Oprah Winfrey’s Broadway Show Accused of Racism

Shawnique Hill, a former stylist for Oprah Winfrey’s Broadway show, “The Color Purple” (from the film of the same name), has filed a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.

“My client is a true heroine . . . for the rights of all people of color who are underrepresented and mistreated behind the curtains on Broadway even when the most powerful black woman in America is the key investor,” Hill’s lawyer, Christopher Serbagi, told the press.

Hill’s suit claims that she was fired after making a complaint that there were too few “people of color” working behind the scenes.

In addition to discrimination, Hill is suing for breach of contract and wrongful termination.

The producers of the show responded with a statement to the New York Post: “We are confident that there has been no violation of the law.”

Michael Moore vs. the U.S.

Michael Moore is ecstatic.

Premiering May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival, Moore’s new film, “Sicko,” is set to debut in U.S. theaters in June.

As if choreographed to a tee, the Bush administration has given the factually challenged filmmaker the thing that he needs the most to generate publicity—controversy.

Predictably, after the news broke about him being under investigation for a possible violation of the U.S. embargo of Cuba, Moore immediately issued an attention getter of a response, which invoked the name that has lefty mega-cyberspace bang for the buck: George Bush.

The U.S.Treasury Department is looking into Moore’s production trip to Cuba because he allegedly failed to get permission to conduct business in the Communist country.

Evidently, Moore received a form letter from the Treasury Dept. Each year the government sends out hundreds of such letters seeking additional information when sanctions violations appear to have occurred.

In characteristic propaganda-like fashion, Moore posted on his Web site an “open letter” to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which took a routine and foreseeable investigation and turned it into another set of Moore’s patented Bush administration conspiracies.

“First, the Bush Administration has been aware of this matter for months (since October 2006) and never took any action until less than two weeks before SiCKO is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a little more than a month before it is scheduled to open in the United States,” Moore wrote, transparently trying to link the release of the film to the Treasury Department’s timing.

Not content with one conspiracy, Moore added another. He implied that a corporate conspiracy exists as well.

“Second, the health care and insurance industry, which is exposed in the movie and has expressed concerns about the impact of the movie on their industries, is a major corporate underwriter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party…” Moore explained.

“For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community. These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me — I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help…,” Moore added.

He then demanded that the Bush administration call off the investigation.

Moore’s fantasy-filled “Fahrenheit 9/11” premiered at Cannes in 2004 while he sought PR using his disagreement with the Walt Disney Company. Disney decided that the film was detrimental to its brand and refused to let subsidiary Miramax release it.

Miramax owners Harvey and Bob Weinstein ended up releasing the film on their own and later left to form the Weinstein Co., which is now the distributor of “Sicko.”

Harvey Weinstein has joined in on the publicity revelry.

“The timing is amazing. You would think that we originated this. It reads like a fiction best-seller,” Weinstein told the Associated Press. “This is ‘Fahrenheit’ all over again. ‘Let’s pressure somebody.’ Last time it was Disney, this time it’s direct,” Weinstein said.

“It’s like the Bush Administration had Mickey Mouse as part of their investigative team,” Chris Lehane, a Weinstein Company consultant told Time magazine.

The Weinsteins have put David Boies on the “Sicko” case, the lawyer who lost Bush v. Gore in 2000.

It should come as no surprise that Cuba, a communist dictatorship that jails dissidents, arrests reporters and lacks free elections, is defending Moore.

Cuba described Moore as a victim of censorship. “Any resemblance to McCarthyism is no coincidence,” the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, read.

According to the Cuban paper, in investigating Moore American officials confirmed “the imperial philosophy of censorship.”

Steven Spielberg Pleads with China on Darfur Crisis

After receiving criticism over his involvement with China’s 2008 Olympic Games, director Steven Spielberg is now using his relationship with China to set something in motion that could save countless lives.

Spielberg has sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao calling on China to pressure Sudan into accepting U.N. peacekeepers in order to stop the killing in the Darfur region.

China imports Sudanese oil. As a member of the U.N. Security Council, China used its veto power to stop U.N. peacekeepers from being sent to Darfur.

Spielberg acknowledges that he will play a role in China’s Olympic Games as an “artistic advisor,” something for which the director has received quite a bit of flack.

“I add my voice to those who ask that China change its policy toward Sudan and pressure the Sudanese government to accept the entrance of United Nations peacekeepers to protect the victims of genocide in Darfur,” Spielberg wrote.

The director also noted that the issue of genocide is especially close to him because of his work with the Los Angeles-based USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education.

Spielberg has asked to meet with Hu but so far there has been no response from the Chinese president.

Vegan Couple Gets Life

A vegan couple has paid the price for staving a six-week-old baby to death. They have been sentenced to life in prison, the A.P. reports.

Atalnta Judge L.A. McConnell threw 27-year-old Jade Sanders and 31-year-old Lamont Thomas into prison for life.

Their baby son, Crown Shakur was fed a diet consisting mostly of soy milk and apple juice. The little one weighed 3 pounds when he died of starvation.

The couple was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.

Don Imus vs. CBS Radio, $120-Million at Stake

First Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus, Don Imus’s attorney, must be mighty pleased.

The former talk show host is expected to file a lawsuit against CBS asking for $120 million in damages.

Imus has what looks like a very strong case.

Here’s what CBS’s lawyers have to contend with:

-Imus gave the network what they had bargained for. The contract between Imus and CBS contains a clause that describes the talk host’s services as “unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial and personal character and these components are desired by company and are consistent with company rules and policies,” according to a copy of the complaint obtained by ABC News.

