LONDON – Former Beatle Paul McCartney said Thursday he will contact police over his ex-wife’s claim that the couple was spied upon by a British newspaper.

In comments to U.S. television journalists delivered from Cincinnati, Ohio, McCartney said that he will be in touch with law enforcement as soon as he finishes his summer tour.

Additional Photos

Goodwill ambassadors Paul McCartney and Heather Mills McCartney attend the 2005 Adopt-A-Minefield fifth annual gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. Associated Press file photo

Jerry Lewis

Amy Winehouse

“I will be talking to them about that,” McCartney told the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles, just hours before a perfomance.

“I don’t think it’s great. I do think it is a horrendous violation of privacy, and I do think it’s been going on a long time, and I do think more people than we know knew about it. But I think I should just listen and hear what the facts are before I comment,” he said.

McCartney is the latest celebrity to be dragged into Britain’s phone hacking scandal, which centers on allegations that journalists routinely eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police officers for tips and illegally obtained confidential information for stories.

Until recently, the scandal was largely limited to the British arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, but an allegation made Wednesday by McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills implicates the Trinity Mirror PLC group of newspapers and CNN celebrity interviewer Piers Morgan, who once edited the group’s flagship Daily Mirror tabloid.

Lewis won’t say why he’s leaving MD telethon

LAS VEGAS – Comedian Jerry Lewis and the Muscular Dystrophy Association aren’t saying why they’re fully parting ways after 45 years and raising more than $1 billion for the nonprofit through its annual telethon.

But the 85-year-old comedian told reporters last week that he plans to hold a news conference the day after this year’s telethon to talk about what he thinks is important.

The association announced Wednesday that Lewis was no longer its national chairman and he would not appear on the telethon this year. Candi Cazau, a Las Vegas-based publicist for Lewis, declined to comment Thursday, saying only that Lewis was traveling outside Nevada, his home state.

Amy Winehouse single due out in September

LONDON – Amy Winehouse’s family says the singer’s final recording will be released as a charity single next month.

Mitch Winehouse, the late singer’s father, said Thursday the proceeds from “Body and Soul” — a duet with Tony Bennett — will go to the newly established Amy Winehouse Foundation.

The two singers recorded the single at London’s Abbey Road Studios for Bennett’s forthcoming “Duets II” album.

The foundation is due to fund a range of projects focusing on young people. The family also hopes to establish a drug rehab center for addicted youths.

Winehouse, who had struggled for years with drug and alcohol addiction, was found dead at her London home on July 23.

O’Neal son appears in court

LOS ANGELES – The son of the late Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony heroin possession and will remain jailed until a hearing later this month.

Redmond O’Neal’s attorney Richard Pintal said he hopes to reach a deal with prosecutors that includes additional treatment for his client, who had a string of drug arrests in recent years.

O’Neal also pleaded not guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Police uncovered a 9mm handgun in a search of his apartment after his arrest Tuesday.

O’Neal’s father and his half sister, actress Tatum O’Neal, also attended Thursday’s hearing.

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