‘We were shocked to see this,’ read the Jacksons’ message; Durbin tweeted an apology on Thursday.
By Gil Kaufman

James Durbin performs on “American Idol” on Wednesday
Photo: Michael Becker/ Fox

Some people might argue that it’s patently unfair to take rank amateurs, put them on the biggest show on TV and then expose them to potential worldwide ridicule every week. Because it’s one thing to tune in to “American Idol” from your living room or play shows at the local wings joint, it’s another thing entirely when you get up on that stage and open your mouth with tens of millions watching and listening.

James Durbin learned this lesson the hard way this week when he made what he thought was an innocent crack about not setting himself on fire during his pyro-tastic cover of Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” on Wednesday night.

Asked by host Ryan Seacrest if he was worried about dancing around among the flames shooting up from the piano onstage, Durbin joked, “I have a lot of hairspray in my hair to keep it from jumping around — so much so, the one thing I was worried about was having a ‘Pepsi moment.’ ”

The seemingly innocent crack was a reference to the 1984 on-set accident in which late pop icon Michael Jackson was badly burned during the shooting of a Pepsi commercial by some wayward pyro effects. The serious burns he suffered in the incident allegedly led to his longtime addiction to pain medication and prescription drugs.

The Jackson family was not amused by the quip and sent a statement to TMZ on Thursday.

“We were shocked to see this. It’s nothing to make light of and everybody should be focusing on who was responsible for Michael’s death,” read the statement. Family patriarch Joseph Jackson also was reportedly miffed that “Idol” producers did not cut the comment from the West Coast feed of the show.

Durbin defended his slip-up in a tweet, which has since been scrubbed from the singer’s official “Idol” Twitter feed, that explained, “For anyone talkin … I said pepsi NOT MJ! I have no disrespect for Michael. I grew up singing his art. I guess youll take it how you want it.” He later added, “Talkin about MJs passing is too soon. Making a reference to an incident 25 years ago..not too soon. The stab was at pepsi people.”

It’s worth noting that Pepsi’s bitter rival, Coca-Cola, is the main “Idol” sponsor, a fact that Seacrest reminded Durbin of in an awkward moment after the comment on the show.

What did you think of James Durbin’s “Pepsi” quip? Tell us in the comments.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1661097/jackson-family-james-durbin-american-idol.jhtml

Camilla Belle Carla Campbell

Black carpet co-host Gomez was interviewing boyfriend Justin on Sunday.
By Kara Warner

Justin Bieber plants a kiss on Selena Gomez on the 2011 VMA black carpet
Photo: FilmMagic

Although MTV News’ Sway Calloway has enough interview experience to get the goods from the biggest and brightest stars, our special VMA Pre-Show co-host Selena Gomez proved to be just as skilled as our season pro when her interview subject was boyfriend Justin Bieber

“I’m here with the one-and-only Justin Bieber,” Gomez said when she introduced the singer with a smile. “Who are you wearing? Can you please talk about that?”

“I have my snake,” Bieber said, displaying a live pet reptile in his hand. “I have red pants and cheetah shoes.”

“What’s your snake’s name?” Gomez expertly followed up.

“My snake’s name is Johnson,” Bieber responded.

“You’re up for Best Male Video,” Gomez continued. “I wanna know — you’re up against Eminem and Bruno Mars — do you feel a little nervous at all?”

“You know, I’m just excited to be in the category with such amazing people,” Bieber said of his fellow nominees. “I’m just happy to be here.”

“Rumored to be performing is Jay-Z and Kanye [West], and I know you like them both,” Gomez continued, adding a bit of her Bieber expertise to the conversation. “Are you excited to see them perform?”

“Very excited,” Bieber said. “I heard that it was kind of a last minute thing, but I’m really excited.”

Gomez, again relying upon her insider Bieber knowledge, prodded Bieber further, asking if he was more excited for Jay-Z and Kanye West, or another of his favorites, Beyoncé.

“I’m excited to see Beyoncé too,” Bieber said with a grin.

“Good,” Gomez said, clearly pleased with their work. “Thank you so much. Thank you for hanging out, babe,” she said to Bieber, as the “Baby” singer leaned in to plant a sweet kiss on Gomez’s cheek.

The 28th annual MTV Video Music Awards are live now! Stick with MTV News for winners, photos, video and behind-the-scenes stories about everything going down. Visit VMA.MTV.com for the latest.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669835/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-kiss-vma-red-carpet.jhtml

Ali Campoverdi Ali Larter

Remember when I wrote this post about how my nephew Jack can sleep anywhere?

Well, here’s the latest:

Source: http://www.prettyinthecity.com/blog/2011/6/17/jack-my-narcoleptic-nephew-update.html

Giulianna Ramirez Grace Park

George Clooney would probably make for one kick-ass uncle, but sadly, he will no longer be the man from “U.N.C.L.E.”
The Oscar winning actor has long been attached to Steven Soderbergh’s adaptation of the 1960s spy drama, but Deadline reports that Clooney is now walking away from the project. It’s unclear exactly why he’s stepping aside, [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/08/30/george-clooney-steven-soderbergh-man-from-uncle/

Cinthia Moura Claudette Ortiz

Director Gary Ross leads MTV News through some of hot topics surrounding the highly anticipated adaptation.
By Eric Ditzian

Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games”
Photo: Lionsgate

If you thought our “Hunger Games” exclusives would end with the sneak peek Jennifer Lawrence introduced during Sunday’s VMAs, you are in for a pleasant surprise! MTV News teamed up with director Gary Ross in order to shed some insight into the teaser trailer and his vision for the highly anticipated film. And although Ross couldn’t reveal too much about his plans for Katniss and the Capitol, we were able to get him to answer a few burning questions:

What’s the Status of the Score?
“T-Bone [Burnett] and Danny [Elfman] haven’t really started working yet. We’ve all begun working together. We’ve all begun discussing music, pulling references, going through the initial process you go through. Music can actually affect the movie more than anything else. It establishes the tone. It literally can change the way you feel or perceive a movie. That’s a very long discussion that happens between me, T-Bone and Danny, and that’s already begun. Danny was out last week. T-Bone’s been out three times. We’ve begun this conversation of trying to understand what this is musically. But that’s not going to bear fruit for a while.”

