Gossip / Rumors

UPDATE: TMZ has confirmed that Jay-Z WAS NOT aboard the plane. The three aboard the plane were "white men."

Rumors have been swirling this morning that rapresario Jay-Z (aka Shawn Carter) was in a plane crash this morning.

TMZ has confirmed that a small plane registered to a citizen of Dublin, GA crashed near Asheville, NC in the Smoky Mountains. The FAA tells TMZ that the four-seat propeller plane did go down this morning, but could not provide any additional details.

Pulling up to the "Desperate Housewives" wrap party, Henderson was asked about Paris and he replied, "Haven't talked to her" -- not exactly the kind of response you'd expect from a lovebird. Later, when a photog asked about Paris' big day scheduled for court today, all Josh would say was, "She's a sweetheart... She'll be all right" -- again, not exactly a declaration of love and support for the car-challenged GF.

Meanwhile, last night, Paris -- playing mute for the first time in as long as we can remember, not unlike the pursed-lip Debbie Harry -- had no response when asked about her court date. She was leaving her house -- sans Josh -- and had nothing to say about either.

A message left with Paris' rep wasn't immediately returned.

Is Debbie ready to give us all a new view?

A TMZ spy says original "View" host Debbie Matenopoulos was "thick as thieves" with Playboy poser Kristine Lefebvre at the GBK Gifting lounge at the Stoli Hotel in Hollywood last night. Just a coupla' gals, er, hangin' out?

We're told the talk wasn't just on Lefebvre's racy cover shot, but what kind of deal the former "Apprentice" might be able to broker for Matenopoulos. Lefebvre, a power attorney, has negotiated celebrity Playboy deals for the likes of Pamela Anderson and Deborah Gibson, and her own titular deal is said to be "potentially very lucrative."

This would certainly give Babwa, Rosie, Joy and Elisabeth something to talk about!

While sources told TMZ last week that the Diva-licious Asia isn't "the best match" for the scantily clad girl group, a rep for the show "The Search for the Next Doll" assures us that Asia will still purr with the Pussycats. Her absence from last night's performance was planned and there are no plans for her to join them until after this tour wraps in two days.

Asia is set join the rest of the gang to record the Dolls' second album and will tour with them then.

In other PCD news -- TMZ spotted Robin Antin, the creator of the group, dancing last night with the runners-up on the reality series, Chelsea and Melissa, at the opening of the Stoli Hotel in Hollywood. A second season of the show is also rumored to be coming soon, though Warner Bros. denies another season is in the pipeline.

An e-mail first popped up about ten years ago -- and has recently resurfaced -- which alleges that Hilfiger was booted off the set of "Oprah" when he supposedly admitted that he intended his designs for "upper-class white people," not for Blacks, Jews, Asians or Latinos. Turns out that Hilfiger never said anything of the sort -- anywhere -- and that he wasn't even a guest on the show.

TMZ caught up with the ex-boy-bander last night in Hollywood, after a visit to Winston's. Lance was walking down the street in a cozy clinch with a leggy young brunette. After mock-asking his galpal, "Does this mean we're going out?" -- Bass expressed disgust at her answer in the affirmative. (He did, however, proclaim his love for TMZ, not unlike Lindsay Lohan.)

Richard Gere isn't bothered that a warrant's out for his arrest in India, and he's accusing a "very small right-wing, very conservative" faction in the country for coming after him for his public kissing of an Indian actress. "They do this kind of thing quite often," Gere told Jon Stewart on last night's "Daily Show." "I don't know that anyone has actually gone to jail ... It goes to a reputable court and they throw it out." Yesterday, an Indian judge issued a warrant for Gere's arrest in Jaipur, saying that he had "transgressed all limits of vulgarity" when he smooched Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS benefit.

Wondering what Sean Penn was doing in the middle of the night to visit Eve in an LAPD station house, as TMZ reported exclusively yesterday morning? According to Rush & Molloy, he offered to bail her out – but when he saw that the press was gathering, he hightailed it out, telling Eve, "Let me leave before this becomes something bigger than it is."

