Paula Abdul, who has been in tense negotiations with Fox for a new deal to stay with “American Idol,” wrote on Twitter tonight that she is leaving the show. Abdul wrote: “I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1 become an international phenomenon.” Abdul’s contract expired (Read more…)

Though the ratings for “American Idol” have been down a bit, that’s hardly Ryan Seacrest’s fault, which is probably why he was able to sign a three-year contract extension worth $45 million, making him the richest reality show host on the market. In the 2007 film “Knocked Up,” Seacrest (playing himself) goes on a rant about how many jobs he has. “I don’t understand the young talent in this town — I’ve got four jobs! Hell, I’m more famous than half the people we talk to anyway!” The guy actually undershoots his target: Between “Idol,” his on-air gig at E!, his two radio shows (the daily “On the Air With Ryan Seacrest” and the weekly “American Top 40″) and his production duties on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Bromance” and “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated,” his schedule is pretty well packed. But he’s certainly well compensated. And you know what? He probably deserves more. In this year’s “Celebrity 100″ (put together by Forbes), Seacrest came in at number 44, having made $38 million in the past twelve months. His regular gigs are augmented by red-carpet hosting events and ABC’s special on New Year’s Eve. But if rappers have taught us anything, it’s that diversification is the key to financial success. Seacrest has got that in spades as well, as he is under contract with both Coca-Cola (as part of his “Idol” gig) and Proctor & Gamble (cleverly, he endorses Crest). Seacrest’s old deal was reportedly worth $5 million a year, so assuming that he isn’t taking any pay cuts, he’ll yearly income will increase to at least $48 million. He also recently shared (via his Twitter) that he is working on another reality show project with Lindsay Lohan. That could bring in another $6 million, which would put him up over the $50 million mark. (As a sidebar: Do you think Brian Dunkleman reads these numbers and weeps silently to himself?) Seacrest takes a lot of heat — after all, he is paid tens of millions of dollars to do what seems like very little. But he’s basically carrying all of pop radio on his back and has a natural charisma that most people in the reality show universe. Seacrest will probably never eclipse Dick Clark as far as his contributions to music history are concerned (Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are great, but Clark helped bring Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker to the masses), but it’s hardly his fault that he was born thirty years too late. $15 million for Seacrest interviewing crazy people at “Idol” auditions? He’s earned it.

