Yesterday we saw an interview with Levi Johnston, former potential son-in-law of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, on The Early Show wherein he talked about all the potentially damaging secrets that he claims to know about Palin. In response, Palin issued a statement after Johnston‘s televised appearance denouncing his claims but before we get to that, let’s get to Part 2 of Johnston‘s interview on The Early Show. Here are a few caps from his second appearance on the show earlier today:

This part of the interview is all about Levi and his plans for the future … with the focus on his upcoming nude pictorial for Playgirl. Levi explains why he is dropping trou for the publication (and he will be showing it all … that means P33N people!) and explains that he is willing to do what it takes to care for his family since he has become the sole money maker for his family since his mother was incarcerated for selling prescription drugs. Hey, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do. Johnston also reveals more dirt on Sarah Palin, including his claim that Palin tried to get Johnston and her daughter Bristol to hide their pregnancy so that she could adopt the baby herself. Yikes! After the jump, watch Part 2 of Johnston‘s interview on The Early Show and read what Sarah Palin has to say in response to his latest claims about her …

Levi Johnston, who gave a dishy interview to Vanity Fair magazine and will be appearing in the nude for Playgirl, made an appearance on The Early Show this morning to talk about all the things he could spill about his former almost-mother-in-law Sarah Palin (former Vice Presidential candidate and former Alaska governor) in a seemingly candid interview. Johnston reveals that he is hiding “huge things” about Sarah Palin that would really “hurt her” but out of love for his child (with Palin daughter Bristol) he has thus far refused to divulge. Here is a screencap from Levi‘s appearance on The Early Show today and some excerpts from PART 1 of his interview:

Levi Johnston says he’s keeping some “huge” things about Sarah Palin from the public. In Part One of a two-part exclusive interview with “Early Show” co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, which aired Wednesday, the father of Palin’s grandson says, “There are some things that I have that are huge. And I haven’t said them because I’m not gonna hurt her that way. ” … I have things that can, you know — that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her. Will hurt her. But I’m not gonna go that far. You know, I mean, if I really wanted to hurt her, I could, very easily. But there’s — I’m not gonna do it. I’m not going that far.” Johnston says he’s referring to things Palin did while she was governor of Alaska. Asked whether those actions were illegal or immoral, he refused to elaborate. Johnston also told Rodriguez he’s been hearing a lot about his saying in a recent first-person tell-all in Vanity Fair magazine that Palin routinely referred to her baby, Trig, who suffers from Down syndrome, as “retarded.” “I was just in shock for the first time I heard it,” Johnston recalled for Rodriguez. “And then she’d say it regularly. And I think she was joking, but it doesn’t make it right.” Still, Johnston remarked to Rodriguez, “Those are just little … things I put in Vanity Fair. You know, all the big things I got, I’m keeping — you know, I’m keeping them in, and — you know, it’s just something that probably will never come out.” He added that he’s “sure Sarah’s got something … coming for me,” perhaps in her soon-to-be-released memoir, but, “I’m not worried about her saying anything about me. I’ve really never done anything bad. I don’t have anything to hide. So she can go on and say what she wants.” Johnston stood by his contention in Vanity Fair that Sarah and Todd Palin would not only regularly talk about divorce — they’d do it in front of their children, adding to Rodriguez, “I’m sure it really hurt their kids, you know. I didn’t like it. I wasn’t even their kid.” Spokespeople for the Palins deny the divorce assertion. Johnston told Rodriguez Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin, the mother of his son, Tripp, did most of the mothering of Trig, because Sarah and Todd weren’t around much. Now an aspiring actor and model, Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure — in an upcoming issue of Playgirl magazine. He told Rodriguez the Playgirl spread will be done “tastefully,” saying, “I’m not gonna just go out there and get naked.” He expands on that in Part Two of the interview, which airs Thursday. The interview with Rodriguez is the latest in a he-said-she-said battle with the Palin family. Johnston burst onto the public stage at the Republican National Convention in August, the handsome boyfriend of vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter. After the Republicans lost the election, Johnston and Bristol broke up. She had his baby in December. But he says the Palins shut him out of their lives. And that’s when the battle began, each side accusing the other of lying.

