MP3.com News Breakers: Hannah, Paris, Kanye, Timberlake, George, Kracker
Fans file lawsuit; Hilton cause a hoax; autopsy inconclusive; singer gets own golf tourney; George charged; Kracker regrets plea.
Fans sue over Hannah Montana tickets
Membership usually has its privileges. Not so for members of the fan club of Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus who were unable to get tickets to the star's concerts, one of the hottest tickets of the year.
A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Nashville on behalf of a New Jersey woman and anyone else who joined the Miley Cyrus Fan Club based on its promise that joining would make it easier to get concert tickets from the teen star's Web site.
The complaint alleges that the Disney star's fan club did not fulfill its promise to offer access to priority concert tickets in exchange for a $29.95 annual membership fee, leaving thousands who didn't get tickets out in the lurch.
Cyrus, 14, is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and star of the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana TV show. The tour is split into halves, with Cyrus performing songs from both Hannah Montana and her own solo album.
Hilton drunken elephant story a hoax
The best Internet hoaxes work because they are grounded in the possibility of truth. In the latest example, conservationists in India praised Paris Hilton for turning her increasingly altruistic attention to the plight of drunken elephants in the country.
But the Associated Press was forced this week to issue a correction on the story after Hilton's publicist said the celebutante hadn't made any comments about the subject.
"The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them," the 26-year-old socialite was quoted as saying by the World Entertainment News Network's Web site.
Following her stint in jail for an alcohol-related reckless driving case, Hilton has been trying to remake her image with charity efforts.
Kanye West's mom passes away
In the aftermath of the sudden death of Dr. Donda West, Kanye West's mother, an autopsy has proved inconclusive pending the results of toxicology tests, although the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said her death was likely the result of complications from surgery, according to CNN.
But much of the talk about West's death has centered on whether she ignored medical advice in seeking out the surgery, which is widely believed to have been tummy tuck and breast-reduction operation.
According to multiple reports, Donda West first consulted with Beverly Hills, California, plastic surgeon Dr. Andre Aboolian, who reportedly refused to perform the procedure on Dr. West without medical clearance about concerns that she was at risk for a heart attack.
Another surgeon, Dr. Jan Adams has subsequently told TMZ.com that he performed the surgery, and several reports have focused on whether Adams' medical license should be revoked or suspended following revelations of multiple malpractice lawsuits and two DUI-related incidents.
Timberlake gets his own golf tourney
Looking to join the likes of heavyweights Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Glen Campbell, Justin Timberlake is getting his own golf tournament. The 26-year-old singer will host the PGA Tour event in Las Vegas, which will be renamed the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The five-year agreement begins next year.
"We will make sure to make this event unique and memorable, and we will raise money for charity while participating in the greatest game ever played," Timberlake said in a statement. "Raising money to better children's lives while playing golf? I can't think of a better way to pass the time."
Boy George charged with false imprisonment
The slow crawl of the wheels of justice is apparently not limited to the US. Boy George was charged this week with the false imprisonment of a 28-year-old man in an April 2007 incident in which the former Culture Club frontman and another man allegedly chained a gay escort to a wall as a sex slave.
A Norwegian man told The Sun that he met George on Gaydar.com and went to his East London apartment, but only to pose for photographs. The men then allegedly chained him to a hook on a wall and produced whips and sex toys, saying, "Now you'll get what you deserve."
The 47-year-old George--real name George O'Dowd--is set to appear in court November 22 to face the charge. George was ordered to perform community service last year in New York City on a cocaine charge.
Uncle Kracker regrets plea
Faced with the choice of fighting a sexual assault allegation with a lengthy and expensive trial or pleading guilty to a lesser charge, Uncle Kracker chose the latter. But that doesn't mean he's happy about it. The 33-year-old singer and former DJ for Kid Rock told The Detroit News that he didn't sexually assault a woman in a North Carolina nightclub in August and that he pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor assault charge to move on from the incident.
Kracker--real name Matthew Shafer--said that he did strike the 26-year-old woman after she hit him at a postconcert party in Raleigh, but that he did not, as the woman alleged, put his hand up the woman's skirt.
Shafer was sentenced to 12 months' probation and a $1,500 fine. "There was no sexual anything involved," Shafer told the News. "Assault is a far cry from sexual battery. You can either wait a year, spend 150 grand, go to trial, make more of a debacle out of it, or you can get it over with."
