Rapper Foxy handcuffed to bench in courtroom tiff

Rapper Foxy handcuffed to bench in courtroom tiff
NEW YORK -- Foxy Brown was handcuffed, threatened with jail and made to apologize after she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue in the direction of a judge who asked her to stop chewing gum.
Judge Melissa Jackson told the 26-year-old rapper that she was showing disrespect to the court and had previously been "making faces."
"I don't like her attitude," Jackson told Brown's lawyer, Joseph Fleming.
Brown, who was in court Friday to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for a ruckus at a nail salon, denied she was chewing gum. But the judge said she believed Brown was.
At that, Brown opened her mouth and wagged her tongue as if to show her mouth was empty. Jackson ordered the rapper handcuffed to the defendants' bench along a courtroom wall.
While Brown was being handcuffed, she and a female court officer yelled at each other. Brown shouted that the numerous bracelets and bangles on her left wrist "are in the way," and, the judge said, Brown struck the officer.
Jackson told Brown to apologize, explaining to her lawyer that without an apology, she would hold Brown in contempt of court, meaning she could be jailed for up to 30 days and fined $1,000.
The rapper, both hands cuffed behind her back, appeared before the judge and said, "I apologize for my actions."
Jackson set a Jan. 23 hearing date for Brown. She is accused of assaulting two nail salon workers on Aug. 29, 2004. Prosecutors alleged that she attacked and kicked one worker and hit a second worker in the face.
A Christmas wedding for Dern, longtime boyfriend
LOS ANGELES -- Laura Dern and her longtime musician boyfriend Ben Harper were married in a sunset ceremony filled with Christmas decorations, the magazine US Weekly reported on its Web site.
Dern, 38, and Harper, 36, tied the knot Friday in front of more than 150 friends and family, according to the magazine.
The couple began dating in 2000 and became engaged in September 2004. They have two children together, son Ellery, 4, and daughter Jaya, 1.
Today's birthdays
Singer Tony Martin is 92. Actor Gary Sandy is 60. Singer Jimmy Buffett is 59. Football Hall-of-Famer Larry Csonka is 59. Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 57. Actress Sissy Spacek is 56. Actress CCH Pounder is 53. Singer Annie Lennox is 51. Country singer Steve Wariner is 51. Singer Shane MacGowan (The Popes) is 48. Singer Dido is 34. Rock singer Mac Powell (Third Day) is 33. Country singer Alecia Elliott is 23.
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