How Did Jennifer Train for the Role of Katniss?
“It’s an intensely physical movie. Someone said Jen is in 110 percent of the movie, which is really true. She works every day, all day. It’s a very physically demanding thing that she’s doing. She did train really, really rigorously. She worked with an athletic trainer, someone who conditions athletes in Los Angeles. She had intense archery training. So she’s had a very rigorous athletic conditioning program.”

Watch an exclusive ‘Hunger Games’ sneak peek.

How Did You Create the ‘Girl on Fire’ Look?
“That’s a really good question. There are some things you don’t want to give away, and you wouldn’t want me to give it away. I think it’s going to be a fantastic moment in the movie. I could do that verbally, but it would wreck it for people. I’m going to resist the temptation to give a spoiler on my own movie.”

What Scenes Are the Most Important to Re-Create Faithfully?
“There are many iconic moments in the movie. There are many moments that the fans gravitate to and that are tremendously important to them. [Spoiler ahead!] Obviously the death of Rue is something that fans picks up, and how emotionally powerful that is, how important that is to the movie [to] not pull punches but that it also be handled that sensitively and emotionally and honor the emotion of it. That was just a beautiful scene. T-Bone wrote a beautiful lullaby for Prim’s lullaby that is eventually sung to Rue that is absolutely gorgeous. And Jen practiced and rehearsed that with T-Bone and sang it in that scene. That was a tremendously emotional scene for everyone to shoot and one that was tremendously important. I shot one yesterday, the moment before she goes into the games, and she’s in that launch chamber and the tense moment with Cinna before she has to leave. Obviously the Tribute parade when she becomes the Girl on Fire and the flames are trailing behind her. I think everybody thinks about the berry scene with her and Peeta at the end and the fact that they would rather give their lives than take one another’s lives, which I think is one of the most poignant and really powerful things in the book and something every fan gravitates to. Those are some of the moments, but they’re all tremendously important. Suzanne wrote a book full of dozens of those moments. That’s one of the reasons it’s so popular. My job is to do justice to all of it.”

Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.”

For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669999/hunger-games-burning-questions.jhtml

Brooke Burke Brooke Burns

Jordin Sparks is showing off a lot these days.  And we’re not complaining.  In the new pet-lover mag Life + Dog, 21-year-old Jordin is rocking the cover and pages with her pups, including little Minnie, and her mom…and her new uber fit bod.

Pics, plus Naomi Campbell‘s controversial cover, inside….

Vintage fly.  Ms. Sparks covers the pages of the September 2011 issue of the dog lover mag with her own pups and her mom Jodie.

On the songstress’ pup of choice

“I absolutely adore Labradors. They are the perfect dog. They are so smart and learn so fast! They’re not too big and not too small and I love that they love to swim because I do, too! But I have a Schnauzer-Bichon and a Schnauzer-Poodle mix and since they grew up with our lab they think they are too! Jumping in the pool, fetching—the whole nine.”
 

On becoming the official ambassador for Collars for a Cause

“It breaks my heart to see people wanting to best provide for their animal companion and not having the financial resources to do so.  Organizations like SNAP not only help these animal lovers by going out in their community and providing free and low-cost services, they also serve as a great example to other groups and cities of how we can all help each other help the animals.”

More pics:

Loves this!

In other not so airy and cheery news, Naomi Campbell posed for a dark and controversial cover for V Spain magazine:

She’s bound with rope and gagged and covered with yellow tape on the cover while rocking dominatrix inspired gear.  Apparently folks were in an uproar when the issue hit the newsstands.  But he supermodel, who is donning Louis Vuitton Fall 201 pieces, says it was all in the name of artistic expression.

The Sebastian Faena shoot is an homage to provocative Spanish film director, Pedro Almodovar, whose dark humor laces his many movies.
 

Some readers expressed discomfort looking at a black woman tied up and gagged.  But others, like 41-ear-old Na Na, say it’s all art.  The Daily Mail reports:

‘I only know Pedro socially. However, what I have always liked about Pedro is that his films perfectly combine passion, intelligence and style with a twist of humour – leaving his indelible mark on everything he does,’ she said.

‘I think that was the essence Sebastian [Faena] drew upon for our cover photo shoot.’

‘I’m sure some have wanted to "tie me up and tie me down" and perhaps others wanted to tape my mouth shut!’

‘I’m sure some have wanted to ‘tie me up and tie me down’ and perhaps others wanted to tape my mouth shut! But this is something I would only permit for this issue dedicated to Pedro [Almodovar] as he always does everything “tongue-in-cheek."’

The issue is dedicated to the filmmaker whose new movie, The Skin I Live, starring Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya, premiers next month.

Your thoughts?
 

Source: http://theybf.com/2011/08/30/magazine-fab-jordin-sparks-gets-fly-with-her-pups-for-life-dog-naomi-gets-bound-gagged-fo

Charlize Theron Chelsea Handler