Madonna cleaned up her act for her dad.
The singer has been shocking audiences during her Confessions tour, repeatedly using the f-word, flipping her middle finger at the crowd, reaching inside her pants, and suggesting that people perform a lewd act on President Bush. At a recent show in Chicago, however, the naughty talk was all but absent, because Madonna’s father was in the audience.
“She gave the crowd the finger only one time and never once said the f-word,” says a source who attended that show as well as another one earlier. “At one point, she actually asked the audience to applaud extra loud for her so that her dad would know she made something of herself. The crowd went wild.”
A costly propositionThat lunch where Beyonce Knowles was ambushed by anti-fur activists may have been her worst meal ever, but sounds like it would have also been a bit of a headache for any genuine fan who had forked over the cash to meet the singer.
In a highly publicized ploy, PETA won a dinner with Knowles by bidding for it on eBay and then at the meal, asked her to stop using fur in her clothing line — and video taped it all.
“We won the eBay auction last June 2005 using my real name,” PETA’s Hannah Schein told the Scoop. “There was never any deception during the whole year when corresponding with Beyonce’s contact, Byl.”
The opportunity to meet Knowles cost a whopping $9,000 — and was paid for by a PETA donor, according to a spokesman for the group. But actually landing Knowles for the event wasn’t easy.
“Byl would tell me they were looking at dates in October, then it would turn into November, and so on,” according to Schein. She says a date was scheduled only after she threatened to demand a refund. “Byl said they preferred to make it a dinner, not a lunch, so it was scheduled for 6 p.m. On the day of the dinner, just as we finished lunch, Byl called us to change the time to 3:30, saying that Beyonce would be ‘too exhausted to give us her full attention’ later,” according to Schein. She and a colleague were at the restaurant on time, but Knowles and her entourage arrived at 4:15, she says.
“Beyonce ordered for the whole table,” according to Schein, who says that eight or nine people were at the table. “When she finished ordering, her mother told her that maybe her guests wanted something different.” Then the discussion of fur really soured the mood of the meal.
Notes from all overNicole Kidman has shelled out more than $200,000 for hotel rooms in Australia for her wedding guests, according to the London Mirror. Guests get a pre-paid $200 run at their room’s mini bar. ... Meanwhile, Kidman looked her svelte self during a recent trip to Shanghai, hushing the buzz that she’s preggars — which her Aussie rep has denied. ... Kevin Federline has a new cause: saving the penny. Britney Spears’ hubby, along with Virgin Records chairman Richard Branson and director Matthew Eggers will “unite to reinvigorate the purpose of the penny in face of its possible legislative elimination,” according to an announcement. The three will appear in Times Square at mid-day on Wednesday and be among the first to “to sign the ‘Save the Penny’ petition to be presented to lawmakers in Washington D.C.” They’ll also be donating pennies to charity.
Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com
