Rumors and/or Gossip

WaPo’s “UNreliable Source just keeps getting worse and worse. Just look at this latest piece of celebrity news. There are three stories and not one of them relates to Washington, D.C. We have a story about Will Smith slapping a reporter….  IN THE UKRAINE. We have a story about Lady Gaga pissing off her fans….  IN THAILAND. We have a story about  Sharon Stone fighting her former nanny in court….  IN LOS ANGELES. Couldn’t they at least make an attempt to tie it back to D.C. in SOME way? Most of these stories don’t even take place on this continent. It’s just unapologetically writing Hollywood gossip that has no reason being in section.

The UNreliable Source  is here to give you all the news that you hadn’t even realized that you didn’t care about.

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Somehow Robert Draper, contributor for NYT Magazine, GQ and National Geographic, has wound up on John Edwards‘ witness list. Unfortunately for Edwards, Draper is a little too far away to help. Draper has publicly discussed ghost writing for Edwards and his experiences with Elizabeth Edwards. “It’s fair to say they are a problematic couple,” he said in 2010. He also said he was overwhelmed by John Edwards’ superficiality. Watch an unflattering interview he gave on Edwards here.

To Edwards defense team: not sure why I’m on your witness list, but I’m in Libya all month anyway, carry on

— Robert Draper (@DraperRobert) May 16, 2012

CNN is trying to lure ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper away from ABC. FishbowlDC has learned that Executive V.P. and Managing Editor for CNN Worldwide Mark Whitaker and CNN Senior V.P. Amy Entelis have been making serious overtures to Tapper and his reps. We hear the network is trying their best to figure out a “game changer” and have their eyes on Tapper.

Entelis obviously has a strong tie to ABC — she was a 30-year network veteran who was V.P. of talent and strategy. She left ABC in January. Tapper is presently under contract with ABC. CNN is also trying to recruit ABC News Correspondent John Berman to do news on a morning show.

Tapper is legally bound to ABC until his contract runs out, but it is not unusual for other networks to begin the poaching process well before future contractual decisions are locked into place.

Industry sources say the collective wisdom is that Tapper is waiting patiently in the wings to one day host of “This Week.” We’ve requested comment from both CNN and ABC.

 

If the tone of TMZ’s story is dead on, actor George Clooney, who’s quickly becoming a who’s who in Washington political circles, is turning his home into Fort Knox for a fundraiser he’s hosting tonight for President Obama.

In a story that published early this morning, they write that Clooney will be using multiple forms of security: “George Clooney’s L.A. home is getting the Fort Knox treatment for his big Obama fundraiser tonight — because TMZ has learned, security’s so tight … even the back-up has back-up.”

Funniest lines: “Oh yeah, there’s also ‘air support’ — whatever that means.” And this one: “Bottom line — crash another party.” [Insert stale Salahi joke here.]

Read here.

 

“These are my favorite shoes for summer!” writes comedian Ali Wentworth, wife of ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, host of “This Week.”

Tretorns aren’t exactly upscale Washington cocktail circuit shoes, but seeing how the political couple is still straddling New York and Washington, maybe they’ll work for the ride.

A Vespa doesn’t exactly scream tough guy manliness quite like a Harley or a Monster Truck, but The Daily Caller‘s Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson (a.k.a. Tucker Giuseppi Carlson in certain circles) appears to be comfortable in his masculinity. So much so, that these days he has been spotted repeatedly riding around Washington on his wife’s muted fruit colored Vespa. Carlson simply refers to it as “brown.”

We’ve gotten so many tipoffs on this that it’s bordering on ridiculous. Every time Carlson takes to the Vespa, our inbox and phone lines get clogged. On Saturday two screaming, laughing women from the Haddad/Rosen garden brunch in Georgetown phone me seconds after the conclusion of the party as Carlson had apparently caused a stir by zipping away from the residence on the Vespa.

“Somebody tattled on my scooter again?” he replied when informed of all the tipsters that have called us. “My god. It is shameful, I’ll admit. On the other hand, I beat a traffic jam by riding a full mile on the sidewalk this morning. Try that in a Prius.”

A few tips we received:

• “He was spotted (and i am NOT making this up) the other day riding a VESPA!!!! With a helmet on!!!! On Capitol Hill!!! Like a girl!!!! Like the French Eurotrash wanna-be that he is at heart, apparently!” The tipster added, “The wrath of a manly God should be visited upon him and all his offspring! Once you put your loins on a Vespa, you ain’t ridin’ with the Hell’s Angels ever again.”

• @TuckerCarlson does Fox hit, then rides across town on his Harley. Well, maybe it wasn’t a Harley, but it was cooler than riding Metro.

Carlson, who appears to have no real shame about his Vespa riding, has previously ridden Harley motorcycles in his life. So why the turn toward a decidedly more feminine mode of transport? He explains how easy it now is to get anywhere in Washington (this is especially true when you occasionally opt to drive on the sidewalk). Instead of taking 40 minutes to get to Fox News studios on Capitol Hill from his office at Farragut North, it now takes him a mere 20.

