Faces & Names: Cher tweets to defend Chaz on DWTS

Cher tweets to defend Chaz on DWTS

Cher is taking to Twitter to defend her son, Chaz Bono.

The superstar posted several tweets Wednesday defending his participation on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars.” Bono is the first transgender competitor on the hit ABC show.

Cher said her son, who was born female and underwent surgery to become a man, is being “viciously attacked” on blogs and message boards since the new cast was announced Monday.

“This is Still America right? It took guts 2 do it,” Cher wrote, adding that she supports him no matter what he chooses to do.

“Mothers don’t stop Getting angry with stupid bigots who (mess) with their children!” the 65-year-old singer wrote.

Gibson settles for $750,000

Mel Gibson will pay $750,000 to his ex-girlfriend and continue to provide housing and financial support for their young daughter to resolve a bitter legal fight that followed sexist, racist rants attributed to the actor.

The settlement disclosed Wednesday is intended to end the bickering and accusations that have permeated the case handled in mostly secret proceedings for more than a year, Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman said.

Gibson’s payments to Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva are dependent on a lasting truce.

As part of the agreement, their daughter will receive support equal to what the actor-director provides for his other seven children. The former couple will split custody of the girl, who turns 2 in late October.

As a result of the settlement, Grigorieva cannot pursue a civil case against the Oscar winner, and both sides were ordered not to speak or write about their relationship or allegations of domestic abuse.

Longtime local broadcasters to be honored

Two longtime pillars of the Duluth television news scene are going to be honored this month at the Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Gala.

Recently retired anchorman Dennis Anderson of WDIO-TV and General Manager Dave Jensch of KBJR-TV will receive Gold Circle and Silver Circle awards at the gala Sept. 24 at the Historic State Theater in downtown Minneapolis.

Anderson is being named to the Gold Circle for serving more than 50 years in the broadcasting industry. Anderson started his career in radio in 1961 while still in high school. He retired from WDIO this spring but recently announced that he would do once-a-week “Almanac North” newscasts on Duluth public television station WDSE.

Jensch is being named to the Silver Circle in recognition of his 25-plus years in the business. Jensch started as a general-assignment reporter and worked his way up to investigative reporter, producer, anchor, news director and now general manager.

Other honorees will be outdoors reporter Ron Schara of Minneapolis and reporter and anchor Ron Steele of KWWL-TV in Waterloo, Iowa.

O’Neill’s star in front of shoe store

Ed O’Neill’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is appropriately placed: in front of a DSW shoe store on Hollywood Boulevard.

O’Neill earned his fame playing shoe salesman Al Bundy on the long-running sitcom “Married With Children.”

The Emmy-nominated star of “Modern Family” received his sidewalk honor Tuesday in a ceremony featuring his two TV wives, Sofia Vergara from ABC’s “Modern” and Katey Sagal from “Married,” which aired on Fox.

O’Neill called the honor overwhelming and thanked fans, then quipped, “Just think, somewhere in this world a baby girl is being born and she is going to be my next wife.” Vergara is 26 years his junior, and Sagal 11.

The 65-year-old O’Neill attended Ohio University and Youngstown State. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers but cut in training camp. He taught social studies before his acting career.

Artest, Bono, Grace on new ‘DWTS’

The new cast of “Dancing With the Stars” has been revealed. Set to tango and quickstep with professional dance partners will be TV personalities Nancy Grace, Carson Kressley and Ricki Lake; basketball star Ron Artest; World Cup soccer player Hope Solo; reality stars Robert Kardashian, Kristin Cavallari and Chaz Bono; singer-actress Chynna Phillips; actors David Arquette and J.R. Martinez; and Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, who may be better known in the United States for being George Clooney’s ex-girlfriend.

Ryan O’Neal was set to join the cast, but his publicist said the actor had not yet fully recovered from recent knee-replacement surgery.

The new cast members will perform their first dance routines on the season premiere on Sept. 19.

Judge rejects Jackson doctor’s witnesses

To hear lawyers for Michael Jackson’s physician tell it, the pop star lived his last days in a state of physical and financial desperation. Hooked on Demerol and starved for sleep, he worried constantly about a comeback attempt that offered him one last chance to pay off his mountain of debt and reclaim a place in the music industry, the lawyers have said.

