TV station apologizes for Johnny Rotten's rant

TV station apologizesfor Johnny Rotten's rant
LONDON -- Former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon -- who let fly with a string of expletives on a live celebrity reality TV show -- walked off the set Thursday.
Early morning viewers of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" saw Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, hug his fellow contestants before walking off the set in the Australian rain forest.
Television station ITV said they lowered a drawbridge that separates the "Big Brother"-style camp from the outside world to allow Lydon to leave.
His departure came just hours after ITV producers gave the 47-year-old a dressing down for swearing on a live segment of the popular program that is being followed by about 10 million Britons each night.
ITV bosses imposed a time delay Wednesday after the outburst of bad language from Lydon when he was told that the public had voted to keep him in the show.
"He has been fantastic entertainment on the show and viewers and his fellow celebrities have found him to be an endearing, eccentric and sensitive character," ITV said in a statement. "We respect his decision to quit and hope we haven't seen the last of him."
The show strands C-list celebs in the Australian rain forest, subjects them to a series of unpalatable trials involving spiders and snakes, and allows the public to vote them off the show one by one.
Lydon earlier successfully completed a task of grabbing 10 stars from a pen full of hungry, pecking ostriches to win food for his fellow contestants.
Fonzie's jacket:The legend continues
NEW YORK -- Scott Baio played Chachi Arcola on the '50s nostalgic comedy "Happy Days," co-starring with Henry Winkler, the supercool, leather-jacketed Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli.
The series, which also starred Ron Howard, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross, ran from 1974-1984. In an interview in the Feb. 6 issue of Entertainment Weekly, the 42-year-old Baio said it "was taboo" to try on Fonzie's jacket.
He added: "There were different ones. I hate to dispel the myth."
The magazine asked: Really? How many were there?
Baio replied: "There was one that he would wear if he was on the motorcycle. There was one that he wore on the set. And it changed. First there was that Jimmy Dean red jacket. Then it became another leather jacket, which is a little more realistic. Then there was the third jacket, which was, in my opinion, a little wimpy. It had elastic armbands and it wasn't black, it was brown -- and that was sad."
Baio starred in the short-lived "Happy Days" spinoff, "Joanie Loves Chachi," and the sitcom "Charles in Charge," which ran from 1984-1990.
Married to Donny Osmondin a parallel universe
NEW YORK -- She's expecting her first child with husband Daniel Zelman, but "Will & amp; Grace" star Debra Messing once had a very different domestic arrangement in mind.
"I grew up in the days of Donny Osmond and Shaun Cassidy," she tells People magazine in its Feb. 9 issue. "They had a power over me that I was not capable of overcoming."
Osmond, who co-hosted the musical-variety series "Donny and Marie" in the 1970s, was a huge part of her childhood, Messing said.
"I told myself I was going to marry him someday. Then he got married to a woman named Debra (Glenn). I was convinced that I was the Debra and it was a parallel-life thing."
Does Osmond know?
"I've had the opportunity to tell Donny about this," the 35-year-old actress told the magazine. "He was sufficiently freaked out."
Today's birthdays
Former President Reagan is 93. Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor is 87. Actor Patrick Macnee is 82. Actor Rip Torn is 73. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 73. Actor Mike Farrell is 65. NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is 64. Singer Fabian is 61. Actress Gayle Hunnicutt is 61. Actor Michael Tucker is 60. Producer-director-writer Jim Sheridan is 55. Singer Natalie Cole is 54. Actor Jon Walmsley is 48. Actress Kathy Najimy is 47. Rock musician Simon Phillips (Toto) is 47. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 47. Actor Barry Miller is 46. Actress Megan Gallagher is 44. Rock singer Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) is 42. Country singer Richie McDonald (Lonestar) is 42. Singer Rick Astley is 38. Rock musician Tim Brown (Boo Radleys) is 35. Actor Brandon Hammond is 20.