Now, because Johnston and Palin have been embroiled in a war of words you have to take what each side says with a huge grain of salt … that being said, if Palin really is guilty of “playfully” calling her child “my retarded baby” then I am truly disgusted. Considering that Johnston was pulled into the Palin household after he got Bristol pregs (in an effort to keep better media control of his person) it makes sense that he would be privy to some very embarrassing and damaging things about the family. Tho, the fact that he’s pimping his upcoming nude pictorial for Playgirl in the process does take a bit of weight away from his claims. After the jump, watch video of Part 1 of Levi‘s Early Show interview and judge for yourselves …

LOL!!!! So, just when you may have thought you’ve heard the last of Carrie Prejean, the former beauty queen contestant who was stripped of her crown for her inability to fulfill the requirements necessary to reign as Miss California USA, we have a new story to bring her back onto our radar. As much as Prejean and all that she stands for kinda sickens me, this story is too funny NOT to share ;) It turns out that pageant officials who fronted the money for Prejean to get silicone breast implants for her to put on display in competition now want her to pay back that money since she broke her contract with them. If Prejean loses, she’ll have to pay back the money … or mebbe give back her plastic boobs?

Officials from the Miss California pageant are sending a message to Carrie Prejean — three can play that game! The production company that runs the pageant is filing a cross complaint against Prejean, demanding, among other things, that Carrie return the $5,200 the pageant fronted her for her breast augmentation. In other legal docs, Keith Lewis and crew are asking to strike a portion of Prejean’s lawsuit — the portion dealing with public disclosure of private facts. The new docs say, “the alleged ‘private facts’ consist of her breast augmentation (which ceased being private during the swimsuit competition of the nationally-televised Miss USA pageant, in which Ms. Prejean walked the stage in a bikini).” The cross complaint says, “Had [Carrie] heeded the guidance of the Gospel of John, who admonished only those who are without sin to cast stones in judgment, she might have avoided this legal battle …” As for the cross complaint, Lewis and the production company claim Prejean is a hypocrite, championing family values after posing for a variety of “semi-nude photos…[which] surfaced via TMZ.com.”

It turns out that all this suing back and forth between Prejean and pageant officials is really just a matter of very public back and forth feuding. I, too, find Prejean hypocritical and do believe that if she is going to break her contract with the pageant then she doesn’t deserve to get free fake boobs for doing so. Since being stripped of her Miss California USA crown, Prejean has made many new friends in the evangelical Christian movement … perhaps they can take up a collection to help her pay back the boob job money that she owes?

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Another MTV Video Music Awards has come and gone and while the focus of the show should be on the touching tribute to the late Michael Jackson by his peer Madonna and his sister Janet Jackson or the coolest performance of the night by P!nk … the focus is, instead, on what an asshole Kanye West is. In true Kanye fashion, West stormed the MTV VMA stage after Taylor Swift won the first award of the night, Best Female Video, after she stunned the audience by upsetting fellow nominees P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. As Taylor Swift was accepting her award, Kanye jumped up on the stage, took the mic from her hand and declared that Beyoncé should’ve won the award because she made “the best video of all time”. Taylor looked crushed, hurt and embarrassed and was not allowed to finish her acceptance speech … Beyoncé looked stunned and embarrassed by Kanye‘s rant as well. The auditorium booed Kanye off the stage, he flipped off the crowd with his middle finger and then was asked by MTV to leave the show. Here are a few photos of the incident:

The MTV video music awards held on Sunday paid tribute to the late Michael Jackson, but was overshadowed by an outburst by rapper Kanye West, who interrupted an acceptance speech by U.S. singer Taylor Swift. West, who is known for his outspoken ways, jumped up on stage while the 19-year-old Swift was making an acceptance speech for best female video for her hit song “You Belong With Me,” beating out singers including Beyonce Knowles and Lady Gaga. “I am really happy for you,” West said. “But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” MTV said West, who was spotted earlier on the red carpet drinking alcohol, was ejected from an awards show already known for its circus-like atmosphere. West received loud boos from the crowd when his name was mentioned later in the show.

