Last night Rihanna played a sold-out show at the 20,000 person-capacity O2 Arena in North Greenwich, London. She arrived at the venue not in a helicopter, limousine or tour bus, but by riding the Tube. The train was crowded — with fans headed to her show — and the pop star said, “Dunno how you guys do it!” Riri chatted with folks in her car and posed for pictures and acted like a relatively normal 23-year-old millionaire. A spokesperson for the London Underground says that she showed up unannounced, no special arrangements were made, and staffers were completely surprised. But the guy did take the opportunity to brag about the subway, saying: “Millions of Londoners and visitors know Oyster gives you easy access to the capital’s transport network including fast, frequent and reliable Tube services. It’s great Rihanna seems to agree.” [London Evening Standard, MTV UK]
Pour yourself a big old glass of gin and juice: Snoop Dogg has sold a comedy pilot to NBC. The Doggfather will produce and star in the show. Bow wow wow yippie yay. [Reuters]
Watch out for Jennifer Aniston‘s dark side: “I threw a chair at a director. It wasn’t my proudest moment. He was treating a script supervisor horribly… When the director walked in, I threw a chair at him. I missed, of course. I was like, ‘You can’t speak to people like that.’ I can’t tolerate it.” [Huffington Post]
Super sad stuff from the Michael Jackson trial. Dr. Conrad Murray taped MJ slurring and rambling, saying: “I love [children] because I didn’t have a childhood… I had no childhood. I feel their pain. I feel their hurt.” Jackson is silent for 13 seconds or so. The doctor asks, “Are you okay?” And MJ says: “I am asleep.” [MTV]
The prosecution lined up dozens of bottles of medicine on the table in court yesterday, all of them being taken by Michael Jackson at the time of his death. [AP]
- George Clooney brought not one but two dates to the red carpet premiere of The Ides of March: His mom and his dad. “My mom — I don’t want to say it, but she’s really drunk, so try not to talk to her. She slurs and stuff comes out of her mouth — it’s really bad,” The Cloons joked. [Access Hollywood via OMG]
- James Marsden will guest star on 30 Rock, where he’ll probably burn Liz Lemon with those weird laser eyes. [EW]
- Meh: Penn Badgley and Zoe Kravitz were spotted holding hands. Sorry, I just don’t think Lonelyboy from Gossip Girl is a good match for Lenny‘s daughter. [Us]
- Melanie Chisholm, the woman formerly known as Sporty Spice, admits being a Spice Girl was “amazing, but also very tough.” She explains: “The tabloids were cruel about my appearance, and nothing can prepare you for that… there were a lot of lies printed.” Plus: “questions about my sexuality.” [Us Magazine]
- Brian May says Queen might go on the road, and since the band doesn’t have a lead singer at the moment, they could maybe possibly recruit Lady Gaga. Probably not, but maybe. [NME]
- Michael Moore has joined the fray at Occupy Wall Street. [Gatecrasher]
- Whoa: “Bill Clinton will present Keith Richards with the Mailer Prize for Distinguished Biography at the Norman Mailer Center‘s benefit.” [Page Six]
- David Cassidy is suing Sony for millions of dollars, claiming he has not been paid for sales of a bunch of Partridge Family merch. [BBC News]
- “Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally and I have therefore decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews.” — Lars Von Trier, who’s facing charges in France for rambling about Hitler. [Gatecrasher]
- “I’m all for a little something here and there – fine. It doesn’t matter to me if people have plastic surgery or they don’t, or if they do Botox. But when people don’t look like themselves anymore, that’s when you kind of go, ‘Oooh,’ and it’s kind of sad. It’s uncomfortable for us, but if they’re happy with what they see in the mirror, does it matter?” — Michelle Pfeiffer. [ONTD]