UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News

• Tweet

Kimmel: Leno 'totally sold out'

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. comedian Jimmy Kimmel says he has "disdain" for Jay Leno, saying his fellow late-night talk show host used to be funny but has "totally sold out."

Kimmel, whose "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" is moving from its 12:05 a.m. time slot on ABC to 11:35 -- when it will be in head-to-head competition with Leno's "The Tonight Show" on NBC, David Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS, and Conan O'Brien's show on TBS -- told Rolling Stone Leno "hasn't been a good stand-up [comedian] in 20 years."

"As a comedian, you can't not have disdain for what he's done," he said. "He totally sold out. He was a master chef who opened a Burger King."

Kimmel conceded, though, his show wouldn't be on "if the late-night landscape wasn't crowded."

"I'd be sitting home watching it on television if it weren't," he said.

Robert J. Thompson, who runs the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told the Los Angeles Times the Kimmel time slot move could indicate a new era in late-night television.

"If [Kimmel] can compete in that period, I think that could completely change and finally solidify the idea that while 'Tonight Show' has got this long legacy and people like Letterman and Conan [O'Brien] so much revere it, the fact is the 'Tonight Show' might not any longer be the Holy Grail of television.

"I'm not even sure it's the Holy Grail now, to be honest," he added.

Douglas: Damon courageous in Liberace role

HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Michael Douglas, who plays Liberace in an upcoming movie, praised Matt Damon for having "the courage" to play the flamboyant pianist's gay lover.

The two are starring in director Steven Soderbergh's HBO film, "Behind the Candelabra," along with Dan Aykroyd, Rob Lowe and Paul Reiser.

Douglas will play the famed glamorous musician, and Damon his significantly younger lover, Scott Thorson.

"I don't think I would have had the courage at that point in my career to take this on," Douglas said in praise of Damon.

The two lead actors and Soderbergh said they took the story seriously despite the over-the-top nature of the subject matter, The Hollywood Reporter said Friday.

"We take the relationship seriously," Soderbergh said.

"We weren't giggling about it. These were people's lives. We wanted to get it right," Damon said.

Clarkson: I'm not a lesbian

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson rejects speculation she's a lesbian and says it's an insult to gays to suggest one is gay for being "single for so long."

Clarkson, who was recently engaged to boyfriend Brandon Blackstock, says she's never had an interest in women, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

"People think, 'Oh, she's been single for too long,'" Clarkson told Cosmopolitan. "That's kind of an insult to the gay community. Being single doesn't mean you're gay."

Clarkson said she's "never insulted" by the rumor.

"I mean, I get hit on by the hottest girls ever. Oh, my God, if I were a lesbian, I would be so in luck. But it's just not my thing. I've always batted for the boys' team," she said.

"[U]sually the guys who hit on me are tools ...," Clarkson added. "It's like 'American Idol' auditions: The guys who are the most confident are the horrible ones, and the ones who are good have no confidence at all."

Photos seem to show Bieber holding joint

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Sources told TMZ pop musician Justin Bieber smoked a joint with rapper Lil Twist in a Los Angeles hotel room, and photos seem to back up the report.

In the photographs submitted to the celebrity gossip website, Bieber can be seen sitting on a couch and interacting with a group of people in a hotel room while holding what appears to be a marijuana cigarette.

The photos were taken Wednesday, one day after a paparazzo was killed while trying to take photos of Bieber's Ferrari in Los Angeles, TMZ reported.

Lil Twist was driving and Bieber was not in the car at the time of the incident.

The sources, whose names were not reported, told TMZ Bieber told people at the party he was tired because he had been staying up late recently. The conversation later turned to where to get late-night fast food.