Archive for July, 2008

Created by freshpair.com, it’s been a guerrilla-style event held in Times Square for the past six years. But designers have finally caught on, and Diesel, Natori, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger and 2Xist underwear brands will have hotties strutting in their skivvies in a runway show at Espace on Aug. 5. “Lydia Hearst is hosting. Nick Adams [of “A Chorus Line”] will be walking in his underwear,” said our insider. “There will be 10 runway shows.”

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STARRING on Broadway is working for Aubrey O’Day. Her role as Amber Von Tussle in “Hairspray” has earned her a huge gay following that went nuts when she showed up as the surprise performer at Chelsea club Barracuda’s Tuesday night karaoke party and belted out show tunes for more than an hour. “She was amazing - everyone went crazy for her. It was packed - she pulled people up on stage to dance with her,” said one fan. Next Tuesday, Lydia Hearst will try singing at the club.

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Philip Morris International has pulled down billboards and posters promoting an Alicia Keys concert Thursday in Indonesia’s capital after the singer protested the cigarette company’s sponsorship.

The logo and slogans of A Mild cigarettes, produced by a Philip Morris affiliate, featured prominently in promotional materials for the concert.

The Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids anti-smoking organization initially drew Keys’ attention to the company’s association with the show.

In a letter released by her record company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, she said she had asked the company to stop the branding.

“I am an unyielding advocate for the well-being of children around the world and do not condone or endorse smoking,” she said.

Philip Morris International did not say whether it was demanding its money back, nor reveal how much it had paid to sponsor the event.

“Whether tobacco sponsorship of music events leads to youth smoking is a matter of serious debate,” the company said in a statement received Thursday. “Having considered the facts in this specific instance, we have decided to withdraw all branding associated with this concert.”

More than 30 percent of Indonesia’s 220 million people smoke, making it the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, Philip Morris USA and other major tobacco companies are prohibited from sponsorships of concerts, but there are no such regulations in Indonesia. The affiliate, HM Sampoerna, regularly sponsors sports events and pop concerts in Indonesia.

Philip Morris was not the sole sponsor of the concert, but the event is billed as an “A Mild Live Production,” suggesting it is a major backer.

With health campaigns taking a toll on cigarette sales in the West, tobacco companies are focusing marketing campaigns on developing countries like Indonesia, behind China, the United States, Russia and Japan.

An attorney for Britney Spears said Wednesday that he will not seek an extension for a restraining order against Osama “Sam” Lutfi, but that doesn’t mean the pop star wants her former sidekick back in her life.

“Britney has made clear to everyone that she does not want to be further harassed or contacted in any way by Osama ‘Sam’ Lutfi, now or at anytime in the future,” Spears’ attorney Samuel D. Ingham III said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Lutfi, for the time being, seems willing to go along with those wishes.

He called the AP late Wednesday and released the following statement: “Mr. Lutfi and Mr. Spears have mutually agreed in private that no hearing or order is necessary at this time.”

He declined further comment.

Attorneys for Spears and her father, James, are expected to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday morning to give an update on the conservatorship. A hearing on a temporary restraining order barring Lutfi from having contact with the pop singer was also scheduled for Thursday. The order issued earlier this year required Lutfi to stay 250 yards away from Spears or her homes.

Lutfi represented one of the strangest twists in Spears’ downward spiral earlier this year. The singer’s mother accused Lutfi - who described himself as a friend and sometime manager - in court papers of keeping Spears a hostage in her own home, drugging her and taking over her finances.

He was a fixture in Spears’ life during a period when the star exhibited erratic behavior, including being photographed without underwear, and occasionally looking dazed in public and had to twice be hospitalized.

Spears’ father has control over his 26-year-old daughter’s personal life and finances.

That power negates the need for a restraining order against Lutfi since James Spears’ role as conservator allows him to decide who sees his daughter, according to Ingham’s statement.

He serves as a court-appointed counsel representing Spears’ interest in the ongoing conservatorship case.

“During the temporary conservatorship, the conservators have the power to insure that Lutfi will not harm Britney anymore,” Ingham wrote.

Thursday’s hearing had originally been scheduled to decide whether the conservatorship should be made permanent, but Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Reva Goetz decided weeks ago that she would instead consider other issues.

It is unclear how long Spears’ affairs will remain under her father’s control, but Ingham wrote that he does not expect her feelings about Lutfi to change.

“If Mr. Lutfi makes any future attempt to contact Britney after the temporary conservatorship has concluded, Britney has made clear she will take all appropriate legal action,” Ingham wrote.

A New York lawsuit claims Ed McMahon owes lawyers more than $275,000 for handling his daughter’s divorce. The suit says the former “Tonight Show” sidekick and his wife hired Hartman & Craven and the Sarcone Law Firm to represent his daughter, Linda Schmerge. It was filed Wednesday in Manhattan, where she lives.

McMahon’s attorney did not return a a telephone message Wednesday.

McMahon revealed last month he was fighting foreclosure after falling $644,000 behind on mortgage payments on Beverly Hills, Calif., home. He also faces a lawsuit by Citibank, which says it’s trying to recoup nearly $200,000 it loaned him and his wife.

McMahon has sued a hospital, two doctors and a homeowner over a neck injury he says left him unable to work.

Shayne Dahl Lamas was in good spirits when she appeared at Lifetime’s How to Look Good Naked charity fashion event in Hollywood July 25 - less than 24 hours after she and her fiance, The Bachelor: London Calling’s Matt Grant, had announced their split in a joint statement.

“It’s about hitting the gym, baby! It’s about getting my mojo back!” Lamas tells Us Weekly in its latest issue, on newsstands now.

What went wrong between the English financier and the aspiring actress?

While Lamas reveled in the media attention, even posing for the cover of Girls Gone Wild magazine, Grant was reticent to continue a high-profile life, Us Weekly reports in its latest issue.

“I’m used to the Hollywood BS [her dad is actor Lorenzo Lamas], but it really got into Matt’s head,” Lamas tells Us.

“After he moved to L.A. and saw her constantly partying and clubbing, he realized that she wasn’t behaving like a woman who was ready to be in a serious relationship,” a source close to Grant reveals.

Check out the new issue of Us Weekly for the full scoop on Lamas and Grant’s breakup including the cheating rumors, plus details on Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas’ wedding gown and an update on Bryon Velvick and Mary Delgado.

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