Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

JAM MASTER JAY SLAIN IN NYC

The rap world is mourning the death of one of its founders.

Police in New York say 37-year-old Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the platinum-selling group Run-DMC, was shot in the head and killed Wednesday night in his Queens recording studio.

Two gunmen also shot another man, 25-year-old Urieco Rincon, in the leg before fleeing. Cops said two women recording in the studio escaped injury.

Police said they had no motive for the slaying of the married father of three.

E! Online reports Chuck D., of the rap group Public Enemy, was near tears as he hugged mourners gathered in the rain outside the dead rapper's studio.

"We knew each other since we were kids," the rapper, who was born Carlton Ridenhour, told E! "It's cowardice. It's not a game."

MORE BAD NEWS FOR 'BUFFY' FANS

Just days after "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon admitted this might be the slayer's last year battling evil on network TV, fans of the horror drama were hit with even more bad news. Not only will there be no "Buffy," the animated series, but there will also be no homecoming for Amber Benson, the actress who played Willow's girlfriend Tara, until she was killed off last year, but was expected to return this season as a different character.

TV Guide Online, the expert in all things Buffy, reports Benson will not return to the cult favorite because she failed to reach a deal with producer 20th Century Fox.

"It was a question of negotiations, as it sometimes is," Whedon told TV Guide Online. "It's sad, because I love Amber. But that's between her and Fox."

Added Benson's rep: "She's very proud of her work on the show, but ultimately, we couldn't work out the right deal."

As for a cartoon version of the show, Whedon said: "We just couldn't find a home for it -- which will baffle me to the grave."

"Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" is now in its seventh season. It originally ran on the WB network before moving to UPN last season. The series' star, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who along with her friends routinely stomps monsters, demons, and, you got it, vampires, has not agreed to return to the show after this season, which leaves the fate of the show up in the air for now.

GREEN, DREW MARRIED-NO-MORE

Now that their 15 minutes of marriage are over, "Charlie's Angels" star Drew Barrymore and former MTV comic Tom Green are dividing their assets.

Barrymore and Green were married just 158 days before they decided to split last year.

E! Online says Green nabbed the couple's $2 million Studio City home, but Barrymore gets to keep her Los Angeles pad and pockets an "equalizing payment" of $307,603 to make up the difference. Both amicably waived rights to spousal support payments, per the court petition finalized Oct. 15, and printed in all its glory on The Smoking Gun Web site.

Where things get strange, E! points out, is when it comes to the division of intellectual property rights.

Barrymore, who has been very successful at the box office in recent years, keeps the rights to movies that actually made money -- and up-and-comers that are likely to do so -- like "Charlie's Angels 2," "Never Been Kissed" and "Scream."

Green, on the other hand, gets the dubious distinction of keeping his rights to potential "Freddy Got Fingered" level stinkers like "The Splooze," "Gee Gee Gaudette," "P.Diddy's Party" and "Bozo the Clown."

SHARON: DEPP SHOULD PLAY OZZY

He's transformed himself into a scissors-handed freak, a Spanish lover, a dope-smoking journalist and a Victorian-era cop, but can chameleon-like actor Johnny Depp actually convince audiences he is Ozzy Osbourne?

Word from The Hollywood Reporter is the rocker and MTV reality TV star is in talks with a major studio to bring his bizarre, yet fascinating life to the big-screen.

According to the report, Ozzy would not play himself, but his wife, Sharon, said she knows who should portray him in a film: Johnny Depp!

"I don't know if he'll do it," Mrs. Osbourne told the trade paper. "He's a brilliant actor."

Meanwhile, MTV confirmed that second season of "The Osbournes" will kick off Nov. 26.

"I wouldn't want to do a comedy film, because we're working on Ozzy's life story right now," Mrs. Osbourne said. "We haven't signed the deal, but we're really close to closing the deal."