Now he’s really breathing fired
Donald Trump is still steaming over Martha Stewart‘s claim that he sabotaged her ill-fated version of “The Apprentice.”
Stewart says in Newsweek magazine that she was supposed to have fired “Apprentice” founder Trump on the air, clearing the way for her show.
In a letter obtained by People magazine, The Donald tells Stewart her show was “a mistake for everybody – especially NBC.”
“Your performance was terrible in that the show lacked mood, temperament and just about everything a show needs for success,” he continued. “I knew it would fail as soon as I first saw it – and your low ratings bore me out.”
Then came the zinger: “Essentially, you made this firing up just as you made up your sell order of ImClone.” (She served five months behind bars after being convicted of lying about that stock sale.)
Replied Stewart: “The letter is so mean-spirited and reckless that I almost can’t believe my longtime friend Donald Trump wrote it.”
Rock off the hook?
Kid Rock has won a temporary court order preventing a California company from releasing an explicit sex video featuring him and former Creed singer Scott Stapp along with four women.
The rap-rocker’s lawyer says he doesn’t deny the authenticity of the tape, but that World Wide Red Light District plans to sell it without his permission.
Red Light previously made headlines in 2004 by distributing the infamous Paris Hilton sex video.
Petty-cash crime
A Paris appeals court has fined three photographers one euro each – the equivalent of $1.19 – for invasion of privacy by taking pictures of Princess Diana and boyfriend Dodi Fayed the night of their fatal 1997 car crash.
They also were ordered to pay for announcements of their conviction in three newspapers or magazines.
The photos of the couple emerging from the Ritz Hotel and of Fayed in the crashed car were confiscated by police and never published.
Back into the closet
Plaid shirts worn by ill-fated lovers Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback Mountain” fetched $101,100.51 on eBay in an auction to benefit a California children’s charity.
“They really are the ruby slippers of our time,” said the winning bidder, Tom Gregory, a longtime gay activist.
Gregory said he plans to keep the shirts “as they were, on the hanger, entwined,” adding: “I would never wear them, put them on, or separate them.”
The birthday bunch
Actor-director Peter Fonda is 66. Musician Johnny Winter is 62. Actress Patricia Richardson is 55. Actress Kristin Davis (“Sex and the City”) is 41. Actor Marc Price (“Family Ties”) is 38. Actress Dakota Fanning (“War of the Worlds”) is 12.