Awww, poor little James Franco! He works so hard getting all those degrees, and some mean old professor thinks he can get away with giving him a D! Not so fast, meany pants! Sure, Franco missed 12 classes, and yeah, there were only 14 classes in total, but I bet he worked really, really hard for those two classes! You’re just jealous! I’m glad you got fired!

Yes, this happened. A professor at NYU is claiming that he was fired for giving James Franco a D and also for being Hispanic, and now he’s suing the university:

José Angel Santana — who taught Franco in his “Directing the Actor” class — is now suing the University for his job back, claiming he was wrongfully terminated … because he’s an Hispanic man with the audacity to give Franco a low grade.

When people found out that Santana gave Franco a D, Santana claims he suffered all sorts of public humiliation — at the hands of James Franco … and the University itself, which ultimately fired him … something he claims would never have happened to a white professor.

According to Santana, other teachers played favorites with Franco, including fellow professor Jay Anania … who Franco hired to write and direct the film “Shadows & Lies.”

Santana groused, “In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy.”

Can you see this happening?  Because I certainly can. Franco’s always been a bit full of himself, and he’s not exactly known for his maturity. It’s completely plausible that he would have the gall to throw a fit for almost failing after missing 12 out of 14 classes, and it’s also completely ridiculous. I’ve had professors that automatically fail students after two unexcused absences, and I thought that was fair. Man, if I was in James’ class, I would be completely pissed that he even got a D. I’d be like “fail that son of a bitch, he doesn’t care, he’s hosting the Oscars.” Ugh.

What do you guys think?

Justin Bieber is addicted to the Playboy Mansion. [The Superficial]

Sean Penn calls Maria Conchita a “pig.” [Bitten and Bound]

Chaz Bono is back on the market, ladies. [Starpulse]

Well, well. Look who might be running for President. [Bossip]

Kate Bosworth remembers her blue-haired days. [Socialite Life]

Christian Bale is being pushed around. [Yeeeah]

Rihanna‘s going to rehab. [Celebslam]

Jerry Sandusky was “teaching the kids how to shower.” [The Superficial]

Selena Gomez‘s mom miscarried. [The Blemish]

Rooney Mara backpedals. [Lainey Gossip]

Ryan Gosling is super-concerned about your eggs. [Jezebel]

… And here he is in his Christmas jammies. [OMGBlog]

Deep thoughts from Thomas Jane. [The Frisky]

Bridesmaids for Best Picture? [Cele|bitchy]

Princess Kate‘s been working out. [Hollywood Backwash]

Celebrity ugly Christmas sweaters. [theBERRY]

Blind items!: Porn obsession, bipolar disorder, drug relapse. [Hollywood Dame]

Damn, can these ladies sing or what? However, I personally prefer Florence Welch‘s tribute to Amy, which you can check out right here, despite it’s craptastic quality:

Really, now, no comparison, right? We’re all in agreement here that Florence was definitely way more spot-on in channeling and shooting off a tribute to Amy Winehouse than, say, Kelly Clarkson with her snippet of “Since You’ve Been Gone,” yes?

Yeah, I embedded a YouTube video, even though you can’t really see anything. You can, however, hear Rihanna energetically shouting to the crowd. Then she goes silent. (What is the last thing she yells? It sounds like “Facebooooook!” to me. That probably isn’t what she said, though.)

The camera points toward the crowd, then looks back at the stage, and voila—no sign of Rihanna anywhere. Just some backup dancers, shimmying.

Rihanna confirmed afterward, in reply to a fan via Twitter, that she totally ran offstage to horf.

My favorite YouTube comment so far is “SHE THREW UP IN A HOPELESS PLACE,” which, I keep snickering because I can’t tell whether it’s literal or figurative. Like, maybe this guy just doesn’t like Portugal? Is that what he means?

According to the Huffington Post, though, Rihanna might really be in a “hopeless place.” She’s even contemplating taking a yearlong hiatus after her exhausting 10-month tour, and others report that she is emotionally drained. Also, she had the flu a few weeks ago, which can’t help anything.

Kinda hard to believe that Brittany Murphy died two years ago, right? And all those cause-of-death rumors! Cocaine. Meth. Anorexia. The suspicious, weird-looking widower.

When Sharon Murphy told reporters her daughter “had a cold” when she died, people rolled their eyes. Then the coroner’s office ruled that the 32-year old really had died of pneumonia, complicated by anemia and prescription pills.

Ohhh. Pills, everyone thought, because yeah, pills could definitely kill a person. But then Brittany’s husband, Simon Monjack, died six months later. Of pneumonia and anemia, and not pills.

Then, when Monjack died, the coroner’s office began to suspect toxic mold as the culprit.

It would’ve been nice to have that theory confirmed sooner rather than later, but Sharon Murphy wouldn’t let the health department inside the house. Which is, I don’t know, very needlessly combative? It wasn’t until Brittany’s mother tried to sell the house—and eventually did, for $2.7 million—that she was like, “Oh, there’s toxic mold in here.” I mean, it was forever before Sharon Murphy moved out of the Killer House and into a hotel, even. Sheesh, lady.

Anyway. This timeline is so twisted, I’m having some trouble making sense of it myself, but here’s how I see it:

(more…)

Oh Kiefer, how I do love thee. Do you guys remember this?

I still LOL my ass off when I see this video. So for those of you who had no idea what this new Christmas card, watch the video. Please. It’s hilarious. Plus, I’m all for Kiefer doing stuff in public because I heard through the grapevine that the 24 movie is FINALLY a go. And for me, that might be the greatest Hollywood Christmas present of all, guys.