Celebrity News & Gossip

The official Hope for Haiti Now telethon lineup has just been announced, and this show is going to be even bigger than we had imagined. Rarely, if ever, have so many of the world’s biggest musicians mobilized so quickly with Hollywood elite (plus President Clinton and Oprah) to lend a helping hand in a time of tragedy. If only George Clooney, the mastermind behind the telethon, had been responsible for the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina!

We already reported that the Hope for Haiti Now lineup will include Robert Pattinson, Bono, Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Shakira. Now we can provide the full, official lineup. Of particular interest will be headliners Jay-Z and Bono (a rock/rap collaboration for the ages) and Justin Timberlake.

Performing in Los Angeles:

• Alicia Keys
• Christina Aguilera
• Dave Matthews
• Emeline Michel
• John Legend
• Justin Timberlake
• Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Kid Rock (Group performance)
• Stevie Wonder
• Taylor Swift

Performing in New York:

• Bruce Springsteen
• Jennifer Hudson
• Madonna
• Mary J Blige
• Shakira
• Sting
• Wyclef Jean

Performing in London:

• Beyonce
• Coldplay
• Jay-Z, Bono and The Edge (collaboration)
• Rihanna

Presenters and speakers in Los Angeles (except where noted differently) include:

• Anderson Cooper (from Haiti)
• Ben Stiller
• Brad Pitt
• Chris Rock
• Clint Eastwood
• Denzel Washington
• Drew Barrymore
• George Clooney
• Halle Berry
• Jon Stewart (from New York)
• Julia Roberts
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Matt Damon
• Meryl Streep
• Morgan Freeman
• Nicole Kidman
• Oprah Winfrey
• President Clinton (from New York)
• Robert Pattinson (from London)
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Tom Hanks
• Will Smith with Muhammad Ali

Turn on your television at 8PM EST to witness history in the making. Hope for Haiti Now will be on just about every channel, including VH1 and MTV. Donations will go to Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation. Facebook and MySpace have signed on as official social-media partners to help drive donations.

123►

When news broke that George Clooney’s Hope for Haiti Now telethon would airing Friday at 8PM EST on VH1, MTV and just about every channel on your television set, scant details were available as to which celebs would be involved in the show. But that didn’t stop us from starting our Official Hope For Haiti Now Telethon Lineup guessing game. We’re happy to report that our initial list is shaping up to be remarkably accurate (Anderson Cooper’s involvement doesn’t count because he’s a newsman who sometimes acts like a celebrity, not an actual celebrity).

Performing at the Hope for Haiti Now telethon: Bono, Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Shakira and many others who have yet to be announced. There will also be no shortage of A-listers either speaking or manning the phones to take donations, according to E! Online. So if you’ve ever wanted to ring Jennifer Aniston or Jon Hamm late one lonely Friday night, this may be your one and only shot. Also participating are Jake Gyllenhaal, Brad Pitt, Colin Farrell, Zac Efron, Bradley Cooper, Renee Zellweger, Anna Kendrick, Sandra Bullock, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Gabby Sidibe, Chris Pine and Emily Blunt.

As for Robert Pattinson, he’ll be hosting the London segment of Hope for Haiti Now. Clooney and pals will be based at the show’s headquarters in Los Angeles while Anderson Cooper reports from Ground Zero in Haiti. Performances will take place in L.A., New York and London.

123►

Details are trickling in as we type … But we’re hearing about a fundraiser for Haiti that is being masterminded by George Clooney. Allegedly MTV has agreed to air a bi-coastal happening on all of its channels (MTV, BET, CMT and our beloved VH1) in an attempt to provide much-needed support for the devasted victims of the earthquake.

According to Showbiz411, which broke the story today, Clooney was busy recruiting celebs at a party for Up in the Air last night — and Sting, after being approached, was overheard saying “Where do I go?” The timing for recruiting talent could not be better as nearly every A-list actor will be attending the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards on Friday and then the Golden Globes on Sunday. Expect to hear a lot about Haiti in upcoming acceptance speeches!

It’s hard to imagine this event going down without music. We can’t confirm anything at this time, but a straight talking-head telethon just isn’t how VH1 or MTV rolls. Plus, can you imagine Sting without his guitar? Exactly.

After the jump, we start the Official Haiti Fundraiser Celebrity Lineup Guessing Game, which includes Wyclef Jean, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Diddy, U2, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Shakira, John Legend, Adam Lambert, Ryan Seacrest and the Dixie Chicks. (But first, find out how you can help at the White House’s website.)

(more…)

Say what you will about “Louboutins,” but Jennifer Lopez definitely reaffirmed her Fly Girl status at the American Music Awards last night. Sure, J. Lo. fell on her ass after climbing a staircase made of shirtless men. But thanks to a quick leap to her feet, Lopez turned what could have been a major embarrassment to a blink-and-you-missed it lol. Then again, thanks to the internet, there’s not much difference.