- After the remarks were made, CBS waited two weeks before firing Imus. If the remarks were bad enough to jeopardize his contract, why did CBS wait so long to take action?

-Imus’ show was on a 5-second delay that allowed the network to censor anything that would pose a problem. How is it that the Rutgers remarks ever made it to the air?

-Imus’s agreement requires that before a firing can occur, CBS must provide a warning. According to his lawyer, Imus never received one.

CBS is likely to argue that the termination was allowed because the remarks in question would be those that the network believed “would not be in the public interest or may jeopardize [the network's] Federal license to operate…”

Still, Imus’s statements, although offensive, weren’t even the kind of legally profane material that would allow the FCC to levy a fine.

Paris Hilton’s Prison Reality Show

It looked like a Hollywood red carpet event outside the courthouse with cameras flashing and fans lined up to see the cable star.

Paris Hilton thought she could use the Debra LaFave defense. She believed that her prominent presence in the courtroom would make the judge realize that Hilton was far too beautiful to go to jail.

It worked for LaFave, but not for Hilton.

L.A. Judge Michael Sauer was unimpressed.

The judge sentenced Hilton to 45 days in the slammer for violating her probation. She was ordered to report to her new accommodations on June 5.

Hilton’s home for a potential month and a half is a cell in a Lynwood, California detention center for women. She will be clothed in an orange jumpsuit, confined to 12-by-8 foot space. When she wants to check herself out, she’ll have to use a mirror made of polished metal.

The incarcerated heiress won’t be eating any gourmet meals either. She’s get only one hot meal a day, with two other cold meals all poultry-based.

TV execs are buzzing with the possibilities of a “Paris in Prison” reality show.

But she still may escape the punishment.

After the appeal is filed, she may be allowed to remain free on bail. Or Hilton may follow the pattern of another celebrity. In 2006, then “Lost” actress Michelle Rodriguez started her 60-day jail sentence for violating probation after a drunk driving arrest in Hawaii. She was released in mere hours due to the overcrowding of the prisons.

Hilton’s mouthpiece, Renown celeb counsel Howard Weitzman, said he’d appeal.

His defense is her fame and the alleged two-tier justice it produces. “She’s been selectively targeted in my opinion to be prosecuted because of who she is,” Weitzman said.

But Hilton’s been pushing the envelope of public behavior for along time.

She presented a real danger to the public when she was driving in an intoxicated state and was put on probation instead of jail. The court gave her conditional mercy. When she ignored the conditions of her probation she chose jail for herself. She’s not being punished for being Paris, she’s being punished for committing a crime.

Will Alec Baldwin Show Up in Court?

Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were scheduled to be under the same roof today for the first time since Baldwin’s voicemail to his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland was leaked and reported everywhere.

The two stars were to appear in court in L.A. for a hearing on the concerning the contact with their daughter.

Rumor is Alec does not intend to show up. The judge will be peeved, and could take it out on Alec.

NBC’s Million Dollar Connection

Reporters covering the Anna Nicole Smith saga were jealous of NBC’s incredible scoop record.

The rest of the press came up short when it came to first dibs on the Larry Birkhead scuttlebutt and Dannielynn buzz.

Now we know why. As reported by the New York Post, NBC had a secret $1 million deal with Birkhead, the biological father of Smith’s 7-month-old baby,

NBC had struck a deal with Birkhead right after Smith’s funeral. The arrangements were made through the network’s entertainment division rather than its news division.

Stories always seemed to break first on NBC-owned shows like “Today” and “Access Hollywood.”

For example when Birkhead and his lawyer Debra Opri parted ways, “Access Hollywood” beat everyone to the punch with the news.

And when Birkhead was officially ruled the biological father of Smith’s baby, where did he go to announce it to the world? None other than the “Today” show.

Richard Gere Apologizes for Dip Slip

It all started when, in front of thousands of onlookers at an AIDS function in New Delhi, India, Richard Gere grabbed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and took her for a lip-lock and extreme dance dip.

The public reaction to Gere’s behavior was that of outrage.

The actor didn’t respond in the normal Hollywood fashion by issuing an apology, appearing with Dr. Phil and racing to rehab.

He did, however, after the public burning of effigies of him and issuance of an arrest warrant, decide that it was a good time for him to say he was sorry.

Gere issued a statement of “sincere apology” addressed to his “dear Indian friends.” But he also held out one of his film roles as an excuse.

He said that the way he kissed Shetty was influenced by his movie “Shall We Dance.”

“My clumsy attempt at a ‘Shall We Dance’ move was a naive misread of Indian customs and I assure you nothing more.”

I believe that instead of “Shall We Dance” Gere meant to say “American Gigolo.”

Two NBC Employees Land Seats on Phil Spector Jury

One of the jurors chosen for the Phil Spector murder trial is a “Dateline NBC” producer.

A second NBC employee, who is an electrician at the network’s Burbank studio, will serve on the jury as well.

The jury consists of nine men and three women. It also includes a senior vice president of marketing for New Line Cinema.

According to a written juror questionnaire, the producer-juror has covered the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson trials and has been researching Spector’s case for several months.

The “Dateline” producer also noted that he has met with Michael Baden, a forensics expert working for the defense, who is the husband of one of Spector’s lawyers, Linda Kenney Baden.

Because jurors are not allowed to discuss the case outside of court, the producer will not be able to turn his experiences into a “Dateline” special until after the trial is finished. However, in the meantime his experience will likely make him the leader of the jury and probable foreman.

During the selection process, jurors were asked if they believed celebrities in Los Angeles are treated differently by police; 6 jurors said yes, 5 said no and 1 had no opinion.