He should just stay in his cell and forget the phone
Jailed rapper Shyne has had his telephone and interview privileges taken away while authorities investigate whether he broke prison rules on telephone use. Shyne (real name: Jamal Barrow) has been in great media demand since last week’s release of “Godfather Buried Alive,” partly recorded from prison via telephone.
MTV has aired a special about him, The New York Times conducted a phone interview, and he’s on the cover of the September issue of Vibe, wearing his dark-green prison uniform.
He has been behind bars since 2001 for a 1999 nightclub shooting that also involved his former mentor, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, who was acquitted, and Combs’ then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez.
Authorities at New York’s Dannemora correctional facility are investigating whether Barrow broke several state laws on prisoner telephone use, including calling cell phones, having calls transferred to another party and conducting business over the phone.
If he was doing music-related business over the phone, victims of his crime could sue for compensation.
She does have a lot at stake
Rapper Lil’ Kim, whose perjury trial is set for early next year, says the charges against her are a “witch hunt against the hip-hop industry.”
Prosecutors say she lied to a grand jury investigating a 2001 shooting allegedly involving members of her entourage. One man from a rival rap group was injured.
Her former manager and co-defendant, Damion Butler, has been indicted for allegedly shooting a weapon during the incident and is serving a prison term on unrelated weapons charges.
Lawyers who talk too much, on the next Oprah
Oprah Winfrey reported for jury duty in Chicago and was promptly picked to serve as a juror in a murder trial.
The TV talk host walked into the courthouse Monday through an alternate entrance to avoid crowds. She told reporters she didn’t think she’d be picked because she’s too opinionated, but said that if she were selected, “I’m just hoping it doesn’t take longer than a week because I’ve got shows to do.”
Crazy? No, just stalk raving mad
A woman accused of stalking and threatening Catherine Zeta-Jones is mentally fit to stand trial, a court-appointed psychiatrist has determined.
Dawnette Knight is being held on $1 million bail on one felony count of stalking and 24 felony counts of making criminal threats. Knight, who says she was obsessed with Zeta-Jones’ husband, Michael Douglas, wrote in letters that she would cut the actress up “like meat on a bone and feed her to the dogs.”
Guess all’s fair in vanity and war
Reese Witherspoon reportedly had to threaten Vanity Fair magazine with a lawsuit to get on the cover of September’s issue.
Witherspoon had long been scheduled for the cover thanks to her star turn in the new movie version of the 19th-century novel “Vanity Fair,” but magazine editors were said to be leaning toward Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps instead.
“But Reese’s people got involved and started sending letters and threatening legal action, so Vanity Fair went back to Reese,” a source told the New York Observer.
The birthday bunch
Actress Shelley Winters is 84. Movie director Roman Polanski is 71. Actor Robert Redford is 67. Actor-comedian Martin Mull is 61. Singer Nona Hendryx is 59. Actor Patrick Swayze is 52. Comedian-actor Denis Leary is 47. Actress Madeleine Stowe is 46. Actor Craig Bierko (“Sex and the City,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight”) is 39. Musician Everlast is 35. Actor Christian Slater is 35. Actor Edward Norton is 35. Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner is 34. Actress Parker McKenna Posey (“My Wife and Kids”) is 9.