The Popsquire Beat provides this week’s most entertaining collisions between pop culture and law.
1. CSI goes DIY!
CSI’s Gerald McCullouch defended himself as a thief tried to snatch his laptop on a NYC subway. While on the A train late at night, Gerald decided to take out his computer and edit a YouTube video. As the thief reached for the laptop, Gerald punched him, and the thief lunged forward with a knife only to be stopped by Gerald’s leather jacket. Seriously, the thief’s knife could not penetrate the jacket, and police quickly took the thief into custody. Next up for Gerald: his own line of ready-to-fight fashions!
2. John Landis and Michael Jackson have a dispute of a Legal Nature. Cue the Bad puns…
In the course of one week, Landis filed two lawsuits against MJ accusing him of being a Smooth Criminal. Landis alleges that (1) MJ isn’t paying Landis his portion of net profits from the Thriller video and (2) MJ is not permitted to sell the Broadway rights to the video without Landis’ permission. MJ likely wants Landis to Beat It, but Landis says these suits are not Off The Wall!
Upon returning to the USA next week, Popsquire may have to call the police on Tina Fey, because she’s threatening to perform illegal acts! Tina says her 30 Rock character “might accidentally roofie” Mad Men’s John Hamm because she’s so smitten with him during his three-episode arc, which starts next week. Enjoy this sneak peek!
Popsquire is traveling to Mexico today to visit his parents in a semi-remote fishing village outside of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Check out the temporary digs below, and cross your fingers that the internets work south of the border!
Joining pop culture icons such as Michael Jackson, Angeline Jolie, and Beyonce, First Lady Michelle Obama’s wax figure is expected to be on display in Madame Tussauds by March. Below is a sneak peek…
Ok, stop crying. She’s not quitting the show — just moving from her Hollywood Hills home to a security high rise building in Westwood. According to E! Online, pals like Brody Jenner and Stephanie Pratt recently showed up to LC’s mans for a farewell party.
Of course, Popsquire believes that the neighbors threw the real party. After all, they previously complained about illegal activity and likely instigated an investigation into whether Audrina’s guest house violated zoning ordinances.
Not used to so much plot development involving the ladies of The Hills? Then, click here and here to catch up. Remember, Popsquire always encourages the use of flashcards!
In his second lawsuit in a week, Landis now wants a Los Angeles court to stop Michael Jackson from selling the rights to turn the Thriller video into a Broadway musical. Landis claims that MJ was contractually obligated to get his permission before selling the rights to a third party.
MJ’s legal team should have been aware of this contract and reached out to Landis for permission. Of course, that assumes MJ told his legal team about it…or that he even knew about it himself. Considering that MJ thought the Prince of Bahrain simply gave him$7 million without any legal strings, it’s anyone’s guess!
DMX, whose 2008 interstate jail tour landed him in an Arizona jail, did not intend to commit identity fraud when he gave a false name to an AZ hospital and skipped out on the bill, says his former road manager.
Said manager, Mark ‘Po’ Dean, who accompanied DMX to the hospital and gave nurses the fake name, says: “I wanted him to just get the service immediately… Usually when you say an artist like DMX, everybody is so star-struck they not concentrating on what’s going on.”
Yeah, Po. Celebrities often give fake names to receive faster service.
This is both hilarious and possibly incriminating. Just because DMX may not have intended to break the law, this statement shows that he and DMX clearly intended to give a false name. It’s the intentional nature of giving the false name (and subsequently not paying the bill) that gives rise to identity fraud, not whether DMX understood it might get him into legal trouble.
In a court of law, evidence of prior bad acts often is considered inadmissible. In the blogosphere, however, such evidence provides comedic relief, especially at Britney Spears’ expense.
If you think this video is 5150 funny (and you will), then click here and vote for Poptracks’ blogging beast, Ryan Brockington, to join the cast of Logo’s Big Gay Sketch Comedy Show. Enjoy!
NBC decided not to air this sexy PETA ad during Sunday’s Superbowl. Popsquire loves it and doesn’t think it violates any FCC standards, given that the FCC typically has fined indecent broadcast programming only when it was so “pervasive as to amount to ’shock treatment’ for the audience.”
And, just for fun, check out Whoopi’s reinactment of the commercial on this morning’s episode of The View.
Like Popsquire always says, lawsuits are always about damages. And, so are Wednesdays! Tune in for a new episode of Glenn Close’s legal drama, Damages, tonight at 10 on FX.
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Paris goes googoo for GaGa! [
