The Lady Kanye of the Oscars, Elinor Burkett, was on Joy Behar’s CNN show on Tuesday to give her side of the story. Burkett provided one of the few interesting moments in an otherwise dreary ceremony when she jumped onto the stage when the director of the winning Documentary Short, Music by Prudence, was giving his acceptance speech. Brassy rough-voiced Burkett jumped on the stage and said “the man never lets the woman talk. Isn’t that just the classic thing? In a world in which most of us are told… that we can’t, Liyana, the [disabled] band behind this film, teaches us that we’re wrong. Against all odds they did, so we can.” She then name-checked some of the subjects of the film and the two pointed out that Prudence, the disabled subject of the film, was in the audience.

When asked what she was thinking when she interrupted the speech, Burkett said she realized they only had 45 seconds and said that she thought “if I don’t make it to that stage within 3 seconds he’s not going to thank the band, he’s only going to talk about himself.” Joy added “that’s what he did,” and Burkett agreed.

Burkett pointed out that she’s a producer of the film and that her name is on the Oscar. There’s a whole backstory there, as Burkett and the director she interrupted, Roger Ross Williams, have been fighting over creative direction. Williams says that Burkett doesn’t deserve credit for the film after she removed herself from the project. He claimed “I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.” Burkett counters that she got an Oscar with her name on it and had every right to speak. (Salon.com has much more from both sides if you’re interested.)

Turns out the woman who rushed the stage was Music By Prudence producer Elinor Burkett, whose name had also been called for the award. She tells EW that the confusion began because Williams had refused to discuss beforehand which one of them should speak on stage if they won. (The two aren’t on speaking terms due to a creative conflict over the film.) She also claims she only stepped in because he was neglecting to thank the film’s main subjects, the Zimbabwean band Liyana. And she had a few things to say about being compared to a certain mic-grabbing rapper:

“It’s ridiculous. I won an Oscar. Kanye West injected himself onto the stage where he didn’t belong. I don’t know why everyone is acting like I didn’t have the right to be there. My name was called, and I went up because because I won an Oscar. And that’s the only thing I kind of resent, is people acting like I didn’t get an Oscar. It’s really demeaning and denigrating to somebody who did all the work. The Producer’s Guild certified me as the producer. HBO certified me as the producer. There’s this assumption that [Roger] had more of a right to speak than I did. His Oscar is not bigger than my Oscar.“

[From EW]

Larry King gave Williams a platform for making his full Oscars acceptance speech, and Burkett was right - he didn’t thank the band or mention the message of the film and focused on all the people who made the achievement possible for him. He did go on to talk about Prudence and the band, but that was well after his 45 seconds would have expired and you can kind of tell that was an afterthought. I can’t hate on Lady Kanye and I have to hand it to her that she made an otherwise boring night kind of interesting. You can easily see how she would have a falling out with someone over a project, though. I doubt she’s easy to work with.

In the ongoing saga of Farrah Fawcett’s exclusion from the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars on Sunday, we finally have a somewhat better explanation and maybe even an apology from the Academy. We’ve heard previous excuses from the Academy’s executive director and a separate spokesperson that amounted to “we don’t have enough time and can’t include everyone.” In light of the outrage over Farrah’s omission, executive director Bruce Davis is offering the reasoning behind the decision - Farrah was known more as a television actress and there were a lot of important people in the industry who passed last year. What’s more is that Michael Jackson was supposedly included because he was the star of the popular documentary This is It, released posthumously. That excuse is a little weak.

The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn’t included in the Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

It was a difficult decision for the committee that assembles the segment to omit Fawcett, said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis, who added that he’s not surprised some fans and family members are upset.

Fawcett’s family issued a statement through a publicist Tuesday saying they were “deeply saddened” and “bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons.”

Davis said the academy committee debated about including Fawcett and Gene Barry, a longtime TV actor who died in December at age 90, in the memorial segment but ultimately omitted both.

Davis and his colleagues thought that while the two actors appeared in movies, they were better known for their “remarkable television work” and would be more appropriately honored by the television academy at the Emmy Awards.

The group “was kind of figuring that probably the Farrah Fawcett and Gene Barry omissions would be the ones we’d get the most comments on,” he said. He acknowledged that he “did get one letter about Miss Fawcett.”

The academy director said “an unusual number of extremely distinguished screenwriters” died this year, and the academy tried to honor many of them in the short memorial segment.

“In every category, you’re going to miss some wonderful people,” said Davis, who has helped assemble Oscar’s In Memoriam montage since it began in 1993.

When asked why Michael Jackson was included when actors were left out, Davis explained that Jackson had appeared in a popular theatrical film recently. Fawcett and Jackson both died on June 25.

“Think of all the blogging we would have gotten if we had left him out!” he said.

Still, he said he understands that the Fawcett and Barry omissions sting.

“There’s nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all,” Davis said. “They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we’re sorry for it.”

