Penn in suit with Hurley’s ex
Actor Sean Penn, 42, is being sued for $15 million by movie producer Steve Bing, 37, the man who fathered Elizabeth Hurley’s child. Bing is accusing Penn of trying to extort $10 million from him in a disagreement over a movie role. But according to the New York Post, Penn claims that Bing is “borrowing a page from the dark era of Hollywood blacklisting” by booting him out of the role based on his opinions on American foreign policy and a possible war in Iraq. The film is entitled “Why Men Shouldn’t Marry.” In recent months Penn has been in the news for his political views. In December he made a visit to Iraq, then complained that President Bush’s wish to disarm Saddam Hussein takes “a simplistic and inflammatory view of good and evil.”

Jimi Hendrix finding
new home
The remains of rock legend Jimi Hendrix (1942-70) have been moved to a new granite and marble memorial that is almost complete in a Seattle suburb. The remains were previously at Greenwood Memorial Park and Cemetery. According to Janie L. Hendrix, the musician’s half-sister, also to be moved to the new location are the remains of Hendrix’s father, Al Hendrix, and Al’s wife, Ayako “June” Hendrix as well as the remains of Jimi’s grandmother, Nora Hendrix. A life-size bronze sculpture of Hendrix is being made in Italy to be placed under the dome on the site.

Pepsi to get boycotted?
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons had threatened to boycott Pepsi after it yanked an ad featuring rapper Ludacris but now it appears the company and rapper have made up. According to reports, the agreement calls for the soft-drink giant to make a multimillion-dollar donation over several years to the Ludacris Foundation, Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Pepsi spokesman Larry Jabbonsky was stated as saying, “This is a multiyear, multi-city effort that will encourage kids to express their creativity in the visual and performing arts.”

Things are heating up for Douglas and Jones
In London’s High Court this past week testimony was held regarding the November 2000 wedding photos of actor Michael Douglas, 58, and actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, 33, and their 350 guests at the Plaza Hotel in New York. The couple sold exclusive photo rights to the event to Britain’s OK! Magazine for a reported $1.6 million, then unauthorized photos appeared in OK!’s rival Hello! magazine. The couple is now suing Hello! magazine for breach of privacy and damage to their careers. A contributor to Hello! admitted lying to the court when she said she sold the couple’s photo rights to Hello! She claimed that if she hadn’t helped Hello! at the time, she would have put her own job with the publication at risk and that the owner of Hello! told her to say what she did. It was reported that Hello! hired a paparazzo to take the photos, and then ran them in their publication three days before OK! magazine.

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