Kanye was seen carrying a big bottle of booze and was asked by MTV to leave the premises shortly after his rant:

Apparently, Kanye decided to go home and blog an “apology” to Taylor Swift for his outburst … but it doesn’t take a careful reading to understand that it’s not an apology at all:

This “apology” has since been removed from his official website. After the jump, check out video of this outrageous insult to Taylor Swift and see how Beyoncé managed to right the wrong a wee bit at the end of the show …

A whole lotta drama went down here in Hollywood, CA last night in the wee hours of the morning at Guys & Dolls nightclub. An altercation that began inside the club, where allegedly Joe Francis (of Girls Gone Wild fame) physically assaulted Playboy model and Brody Jenner girlfriend Jayde Nicole, and then spilled out into the street where Brody Jenner was apparently tasered and Francis escaped. TMZ was there to chronicle all the drama from Jayde and Brody themselves. Here are a few screencaps of instant video interviews with Jayde and Brody about what went down, a photo of Joe Francis (newly released from prison) fleeing the scene and the latest deets from TMZ about the whole matter:

Brody Jenner was in an epic fight outside of Guys and Dolls this morning, with Girls Gone Wild honcho Joe Francis. Jenner just spoke with us by phone. According to Jenner, he and his girlfriend, Jayde Nicole, were at the club celebrating his birthday, when Jayde saw Francis hitting on an ex-girlfriend of his (Francis’), Jenner says “unrelentingly.” Jayde felt he was harassing the woman — whom Jayde and Brody know — and she threw a drink on Francis. Jenner says Francis then pulled Jayde’s hair, punched her in the face and threw her to the ground and began kicking her. Security broke it up and Francis got dragged away — Brody followed. Jenner says he started yelling at Francis and both men were ejected from the club.

Outside the club, Jenner says he tried to get back in to see Jayde but security wouldn’t let him. Jenner then saw Joe, punched him in the face, and then someone tased him and he fell to the ground. Francis left the scene.

The cops — who say a call came in at 2:46 AM for battery — came but no one was arrested. Jayde tells TMZ she will press charges against Francis. Jayde has a black and blue cheek, her face is swollen, she has a bruised left rib and her lower abdomen is sore. Some of her hair also got pulled out.

Lord, what a bunch of bullshizz. TMZ has video of Jayde explaining what happened and, at first, she claimed she merely “bumped” into Francis (to get him to stop harassing her friend) and then he started wailing on her … then her story became she threw a drink on him. Whatever happened, it’s clear that some sort of physicality went down between the two. I imagine that this sort of drama is not the kind that an ex-con would like to attract … I suspect Francis fled the scene so as not to be arrested on the spot. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cops paid him a visit later on today.

After all of this went down, Brody Jenner updated his official Twitter profile with the following tweets:

Joe Francis needs to be in jail!!!

How can you call yourself a man when you beat up a girl?? Joe Francis is a piece of shit

Joe Francis beat up my lady this morning for no reason! Pulled her to the ground, punched & kicked her..what does that say about him?

Depending on whether or not anyone presses charges, we may be hearing more about this incident soon. And I believe we still need to find out who tasered Brody outside the club. Meh, just a typical Thursday night in Hollywood. Sounds fun, right?

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Whoa!! Just when you thought the drama on The Real Housewives of Atlanta couldn’t get any more insane than last week’s ep (Who Gonna Check Me, Boo?) we learn that the drama got really real for two of the Atlanta housewives this past April. According to Kim Zolciak, the housewife with the worst wigs and the inability to carry a tune, she was physically assaulted by co-star NeNe Leakes as the two women were on their way to film a scene for the show. Zolciak filed a police report that Leakes put her hands on her and “tried to choke her out”. Here are some of the deets on what allegedly went down, including a look at the actual police report filed by Zolciak:

Just when we thought the table-flipping outburst on The Real Housewives of New Jersey was cuckoo crazy, now come allegations of physical attacks down in Atlanta. Back in April, country music star wannabe Kim Zolciak filed a police report against fellow Housewife NeNe Leakes … Kim claims NeNe grabbed her neck and “tried to choke her out” at the end of an argument on April 15, according to an incident report … Two witnesses, who apparently tried to break up the fight, corroborated Kim’s story. No reason was given for the altercation, and NeNe had left the area by the time the cops arrived. NeNe has not been arrested or charged with any crime, but a rep for Kim insists the incident is still under investigation. “Violence is a very serious issue, and we are not going to take this incident lightly,” the rep said. “Mrs. Leakes needs obvious therapy for her apparent anger management issues.” A rep for Bravo and NeNe had no comment. Housewife Sheree Whitfield just told me, “There is going be tons of drama and catfights [this season]. I don’t know if you call that one a catfight. That’s more like a dogfight!” While the Kim-NeNe argument was not caught on tape, a source said the issue will be addressed in an upcoming episode. How are things between the two now? Definitely chilly. The ladies held court on opposite sides of the W Atlanta-Buckhead hotel on Tuesday night during a party for the premiere of the show’s second season, according to another source.

