Jack White performing at KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on Dec. 9, 2012.Katy Winn/The Associated Press
SO SORRY
If it really does take a big man to admit when he's made a mistake, Jack White is walking tall today.
The ex-White Stripes frontman has issued an effusive apology for comments he made in the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
In the interview, White refers disparagingly to his former wife and bandmate Meg White as a "hermit" and again takes credit for the success of the quirky rock duo The Black Keys.
On Sunday, White took to his personal website to post a lengthy apology and explanation titled, appropriately enough, "An Apology and Explanation from Jack White."
In White's own words: "I felt in a way forced into talking about very private opinions of mine that are very much in the realm of 'behind the curtain' show business conversations, and things that I do with my own family and friends."
In his rambling mea culpa, White refers to private letters made public last year by second wife Karen Elson (who used them to obtain a restraining order against the rocker) in which he appeared to criticize Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.
"These are things I never talked about publicly," writes White, "but through the actions of lawyers trying to villainize me in a private legal scenario, my private letters were made public for reasons I still don't understand."
In the same apology, White also refutes his own claim that The Black Keys rode their way to indie-artist success on the coattails of the White Stripes, which officially disbanded in 2011.
"I wish the band the Black Keys all the success that they can get," said White. "Lord knows that I can tell you myself how hard it is to get people to pay attention to two piece band with a plastic guitar, so any attention that the Black Keys can get in this world I wish it for them…"
In the Rolling Stone article, White also speaks dismissively of the late Amy Winehouse ("Did she invent white soul? Wearing a beehive? No."), Adele ("Adele selling 20 million records? That would not have happened if Amy Winehouse was alive") and the popular U.K. vocalists Duffy and Lana Del Rey.
And of course each artist mentioned is promptly reconsidered in White's revisionist apology.
"I wish no slight to the talents of Winehouse, Duffy, Lana del Rey and Adele," White writes on his website. "All of whom are wonderful performers with amazing voices. I have their records and I hope for more success for them all as the years go by. They deserve all they've gotten."
But the biggest bouquet in the mewling missive is White's apology to his ex-wife and musical partner Meg White, whom he refers to as an emotionally-reserved "hermit" in the Rolling Stone article.
The way White sees things now:
"Meg White, who I also talked to Rolling Stone about our working conversations, or lack thereof, is of course a musician, I've personally championed for 15 years," he writes. "She is a strong female presence in rock and roll and I was not intending to slight her either, only to explain how hard it was for us to communicate with our very different personalities."
And the way White sees it, once the reports of friction between him and his former spouse and musical partner became public, the media turned a molehill into a mountain.
"This got blown out of proportion and made into headlines and somehow I looked like I was picking on her," he writes. "I would never do that to someone I love so dearly."
But you did, Jack. You really did.
NO REGRETS
Harry Hamlin could have been a movie contender, but playing a gay man knocked him off the big screen, he says. Currently a support player on Mad Men, the 62-year-old actor recently said that his movie career was building steadily in the early eighties with hits like Clash of the Titans when he decided to play a gay man in the 1982 feature Making Love. "It created a transition for me between feature film to television," said Hamlin, who went straight from Making Love to star in the TV drama L.A. Law. "That was the last feature I did. It is something that I would repeat and do again today."
Source: Hollywood.com
PASSING NOTES
Rocker Steven Tyler slipped a note under Miley Cyrus's hotel-room door, but nobody knows what was in the message. The Aerosmith frontman shared a video on Twitter last weekend showing him sneaking through the halls of a Helsinki hotel with a note addressed to the Wrecking Ball singer. When the note won't go under the door, Tyler sticks it into the keycard slot. Cyrus retweeted the video the same day, but so far there's no word on social media as to what the note said or whether Cyrus and Tyler met up.
Source: People
GETTING SPRUNG
Chris Brown is a free man. The Associated Press reports that the 25-year-old singer was released from Los Angeles County jail early Monday morning. Brown was sent to jail in March after he was kicked out of rehab for breaking the facility's rules. Brown was found in violation of his probation last spring after he got into a scuffle with a photographer in Washington, D.C. Following that incident, Brown was sentenced to a year in jail but received credit for previous time served.
Source: The Associated Press
CAT'S MEOW
Praise the Internet and pass the kitty treats: Keyboard Cat is back. The piano-playing feline, who first went viral with a 2007 video, is back in the limelight with his rendition of the 1966 hit 96 Tears, which was originally recorded by Question Mark and the Mysterians. The original Keyboard Cat has more than 35-million views on YouTube. Since being posted to YouTube a week ago, the new song has 1.4 million YouTube views and counting.
Source: Mashable
PIXIE CUT
Kaley Cuoco has Tinkerbell to thank for inspiring her sassy new hairstyle. On Sunday, The Big Bang Theory star posted a photo of her shorter look on Instagram with the caption, "Thank you @clsymonds for bringing out my inner Peter Pan." That same day, Cuoco followed up with an Instagram shot of her and new husband Ryan Sweeting at a Bruno Mars and Pharrell Williams concert at the Hollywood Bowl, along with the caption, "Best night at the bowl!"
Source: People