Posted on Wed, Nov. 11, 2009
R
OBERT J. "Joe" Halderman, the TV news producer accused of blackmailing
David Letterman in exchange for keeping quiet about his sexual affairs, was trying only to sell the late-night comic a screenplay, his defense attorney yesterday.
Gerald Shargel, proving again that lawyers will say anything, asked a judge, who amazingly refrained from guffawing, to toss the attempted first-degree grand-larceny case, saying that Halderman had done nothing illegal in slipping Letterman documents alluding to the "Late Show" host's dalliances and taking a $2 million check from Letterman's lawyer.
"There was no extortion," Shargel said outside court. "There was a screenplay for sale. There was a commercial transaction. Nothing more."
But Letterman's attorney said that the exchange had been a shakedown.
Duh.
1. David Letterman is not a movie producer. His only foray into the film business was as producer of "Strangers With Candy," a dud from a few years ago.
2. If Letterman was a producer, would anyone in his right mind pitch him a movie about a late-night talk-show host having affairs in the office.
3. Nobody these days is getting $2 million for original screenplays.
Lopez ex restrained
A California judge has granted a temporary restraining order barring Jennifer Lopez's first husband, Ojani Noa, from distributing 11 hours of home video footage from their marriage that Lopez claims includes sexual situations.
Noa and his manager, Ed Meyer, had planned to distribute the footage and proposed making a film, "The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story," generously giving Jennifer top-billing. Yesterday's order also applies to Meyer.
Lopez wed Noa in 1997, but their marriage lasted only 11 months. Noa claimed that the footage included nothing sexual and alleged that Jennifer is trying to keep him from success.
Yeah, because a 12-year-old video of Jennifer Lopez not having sex is going to be a big seller.
Tattbits
* Denzel Washington plans to return to the New York stage next spring in a revival of August Wilson's "Fences."
The play will open in April so that Denzel will be able to make son Malcolm's basketball games at Penn.
* Aerosmith's lead guitarist Joe Perry says that the band isn't breaking up, although it may need a new singer.
Longtime frontman Steve Tyler has been quoted as saying that he is considering a solo career.
Perry said Monday on WKXL in Concord, N.H., that Tyler hasn't communicated his intentions with anyone in the band and that he found out about Tyler's solo wishes online.
Tyler, 61, was injured when he fell off a stage during an Aug. 5 performance in South Dakota, and the band canceled the remainder of its summer tour.
"After the tour got canceled, he just kept drifting off and doing other things," Perry said. "We would hear things from different people. He wasn't talking directly to anybody in the band."
* Halle Berry will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the Hollywood Reporter's 18th annual Power 100: Women in Entertainment breakfast.
The award recognizes groundbreaking contributions to the entertainment industry. Recipients include Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Barbara Walters, Glenn Close and Lansing herself.
* Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine, withdrew her objections yesterday to the appointment of two longtime Jackson associates as executors of the singer's will.
The surprise announcement came from Katherine's new probate attorney, Adam Streisand, who said that his client felt that it was time for the legal battle to end over the appointment of attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain.
Katherine now believes that their appointment, as spelled out in her son's will, can "enhance the legacy of Michael Jackson in the best interest of his children," Streisand said.
It was Streisand's first major move in the case since he was chosen last month by Katherine to replace the team that had represented her since Michael's death in June.
(PS: Adam is Barbra's cousin.)
* So, now Carrie Prejean is admitting to producing and trafficking in child pornography?
Not exactly, but . . . the former Miss California USA told Fox News on Monday and NBC's "Today" show yesterday that she shot the recently revealed X-rated video of herself alone when she was 17 and sent it to a boyfriend.
She was seventeen. And she sent it to a boyfriend.
Pennsylvania teenagers who sexted each other have been arrested for less.
Carrie, now 22, told NBC: "It was for private use, but does that justify what I did? No. It was the biggest mistake of my life."
Carrie was fired as Miss California USA in June. She believes that she lost her crown because of her opposition to gay marriage - the irony, of course, being that if the X-rated video had come out while she had her crown she may have been fired anyway.
Pageant organizers said that she had been booted for skipping official events.
Earlier this month, Carrie and pageant organizers reached a confidential settlement, which paid Carrie . . . nothing. Still playing the victim, she told NBC that she has suffered "a campaign against me to try to silence me."
Silence her? When pageant officials played Carrie's video, we believe they turned the volume up.
Daily News wire services contributed to this report.
E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com
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