'South Park' episode switched by network
NEW YORK, March 17 (UPI) -- "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have thrown down the gauntlet in their battle over their right to parody Scientology.
Singer Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist who has voiced the randy "Chef" since "South Park" started on Comedy Central, quit the show last week over "Trapped in the Closet," an episode spoofing Scientology and Tom Cruise.
Then Comedy Central Wednesday pulled a re-run of the episode scheduled for Wednesday, Daily Variety said. Although bloggers claimed the schedule change was at the behest of Cruise, who threatened not to promote "Mission: Impossible 3" for Viacom-owned Paramount, a Cruise spokesman told Variety that was not true.
"He never said any such thing about 'Mission: Impossible 3,'" the spokesman said.
Parker and Stone, meanwhile, issued their own statement to Variety:
"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"
The statement was signed, "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."
Tom Wopat in DUI, reckless driving arrests
PASSIAC, N.J., March 17 (UPI) -- "The Dukes of Hazzard" TV star Tom Wopat has been charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving in northern New Jersey.
Wopat, 45, best known as TV's "Luke Duke," was arrested Wednesday night after he plowed through traffic cones and nearly hit a police cruiser, a Passaic County Sheriff's spokesman told the North Jersey Herald & News.
Once it was determined Wopat had been drinking, he was arrested, the spokesman said.
"All individuals, no matter what TV show they are in, are treated the same," the spokesman told the newspaper.
The star of several Broadway shows was reportedly driving from his West Milford, N.J., home to visit his girlfriend in New York. Wopat was released into her custody, police said.
Rod Stewart loses the spikes
LONDON, March 17 (UPI) -- Rocker-turned-crooner Rod Stewart has apparently shorn the last vestige of his 1960s persona -- his spiky hair.
Stewart, 61, was seen leaving his London barber not only $300 lighter, but without his trademark "hedgehog" hairstyle, the Daily Mail reported Friday.
Stewart is now sporting a "blond and floppy" style, similar to that of his fiancee, Penny Lancaster, the tabloid said.
His hairstylist, Steven Carey, declined to comment on the transformation of "Rod the Mod," but the newspaper speculated the couple were experimenting with "his 'n' her" looks as they prepare for their September nuptials.
Pay-per-view séance targets Lennon
NEW YORK, March 17 (UPI) -- The same producers who tried to contact Princess Diana from beyond the grave are planning a U.S. pay-per-view séance targeted at John Lennon.
More than 500,000 viewers plopped down $14.95 to watch the 2003 Diana show, the New York Daily News reported, and now producers are going to try and raise the spirit of the former Beatle at a bargain rate of $9.95.
"Lennon was very interested in the spiritual world. It's a natural follow-up to the Diana séance," producer Paul Sharratt told the News.
Lennon was gunned down in 1980 outside his home on New York's upper West Side.
His estate is not involved in the séance, the newspaper said.