It seems Lindsay Lohan can’t even get her hair washed without having a puff on a cigarette. The red-haired actress sneaked in a quick smoke as she sat in an upmarket Beverly Hills salon yesterday. Of course, with her unusually long hair reaching down past her waist, Lindsay’s locks take longer to clean than the average girls. The 22-year-old was getting her hair washed and styled inside the Byron and Tracey Hair salon in Beverly Hills before a night out on the town. The state of California has had a statewide smoking ban since January 1995, which bans smoking in all enclosed workplaces and within 20 feet of such places. But this didn’t seem to bother Lindsay, who leant forward as she nonchalantly puffed on her cigarette. Throughout her appointment she texted away on her mobile phone, occasionally chatting with the hairdresser. Lindsay avoided bumping into any other customers with the late night visit, leaving the salon just before midnight with her newly bouncy hair loose down her back. Wearing jeans and a silk top covered in roses, she then headed straight to a party at Villa night club in Los Angeles. Today Lindsay attempted to end rumours that she was teaming up with U.S. TV personality Ryan Seacrest for a show with a $1 million prize fund. Contactmusic.com had reported that she was in talks with the American Idol host, who also works behind the scenes in Hollywood producing TV hits such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians. But she then wrote on her Twitter page: ‘I just want everyone to know… I’m NOT starring on a reality show… But I just launched my production company and am working w/GREAT producers.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton says he was “misguided” in using a homophobic slur against will.i.am during a violent confrontation outside a Toronto bar early Monday that was apparently captured in a photo now on a Toronto-based blog. In a statement released yesterday on perezhilton.com, Hilton responded to criticism for calling will.i.am a “faggot” during the argument, which ended when the Peas’ tour manager allegedly punched him. The openly gay Hilton sounds in turn contrite and defiant in the statement. “I was in an out-of-the-ordinary situaton and used a word that I would not utter under normal circumstances,” the statement says. “My intention - however misguided it may have been - was to stand up for myself and tell this belligerent man that I had enough of his badgering and was not going to continue to let him berate and intimidate me. I wanted to hurt him with the word I chose, not anyone else. Unfortunately, the one who got hurt was me and, subsequently, a lot of other people. I wish none of it had happened. I can’t take it back. I did what I thought was best at the moment to stand up for myself in a non-violent yet still assertive way. Clearly, I am not homophobic.” He says he now regrets making fun of another celebrity who was attacked last year, but never explicitly apologizes for using the slur, despite condemnation by the U.S.-based lobby group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Hilton later adds: “I will continue to speak out for equality and I will continue to say things that upset both gay people and straight people.” Earlier in the day, GLAAD said Hilton’s use of the “vulgar anti-gay slurs that feed a climate of hatred and intolerance toward our community.” Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, has been at the centre of a media storm since the incident after Sunday night’s MuchMusic Video Awards. His website, a hugely influential voice in the entertainment industry with up to 8 million hits daily, is laden with bitchy barbs aimed at celebrities. Celebrity watchers who gleefully clicked between his tearful accounts - in a barrage of Twitter postings and online videos - and an online counterattack by will.i.am at dipdive.com, now can see the actual punch that kicked it all off, according to the Canadian gossip blog drinktheglitter.com. The blog posted a reader-supplied photo early Tuesday that seems to show a crowd of people outside and a fist apparently connecting with the face of Hilton. In the crowd is a blond woman who appears to be singer Lady Gaga. “There was no paparazzi there,” said David Robert, co-owner of drinktheglitter.com, in an interview last night. It’s the picture of the (MuchMusic Video Awards) in my opinion. We’re epically excited about it.” Robert said he received the picture in an anonymous email around 2 a.m. Tuesday. The photographer has since revealed himself to Robert. “He works in the Toronto media industry. He works for some of the people that actually dealt with the MMVAs,” he said. “He was standing there, jaw on the floor, and he took the picture.” The Star asked to be put in touch with the photographer to confirm the photo’s authenticity. Robert declined. Traffic to Robert’s seventh-month-old blog has exploded since the picture was posted, doubling his all-time visitor count in less than a day. Hits reached into the tens of thousands yesterday and, at around 5:30 p.m., said Robert, the site temporarily crashed under the strain. “It just hit the fan like I can’t even imagine,” said Robert, adding he has already received “a lot” of offers for exclusive rights to the picture, but has turned them all down. “It’s Canada’s to sell, it’s not mine to sell,” he said. According to Hilton, the now-notorious incident began when he was accosted by Peas’ singer Fergie, at an MMVA after-party at the club Ultra, for things he had written about the band on his blog. Hilton says he then went to the Cobra club on King St. W. where will.i.am came at him “like a heat-seeking missile” and asked him not to write about the band again. They exchanged words and later, outside the bar, Hilton claims he was punched several times in the eye by Peas tour manager Polo Molina, who was later charged with assault. Hilton says he called 911. When police didn’t arrive quickly enough, he sent a string of Twitter pleas for others to call police and help him. “I was assaulted by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke,” read one of them. Later in the day, he and will.i.am used Twitter and web videos to take shots at each other, with other celebrities including Miley Cyrus and Ryan Seacrest chiming in. An email to Hilton from the Star about the photo on drinktheglitter.com blog went unanswered last night. So did a tweet to Hilton.

A Friday piece in The New York Times exposes what we all sort of knew already: some of those celebrity Twitter accounts are actually ghostwritten. Other ones are fake. That guy twittering as Christopher Walken is not actually Christopher Walken. It’s not terribly surprising. Nobody actually thought, for example, that the official Britney Spears Twitter account was actually written by the pop singer herself. But some others, like rapper 50 Cent’s, come across as fairly authentic to the degree that some fans could be miffed to find that it’s actually the head of his digital-media team doing the twittering. And it does seem a little bit unnerving that “ghost-Twittering” is now an actual job skill for some freelance writers. See, here’s where the dissonance lies. Twitter has become one of the hallmarks of the Web 2.0 “transparency” movement, recommended by new-media consultants left and right as a way for businesses and brands (not to mention celebrities) to put their real faces forward. It’s been effective image repair for tarnished brands such as that of cable giant Comcast, which runs an account called “Comcast Cares” to conduct customer service; then there’s former White House strategist Karl Rove, whose shadowy, man-behind-the-curtain persona from the Bush administration is a far cry from the Twitter account with which he converses with followers, hosts trivia contests, and debates which third-party Twitter apps are the most efficient. If that’s your opinion of what Twitter is or should be, ghostwriting just doesn’t seem like it’s playing by the rules. Basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, whose @THE_REAL_SHAQ Twitter account has become one of the service’s most popular, seemed to disapprove of Twitter accounts that aren’t actually written by the people whose names they bear. “It’s 140 characters. It’s so few characters,” he told the Times. “If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.”

The real and the real fakes on Twitter
1. Britney Spears Britney Spears is a celebrity of the first order. But if you read through her profile, you quickly realize that she’s only tweeting a portion of the time. When she’s not, other people in her entourage are. Britney signs all her tweets with “~Britney.” Seems possible.

Verdict: @BritneySpears is the real Britney Spears.

