. She was on time, and Cowell was not. “Here it was the first day of taping of the Hollywood shows, and Ellen was there waiting for Simon to show up. Ellen’s new to gig and she’s very organized and she made a commitment to take this on, and now she’s asking herself, ‘What did I get myself into?’ She called Simon Cowell a prima donna. So right from the start, the chemistry isn’t great,” an insider tells us. With that, Ellen Degeneres contacted the pal who brought her to the primetime hit show, Fox alternative programming chief Mike Darnell, and made a request: she asked for him to “hurry up and pick” Simon’s successor. Cowell has told the world this will be his last season judging Idol to do his own U.S. version of The X Factor. But there’s a problem, a big multi-pronged one, and it involves Ellen vs Simon, and Simon Fuller vs Simon Cowell, and American Idol vs The X Factor as well. Our sources say that American Idol’s first choice to succeed Cowell is former Sony music chief Tommy Mottola, best known to the public as Mariah Carey’s ex-husband and the top executive behind Michael Jackson’s music in its heyday. But Cowell has also designated Mottola as first choice to be a judge on Simon’s American X Factor show just announced. Cowell is reportedly being paid nearly $175 million for launching the new talent search show in the Fall of 2011. (Cowell didn’t own American Idol and only gets paid to appear on it, but he does own X Factor and the whole brand. It is currently shown in 17 countries worldwide with a global audience of more than 500 million, and is the No. 1 TV entertainment format in Europe. The X Factor format is owned by Syco, a global music, television and film production joint venture between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment.) Execs behind American Idol and The X Factor want a high-profile music industry professional to give some gravitas. And our sources say Mottola, who hasn’t made headlines since he left Sony and started a new music label, is loving this situation. He’s in the middle of an American TV tug of war! According to our insiders, Fox, Darnell, and Fremantle’s American Idol producers have “come up with a list of 25 people led by 60-year-old Tommy Mottola, the co-owner of Casablanca Records in a joint venture with the Universal Music Group. He is the former husband of singer Mariah Carey, and is currently married to Mexican singer Thalía. He headed Sony Music Entertainment, parent of the Columbia label, for nearly 15 years. But ever since leaving as head of Sony Music, he’s been on the downlow. “What’s he doing now? Good question. He’s got some label. But in truth he hasn’t do much,” one of our sources shrugged. Mottola also is known as a mentor and former talent manager. His most famous proteges were Hall & Oates, Carly Simon, John Mellencamp, Diana Ross, and Taylor Dayne as well as Mariah Carey in the 1990s, and Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez in the early 2000s. Cowell’s music background and blunt assessments anchor American Idol, “but he’s also a music industry insider and Mottola fits that bill. And he certainly knows how to find young talent,” our source explained. “Mottola is frontrunner for Idol, but when Simon became aware of this, he began trying to get Tommy to team with him and Paula Abdul for his new show The X Factor.” Our insider feel there is the very real likelihood that Paula will sign for big dough to reteam with Cowell. Let’s not forget also there is real rivalry between The Two Simons: Simon Cowell and American Idol’s Simon Fuller. Cowell turned down $100 million to stay on the show. But if he signs Abdul and starts his X Factor with two of the three original American Idol judges, this poses a real threat to Fuller. Especially since two of the original three Idol judges gone, leaving only original judge Randy Jackson, last season’s new judge Kara DioGuardi, and this season’s new judge Ellen DeGeneres. “Mottola is in the middle of all that and benefactor of it. Mottola has remarkable leverage because of this tug of war and will get a big payday from somebody,” our source predicted. But some of the suits behind American Idol have placed high on their list 2 more music execs. Second choice is 38-year-old Guy Oseary “because they’re cautious about skewing too old”. An Israeli businessman who began his career in entertainment at 17 at what was to become Maverick Records. Oseary is best known as Madonna’s longtime business partner who guided her through the 2006 Confessions Tour, and the 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour, both of which are on the lists of the top-grossing tours of all time. In 2007 he negotiated the much-talked-about deal of the music business by partnering Madonna and all aspects of her music with Live Nation, the No. 1 touring promotion company in the world. The 3rd list topper is 56-year-old Jimmy Iovine. The Eminem song “Jimmy Crack Corn” (which also features 50 Cent) is written about this music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M since 2001. The Brooklyn-born Iovine began as a recording engineer in the mid-1970s working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. He went on to produce albums for U2, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks, Simple Minds, Dire Straits and Patti Smith. Then Iovine co-founded Interscope Records in 1990 and became a bigwig at Interscope-Geffen-A&M following Universal’s acquisition of PolyGram. Iovine is credited with having given Eminem’s demo tape to Dr. Dre who signed him to his Aftermath label. Iovine also is a film producer — on the hit Eminem movie, 8 Mile, a first-look feature deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films and the first pic under that deal Get Rich or Die Tryin’ starring 50 Cent, and with LeBron James and Maverick Carter of the 2009 documentary More Than A Game.
