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Published: June 14, 2009
■ Sarah Palin would no doubt be horrified by the idea, but there's a chance she could become the same boon to David Letterman's career that Hugh Grant was to Jay Leno's. Grant's 1995 appearance on NBC's Tonight show after a prostitution arrest, where Leno famously asked "What were you thinking?," was seen in retrospect as a turning point in the late-night race. It drew a huge audience and propelled Leno to the top of the ratings, a spot that he would not relinquish. Letterman did not court last week's battle with Palin, who called him "perverted" for making a joke about her daughter getting "knocked up" by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, and he said in retrospect that the remark was in poor taste. Palin rebuffed his invitations to appear on the show, but that might not matter. The story had the effect of turning the attention to Letterman at a critical time, during the second week of his new competition with Leno's replacement, Conan O'Brien.
■ The woman in the passenger seat the night that Morgan Freeman wrecked a car on a rural Mississippi highway was partly to blame for the accident, the actor's attorney said Friday in court papers. Demaris Meyer is suing Freeman, 71, in U.S. District Court in Oxford, Miss., claiming that Freeman was negligent when the car he was driving ran off the side of a road in and flipped several times. Both Meyer and Freeman were seriously injured in the August wreck, which was on a two-lane road about five miles west of Freeman's home in Charleston. Meyer, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., sued Freeman in February for medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost wages, permanent disability and property damage.
■ Court records show that singer Usher has filed for divorce from Tameka Foster Raymond after less than two years of marriage. The 30-year-old Grammy-winning artist, whose real name is Usher Raymond IV, filed the petition Friday in Superior Court in Atlanta. The court record did not give any details about the split between the R&B star and his wife, who were married in August 2007.
■ Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean says she lost her crown because of a comment she made about gay marriage and not because she had been skipping appearances. Prejean told Matt Lauer on NBC'S Today show Friday that she "absolutely" had been dethroned because of the comment, in which she said that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Prejean lost her title after Keith Lewis, the California pageant executive director, said that Prejean skipped Miss California USA events while speaking out against gay marriage at unsanctioned appearances. Lewis said Friday that the pageant would never try to silence its contestants. Prejean was replaced by the pageant's first runner-up, Miss Malibu, Tami Farrell, who has also said that she believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
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