On Sunday we learned that the folks at Marvel decided to fire Edward Norton as The Hulk and would be recasting the role for the upcoming Joss Whedon-directed film The Avengers. Yesterday we heard the response from Norton‘s agent, who railed back at Marvel for the disparaging comments that he believes were made against his client. Today we get to hear from Edward Norton himself on the matter. Norton posted his official statement on his firing on his official Facebook profile. Here is the full text of his statement:

As most of you know, I don’t like to talk much about the business of making movies because it means a lot to me to protect the audience’s fullest enjoyment of the ‘magic’ that films can have. But I am so appreciative of the outpouring of support from fans of the Hulk and the Avengers that I feel it would be rude not to respond. So here goes: It seems it won’t work out for me to continue playing Bruce Banner for Marvel in ‘The Avengers.’ I sincerely hoped it could happen and be great for everyone, but it hasn’t turned out as we all hoped. I know this is disappointing to many people and that makes me sad. But I am very sincerely grateful to Marvel for extending the offer and even more so for giving me the chance to be a part of the Hulk’s long and excellent history. And I really can’t thank the fans enough for how much enthusiasm you’ve sent my way about what Louis [Leterrier] and I tried to do in our turn with the legend. It means a lot to me. I grew up with Banner and Hulk and have been a fan of every incarnation. I’m really proud, and very blessed, to have been one of them and will be thrilled to see him live on through other actors. Hulk is bigger than all of us, that’s why we love him, right?

Sincerely,
Edward Norton

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a classy response to a situation that seems to me to have gotten a bit out of hand. While I do not fault Marvel at all for choosing to fire Norton and hire someone else in his place, I do fault them for issuing the initial statement that seemed to be a bit malicious when it didn’t need to be … at all. So … unless Marvel and Norton can come together and figure out a way to work together on The Avengers, the part of Bruce Banner/The Hulk will have to be recast. Rumor has it an offer to play The Hulk in The Avengers has already been made to another fairly well-known actor. Find out who it is, after the jump …

In what is becoming a sad daily occurrence, RadarOnline has released another audio recording that features actor Mel Gibson hurling extremely abusive and racist comments at his estranged babymama Oksana Grigorieva. Over the weekend a first recording was released that featured Gibson verbally attacking Grigorieva with heavily racist language and yesterday another recording was released that included even MORE abusive and threatening language. Today yet another tape has been released where Gibson refers to Grigorieva as a “whore” and refers to one of the couple’s Latina employees as a “wetback”. Here are the sad yet no-longer-shocking deets of this new recording:

Mel Gibson is caught using yet another ethnic slur while going on a crazed rampage on new audio exclusively obtained and released by RadarOnline.com. During a bitter argument with Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his eight-month-old daughter Lucia, the embattled actor refers to a Latino worker as a “wetback” … “You’re a f*cking mentally deprived idiot,” Mel screams at one point. “You’re a f*cking using whore…I own you,” he rages. ”You don’t count.” Gibson argues with Grigorieva over someone who works at both their houses, and insists that the woman can work only at his house now. When Oksana says that she needs the worker because she has the baby, Mel explodes and calls the woman a “wetback.” The star is clearly heard on audio saying, “I will fire (name omitted) if she’s at your house. I will make it known and fire her. I’ll report her to the f *cking people that take f *cking money from the wetbacks, ok?” Toward the end of the tape Mel drops a strong hint that despite the tens of millions of dollars he’s made, he may be having financial problems. “I’m paying my tax money instead of the credit card (bill). Don’t you get it?!” he screams … “You made me moneyless.”

You can read more about this latest recording and find out how Oksana fought back against Mel‘s abuse, after the jump …

Last weekend we learned that longtime couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski got themselves hitched in a private ceremony in Como, Italy and yesterday we got to see a couple snaps from the actual ceremony. Today we get to see the first photos of Mr. and Mrs. John Krasinski making their grand return to LA as they arrived at LAX Airport yesterday with wedding bling blinging:

It’s unclear if the couple are just passing thru LA on their way to their final honeymoon destination (which is exactly what other newlyweds Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher did a couple of days ago after they got married last weekend as well) or if they have returned home to begin their wedded life together but it’s good to see them back in SoCal. Emily and John are such a great couple … I know they will be very happy together forever. Welcome home and congrats again!!

[Photo credit: Splash News]

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been hearing about the newborn baby boy born to soccer stud Cristiano Ronaldo who claims to have fathered the child via surrogate mother but ever since that news broke, we’ve seen Cristiano all over NYC doing everything BUT hanging out with his newborn son. We’ve seen photos of Cristiano chillin’ in the pool, we’ve ever seen him chillin’ with former *NSyncer Lance Bass in NYC while his baby was left back home with Cristiano‘s mother in Portugal. Today we get our first look at what is believed to be Cristiano‘s son, whom he also named Cristiano … so say hello to Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, Jr:

You couldn’t see much more than a wisp of hair and, perhaps appropriately, a cute pair of feet. But this little bundle being taken for his first trip out is the child thought to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s baby son. He was pictured with the footballer’s mother Dolores Aveiro, her boyfriend Jose Andrade and a nanny at a service station between the Algarve and Lisbon. Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen, having arrived in the Algarve yesterday afternoon hours after the baby was seen on his way from there to Lisbon. A soft toy partially hid the boy’s face in his carry-cot, but the fair hair on show suggested that Cristiano Ronaldo Jr may grow up with the looks of his mystery mother rather than his olive-skinned father. The 25-year-old Real Madrid player, who earns £200,000 a week, drove to the Algarve from Lisbon in his red Ferrari not long after the baby had made the reverse journey with his grandmother. Dolores and her boyfriend had been looking after him at a rented home in the Algarve resort of Vilamoura … Relatives have said the child was born on June 17 in the U.S., making the child just four weeks. But the baby pictured above appears to look somewhat older … [Cristiano] flew to Madrid from the U.S. on Saturday before jetting to Lisbon the following day.

Now, it should be noted that it is entirely possible that this baby is not Cristiano‘s newborn son … it’s totally possible that the Ronaldo family hired a stunt baby to throw the public off the trail of the real little prince but, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that this is Cristiano‘s actual son. This baby deffo seems to have perfect-looking feet, in that regard I can see the resemblance right away. Let’s hope that SOME DAY we get to see Cristiano Ronaldo with his newborn son … I mean, wouldn’t that be nice?

UPDATE: It turns out that this baby is not Cristiano‘s son but is actually his sister’s newborn son. Ah well, better luck next time.

[Source]