This Nov. 5, 2013 photo released by Starpix shows Canadian singer Avril Lavigne at her album release party in New YorkKristina Bumphrey/The Associated Press
HANDS OFF
If you ever get to meet Avril Lavigne, keep your grubby hands to yourself. Brazilian fans of the Canadian pop star have drawn attention to her standoffish behaviour at a recent meet-and-greet in Rio de Janiero. According to reports, a handful of fans paid a whopping $800 Brazilian reais (about $430 Canadian) apiece to be photographed standing next to Lavigne at a recent event, but only if they agreed to keep their distance from the singer and not hug or touch her in any manner. Several of the fans immediately posted the pictures to social media, with each one showing Lavigne at arm's length from the person who paid for the photo op.
Source: Jezebel
TOO FAR
Cast regular Leslie Jones is catching heat for comments made on last weekend's Saturday Night Live. Appearing as an "image expert" on SNL's Weekend Update segment, the African-American comic congratulated 12 Years A Slave star Lupita Nyong'o for her recent Oscar win, but then took things into edgy territory. "Back in the slave days, I would have never been single," Jones told Update anchor Colin Jost. "I'm six feet tall and I'm strong, Colin. Strong! I mean, look at me, I'm a mandingo. … I'm just saying that back in the slave days, my love life would have been way better. Massah would have hooked me up with the best brotha on the plantation. … I would have been the No. 1 slave pick." Shortly after the broadcast, Ebony.com senior editor Jamilah Lemieux tweeted, "This Leslie Jones person is an embarrassment. I'm so appalled right now."
Source: BuzzFeed
CARD SHARK
Ben Affleck has been banned from playing blackjack at a Las Vegas casino. The Oscar-nominated actor has been officially forbidden after Hard Rock Casino security recently labelled him "too good" to play the game. Several sources say Affleck was counting cards, a gambling technique in which the player memorizes which cards have already been played in order to perfect his or her betting strategy. Although counting cards isn't illegal, casinos frown on the practice since it gives the edges to gamblers in the long run. Affleck was not banned from the entire Hard Rock facility, but is no longer allowed to play at the blackjack tables.
Source: ABC News
CAMERA SHY
Lorde says that a celebrity photographer is stalking her. The teen pop sensation went on Twitter on the weekend to post the name and picture of the lensman she claims is making her life miserable. Her tweet: "This man has been stalking me, photographing me and refusing me privacy. I am scared of him." Lorde identified her aggressor as Simon Runting, a New Zealand-born photographer who specializes in paparazzi photographs. Runting was denounced by Rihanna last year after he took pictures of her through her hotel-room window.
Source: Gawker
POLICE STORY
Get ready for the return of Axel Foley. Paramount Pictures has already set the opening date for the fourth movie in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, which is slated to land in theatres on March 25, 2016. Eddie Murphy will reprise his role of Foley, a Detroit cop long since relocated to the sunny climes of Los Angeles. The Paramount logline: "The ultimate 'fish-out-of-water' franchise takes Axel Foley, who has been living a cushy life as a Beverly Hills detective, back to the mean streets of Detroit during the coldest winter on record to navigate the new rules and old enemies in America's toughest city." Brett Ratner has been tapped to direct the new movie.
Source: Mashable
FUNNY FARM
The sixties TV sitcom Green Acres is headed for the big screen. The production company Hollywood Media Bridge has obtained rights to produce a feature film based on the series, which aired on CBS from 1965 to 1971 and starred Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as New Yorkers who decide to take up farming in the fictional backwater burg known as Hooterville. No stars or directors have signed on yet for the feature film.
Source: Deadline