The Fix

Courtney cops plea, attitude; Ludacris comments on O'Reilly; Beatty for president?

Published October 21, 2004 8:00PM (EDT)

Turn On:
If you're not all baseballed out from last night, you can tune in to find out who the Red Sox will face, when the Cardinals meet the Astros on Thursday night (8 p.m. ET, Fox). Or you can watch the BBC America special on its hilarious hit show "The Office" (9 p.m. ET, BBCA) -- or Primetime Live's "American Sex Lives: 2004" (10 p.m. ET, ABC), in which the results of what is being billed as the most extensive sex survey of the last 50 years will be unveiled (though some of them have already been posted here).

Morning Briefing:
Love hurts ... and pays: Courtney Love pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a New York court Wednesday and was ordered to pay $2,236 in medical expenses to the fan who got hit by a microphone stand she hurled into the audience from the stage during a show in March. Love was also ordered to keep out of trouble for one year and participate in a drug treatment program. Her lawyers appeared to be pleased with the outcome of the case. Not so Love. "It's the action of pleading. It just strikes me as a little un-American when you plead to something you didn't do," she said. She also took issue with the drug treatment requirement. "Me getting arrested at a rock show has nothing to do with drugs. That was where I got a little miffed." Added the rocker/actress, "I don't think it was much of a deal." (N.Y. Times)

President Beatty? Warren Beatty has apparently not given up his dreams of a career in politics. In fact, wife Annette Bening says she thinks he'd make a great president ... "Warren has really good ideas. He thinks carefully, reads carefully and often has original things to say," she tells More magazine, adding that he'd have her full support if he really wanted to make a run for it. "If that's what you want to do, go for it." (More magazine via Lloyd Grove's Lowdown)

The O'Reilly watch: Bill O'Reilly's camp is continuing to lash out at the woman who has accused the Fox News man of sexual harassment, Andrea Mackris, suggesting that she could simply have hung up the phone on her boss if she wasn't happy with his allegedly sexually explicit chatter. (The lawsuit containing the detailed conversation has reportedly netted the Smoking Gun its highest page views for any document ever.) Mackris has responded, "This is not just my boss, this is an incredibly powerful man. When he asks me to jump, I say 'How high?' He'd already said that if anybody threatened him in this way, he would drag them through the mud ... When he calls me and makes these comments, I'm supposed to say, 'Mr. O'Reilly, that's immoral'? I'm supposed to complain to human resources about this man, and then walk into work the next day to certain retaliation? What is happening to me now would have happened then, except I wouldn't have had a lawyer by my side." (ABC News, N.Y. Daily News, Page Six, Washington Post) ... Oh, and Ludacris, who O'Reilly trash-talked right out of a deal to promote Pepsi a couple years back (he accused the rapper of promoting "a life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women"), has this to say on the Fox host's turn in the scandal spotlight: "I'd be lying if I didn't say it brings a smile to my face." (allhiphop.com via Rush and Molloy)

Also: Paris Hilton may be headed to the big screen to star opposite Linsday Lohan in the upcoming film "Fashionistas." Word is Hilton's mother made a phone call on her behalf to Paramount producer Christine Peters (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown) ... John McEnroe's low-rated CNBC talk show looks to be headed to wherever it is that failed celebrity talk shows go to die. There's speculation that network suits may replace it with reruns of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." Ouch. (TV Guide via N.Y. Post)

-- Amy Reiter

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By Salon Staff

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