It was American Idol’s newest judge Ellen DeGeneres’ first day of taping the Hollywood segment, and she was excited and nervous, sources tell us. But then that turned to anger. Because, our insiders say, Simon Cowell was an hour and a half late for the taping. And Ellen stewed while she waited. She had reason: to accomodate both her talk show hosting duties and her American Idol judging duties, she had moved up her schedule so that now she shot the talk show earlier in the day and then jumped in the car to go to Idol. She was on time, and Cowell was not. “Here it was the first day of taping of the Hollywood shows, and Ellen was there waiting for Simon to show up. Ellen’s new to gig and she’s very organized and she made a commitment to take this on, and now she’s asking herself, ‘What did I get myself into?’ She called Simon Cowell a prima donna. So right from the start, the chemistry isn’t great,” an insider tells us.
With that, Ellen Degeneres contacted the pal who brought her to the primetime hit show, Fox alternative programming chief Mike Darnell, and made a request: she asked for him to “hurry up and pick” Simon’s successor. Cowell has told the world this will be his last season judging Idol to do his own U.S. version of The X Factor. But there’s a problem, a big multi-pronged one, and it involves Ellen vs Simon, and Simon Fuller vs Simon Cowell, and American Idol vs The X Factor as well.
Our sources say that American Idol’s first choice to succeed Cowell is former Sony music chief Tommy Mottola, best known to the public as Mariah Carey’s ex-husband and the top executive behind Michael Jackson’s music in its heyday. But Cowell has also designated Mottola as first choice to be a judge on Simon’s American X Factor show just announced. Cowell is reportedly being paid nearly $175 million for launching the new talent search show in the Fall of 2011. (Cowell didn’t own American Idol and only gets paid to appear on it, but he does own X Factor and the whole brand. It is currently shown in 17 countries worldwide with a global audience of more than 500 million, and is the No. 1 TV entertainment format in Europe. The X Factor format is owned by Syco, a global music, television and film production joint venture between Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment.)
Execs behind American Idol and The X Factor want a high-profile music industry professional to give some gravitas. And our sources say Mottola, who hasn’t made headlines since he left Sony and started a new music label, is loving this situation. He’s in the middle of an American TV tug of war!
According to our insiders, Fox, Darnell, and Fremantle’s American Idol producers have “come up with a list of 25 people led by 60-year-old Tommy Mottola, the co-owner of Casablanca Records in a joint venture with the Universal Music Group. He is the former husband of singer Mariah Carey, and is currently married to Mexican singer Thalía. He headed Sony Music Entertainment, parent of the Columbia label, for nearly 15 years. But ever since leaving as head of Sony Music, he’s been on the downlow. “What’s he doing now? Good question. He’s got some label. But in truth he hasn’t do much,” one of our sources shrugged. Mottola also is known as a mentor and former talent manager. His most famous proteges were Hall & Oates, Carly Simon, John Mellencamp, Diana Ross, and Taylor Dayne as well as Mariah Carey in the 1990s, and Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez in the early 2000s.