The rapper-actress, says a source, was "surprised" to see Penn arrive at the Hollywood division, and when he offered to pay her $30,000 bail, she politely declined. But Penn then got skittish when he noticed that the paparazzi were assembling, though it was too late – TMZ caught him coming out. It's still unclear whether the pair were hanging out earlier in the evening.

Producer George Lucas dropped the casting nugget on 710 ESPN Radio's "The Big Show With Steve Mason & John Ireland" before signing off, telling the show, "My director [Steven Spielberg] gets very angry if I say anything at all about the movie ... I said we live in the age of the Internet, nothing's gonna be a secret, nothing is a secret, but he [LaBeouf] is in the movie."

Someone should have told Lucas what keeping a secret means!

Ian Ziering is dancing his way into our living rooms every week, but the former 90210ian won't be flashing his privates in the pages of Playgirl.

In Touch claimed that Ziering had been offered a tantalizing $100,000 to drop his leotard for the peep rag.

TMZ contacted a Playgirl rep who, when asked about the reports, informed us, "Uhhhh, that would be a big NO. Playgirl doesn't have that kind of budget to play with." Playgirl without something to play with?

BREAKING NEWS: Mum(my)'s no longer the word... TMZ has learned that Rachel Weisz is dropping out of the rapidly-rising three-quel of "The Mummy" franchise at Universal Pictures.

The actress won the 2006 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in "The Constant Gardener," but more recently gave birth to another statuesque little guy: Henry Chance, who's now nine-months-old, and has apparently been living the sweet life -- vacationing last month with mom in Brazil.

Meanwhile, our spies tell us Weisz is up to her neck in other offers, with some four different projects coming together imminently, all of which will be juggled around newfound parenthood with "The Fountain" director (and baby-daddy) Darren Aronofsky.

In an interview on the Los Angeles STAR 98.7's Valentine and Lisa Foxx Show this morning, Arquette shot down rumors that he and wife Courteney Cox are splitting, saying the only reason he's not with her all the time is because he's doing a bus tour to promote his horror flick, "The Tripper."

Elizabeth Hurley's lavish weddings have her father-in-law lashing out against the actress and her new husband, Arun Nayer.

According to Britain's Sunday Mirror, Vinod Nayer states, "Liz and Arun have treated us very shabbily," adding, "I feel that Liz and Arun behaved shamefully and placed more importance on showing off than their own family." Not Liz! Vinod says the couple made him and his wife feel like "social outcasts" at their opulent English and Indian wedding spectacles, which included guests like Elton John, fashion designer Tom Ford and supermodel Elle Macpherson. Vinod has reportedly "cut all ties" to the newlyweds.

TMZ contacted Hurley's rep, who had no comment.

Lauren Conrad is denying she made a sex tape with one of her co-stars, but sources are telling TMZ a different tale.

A rep for SugarDVD.com tells TMZ that they were approached by a third party claiming to have the tape -- allegedly featuring Conrad with her "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills" co-star Jason Wahler. The rep says the company offered $500,000 for the latest star skin flick -- sight unseen. SugarDVD.com reportedly called Wahler's manager and made him the same offer. According to the SugarDVD source, Wahler's manager would neither confirm nor deny the that there was a tape. News of the tape's possible existence was first reported by Perez Hilton.

Mike Esterman, who reps several "Laguna Beach" stars, confirmed to TMZ that he was contacted, but passed the offer on to Wahler's camp.

A rep from Vivid Entertainment, the company that just released the Kim Kardashian sex tape, tells TMZ his company has not been contacted, but would certainly consider making an offer.

Conrad fired back today with a blog on her website that reads, "Jason and I would like to make it clear that we did not make a tape with us having sex. Jason and I are both shocked and hurt that people would say such horrible things about us. I can't believe that somebody would go to such great lengths to try to damage my reputation."

Last night, the "Tonight Show" host suggested that the A.I. hairball, whose father is from India, might be getting more support in Bollywood than Hollywood.

The towering WWE star and the petite Olympic gold medalist made a curious pair as they walked side by side to a parking lot near posh Hollywood eatery Parc, fielding questions about the current season of the dance-off.

Keibler's boyfriend, "October Road" hunk Geoff Stults, was apparently off-road somewhere.