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People: Bruce Springsteen, Marlee Matlin, Cecily Strong, Dax Shepard, Sharon Osbourne, Jack McBrayer, Sam Worthington
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NBC says its benefit concert for Superstorm Sandy victims drew nearly $23 million in donations to the American Red Cross, The Associated Press reports.
Friday's hourlong telethon included performances by artists native to the areas hardest hit by Sandy, including New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi and Billy Joel of New York's Long Island. Others who took part in the special included Sting, Christina Aguilera, Mary J. Blige, Tina Fey and Jon Stewart.
Pledges made by phone and online totaled $22.9 million, NBCUniversal and the American Red Cross said.
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Marlee Matlin is giving "Saturday Night Live" an earful.
The Oscar-winning actress took the NBC series to task this weekend on Twitter for a show-opening skit spoofing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sign language interpreter, Lydia Callis, and her extremely animated signing during the former's Hurricane Sandy press conferences, E! News reports.
"Millions of deaf people use sign. Why poke fun/fake it? Poke fun at ME but not the language. Would they do that to Spanish or Chinese? FAIL," the 47-year-old Matlin tweeted.
Guess she's never seen Fred Armisen's "Showbiz Grande Explosion" bit.
The funnyman played the mayor in the skit while "SNL" costar Cecily Strong took on the role of his lively translator -- this after clips of the real Callis went viral earlier this week, making it easy comedic fodder.
But Matlin, who's deaf and is an outspoken member of the National Association of the Deaf, was unhappy about it and explained why.
"I'm referring to sign language parodies. Sign is not mime; it is a legit language. That's why I developed an App ?#MarleeSigns to teach it," she wrote in a follow-up post. "As I've said, I don't mind fun poked at me, as I poke back. But at the language that millions use? It feels childish and insulting."
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Life is imitating art for Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell.
The "Parenthood" actor and "House of Lies" actress are expecting their first child in late spring, People reports.
"They're so excited -- they're both ecstatic. They can't wait to become parents," a close friend said.
"Kristen had a little bit of morning sickness early on but she just started shooting the second season of 'House of Lies' and is feeling great now."
Bell, 32, and Shepard, 37, started dating in 2007 and have been engaged for nearly three years.
While promoting their film "Hit and Run" this summer, the couple said children were definitely in their future and would likely come before a wedding, because they don't plan to marry until same-sex marriage is legal in their home state of California.
"We wouldn't want to invite all of our friends who don't have that right to celebrate us, who have that right. We just don't feel right about that," Shepard said on "The View" in July. Added Bell: "Can you think about how rude that would feel?"
Having kids before marriage, Bell told Larry King in August, "doesn't really bother us."
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Having successfully fought colon cancer a decade ago, then discovering she carried the gene that made her predisposed to having breast cancer, Sharon Osbourne says it was a "no brainer" to undergo a double mastectomy, she reveals in a new interview, People reports.
"As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: 'The odds are not in my favor,' " The Talk co-host, who recently turned 60, tells the U.K.'s Hello! magazine, adding that she didn't want to live under the cloud of cancer.
"I decided to just take everything off," she reasoned. Osbourne underwent the 13-hour operation last summer, a family rep confirms to People.
In the interview, Osbourne says her recent health problems began with a leaking breast implant.
"For me, it wasn't a big decision, she says. "I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl" -- the 6-month-old daughter of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's son, Jack Osbourne, and Jack's new bride, Lisa (they married in Hawaii Oct. 7).
"It's not 'pity me,' " says Sharon, calling hers "a decision I made that's got rid of this weight that I was carrying around."
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Jack McBrayer can see the end of "30 Rock" just up ahead.
The Emmy-nominated actor best known as Kenneth the page from the Emmy-winning show says the mood is getting sad on set as the final days of filming near, the AP reports.
"Toward the end it's going to start getting emotional," he said, "and I'm going to start stealing stuff right and left."
Among the items he hopes to acquire? His blue NBC page uniform: "It's pretty much just formed to my own skin like body paint at this point."
A star of the weekend's top film "Wreck-It Ralph," McBrayer said he's eager to see what roles the future might hold.
"I know how good I got it right now, so on the one hand, I'm like if it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said. "But then you do always wonder, like, what if I would be the best serial killer in the world or something? So I'm open for anything. Like I said, old boy just wants to work."
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MTV, home of the "Jersey Shore" reality show, plans to air a fundraising special to help rebuild New Jersey's devastated shoreline, the AP reports.
The one-hour program will air Nov. 15 from MTV's Times Square studio in New York City. It will feature the cast of "Jersey Shore" along with other guests.
The network said Monday the program will solicit contributions for the rebuilding of Seaside Heights, the heart of the Jersey shore and the principal setting for the "Jersey Shore" series.
For this effort, MTV will be partnering with Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that provides design and construction services to communities in need.
Seaside Heights was among numerous coastal areas devastated by Sandy last week.
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Sam Worthington has gotten in many on-screen brawls, but on Saturday, he was arrested for a getting into a real life fight -- and had to be subdued with pepper spray, People reports.
The star of "Terminator Salvation," "Clash of the Titans" and "Avatar" was arrested for fighting Saturday in Atlanta. He was charged with disorderly conduct and fighting, but those charges were dismissed in court Monday morning, TMZ reports.
Police tell TMZ the actor got into an altercation at midtown's Vortex bar and grill when he wasn't allowed in -- first because he didn't have identification and then because he was deemed too intoxicated to enter.
While confirming the incident, a manager told People, "We can't make any comment."
Worthington, 36, allegedly pushed the doorman down twice, and the doorman retaliated by using pepper spray to subdue the actor until police arrived.
The actor is in Atlanta filming Arnold Schwarzenegger's new film, "Ten," which also co-stars Terrence Howard, Josh Holloway and Joe Manganiello.
First Published November 6, 2012 12:00 am