Cowell’s music background and blunt assessments anchor American Idol, “but he’s also a music industry insider and Mottola fits that bill. And he certainly knows how to find young talent,” our source explained. “Mottola is frontrunner for Idol, but when Simon became aware of this, he began trying to get Tommy to team with him and Paula Abdul for his new show The X Factor.” Our insider feel there is the very real likelihood that Paula will sign for big dough to reteam with Cowell. Let’s not forget also there is real rivalry between The Two Simons: Simon Cowell and American Idol’s Simon Fuller. Cowell turned down $100 million to stay on the show. But if he signs Abdul and starts his X Factor with two of the three original American Idol judges, this poses a real threat to Fuller. Especially since two of the original three Idol judges gone, leaving only original judge Randy Jackson, last season’s new judge Kara DioGuardi, and this season’s new judge Ellen DeGeneres.
“Mottola is in the middle of all that and benefactor of it. Mottola has remarkable leverage because of this tug of war and will get a big payday from somebody,” our source predicted.
But some of the suits behind American Idol have placed high on their list 2 more music execs. Second choice is 38-year-old Guy Oseary “because they’re cautious about skewing too old”. An Israeli businessman who began his career in entertainment at 17 at what was to become Maverick Records. Oseary is best known as Madonna’s longtime business partner who guided her through the 2006 Confessions Tour, and the 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour, both of which are on the lists of the top-grossing tours of all time. In 2007 he negotiated the much-talked-about deal of the music business by partnering Madonna and all aspects of her music with Live Nation, the No. 1 touring promotion company in the world.
The 3rd list topper is 56-year-old Jimmy Iovine. The Eminem song “Jimmy Crack Corn” (which also features 50 Cent) is written about this music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M since 2001. The Brooklyn-born Iovine began as a recording engineer in the mid-1970s working with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. He went on to produce albums for U2, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks, Simple Minds, Dire Straits and Patti Smith. Then Iovine co-founded Interscope Records in 1990 and became a bigwig at Interscope-Geffen-A&M following Universal’s acquisition of PolyGram. Iovine is credited with having given Eminem’s demo tape to Dr. Dre who signed him to his Aftermath label. Iovine also is a film producer — on the hit Eminem movie, 8 Mile, a first-look feature deal with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films and the first pic under that deal Get Rich or Die Tryin’ starring 50 Cent, and with LeBron James and Maverick Carter of the 2009 documentary More Than A Game.
1. Ann Coulter asks Al Sharpton if he’s been asked not to use his “Negro Dialect” in the video above. It’s a must watch!
2. David Paterson said remarks about Barack Obama attributed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a newly published book are “reprehensible”. Finally, a Democrat who can speak some truth.
3. Gasoline prices are soaring toward the $3 a gallon range. If you recall, Democrats were demanding an investigation of Bush and Cheney and their ties to big oil when prices were in the mid $2 range. Of course, that’s when we had 4.4% unemployment and the world economy was doing fantastic. I wonder why gas is hovering at $3 with unemployment at 10% and the world economy is struggling. Do you think that Democrats will call for Obama to be investigated? Double standard.
4. Remember the tired old mantra the Democrats like to spew- Republicans are for the rich? Well, since the Democrats have been in charge the UK Telegraph writes:
The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters. Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism. The home foreclosure guillotine usually drops a year or so after people lose their job, and exhaust their savings. The local sheriff will escort them out of the door, often with some sympathy –– just like the police in 1932, mostly Irish Catholics who tithed 1pc of their pay for soup kitchens. Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody’s Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters.
Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism.
The home foreclosure guillotine usually drops a year or so after people lose their job, and exhaust their savings. The local sheriff will escort them out of the door, often with some sympathy –– just like the police in 1932, mostly Irish Catholics who tithed 1pc of their pay for soup kitchens.
Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody’s Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
5. So it’s official, Simon Cowell is to quit American Idol and head X Factor. Sources confirmed to Hollywood Reporter exclusively that Cowell will quit the top-rated show on television at the end of this season as part of his plan to focus on launching a new series, “The X-Factor.” Fox has picked up “Factor” for the fall of 2011, when “Idol” is on hiatus.
Tune into JohnPaulus.com as we will have live chat coverage of American Idol Season 9.
- Senator McCain and Republican leaders are courting other Democrats who are upset with their party’s radical shift to the left and their Marxist agenda. Two Democrat Congress acknowledge that they’ve been approached by the Republican leadership, but have given reassurance to Pelosi and other Democrat leaders that they have no plans on switching their party.
