You may consider this new tattoo tribute to Michael Jackson a little late considering he passed away almost two years ago. But it’s for good reason. Da Brat was just released from prison after a 3-year stint and wanted to show her love for the icon by putting a full-body profile of him on her leg. Jermaine Dupri, who posted the pic of the fresh ink, commented on the tribute by writing, “BRAT JUST GOT THIS, SHE MAKING ME WANNA GO.” Guess Who! Whose Celebrity Kindergarten Class Photo Is This? Which Singer Thinks She’s “God’s Gift,” According To New Tattoo? [PHOTO]
Ke$ha is a lil freak: Ke lived up to her risqué reputation at Tenjune Thursday morning. After performing at Roseland, the singer arrived at her after-party at the Meatpacking District club around 12:30 a.m. with friends and bandmates. After yelling, “Who is going to get laid tonight?!” over the PA, a source says Ke, drinking vodka mixed with Liquid Lightning energy drink, began “grinding” on a guy with “long, straight brown hair” in the VIP area. Without missing a step, our insider says she unbuttoned the dude’s pants and reached into the dark abyss. The two danced a few moments before, we hear, Ke switched partners. SplashNews / Source
Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris are not exactly your typical couple. Their June wedding will reflect their unorthodox nature accordingly. “The dress is not going to be white,” Harris says. “I love pink! So, the dress will be pink and Hef and I want the wedding to be a lot of different colors.” At least they’re on the same page , too. Plans are going smoothly! “It’s pretty great that we haven’t argued about anything yet,” the 24-year-old says. “Things that I feel strongly about, he’s okay with, and things that he feels strongly about, I’m okay with doing things his way, so it works out.” The Playboy founder, 84, is in charge of the cake (strawberry) and music. “Hef’s friend Ray Anthony, he has a band,” Harris says, “so we’re going to have a big band and then we’re going to have a deejay at the end of the evening.” Hefner’s brother Keith, 82, will serve as his best man, with Hefner’s two youngest sons, twins Marston and Cooper, 20, serving as groomsmen. Pretty cool. What won’t be involved? A prenup . Or Jordan McGraw , we’re guessing.
How nice, and rare, to see celebrity scandals end well for a change. Turns out Christina Aguilera’s boyfriend Matt Rutler was NOT too drunk to drive after all. Rutler got popped for DUI back in March, but citing insufficient evidence to prosecute, the L.A. District Attorney determined he won’t be charged with a crime. That’s because his blood alcohol content was ultimately determined to be .06, or under California’s legal limit to operate a vehicle, .08. So why was he busted? Matt has even more to smile about now that he’s in the clear! Aguilera, a passenger in the car at the time, was busted for public drunkenness when officers determined she was too plowed to take care of herself . Matt Rutler was likely arrested on suspicion of DUI by association. Hours after the arrest, officials decided they would not pursue any charges against the singer. Now they’ve exonerated her man, as well. Good for them. Well, except for the whole downward spiral thing.
Paul McDonald, 26, is also pumped because, he says, he really wanted to play the piano and show off his other talents. “I have this other side that I didn#39;t even start to show,” he says. “I play keys. It#39;s hard to do in a minute and a half of a cover song so I#39;m looking forward to doing my own thing and getting creative again.” Fans of Paul McDonald may be upset that the singer was booted off American Idol on Thursday#39;s elimination but actress Nikki Reed – whom he says he is “offic
The latest installment of Wes Craven’s slasher-flick franchise ‘just might be the bloodiest of them all,’ writes to one reviewer. By Eric Ditzian Neve Campbell in “Scream 4” Photo: Weinstein Co. If the critics are to be believed, “Scream 4” comes closer to recapturing the horror franchise’s bloody and ironic glory than anything else we’ve seen in nearly 15 years. Unlike the first two films (the original in 1996, the second in 1997), overall reactions to 2000’s “Scream 3” were neatly summed up by one Entertainment Weekly reviewer who said that “the only thing the movie kills with any decisiveness is your time.” By contrast, the critics have been relatively kind to “Scream 4,” often praising its twisty plot and welcome humor, though occasionally lamenting over its tired premise. For those critiques and more, read on for what the pros are saying about the new Wes Craven film. The Story “[T]he story premise is neat: Having published a self-help book about how she has, as Oprah might say, moved on after outwitting every previous Ghostface who ever lunged her way, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, looking uncommonly lovely) returns to promote her tome in her hometown of Woodsboro. Old Screamers Dewey-the-cop (David Arquette) and Gale-the-journalist (Courteney Cox), now married, are there to greet her. So is Sidney’s teenage niece, Jill (Emma Roberts). And so, conveniently, is Jill’s collection of glossy friends and classmates, each ripe for slaughter, or at least struggle, now that Sidney’s back in town. Among the potential targets, Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin stand out as a snarky party girl and an avid movie geek. In her own corner of the frame, Alison Brie (‘Community,’ ‘Mad Men’) happily goes for the jugular as Sidney’s aggressive young book publicist.” — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly The Scares “Craven made sure he continued to keep the franchise R-rated. ‘Scream 4’ just might be the bloodiest of them all. There are rooms covered in blood, intestines spilled out onto