We hear he has been dangerously skipping the helmet as of late, so we’d like to give him this vintage ivory brown leather Demi-jet for use as well as the fashion man bag.

Richard Kind. Heard of him?

Well, he’s not that kind. In fact, he behaved like kind of a d–k at a private dinner last night at Washington’s Ritz hotel to honor women in media like CBS’s Norah O’Donnell and MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. The event was also hosted by Elle Magazine, Lani Hay, president of Lanmark Technology and the Creative Coalition.

Early on, Kind, 55, though schlubby and pasty, seemed ordinary and sociable. He looked like someone you’ve seen on TV but can’t quite place him, which is how it is with the myriad of D-listers cropping up for this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night. Turns out he was on Spin City. He played the character of Paul Thomas Lassiter. He also had a reoccurring role on Scrubs, playing an annoying hypochondriac named Mr. Harvey Corman. George Clooney, another actor who will attend the WHCD this weekend, was the best man at his wedding in 1999.

As the evening progressed, Kind’s unkind personality emerged. He began spouting off against Utah and Mormons, not caring that there was a woman from Utah (and a Mormon) in his midst. A partygoer tried to gently nudge him to pipe down. “What am I supposed to do, not speak my mind?” he asked.

Well, yeah, for starters, that’s a fantastic idea. But then he moved his dickishness to the next level by pinching a woman’s derriere. He then looked at her and laughed. The woman didn’t see it coming. She asked another partygoer, “Who is that old guy?”

Said a different partygoer, “He wishes he was D-list. He’s like L-list. Loser.”

Apart from Kind, the evening was lovely and the other males in the Creative Coalition entourage behaved like complete gentleman. Tim Daly, an actor on Private Practice and longtime member of the Creative Coalition, is a known commodity during WHCD weekend. He sat and chatted with female guests. He didn’t pinch their asses. In fact, the women at our table couldn’t stop marveling over how nice and normal he is.

Kind may want to take some social cues.

 

 

GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) can now officially say they have something in common. No, Gingrich hasn’t taken up snapping intimate portraits of himself on his cell phone. But both have received oddball lucrative offers from dating websites.

During his time of duress, the site offered Weiner a deal to have his, ahem, weiner, be a spokesthing or, as they eloquently put it, a “talking head” for SugarSugar.com. They wanted to fork over $50,000 for the use of his schlong. Now Gingrich is also getting an offer. His is from the extramarital site AshleyMadison.com. Thanks to all his prior cheating, they see him as a business asset and want him to write a revealing book about his philandering called Under the Covers.

Following the news that a $4.5 million deficit has forced Newt to sell his most valuable asset (his donor list, not Callista’s bangs, get your mind out of the gutter), AshleyMadison.com founder Noel Biderman hopes to salvage Gingrich from financial ruin. Though the Canadian company is prohibited from making donations to the campaign, Biderman has pledged to help Newt get a much-needed cash flow.

The offer on the table: In an letter sent to Gingrich’s HQ Monday, Biderman offered Gingrich a $4.5 million sponsorship deal in which they would broker the exclusive rights to Newt’s personal story. Biderman calls Gingrich “that rare politician who exemplifies both passionate leadership and real life relatability. He is a great representation of the AshleyMadison.com brand and I’d be honored to help give Newt the final push that gets him into the White house.”

See the shocking offer after the jump…

Read more

There are so many examples of how Washington gossip is so vanilla. Oh the choices!

Have you been the victim of “frotteurism”? That’s the fetish, of sorts, where people rub their genitals against you in crowded public areas. If you have, DC Metro is looking out for you. Yeas and Nays posted the poster for their anti-groping campaign this week with the tagline “Rub against me and I’ll expose you.” Taken by itself, the slogan seems like an enticement, frankly. Maybe they should’ve gone with, “Rub your crotch against me and I’ll knee your balls into your throat.” But that’s just me.

The term “Celebrity Chef” doesn’t mean a damn thing anymore. Much like “supermodel” is applied to anyone who has their picture taken, “celebrity chef” is now applied to anyone short of the dude working the French fry machine an McDonald’s. So when Yeas and Nays posted a list of “Celeb chefs invited to W.H. Easter egg roll,” it wasn’t a surprise that it read like a “Who’s Who” list of people you really need to ask “Who?” about. As a bonus, this list includes a “celebrity fitness expert,” which means the guy tells fat people to run on camera. At best, weak.

 

American singer, actress and Nutrisystem celeb Marie Osmond will be the Honorary Chairwoman of Saturday April 14th’s Fashion For Paws Runway Show at the National Building Museum. The Washington Humane Society partnered with ABC 7-WJLA to welcome the star, who dropped 50 pounds on Nutrisystem, to the widely anticipated annual D.C. charity event.

Noteworthy: Our own Wendy Gordon of “Wendy Wednesday” often shows up this events and poses with the dogs. Sometimes the publicist even looks like she’s going to eat one.

More info, visit here.