Damn! While I don’t want to see NeNe get into any trubs for what it is being alleged that she did, I can absolutely believe that Kim is capable of pushing NeNe over the breaking point. I’m curious to see how Bravo TV handles this situation. On the one hand, I bet they’re licking their lips to try and air as much of this altercation as possible but have to be reigned in by the law. Trust, they will exploit this incident as much as they can within the confines of the law. After the jump, check out the police report filed by Kim that outlines what she alleges happened to her …

In the seemingly unyielding back and forth battle between Mariah Carey and Eminem, the latest volley attack has been unleashed upon the world. As you may recall, Mimi released a new music video for her single Obsessed wherein she played a stalker in the video that bared a striking resemblance to rapper Eminem who previously put MC on blast after he reportedly hooked up with her a few years back. Now, Em has released a new diss track called The Warning wherein he addresses Mimi‘s attack on him and he levels his own attack/threats on her:

Eminem and Mariah Carey are at it again. On Thursday, the rapper debuted a new song, “The Warning,” slamming his ex and going into full detail about a sexual encounter they once had. “Only reason I dissed you in the first place is because you denied seeing me. Now I’m pissed off,” he says before he starts his rap. “You wanna hear something wick wack?/ I got the same exact tattoo that’s on Nick’s back,” he says, referring to Carey’s husband Nick Cannon. Eminem also blasts Carey for mocking him in her latest music video, “Obsessed.” “Oh gee, is that supposed to be me in the video with the goatee?/ Wow Mariah, didn’t expect ya to go balls out./ Bitch, shut the fuck up before I put all those phone calls out/ When you was wilding out/ Before Nick, when you was on my dick,” he raps. He then threatens to reveal personal pictures he has of the Carey. “Mariah, it ever occur to you that I still have pictures?” he asks. The feud between the two began earlier this year after Eminem namedropped Carey in the track “Bagpipes From Baghdad” from his latest album Relapse. “Mariah whatever happened to us / Why did we ever have to break-up?” he rapped. “Nick Cannon, you better back the fuck up. I’m not playing, I want her back, you punk.” Cannon later shot back on his blog, calling the rapper (who goes by the name “Slim Shady”) “Slim Lamey.” He added that Eminem is “still obsessed with my wife, the same female that wouldn’t let him get to second base from 8 years ago.” A month or so later, Carey got the last laugh by mocking Eminem in “Obsessed.”

Children, can’t you two play nice? I have to say … as embarrassingly juvenile as all of this public fighting is, I have to admit that it’s terribly entertaining. For the life of me, I do not understand why Mariah Carey insists on going up against a diss maestro like Eminem. She will never win in a war of words with him … and if she’s counting on her young hubby Nick Cannon to defend her honor, well, I’m afraid he’s not much of a match for Marshall Mathers. If explicit photos of her do exist and they are in Em‘s possession, they’re gonna get out. Why piss off a person — who has no qualms about taking things too far — with such dangerous ammunition? It’s totally comical. After the jump, hear Eminem‘s new diss track The Warning in full and check out the LULz for yourselves …

After Rachelle Lefevre, the actress who was originally cast to portray vampire Victoria in Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse but was surprisingly fired from the role and replaced by actress Bryce Dallas Howard this week, publicly voiced her feelings on being axed from the Twilight movie franchise and after Summit Entertainment, the movie studio runnin’ things for the Twilight Saga movie franchise, followed up with their say on the matter … don’t expect to be hearing any further official statements from either camp. According to Marc Malkin at E! News, the battle was been passed over to the lawyers and out of the public spotlight. At this point, Lefevre will pretty much not get the part back … that ain’t happenin’ … but she still wants to get paid because she feels she was unfairly fired and is due her hefty paycheck. Obvs, Summit disagrees … and that is where the feud is at at this point:

Rachelle Lefevre and Summit Entertainment’s fangs are retracting a little bit today—at least in public, that is. I’m told the actress formerly known as Twilight’s Victoria isn’t planning on releasing any more statements … Same for Summit—the corporate lips are sealed. Why? Because now the bloody mess is apparently being hashed out by lawyers. What’s on the table? In short, Lefevre wants her money. Summit is arguing she’s due nothing because the studio insists she’s in breach of contract for signing on for the indie flick Barney’s Version. “Rachelle’s contract says she’s allowed to do smaller projects like Barney’s Version,” one source said. Meanwhile, her Twilight and New Moon costars are “devastated,” said another source. “As nice and lovely as Bryce [Dallas Howard] is, they feel like a family member has been taken from them.” But don’t expect them to go public with too much anti-Summit talk. As my gossiping cohorts over at The Awful Truth point out, Lefevre’s dismissal sends a very strong message—or warning—not to mess with the studio. Sources also tell me that shortly after Summit announced Lefevre’s dismissal, the rest of the cast was told not to elaborate on the circumstances to the media, beyond repeating that it was due to a scheduling conflict. “But that was before the Rachelle and Summit statements yesterday,” a Twilight insider said. “Who knows what they’ll ask them to say now.”

While it must’ve felt really good for both parties to bitch out the other in public, the best thing would’ve been if the matter had been handed off to the lawyers from the start. In the public she said/they said battle, Lefevre comes out lookin’ better … she looks like the poor actress who was mistreated by the big bad corporation. Summit‘s decision to publicly attack her only made them look worse. If Lefevre‘s contract really does allow her to work on other films in addition to the Twilight films (which would make sense because Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner have that stipulation in their contracts) then Summit is prolly going to pay up. My guess is we’ll never hear about it officially. Once monies are paid out, there’s usually a part of the deal that bars either side from talking specifics. I’m totally on Team Rachelle. IMHO, she got the shaft. I hope she’ll get her money even if she will never get the part back.

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I KNEW IT! I mother-effing knew it! Early Wednesday we learned that Summit Entertainment announced that actress Rachelle Lefevre has been replaced by actress Bryce Dallas Howard in the role of evil vampire Victoria for the third Twilight movie The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Summit explained that Rachelle was not able to fulfill the role of Victoria in Eclipse due to “scheduling conflicts” so they instead decided to hire Bryce in her place. At the time we heard the news, I KNEW that the “scheduling conflict” explanation was bullshit … and it turns out that I was right. Lefevre has issued an official statement on her firing and explains, in her words, how “stunned” and “saddened” she was to learn that she was fired from the role she originated. Here is the full text of her official statement:

“I was stunned by Summit’s decision to recast the role of Victoria for Eclipse. I was fully committed to the Twilight saga, and to the portrayal of Victoria. I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules. My commitment to Barney’s Version is only 10 days. Summit picked up my option for Eclipse. Although the production schedule for Eclipse is over three months long, Summit said they had a conflict during those 10 days and would not accommodate me. Given the length of filming for Eclipse, never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap. I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part. I am greatly saddened that I will not get to complete my portrayal of Victoria for the Twilight audience. This is a story, a theatrical journey and a character that I truly love and about which I am very passionate. I will be forever grateful to the fan support and loyalty I’ve received since being cast for this role, and I am hurt deeply by Summit’s surprising decision to move on without me. I wish the cast and crew of Eclipse only the very best.”

I SOOOOO knew it. Scheduling conflicts my ASS! There’s no way Summit couldn’t make the 10 days she would spend on the other film not work into the Eclipse shooting schedule. Summit must’ve LEAPED at the chance to hire Bryce Dallas Howard in her place because of who she is. It’s pretty damn gross that they would be so blatant about it. I feel so bad for Rachelle Lefevre because she really was great in the role of Victoria. Eclipse would’ve been her time to shine as Victoria‘s role is more pronounced in that installment. Damn … the other Twilight actors better watch their backs. Who knows who else might get the axe should Summit Entertainment decide to replace them for a bigger name actor.

UPDATE: Summit Entertainment has issued their own official statement in response to Lefevre‘s statement, here it is in full:

“We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre’s recent comments which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the Studio. Her decision to discuss her version of the scheduling challenges publicly has forced the Studio to set the record straight and correct the facts. Ms. Lefevre’s representatives were advised as early as April that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE was expected to start shooting in early August. If Ms. Lefevre was, as she describes “passionate,” about being part of THE TWILIGHT SAGA, we feel that she and her representatives would have included us in her decision to work on another film that would conflict with the shooting schedule of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. It was not until July 20th that Summit was first informed of Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to BARNEY’S VERSION, a commitment we have since been advised she accepted in early June. Summit had acted in good faith that she would be available to fulfill her obligations both in terms of rehearsals and shooting availability for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. We feel that her choice to withhold her scheduling conflict information from us can be viewed as a lack of cooperative spirit which affected the entire production. Furthermore Ms. Lefevre took a role in the other film that places her in Europe during the required rehearsal time, and at least ten days of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE’s principal photography. This period is essential for both rehearsal time with the cast, and for filming at key locations that are only available during the initial part of production. Contrary to Ms. Lefevre’s statement, it is simply untrue that the Studio dismissed her over a ten day overlap. It is not about a ten day overlap, but instead about the fact that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is an ensemble production that has to accommodate the schedules of numerous actors while respecting the established creative vision of the filmmaker and most importantly the story. The fact remains that Ms. Lefevre’s commitment to the other project – which she chose to withhold from Summit until the last possible moment – makes her unfortunately unavailable to perform the role of Victoria in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE.” –Summit Entertainment