beds, knives being driven into people’s foreheads (this is so crazy amazing I can’t even begin to tell you), and much, much more. The film earns its stripes and the moniker of a ‘slasher’ film.” — Brad Miska, Blooding Disgusting The Pace “Individual scenes have passing energy and jokiness, even if nearly all of the latter is highly insular in the way it self-consciously references horror genre tropes and the series’ own history. But the narrative doesn’t build the way it should in a good suspense film; just as it seems that the climax has arrived in a big Stab-A-Thon night at which dozens of horror geeks have congregated to watch the series while Ghostface is on a new tear through town, the film downshifts as it prepares to string out the last series of murders as long as it can before the final revelations (not bad) about who’s behind the mask this time and why.” — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter The Comparison “Like its predecessors, ‘Scream 4’ replaces the values of storytelling and suspense with the value of being in on the joke. Unfortunately, in the 11 years since ‘Scream 3,’ the joke has gotten pretty old … [T]he central conceit of the characters’ fates being determined by the ‘rules’ of horror movies feels irredeemably tired; a clever idea that was worth one movie. When a character comments on how meta everything is, the audience laughs, but why? Only because it’s been conditioned to, just as it’s been conditioned to think that the intellectual window dressing makes the ‘Scream’ movies something more than slasher films.” — Mike Hale, The New York Times The Final Word “Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson let us believe that [the killer] might be anybody (though, according to the rules of horror movies, obviously it isn’t the person you think it might be). But you don’t watch ‘Scream 4’ to solve a mystery, or to identify with believable characters or situations (just one example: there’s a scene set in a hospital that apparently has no medical personnel); you’ll watch it to see a horror movie that has a sense of humor about itself. For ‘Scream’ franchise fans, or for those who like their horror not too horrific, that’s enough.” — Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times Are you planning to see “Scream 4” in the theaters? Let us know in the comments. Check out everything we’ve got on “Scream 4.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Scream 4’ Related Photos Scream 4 Scream 4: Red Carpet Arrivals
Singer tells MTV News about gay fan inspired by her song ‘Animal.’ By Gil Kaufman Ke$ha Photo: MTV News Ke$ha knows all about the perks of being a headliner. On her Get $leazy Tour , the singer gets to call all the shots, blast her fans in the face with tons of glitter and handpick which dudes she wants to party and share the stage with. But it’s not all backstage shenanigans and groupie love. When MTV News sat down with the “Blow” singer in New York earlier this week before her gig at Roseland Ballroom, Ke$ha said that amid the nightly onstage parties there have also been some poignant moments on her first headlining outing. “Best moment? There are so many. Every night’s amazing. I have kids outside right now chanting my name and it’s awesome,” she said of the first leg of the tour. “There was one night a fan came onstage, I invited him onstage, and he had a tattoo of the dollar sign. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s awesome! Badass. You’re part of the cult, man.’ ” And then, she said, he began to cry and explained that he was able to come out of the closet to his friends and family thanks to her song “Animal.” “And I’m standing onstage about to sing a song about growing back a pair of testicles [“Grow a Pear”] and I had tears rolling down my face and chills all over my body,” she said. “Because that’s really the reason I do music, to inspire people to be themselves.” Ke$ha has been a vocal supporter of the “It Gets Better” video project , which aims to help gay, bisexual and transgender youth find hope in the face of teasing and bullying. The “Get $leazy” juggernaut continues on Saturday night with a show at Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Are you planning to see Ke$ha on her Get $leazy Tour? Tell us in the comments. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Ke$ha Related Artists Ke$ha
Watch ‘Idol Party Live’ for more on why we’re giving Lauren Alaina high marks this week. By Eric Ditzian Lauren Alaina Photo: FOX The question heading into Wednesday’s “American Idol” was no longer why Pia Toscano was booted off so prematurely, but whether the judges would learn a much-needed lesson from her departure. Would Randy, Jennifer and Steven realize their jobs are to dole out expert critiques and sagacious notes, shaping public opinion and letting contestants know what’s working and what needs overhauling? Any hope the judges had recalibrated their critical approach was pretty much lost when J.Lo announced, after a competent but hardly revelatory tune from Scotty McCreery, “Everybody wants us to be tough with you guys, but the truth is y’all are so damn good. All I really want to say is wow.” And our last bit of optimism was flushed away as Lopez, during her review of Haley Reinhart, essentially exposed herself as a judge who will place sentiment (in this case, mealy-mouthed girl-power favoritism) ahead of objective reality. In past seasons, even when Simon Cowell would confess to personally liking an “Idol” hopeful, he’d still have no problem laying down some hard truths. No wonder, as Ryan Seacrest put it last night, this season is clouded by an “insane level of uncertainty.” But there’s nothing ambiguous about our “Idol” report card. The fact is, Wednesday’s night show — theme: songs of the cinema — wasn’t