[From Huffington Post]

I was willing to give these idiots the benefit of the doubt until the guy complained about bloggers. Now that everyone is on Facebook and Twitter there’s not much difference between “bloggers” and the opinion of the general public. This guy is trying to separate out the naysayers so that he doesn’t have to take criticism of the Oscars broadcast seriously. He also seems to be distancing himself from offering a sincere apology by saying “there’s nothing you can say” to grieving family anyway. He did say “we’re sorry” at least, even if it sounded half-hearted.

The Academy could have just sucked it up and admitted they were wrong to omit Farrah, but instead they continue to defend their decision. The thing that really sucks is that they managed to boost ratings despite a sub-par show by just adding five more films in the Best Picture category. Now they can continue to churn out a boring, industry-specific show year after year and dismiss legitimate complaints. It’s like they’re saying “this is the way we do it and we’re never going to change.” With this kind of attitude, I doubt that they’ll do even a marginally better job with either the In Memoriam broadcast or the long super boring ceremony next year.

Ryan O’Neal gave a long interview to Radar Online in which he made it very clear how he felt about the Academy’s seemingly deliberate decision to exclude his deceased partner, Farrah Fawcett, from the in memoriam clip at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. Fawcett and several other high profile celebrities who passed away last year were omitted, most notably Bea Arthur, (star of Golden Girls and Mame, I loved that movie!) and I’ve since heard about journalist Dominick Dunne and Tonight Show Host Ed McMahon also being forgotten. The Academy has issued several statements that amount to “we can’t fit everyone in, that’s the way it is,” and it sounds like an arrogant response from an organization that expects the public to sit through over three hours of industry back-slapping year after year. (Sadly, the ratings are up this year despite the relative lack of entertainment value in this year’s ceremony, especially compared to last year when Hugh Jackman hosted. You just know that they’re going to use that as a mandate to continue the boring, overlong status quo.)

O’Neal calls Farrah’s omission “a terrible decision” and “very hurtful,” noting that Farrah was a longterm member of the Academy. He says that he’s trying to get some sort of response from the Academy as to why the decision was made:

a“It was a terrible decision and very hurtful,” O’Neal said. “Farrah was a member of the Academy for over 40 years and we could not believe she did not get a mention.” Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy were included in the segment.

O’Neal also revealed that he and daughter Tatum O’Neal- who watched the ceremony together- intend to write a letter of protest.

“Both Tatum and I were very upset and we intend to write a letter to the Academy to try and get an explanation for this oversight on their behalf.”

RadarOnline.com spoke to Lesle Unger, a rep for the Academy, shortly after the awards ended. She explained that “there are many angles that are looked at as to who to include and unfortunately we don’t include everyone.”

Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said days before that the segment was the most difficult to produce since they had to whittle over a hundred names down to around thirty.

O’Neal scoffed at the notion that Fawcett would not make that final cut: “They gave mentions to sound guys and other writers and without being disrespectful, Farrah Fawcett was an icon and a household name.

“Quite frankly, we were stunned at the decision not to include her in the tribute and I feel that the Academy should be scolded for that, everyone was shocked.”

[From Radar Online]

O’Neal was more reserved in his official statement. His rep told People that “There is no comment other than we were disappointed that she was not included.” Other celebrities tweeted that Farrah’s omission was a shame, including legendary critic Roger Ebert, who wrote “No Farrah Fawcett in the memorial tribute? Major fail,” and Jane Fonda, who tweeted “And where was Farrah Fawcett? She should have been included #oscars #FAIL.” As E! Online reports, The Academy is not likely to ever apologize. Farrah’s friend Craig Nevius says that the Academy is just going to wait and let this die down. “I think it would be very big of them to own up to the mistake, but I also think it might set a dangerous precedent for them, which is why they probably won’t do it.” Personally I would rather see a couple more minutes of memorial clips than sit through any of the technical awards, like sound editing and mixing, but as I said yesterday they’re not going to cut any of that. The Academy is way out of of touch.

Heartthrob George Clooney just wasn’t looking like himself at the Oscars on Sunday. He sounded slurry during the red carpet interviews, like he’d been drinking, and his eyes looked droopy and tired to me. His hair was long and although it was styled it wasn’t a good look for him. Popeater reported that Clooney was growing his hair out at the insistence of his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, who looked just as unamused as he did most of the time. When Sherri Shepherd was interviewing Clooney on the red carpet and harmlessly flirting with him, Canalis glowered openly. I swear she actually sneered. At least when Clooney brought Sarah Larson with him to the Oscars they were both happy and smiling. I don’t see these two lasting much longer. Canalis allegedly thinks that the long hair makes Clooney look “more European and less American.” It just makes him look like a tool, and hopefully he’ll realize that soon and try to recapture his old look, and his old single life.

