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Hate it or love it or set it on fire
THE $2.4 MILLION Long Island mansion that has been at the center of a nasty legal fight between rapper 50 Cent and ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins burned to the ground yesterday morning under circumstances that the fire department called "suspicious."The New Dix fire chief said that the fire burned with an unusual intensity and that after extinguishing the fire he had turned the area over to arson investigators.
Everyone in the house was rescued (including a pet guinea pig) but six people, including Tompkins and her and 50 Cent's 10-year-old son Marquise, were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
After leaving the hospital, Tompkins held a news conference where she very emotionally stated that 50 Cent is dangerously obsessed with her and had recently threatened her life.
"If he can't have me, no one can," Tompkins said. "He said that he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does. This is what he did."
50 Cent, who does not live at the house and was in Lousiana filming a movie at the time of the fire, has been trying to evict Tompkins since early April. Tompkins blocked her eviction with a countersuit in Manhattan's Supreme Court, claiming that she had evidence that the house was bought as a gift for her and her son a decade ago and that 50 Cent had promised to put her name on the deed.
Tompkins' attorney said that there had been an "extremely dangerous incident" on Monday in his Manhattan office, but didn't specify what the incident was. The Web site TMZ, however, reported yesterday that earlier this week, after a long day of depositions at the attorney's office, someone in 50 Cent's entourage had "trashed" the office.
SatTatt feels bad about the fire, but looks forward to seeing whether evening newscasters will say "Fifty Cent" or "Fitty Cent."
Nope, no babies yet, really
It appears that Entertainment Tonight jumped the gun yesterday morning when they located the Jolie-Pitt twins outside Angelina Jolie.
Other celebrity gossip sources, those paragons of accuracy, were calling ET's scoop bogus within two hours. SatTatt suggests, as a former fact-checking intern herself, that it might be in ET's best interest to pick a few up. It's not like you have to pay them; just get them pizza every once in a while and tell them there might be an editorial job opening up soon. Really.
The ET item cited an unnamed source close to the actress, who claimed that Jolie had given birth to twin girls named Isla Marcheline and Amelie Jane. People was the first to get a representative for the actress denying that she had given birth, followed closely by E! and US Weekly.
Then, the Web site for ET was down for several hours, with visitors getting only a white screen and "ET Online Technical Difficulties." Probably a more accurate statement would be "BRB: We're firing someone."
Jolie is due in mid-August.
Hot tranny message
"Project Runway" winner Christian Siriano yesterday apologized for a comment he made a Time Out New York panel on gay pride that offended many in the transsexual and transgendered communities.
Even though his catchphrase "hot tranny mess" (which if you believe the reality show's editors and the recent SNL skit make up 80% of the words that come out of the 22-year-old designer's mouth) is familiar to anyone who watched the show and didn't raise too many eyebrows, the transgender community was up in arms after Siriano responded to a question on why gay New Yorkers seem to end up in different niches around the city by saying, "If you think of heterosexuals, they have white-trash women and trailer parks, and we have drag queens and trannies."
Siriano insists that he meant no disrespect, saying that the quote was taken out of context. "Some of my close friends happen to be transgender and I think they are some of the most inspiring people in my life . . . I completely support the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration that most transgender people provide."
Siriano's response has since been removed from the Time Out New York Web site.
Inanity now!
Three of Bill Cosby's famously eye-searing sweaters that the actor wore on "The Cosby Show" are being auctioned off on eBay for charity. Bidding starts at $5,000 . . . Mel Brooks is quietly closing Brooksfilms after 30 years of producing his trademark comedies. Although the company hasn't made a movie since 1995 and Brooks has been focusing on Broadway in recent years, it's still sad that the place where "Spaceballs" was made will be gone . . . Jamie-Lynn Spears and babydaddy/fiance Casey Aldridge have purchased a prefab-looking home in Kentwood, La. . . . After a Stockholm conference on Iraq, Condoleezza Rice briefly hung out with members of the band KISS, who were also in Sweden and called her up. SatTatt realizes that the band members were wearing street clothes, but the image of Condi chatting with the band in full KISS regalia is far too great a mental image to let go . . . *