- William Daley of Chicago wrote a warning in the Washington Post to Obama, “The announcement by Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith that he is switching to the Republican Party is just the latest warning sign that the Democratic Party — my lifelong political home — has a critical decision to make: Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course or risk electoral disaster not just in the upcoming midterms but in many elections to come.” Hopefully, Pelosi, Reed, and their puppet Obama will ignore Daley’s warnings. Read more here.
- The Senate passed their version of the health-care bill which doesn’t live up to Obama’s promises; it raises taxes across the board, it leaves 8% uninsured, it’s funded through tax increases and not premiums, verification for illegals is weak, and it cuts medicare and medicaid.
- Fox is working with 19 Entertainment to order more seasons of the hit show ‘American Idol’. People familiar with the talks say that Fox is committed to renewing the hit show for 3 or more seasons after the current contract expires in 2011. The news comes just as rumors have been circulating that judge Simon Cowell may leave the show when his contract is up to focus on bringing his hit show ‘X Factor’ to the United States.
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1. The spinless wonder that is Barak Obama continues to demonstrat his weakness as a leader and commander-in-chief. Today, Iran invaded Southern Iraq and has taken over some oil fields. Our commander-in-chiefs representative stated, “there has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be resolved through peaceful diplomacy between the governments of Iraq and Iran.” How weak!
2. Venezuela’s Chavez received cheering applause by world leaders assembled for the global warming summit in frigid Copenhagen. Meanwhile communist marched down the streets of the city in support of the climate accord– hmmm, and they’re trying to tell us this isn’t the back door to Socialism.
3. Simon Cowell may be leaving the hit, ‘American Idol’ after next season to head of the American version of ‘The X Factor’. Cowell has made a success of The X Factor in the UK and is credited with taking many of the creative decisions responsible for its success. If and when he leaves that may be the end of my viewing days of the show.
4. A drunk 4-year-old boy dressed in drag, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. The boys mother, April Wright, says, her four year old followed his father’s footsteps and was found on Blue Spruce Road, drinking.
5. Tiger Woods’ trouble seems to be getting deeper as his wife is said to be filing for divorce. Rumors have recently emerged that the golfer fathered a child back in 2003 with 48 year old Theresa Rogers.
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From MailOnline.com:
In the wake of Paula Abdul’s surprise exit from American Idol, Simon Cowell has called on a old friend to join him on the judging panel – one Mrs Victoria Beckham.
The former Spice Girl has so far agreed to make one guest appearance on the show for a rumoured £155,000.
Her spokesperson told Mail Online: Yes Victoria will be making a “one off” appearance as a guest judge.’
The singing contest is still the highest-rating programme in the U.S. drawing an average of 26.3 million viewers per episode, making the role an impressive coup for the former Spice Girl.
She has been steadily building her profile in the since her move to the U.S. in 2007 but has yet to really make her big break.
Her appointment may come as a surprise to some, considering that even by her own admission she is not a particularly good singer.
‘I worked hard at it,’ she recently admitted, but: ‘I was never going to be the best singer or dancer.’
A source says Posh is not interested to take over Paula’s role permanently.
She is still determined to concentrate on her fashion projects, according to the insider, and is currently working on the upcoming launch of her new collection at New York fashion week in September.
Abdul announced just yesterday that she was leaving the show after eight years.
‘With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to Idol,’ she posted on her Twitter page last night.
While the TV talent show judge did not expand on her reasons for leaving the programme, she had been lobbying for a significant pay raise during negotiations for a new contract in recent months.
She was said to be particularly annoyed after hearing reports host Ryan Seacrest had secured a $45 million, 3-year deal, while she was being offered
a rumoured $2 to $3million a year.
Insiders claim she asked for about $20 million to continue with the show but was offered a total multi-year deal worth $10 million.
Abdul’s message continued: ‘I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day one become an international phenomenon.’
‘What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me.
‘It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month.’
The rest of the judging panel, which includes Randy Jackson, Kara DiGuardi, and of course Cowell, will all appear on the next series.