A lot of tongues were wagging when Clooney looked visibly annoyed and slightly bored during the Oscar ceremony. The hosts made some jokes at his expense, deliberately forgetting him when announcing the nominees, and the camera cut to show Clooney looking convincingly pissed off. That wasn’t the case, according to various reports that claim that the actor was in on the joke. I’m not so sure, though. He just seemed “off” all night, like he didn’t want to be there:

By George! Mr. Clooney shocked many an Oscar viewer Sunday night when he was seemingly unamused by hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin’s repeated digs at him. But a source close to the “Up in the Air” actor tells us that he was playing along, too.

“It was something George and Alec agreed upon,” says the insider, adding that when the cameras weren’t on Clooney, he and the “30 Rock” actor were making faces at each other. “It was a ‘follow-my-lead’ sort of thing.”

[From the NY Daily News]

MSNBC’s The Scoop has more on Clooney at the Oscars, and they bring up a good point - he was signing autographs and looked perfectly happy talking to fans on the red carpet. I remember seeing that on camera. A source notes “Before the show he was basically the only actor to go to the area where fans are corralled.” As far as his mood during the ceremony, his rep says that he “was fine, just under the weather … happens” and that Clooney knew ahead of time that he would be mocked by Baldwin and Martin. I’m thinking “under the weather” is code for copious amounts of liquor. I remember someone commenting that they saw Clooney drinking from a flask on the red carpet. I googled it, and here’s a link to a video, where he shows an interviewer his flask.

The photo below is for Kaiser!

Kathy Ireland was inexplicably chosen by ABC to interview stars on the red carpet ahead of the Oscars on Sunday. Sherri Shepherd was also on interview duty and she did a great job. Unlike Kathy, Sherri was fun, personable and laid back with the celebrities and seemed like she was having the time of her life. Kathy was nice enough, but she was obviously reading off a teleprompter and looked stiff and out of her element. It’s unclear why Kathy was chosen for the job. Sherri has obvious experience interviewing celebrities as a panelist on The View while Kathy is known primarily as an ex model and entrepreneur who was on Dancing with The Stars.

Anyway Kathy, 46, has been tweeting about her experience at the Oscars and denies that she was on anything, or that she’s pregnant, as a couple of people wondered on Twitter. Kathy wore an unfortunate Herve Leger-type tight banded dress that emphasized her very slight tummy. (You can’t even see it in these photos, and it was only visible from certain angles.)

Kathy Ireland is firing back at critics who are slamming her appearance on ABC’s pre-Oscar special.

At times, the swimsuit model, 46, appeared stiff and awkward as she interviewed celebs like Zac Efron and Precious’ Gabourey Sidibe.

“No One Reads a Teleprompter Like Kathy,” screamed a TMZ headline. A Gawker editor called her a “travesty.”

But viewers on Twitter were much harsher.

One person called Ireland the best “hot mess” ever and made fun of her “stiff arm” and weird questions. “Best use of medication,” the person added.

Said another: “Kathy Ireland is freakin me out!” She’s a “great model,” one person also Twittered, but a “brutal pre-Oscar interview.”

Via Twitter, Ireland took time out to reply to all of her haters individually. (She even justified to one fan why her right hand looked so stiff: “Child care and gardening can make hands a little rough,” she explained.)

Ireland Twittered that she “cannot please everyone…and frankly I wouldn’t ever want to.”

“Don’t feel embarrassed for me,” she Twittered to another fan. “Had a blast and it was so much FUN!”

She said she thought it was “great for people 2B honest” because it helps her “learn & grow.”

But the mother-of-three was careful to stress that she wasn’t under the influence, as many people on Twitter suggested.

“No meds or alcohol Angel===just J.O.Y.!” she wrote to one fan, telling another: “Never use drugs and that as a Mom is not a cool or funny suggestion.”

She later added: “Some say I looked pregnant.LOL! Not true…others say I was drinking…would LOL if it were not so sad. Just excited 2 be involved. Grateful.”

But don’t expect her to take on regular hosting gigs.

Said Ireland (the CEO of Kathy Ireland World Wide, a $1.4 billion design empire): “I won’t give up my day job of design.”

[From US Weekly]

She’s staying positive and upbeat about the experience and isn’t defensive or upset about the criticism at all. I admire that, but I’ve also followed Kathy’s tweets from time to time and she’s so Pollyanna-ish and over-the-top that it seems like a put on. It’s not, and I guess she’s just that cloyingly sweet.

Despite her minor setback, Kathy isn’t ruling out future gigs interviewing celebrities. She tweets “had fun and am frankly surprised by all the discussion about it. May have to host more often:)!” Oh Kathy, you may chose to see the world through rose-colored glasses, but sometimes it’s best to take them off and stick with what you’re good at. Barring that, there’s no shame in asking for help.

Here’s Kathy interviewing Morgan Freeman and Zac Efron. If the video below is blocked for you, you can view it on YouTube. (sorry Heb!)