Celeb superlatives: George and Amal and more
We dig through the latest celebrity news, giving thumbs-ups or eye rolls to those who earned them. Paste BN's Maria Puente takes a look:
Best media "get":
George Stephanopoulos of ABC's Good Morning America won the fierce competition to get the first TV interview with Ferguson, Mo., cop Darren Wilson after the grand jury in the St. Louis suburb declined to indict Wilson on any charges in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown. Stephanopoulos, the ex-President Clinton mouthpiece-turned-morning-TV-star, crowed triumphantly on Twitter about the coup, in which he bested Matt Lauer of NBC, Scott Pelley of CBS, and Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon of CNN. In his interview, Stephanopoulos gently grilled Wilson, who compared Brown to a demon and Hulk Hogan, declared he was in fear for his life and was unrepentant about anything he did on Aug. 9, 2014.
Most shocking, and unanswered, celebrity accusations:
Entertainment icon Bill Cosby went from "America's Favorite Dad" to toxic toast as accusations by multiple women that he drugged and raped them in decades past piled up around the now-smoking ruins of his career, his good-guy image and his multi-million-dollar philanthropy. Aside from angry denunciations of the accusers by Cosby's lawyer, Cosby himself has said little in response. Instead, he tried, with mixed success, to go on with his scheduled shows as if the flap will soon go away. Except it probably won't.
Latest cringe-worthy celebrity Twitter fail:
Speaking of Cosby, Roseanne Barr thought she was being funny when she tweeted a Thanksgiving selfie of her swollen, bloody, misshapen face after a chemical peel and suggested it was the result of a "tussle" with Cosby. Yikes! So she deleted and tweeted that she was just kidding. More pictures followed of Barr looking like a beat-up Macy's parade balloon, with an actual joke: "Overcooked turkey." Lesson: Don't joke about Cosby.
Biggest royal media hullabaloo over ... not much:
Prince William and pregnant Duchess Kate are popping over for a quick visit to New York and Washington, D.C., this week. But some in the U.S. media were shocked — shocked! — that the palace instructs media people on a "dress code" when covering royals: Jacket and ties for men, pants or skirt suits for women. No jeans or sneakers allowed. But the dress code is not new: It's on every palace press release about royal engagements, and it's mostly directed at Brit media, rather than slovenly Yanks, because they cover the royals every day. Also — hello? — it's just good manners to spiff up for visitors. After all, media people are required to be in ball gowns and tuxedos to cover the Oscars, and they're just fake royalty.
Most clueless celebrity sex admission (and proof that 'Playboy' no longer matters):
That would be Hugh Hefner's ex-girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson, who said on British TV that she moved into the Playboy Mansion and began sleeping with Hef when she was 18 and he was 78, because she had no clue. But how could she know? She had just graduated from high school. "I just wanted to party. And I had a damn good time. It was so much fun. ... Hef asked me to be one of his girlfriends and live in the mansion, and I was like, 'I don't even know what that means, but hell, yeah! I'm there!' ... I moved in and weeks went by and I didn't know that sex was involved. Because I knew nothing about Playboy."
Most stylish traveling celebrities:
That would be newlyweds George and Amal Clooney, rich and famous but not afraid of dad jeans and ripped pants. Mr. and Mrs. Clooney traveled on Thanksgiving Day out of Heathrow in London (where it was just another Thursday since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving) looking so, so chic: She was in on-trend ripped skinny black jeans, wedge sneakers and a white T-shirt under a cream snake-print moto jacket. He looked his hipster best, with a fedora, backpack, charcoal gray hooded sweatshirt under a trench coat, and a snow-white goatee on his face. He still likes those loose-fitting dad jeans, but he's George Clooney, so he canwear whatever he wants.