During the MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona, one of our spies spotted Pink signing copies of PETA’s Animal Times magazine. This was just after word hit that peta protesters had invaded Gisele Bündchen’s catwalk at the Victoria’s Secret show. Pink told her fans that she not only wants to start protesting for animal rights but would be happy to get arrested. Her manager, Craig Logan, overheard her but wasn’t too thrilled: He made her promise not to do anything that would land her behind bars until after her world tour… . Meanwhile, after the awards, another spy saw Sean “P. Diddy” Combs huddled at his party at the Mirabé club with none other than PETA front man Dan Mathews. Back in 2001, the PETA people flew into a rage after Combs reneged on his promise not to use animal hides in his Sean John collection. (Instead, his models showcased designs featuring fox, mink, and lynx fur.) But at Mirabé, our spy overheard Combs asking Mathews to “stop protesting me, and start educating me.” Combs even agreed to meet with PETA members back in the States. Mathews confirmed that he had a short chat with Combs and has already sent him some educational materials – including Pamela Anderson’s new anti-animal-skin flick.
It’s nowhere near closing time at Last Call With Carson Daly. The late-night show was picked up for a second season, and recently received the best ratings in the 1:35 a.m. time slot for NBC since 1992 (an average of 1.8 million viewers every night). So just how have Carson Daly and his staff been celebrating their success? By redecorating. A blackjack table was brought in to function as a desk, tiger carpeting was laid down, and velvet curtains were put in place to complete the nightclub feel Daly had asked for, an insider reports. And just in case Daly’s daytime staff needed a further reminder that they’re producing an after-hours show, our source says, a wet bar was installed. This matches Daly’s style – younger and hipper than late-night elder statesmen like David Letterman and Jay Leno. “There’s always loud music playing,” reports another insider. “They’re like no other offices at NBC. Saturday Night Live is on the same floor, but it’s just a different vibe.”
New York University should be careful in asking John Lavelle for any donations. Lavelle was just twelve credits shy of graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts when he was cast to replace Jason Biggs as Benjamin Braddock in Broadway’s The Graduate opposite Lorraine Bracco. Lavelle’s parents – Mom is a hospice nurse and Dad is a retired New York City fireman – had already prepaid his college tuition. But when Lavelle notified the school he needed to take a leave of absence and asked for a refund, NYU officials balked. An NYU rep says Lavelle’s request came two weeks too late and he will not be able to use the funds toward his tuition if he returns.
The scene was literally a smash at Williamsburg club Luxx last Tuesday. Two female members of Sweden, a local electro-pop band, were D.J.’ing at artist Lisa Ruyter’s party to celebrate her new show at Leo Koenig’s Tribeca gallery. At some point, Koenig’s girlfriend, Debora Warner, began complaining about the music. “She was saying she was going to get us thrown out,” claims Sweden’s Richard Agerbeek. Agerbeek recognized Warner as being the same person who griped about the music at a mutual friend’s Halloween party last month. “I said, ‘You’re that crazy bitch,’ ” Agerbeek recalls. “Then Leo punched me and one of his friends hit me in the face with a bottle. I had to get five or six stitches across my eye.” Koenig, whose father, Kasper, is director of the influential Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany, confirmed the scuffle: “He pushed my girlfriend and called her a bitch.” But the 25-year-old Koenig has offered to discuss helping Agerbeek with any medical expenses.
New York Mets legend Rusty Staub usually wears three championship rings. One for the 1986 World Series and and two National League championship rings, for 1973 and 2000. But the great right-fielder tells us that his ‘73 ring was stolen a few months ago. Staub says he was at a fund-raiser at the Westchester Country Club for a spinal-cord-injury group and was letting fans try on the rings. Staub turned his back for a moment and suddenly the ‘73 ring was gone. “I can’t say someone definitely stole it, but we looked everywhere for it and never found it,” Staub told us. Fortunately, the Mets organization has offered to replace it. They keep molds of the rings for just such emergencies.
With Aric Chen.
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