LOS ANGELES — Chaz Bono isn’t thinking about the controversy surrounding his casting on “Dancing With the Stars.” He says he’s been flooded with fan support and is focused on the cha-cha.
Bono is the show’s first transgender contestant, and some viewers and conservative media groups have responded with critical blog posts and calls for a boycott of the hit ABC show.
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But at a Wednesday rehearsal in Los Angeles, the 42-year-old author and activist said he hasn’t looked at the negative posts on the network’s website and has received loads of support from fans on Twitter.
Bono, who began learning dance moves last week, says the controversy “hasn’t taken any type of negative toll on me at all” and that he remains intent on perfecting the dance routine he’ll perform in front of millions of viewers when the show premieres later this month.
Madonna can’t dismiss noise complaint
NEW YORK – Madonna has lost a bid to get rid of a neighbor’s lawsuit claiming the superstar made a racket by using her New York City apartment as a rehearsal studio.
A judge turned down Madonna’s request to dismiss the suit, saying a trial is warranted. The star’s publicist and lawyer didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Karen George says Madonna’s dance and exercise routines subjected neighbors to “blaring music, stomping and shaking walls” for up to three hours a day. Madonna took steps to dampen the sound in 2009, but George says they didn’t work.
She sued Madonna and the building’s co-op board. They say the noise never topped legal levels.
Olympic gymnast flips, ‘pommels’ cab driver
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio – Olympic gymnastics champion Paul Hamm has been accused of hitting and kicking a taxi driver in suburban Columbus, damaging a cab window and refusing to pay a $23 fare.
The 28-year-old Hamm can be heard on an Upper Arlington police video telling an officer he’d had about eight drinks, WBNS-TV in Columbus reported. As Hamm sits handcuffed in the back of a cruiser, he asks officers to let him go and says, “I don’t understand. I’m gonna kill you guys.”
Hamm, who is working as an assistant coach at Ohio State while he trains for the London Olympics, is charged with assault and two other misdemeanors. He was charged Saturday and is free on bond awaiting a Sept. 15 arraignment, according to online court records.
No jail for Dior designer
PARIS – John Galliano’s drunken anti-Semitic ravings cost him his job at Paris luxury house Christian Dior and gave him a criminal record but didn’t land him in jail, a Paris court ruled Thursday.
The court found Galliano guilty on two counts of “public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity” — charges that carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison and fines of up to $28,000.
But the three-magistrate panel showed leniency, sentencing the legendary designer to a $8,400 suspended fine, which means it goes on Galliano’s criminal record but he does not have to pay it.
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