It’s a portrayal that attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray say is vital to understanding what led to Jackson’s death, but after a series of court rulings Monday, it is unlikely to be heard by jurors at the doctor’s upcoming involuntary manslaughter trial.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor excluded the testimony of more than a dozen defense witnesses.

The defense had hoped the testimony of these Jackson confidants and other insiders would convince a jury that the singer was so drug-addled and experiencing so much pressure to perform that he accidentally overdosed on an anesthetic.

But the judge said these witnesses, some of whose accounts of Jackson’s drug use went back two decades, would confuse jurors.

“Discussions of these subject matters are sufficiently convoluted, distracting and detracting as to substantially outweigh any probative value whatsoever,” Pastor said.

This is unusual, Jones cancels concert

“Sex Bomb” singer Tom Jones was recovering in a Monaco hospital Sunday, saying “severe dehydration” forced him to cancel a concert in the glamorous principality.

The longtime star, famed for his swivel-hipped appeal and soulful voice, apologized to his fans on his website and emphatically denied British press reports that he had suffered a heart scare that forced him to cancel his Monaco concert Saturday night.

“There are NO heart problems, as has been reported in the press,” the singer’s website stated.

Jones, a 71-year-old Welshman who burst to international fame in 1964 with “It’s Not Unusual” and other hits, blamed his illness on a long successful tour “where many of the shows were in locations that were in the throes of high summer heat.”

Saturday’s canceled show was to have been the finale of his 3-month “Praise & Blame” tour.

A spokesman for the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco told the Associated Press that Jones was admitted to the hospital Saturday night and was doing well Sunday. There was no word on when Jones would be released.

Carrey posts video love letter

Jim Carrey launched his new website with a bang.

The 49-year-old actor posted a video love letter to “The Help” star Emma Stone on www.jimcarreytrulife.com last week that many online deemed “creepy.” The one-minute, 53-second video shows Carrey speaking into a handheld camera and sincerely professing his love for the 22-year-old actress.

Carrey says Stone is “all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but smart, and kindhearted” and that “if I were a lot younger, I would marry you.” He goes on to say they would have “chubby little freckle-faced kids.”

The popular video crashed Carrey’s new site early Thursday. Carrey said on Twitter that the video “was a comedy routine.”

Stone has not responded publicly to the video.

Fleetwood Mac could tour, record again

Fleetwood Mac could be back on the road soon.

Lindsey Buckingham said the band is considering another tour and even recording a new album in the near future.

The guitarist, songwriter and producer says there have been “a lot of rumblings” about another Fleetwood Mac tour, but that nothing is on the books yet. Stevie Nicks also has hinted at future Fleetwood Mac concerts. The band reunited for an international tour in 2009.

Buckingham is set to begin a solo tour next month to support his sixth solo album, “Seeds We Sow,” which is set for release Sept. 6.

DAI director heading to Pennsylvania

The executive director of the Duluth Art Institute is leaving for a job at the University of Pennsylvania.

Samantha Gibb Roff will be director of development for the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She’s been with the Duluth Art Institute for nine years.

She said the position gives her the chance to be near family on the East Coast while advancing her career. But she’ll miss Duluth.

“I will miss this place — the great walking trails, the big lake, and the people I’ve grown close to — very much,” Gibb Roff said in a resignation announcement.

Christine King, president of the DAI’s board, wished Gibb Roff well.

“Samantha has done an excellent job moving the DAI forward giving our region an organization of which we can all be very proud,” King said.

Melissa Gilbert files for divorce

Court records show Melissa Gilbert has filed for divorce after 16 years of marriage to fellow actor Bruce Boxleitner.

The former “Little House on the Prairie” star cited irreconcilable differences in her divorce petition.

The filing states the couple separated in January, shortly after their 16th wedding anniversary.

Gilbert served two terms as president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, and Boxleitner has appeared in numerous movies and television series, including “Babylon 5” and both “Tron” films.

The couple has a 15-year-old son together.

Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls on “Little House,” is seeking joint custody of their son and no spousal support from Boxleitner.

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