Oh snap … the studio doesn’t seem too happy at Rachelle‘s comments on her firing but, to be honest, I still believe her. It’s way too convenient that Rachelle gets the boot and Summit gets the benefit of Bryce Dallas Howard stepping in to fill the role. And the fact that they kept the casting change a secret until after Rachelle did her duty and appeared at 2009 San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend is totally dubious. I still call bullshit on Summit‘s shady dealings with their actors. Again I warn the Twilight cast, watch yer backs.

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HMMM … you knew this was coming. Yesterday we learned from Kelly Clarkson herself that she is pretty pissed that the song she co-wrote with One Republic‘s Ryan Tedder, Already Gone, sounds a helluva lot like the song he wrote for Beyoncé called Halo (you might’ve heard of it?). Speaking on Canadian radio, Kelly expressed her displeasure first with Tedder for seemingly pawning off a song he wrote for someone else on her and second her displeasure with her record company for choosing to release her song as a single (because it would seem to fans as if she were stealing from Beyoncé). Now, I’m hearing that her bosses at her record label are PISSED themselves that she is talking publicly about her feelings on this matter and are threatening to STOP all future promotion (ie. music videos, live performances, TV interviews, etc.) of her album All I Ever Wanted as punishment:

In his defense, Ryan Tedder posted a blogpost on his official My Space profile yesterday kinda sorta responding to the controversy. Shortly after he posted his message, the blogpost was deleted from his profile … methinks, he was asked to remove it. Nonetheless, I managed to save the text of his post … here it is in full:

Hey everyone, Ryan here. So…..i’m in Europe on vacation with my wife yesterday when I get a flurry of emails with links to gossip sites and media outlets saying “Kelly clarkson throws producer Ryan Tedder under the bus re: Already Gone” etc etc etc… Alleging that I copied myself or “pulled a fast one” on Kelly Clarkson. This couldn’t be farther from the truth and the whole thing is absurd….however, I need to actually read what the hell is going on, make a call or 2, and be fully informed of it, then I assure you I will have a proper, respectful response. I don’t take allegations of this nature lightly- ESPECIALLY when it’s in regards to artists I respect and admire. Nor do I let things like this go unaddressed. So, give me a minute, and I’ll tell u whatsup and what really happened, or in this case, “didn’t” happen.

HMMM … I mean, what else is the guy gonna say? Altho Tedder removed his My Space blogpost, he did release an official statement in its place today:

“‘Already Gone’ is one of the best song I’ve written or produced since “Bleeding Love” and stands tall on it’s own merits apart from “Halo”. They are two entirely different songs conceptually, melodically, & lyrically and I would never try to dupe an artist such as Kelly Clarkson or Beyoncé into recording over the same musical track, the idea is both hurtful & absurd. I think when people hear “Already Gone” they will hear what I hear-one of the greatest female vocalists on earth giving her most haunting and heart-breaking performance on a song she helped write. I challenge people to listen and form their own opinions.”

Uhhh, Ryan … we have listened to both songs and it seems pretty clear to me that the same music was pawned off on two different singers. OY! Kelly Clarkson can hear it too and because she was brave enough to speak up about it, she is now reportedly being punished … for the second time now. As you may recall, Kelly already butt heads with her record company bosses (music mogul Clive Davis, to be exact) when she released her last album My December which, IMHO, led to the disc’s poor performance in sales and on the charts. Kelly may have released a statement saying that everything was “fine” with her record company bosses in the wake of that controversy but we know it was all a spin job. This latest threat seems to be right up her alley … she speaks up honestly and then gets punished by her bosses. It remains to be seen if the threat will really be carried out but if we hear nothing from Kelly Clarkson in the coming weeks and months, well, you’ll know why.

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