Actor's apology to wife blows up Twitter

A CHINESE actor's apology to his actress wife following rumors of his infidelity has set a record for comments and retweets on China's version of Twitter.

There goes that stereotype about the Chinese working all day.

The scandal surrounding film and TV star Wen Zhang has resonated among Chinese partly because of his image as a sensitive and happily married family man, and the volume of online comments underlines the relative freedom users have to focus on entertainment news online, where politics is often off-limits.

Wen Zhang posted a statement early Monday that his wife, Ma Yili, "and the children could have had a warm and nice life, but everything was destroyed by me." By yesterday, his post had been forwarded more than 1.2 million times and received nearly 1.9 million comments.

Of course, more than a million of those comments were, "It's Obama's fault."

NBC has told Kathie Lee Gifford to put a cork in it and not plug her new Gifft chardonnay and red blend on the "Today" show.

"They let me announce it and then they've asked us to please not discuss it right now," Kathie Lee said. "We're in the middle of the big takeover of a major corporation. I think they just want to be - and rightfully so - very careful. Everybody wants to dot i's and cross t's, and you notice the wine is still sitting there but they've just asked me to be a little careful while they're under great scrutiny and I'm happy to do that."

A representative for "Today" said, "We love and support Kathie Lee and as always, we let her comments speak for themselves."

That big takeover, by the way, is by Comcast, NBC's owner, of Time Warner Cable, and we're fairly confident that Kathie Lee's wine silence has nothing to do with that . . . even if her comment speaks for itself.

* Electronic musician and artist Paz is making it difficult to buy a copy of Justin Bieber's latest album in Los Angeles stores.

Paz says he planted 5,000 copies of an album that appears to be Bieber's "Believe" but actually contains a copy of his own CD at retailers such as Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart on Tuesday, April Fools' Day.

"We were meticulous," said Paz, who fancies the stunt as more of a performance-art piece than an April Fools' gag. "We paid a lot of attention to detail because we wanted these to stay up on shelves as long as possible."

As no one is buying "Believe" anymore, Tattle says, "Mission accomplished."

* TheWrap.com says newcomer Cory Michael Smith has joined the Batman series prequel "Gotham" as Edward Nygma, a/k/a the future Riddler.

He joins the series that focuses on young Detective Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and the villains that would later terrorize Batman's hometown.

The series also stars Donal Logue, Jada Pinkett Smith, Zabryna Guevara, Sean Pertwee, Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, David Mazouz and Camren Bicondova.

* NBC says longtime "Today" fixture Willard Scott, 80, has tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend, Paris Keena, in Fort Myers, Fla. They have been together for about 11 years.

Scott was attracted to her warm front.

* Jon Cryer is working on a "candid" memoir.

The Emmy-winning star of "Two and a Half Men" has a deal with New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The publisher announced yesterday that the book, currently untitled, is scheduled to be released next spring.

According to NAL, Cryer will share "candid" and "fascinating" stories about his 30-year career. He debuted on film opposite Demi Moore in "No Small Affair" and became known to millions as "Duckie," Molly Ringwald's pal, in "Pretty in Pink."

* In a theatrical record that may never be broken, Hal Holbrook, 89, is in the midst of his 60th consecutive year performing his one-man show "Mark Twain Tonight."

Holbrook began playing Twain solo in a 1954 assembly at a Pennsylvania teachers college.

* Music by U2, Linda Ronstadt, Isaac Hayes, Art Blakey and the Everly Brothers are among 25 sound recordings being added this year to the U.S. Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

The list announced yesterday includes nearly every musical category dating from 1896-1994 and brings the total number of recordings on the registry to 400.

* Connie Britton ("Friday Night Lights," "Nashville") has been named a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.

Yesterday she became the agency's 10th such ambassador, joining actor Antonio Banderas, tennis star Maria Sharapova and a footful of soccer stars.

Connie plans to focus on poverty eradication, with emphasis on women's issues. She pointed out that women do 66 percent of the world's work but make just 10 percent of the world's income.

On the other hand, according to a stat on Wikipedia, the three richest people in the world have more financial assets than the poorest 10 percent of the world's population, about 700 million people.

And they better hope the 700 million don't ever figure it out.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

On Twitter: @DNTattle