Demi Moore’s Twitter account part of suicide alert

CASSELBERRY, Fla. — Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening Friday when an 18-year-old man threatened to commit suicide.

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Demi Moore, pictured with husband Ashton Kutcher Thursday. Moore's Twitter account was linked to a chain of posts that led police to a man threatening to commit suicide. The Associated Press

Moore’s Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself in his front yard in Casselberry, north of Orlando. Moore – with more than 2.5 million followers – and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.

Vardalos’ eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. “I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him,” one message read.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said authorities received two calls around 2:30 a.m., one from California and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Both callers reported the suicide threat on Twitter. There was no record of the callers’ names, Lt. Sonia Pisano said.

Deputies went to a home and took the man to a hospital, Pisano said.

Calls to representatives for Moore and for Vardalos, who starred in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” went unanswered early Friday.

Moore’s Twitter account was involved in a similar case last April, when a California woman messaged that she was going to kill herself. San Jose police said they took a woman to a hospital for “psychiatric evaluation” after someone called about a tweet sent to Moore threatening suicide.

Lawyer for Lady Gaga disputes lawsuit

NEW YORK — Lady Gaga is firing back at a music producer who claims he launched her career and is suing her for $30.5 million.

Her lawyer said in a court filing made public Friday the agreement at the heart of the suit was “unlawful.”

Song writer and music producer Rob Fusari filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Manhattan against the Grammy Award-winning performer. He said his protege and former girlfriend, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, ditched him as her career soared.

The lawsuit said they co-wrote songs such as “Paparazzi” and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich.” Fusari also said he came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal.

According to the lawsuit, Lady Gaga and Fusari’s relationship turned romantic and then became a business partnership in May 2006, when they created a joint venture called Team Love Child LLC to promote her career. Fusari’s share was 20 percent.

But Lady Gaga lawyer Charles Ortner wrote in his response that the arrangement was “structured in such a way as to mask its true purpose – to provide to the defendants unlawful compensation for their services as unlicensed employment agents.”

Ortner wrote that Fusari and his company violated statutes that prohibited them from “acting as employment agents without a license and charging Lady Gaga an unlawful fee for their purported services.”

Fusari’s lawyer, Robert S. Meloni, called the claim “ludicrous” in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

“Rob was no more of an ‘agent’ for her than she is a Roman Catholic nun,” Meloni wrote.

Ellen awards scholarship to student in prom flap

JACKSON, Miss. — A lesbian high school student embroiled in a legal flap over her school’s prom policy has received a $30,000 scholarship on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Constance McMillen was speechless Friday when the talk show host pulled out an oversized check from the Web site Tonic.Com, a digital media company.

DeGeneres says she admires McMillen for challenging Itawamba County School District rules that would prevent her from escorting her girlfriend to the prom. The school district canceled the April 2 prom after McMillen’s request.

A hearing is scheduled Monday in federal court in Aberdeen on American Civil Liberties Union efforts to force the district to hold the prom.

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