2. Jimmy Fallon Jimmy Fallon tweets on the @JimmyFallon Twitter account. There’s no doubt about it. He talks about things only Jimmy could shed light on. And most importantly, he talks about his tweeting on his show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” No worries here: it’s the real guy.

Verdict: @JimmyFallon is really JimmyFallon.

3. Shaquille O’Neal Dubbed @THE_REAL_SHAQ, Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter account is one of the most entertaining in this roundup. Shaq posts pictures of himself, sends brief messages out to followers, and unleashes one-liners that will make you chuckle. I don’t think there’s any debating that @THE_REAL_SHAQ is the real Shaq.

Verdict: @THE_REAL_SHAQ is really him.

4. Lance Armstrong Lance Armstrong is definitely tweeting on the @LanceArmstrong account. He tweets about his travel around the U.S. He talks about where he’s riding today and most importantly, he uploads personal pictures to his TwitPic account.

Verdict: @LanceArmstrong is the real deal.

5. Ellen DeGeneres Ellen DeGeneres is tweeting on her show’s Twitter profile, @TheEllenShow. On multiple occasions she has said on her show that she tweets and a recent update provided a TwitPic link to an image of her mother. She also tends to make references to events in her life that others might not know.

Verdict:@TheEllenShow is the real Ellen DeGeneres

6. Perez Hilton @PerezHilton is updated by gossip blogger Perez Hilton. There’s no doubt about it. He tweets about blog posts he’s writing and discusses celebrities with his followers. Plus, the awkward clip-by-clip image on his profile of him dancing could only come from the source.

Verdict: @PerezHilton is the real gossip blogger.

7. Ryan Seacrest Though his Twitter profile says it’s the official Ryan Seacrest profile, I’m not convinced that he’s really tweeting. Many of the tweets in Seacrest’s stream come from “Team Seacrest” (whatever that is) and others come from his radio show producers. Ostensibly, those that don’t have a signature are Seacrest. But even that is up for debate.

Verdict: @RyanSeacrest is the celebrity’s real account, but he might not be tweeting.

8. Demi Moore If you want to read what Demi Moore is up to on Twitter, the only way to find out is to follow @mrskutcher. She updates her stream with information about her life that only she would know. She even posts pictures that prove it’s her.

Verdict: @mrskutcher is the real Demi Moore.

9. Stephen Fry After reading through English actor and comedian Stephen Fry’s tweets, there’s little doubt that he’s the person behind @StephenFry. Whether it’s updates about recording radio spots or tweets about filming scenes, Fry delivers insider information that proves it’s him.

Verdict: @StephenFry is the real deal.

10. Wil Wheaton Best known for his portrayal of Wesley Crusher on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Wil Wheaton has quickly become a favorite among Twitter users for his love of tech. And that shines through in all his authentic tweets. Whether it’s a discussion about Atari or the iPhone, Wil always has something interesting to say.

Verdict: @Wilw is operated by Wil Wheaton.
The real fakes
The most-followed celebrities are really tweeting. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some fakes. Here’s a quick list of some fake celebrity profiles you’ll need to watch out for.

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken’s Twitter profile is easily one of the funniest on Twitter. But it’s also a fake. At least it’s good for a laugh.

George W. Bush The George W. Bush Twitter account is rife with veiled insults of our former president and some “misquotes” that he doesn’t like. Yeah, it’s a fake.

Megan Fox Dubbed @The_Megan_Fox, the fake Megan Fox Twitter account is, at times, sexual in nature. But when the person updating the profile is done discussing her body, it can be quite funny.

Stephen Colbert There are dozens of fake Stephen Colbert profiles on Twitter. But the @StephenColbert account is the most popular and, arguably, the best of the bunch. The user cracks quite a few jokes, sounds like Colbert, and unleashes some one-liners that would make Ronald Reagan proud. If you want to follow the real Stephen Colbert, click here.

Tina Fey Tina Fey’s Twitter profile is about as fake as they come. The person impersonating her makes off-hand remarks about Tina and her life, but most of the updates are strange discussions on candy and food.

The tabloids have long pitted Brad Pitt’s ex-wife Jennifer Aniston against his current lover Angelina Jolie, with everything from their fashion sense to their eating habits up for comparison and debate. But when it comes to a tangible measure of Hollywood success — money — the glossies steer clear. And on that score, Jolie’s the winner — by US$2 million. Thanks to successful box office runs for “Wanted” and “Kung Fu Panda” as well as her upcoming CIA thriller “Salt,” Jolie raked in an estimated $27 million over the last year. (The impressive haul coupled with her media ubiquity catapulted her to the top of Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list.) Depth: As for Aniston, this year’s hits “Marley & Me” and “He’s Just Not That Into (Read more…)