much to behold. No one bombed, but no one blew us away either. If the judges won’t lay down some truth, we will. Excellent Lauren Alaina : We’re not sure what Miley Cyrus did to earn Jimmy Iovine’s enmity, but the guy seemed almost as concerned with ripping the Disney starlet as he was with anointing Lauren as a superstar. In any event, saying Lauren is better than Miley is kind of a backhanded compliment, no? During “The Climb,” she struggled with some pitch problems but showed off an emotive voice and been-doing-this-all-my-life comfort level on stage. One question though: What happened to the country-infused Lauren we’ve come to know? We dig the ballads, but we want that light Southern twang back in the mix. In the end, Lauren lands a top grade, not because her performance was astonishing but because a) she was a pleasure to listen to, and b) there’s no way James Durbin gets an “excellent” just because he shared the stage with shred-master Zakk Wylde. Good Scotty McCreery : Let’s put aside the laughable thesis that Scotty was returning to his country roots on Wednesday, because he’s showed next to no genre growth all season. That’s not meant as a knock. In fact, he presents quite an interesting “Idol” model: the fully formed artist who does one thing so well, there’s little reason to test uncharted artistic waters. And hey, during his George Strait tune, Scotty let his vocals stretch further than they have on the show, even holding one note long enough for us to think, “Geez, he’s actually holding a note.” James Durbin : We knew this was coming . James couldn’t be expected to go all sensitive-rocker for a second consecutive week, even though we continue to argue that’s when he’s at his best. Alas, his heavy metal take on Sammy Hager left us feeling much as we did during his cover of Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” a few weeks ago: tons of fun to watch, but useless as an example of vocal expertise — something he has hardly established he possesses. Haley getting beat up for not giving her vocals an opportunity to sparkle while James didn’t is a deep injustice, a sign that some singers continue to get free passes while others can’t catch a break. Satisfactory Paul McDonald : We knew we should worry as soon as Paul showed up onstage without a guitar and was free to wobble around like that spinning top from “Inception.” It never works out well, does it? Paul’s energy was high and his ability to pump up a crowd remained intact, but we just didn’t get a very good chance to assess Paul the singer, rather than Paul the showman. We fear he’ll end up in the bottom three this week; we hope he doesn’t get sent home. Haley Reinhart : Haley! Haley! Why? Why Blondie’s “Call Me” and why that arrangement? Listen, we actually enjoyed it. Or maybe we just enjoy her. But the judges were correct that the song didn’t allow Haley to showcase her vocals — those great soulful growls. Any momentum she had accrued over the last few weeks likely fizzled away, perhaps not because her performance was worse than anyone else’s (it wasn’t, not by a long shot), but because she doesn’t seem to have worked her way into a permanent, do-no-wrong place in the judges’ hearts. How can she possibly be the only contestant to get slammed, when no one else gets so much as had an unkind word tossed his or her way? We can only hope voters see through the judges’ transparent cheerleading for everyone and bullying of Haley and give her enough support to rediscover her artistic sweet spot. Stefano Langone : This one’s tricky. Was Stefano’s take on Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” his finest performance on the season — a notch above his surprising showstopper last month of Simply Red’s “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”? That’s up for debate. What is clear is Stefano showed more vocal and emotional abandon on Wednesday night than he has since coming on the show. Yet it’s also clear he generally doesn’t possess a particularly powerful instrument. The judges did their best to make Haley into this week’s fall gal, but there’s no doubting who is the more compelling artist between the two. Hint: It ain’t Stefano. Casey Abrams : Did we fall asleep and miss five weeks of this competition? Since when did Casey remake his artistic identity into some pop-jazz fusion of Adele and Michael Bubl
“I think he planned the whole thing: Right after he died, I wrote ‘Born This Way,’” the singer explains in the May issue of Harper’s Bazaar. “I think he’s up in heaven with fashion strings in his hands, marionetting away, planning this whole thing.” Alexander McQueen’s untimely death last year shocked the fashion world, and while Lady Gaga mourned alongside the designers and artists he touched, she believes his passing came with a purpose. In fact, in a twist of fate, Gaga’s record label mo
On American Idol , Jennifer Lopez is rarely left being speechless. When she was crowned No. 1 on People magazine’s Most Beautiful List of 2011, however, that was an occasion that left the singer at a loss for words. “I feel not worthy, you know?” the 41-year-old said of taking the top spot on the popular magazine’s annual issue, which hits newsstands on Friday. Jennifer, when not getting teary-eyed protecting Idol hopefuls, is the proud mother of twins Max and Emme, 3, and wife of Marc Anthony. “That’s when I’m my happiest,” said Lopez, who’s landed on the Most Beautiful list 11 other times, but only reached the #1 spot this year. Also making the list: Zac Efron, Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Hudson, Body of Proof star Dana Delany, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds and more. That’s some stiff competition. Think Lopez deserves the crown? What do you think? Was J. Lo a good choice by People?