Among those performing alongside Lopez and oral-sex mimer Adam Lambert were fellow drama queens Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Shakira (making impressive work of those truthful hips). See their red carpet fashions and more in the gallery below.

Related Content: Adam Lambert Assaults the AMAs With Racy Performance

12►

VH1 favorite Shakira is premiering a new video for her single “Give It Up For Me” before her album She Wolf is released on Nov. 23. The video is all about dancing, mixing an unlikely combination of Jamaican dancehall, stepping and traditional Thai dance. This polyglot of styles may not seem surprising coming from a Colombian-born pop star of Lebanese, Italian and Spanish descent who speaks five languages.

But what’s unusual — and smart, too! — is that Shakira’s debuting her new video simultaneously on her Facebook and Ustream, allowing her social media-savvy fans to chat via Twitter (use @shakira), Facebook, MySpace or AIM. Huge props to the record label for allowing unfiltered comments to be posted to the singer’s Facebook — because not 100% of them are positive.

Produced by Timbaland, “Give It Up For Me” features Lil Wayne. Watch a 15-second sneak peek of the video above and join the conversation after the jump. Plus, check back here at 3pm to watch the live premiere.

(more…)

For a second year in a row little Mrs. Russell Brand (AKA Katy Perry)hosted the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards. Mega stars like Beyonce, the Jonas Brothers, and Shakira attended the show but first rocked the red carpet in style.

Pete Wentz strutted down the carpet with one smokey eye (we’re sure there is a good reason for this…right?!) and David Hasselhoff seemed to have just staggered his way into the event (sporting sequins no less).

Check out these stars and more in our MTV EMAs red carpet gallery below. [Photo: Getty Images]

Not all of our Style Wars are so easy to put together, but in the case of Shakira and Pink’s red carpet outfits at the 2009 MTV VMA’s, it was pretty cut and dry. The two singers showed up to the awards - OMG - wearing the exact same dress. They accessorized themselves differently, but we’re thinking that right now, there are two stylists being reamed out for not checking around to see what everyone was wearing. So whose look kicked more black-sequined butt, Pink’s cool, spiky-haired high heeled vibe, or Shakira’s Pretty Woman-esque go-go boots and clutch?

She gyrated her bare midriff for “Hips Don’t Lie.” She grinded with Beyonce for “Beautiful Liar.” But Shakira’s new video ratchets up the sex factor times ten. In “She Wolf,” the Latina bombshell dances in a cage (repeat: a cage!) wearing a barely-there leotard (repeat: barely there!) and sings about staring across the bar at her “prey” (i.e., men she’ll soon devour). Of course, there’s more to her new electronic club banger than this snapshot interpretation would suggest.

Speaking to MTV News, Shakira explains: “She Wolf is the woman at daytime and the animal at night. She is a woman who knows what she wants and she goes for it. She’s in touch with her most subconscious desires and she satisfies them — and she defends her freedom and her liberties and she does it with her teeth and claws, like a wild animal.” Oh Shakira, you make a man want to speak Spanish howl.

Watch the 15-second sneak peek above and check back with VH1.com on Thursday at 8PM EST to see the full video. Bonus clip: Shakira tells us what she does when she first wakes up every morning …

Despite her breasts being so small and humble, Shakira is a total superstar. And like the hugely famous icon she is, she’s also prone to spouting incoherent babble at times.

“I think I’ve crossed to the other side of the river already. I’m on the other shore … I’ve been through so many storms and my ship has encountered so many unexpected things that now I am strong on the shore. Unless something dramatic happened in my life to change me, I don’t think I could forget myself now,” she says in response to the question, “Who is Shakira?”

We are totally confused, but also strangely impressed by her ability to stretch a metaphor to breaking point in just a couple of sentences. Beat that, other celebrity divas! [Source: Sunday Times magazine, Photo: Getty Images]

When Barack Obama promised change, we didn’t realize that bringing great entertainment to political events was part of the deal. But … wow! The “We Are One” concert on Sunday kicked off with Bruce Springsteen performing “The Rising” with a full gospel choir and ended with Beyonce belting out “America the Beautiful.” Sandwiched in between were performers like Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Usher, Shakira, John Mellencamp and U2 — not to mention actors/speakers like Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Marisa Tomei, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx and Tom Hanks. Double wow!

And the parties spreading out in Washington D.C. continue — from the Latino inaugural gala (Marc Anthony performed, J.Lo in tow) to the “Declare Yourself” inaugural kick-off event (yes, Lindsay Lohan and Sam Ronson are still an item.) to Young Jeezy’s “Presidential Status Inauguration Ball,” where a shirtless T.I. pumped up the crowd. Check out the pics below to see some of the action, and keep up with today’s events at VH1’s Live Inauguration Blog.

12►