newsmakers

May 1, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Eminem targets Roethlisberger

PITTSBURGH

Eminem mentions Ben Roethlisberger in his latest song: “Despicable.” The million-selling rapper refers to the Steelers’ troubled quarterback in explicit lyrics and with the lines, “I’d rather turn this club into a bar-room brawl. Get as rowdy as Roethlisberger in a bathroom stall.”

A 20-year-old college student accused Roethlisberger of sexual assault after a March 3 incident in a Milledgeville, Ga., nightclub. Roethlisberger doesn’t face charges, but he was suspended for six games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Though Eminem is releasing a new album called “Recovery,” the song referencing Roethlisberger will not be included. The song was posted at a Web site co-founded by Eminem’s manager.

Mackenzie Phillips drug case dropped

LOS ANGELES

A drug charge against Mackenzie Phillips was dismissed Friday after the actress successfully completed a drug-diversion program.

Phillips, 50, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom for a final hearing in the case. The television actress pleaded guilty in October 2008 to a felony-drug-possession charge and agreed to enter drug treatment. She had been arrested two months earlier by airport screeners who said they found a small amount of narcotics.

Court rules book is too similar to Salinger’s

NEW YORK

A Swedish author is unlikely to win approval through the courts to publish his novel in the United States, because it is substantially similar to J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” an appeals court said Friday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan delivered another blow to Fredrik Colting’s bid to prepare a U.S. release of “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye.”

Colting’s book was released in England, but Salinger sued last year to stop its distribution in the United States. The reclusive author died in January at age 91, still trying to protect his privacy after the release of “The Catcher in the Rye” in 1951 brought him unwanted public attention.

Colting, who writes under the name John David California and lives near Gothenburg, Sweden, has said his book is a commentary and parody of Salinger’s novel, a fixture in classrooms for more than a half-century.

Oprah: Drivers, put down phones

WASHINGTON

Oprah Winfrey wants America’s drivers to declare their cars “No Phone Zones.” “It’s like Russian roulette every time you pick up your phone in the car,” Winfrey told her viewers from Chicago on Friday. She dedicated her TV show to urging people to sign pledges not to chat or text from behind the wheel.

Safety advocates hope Winfrey’s star power will bring attention to the growing scourge of distracted drivers, who are blamed for an estimated 6,000 deaths and a half-million injuries a year. The advocates hope to mimic the success of safety campaigns in the 1980s that helped reduce drunken-driving deaths and increased the use of seat belts.

Bret Michaels might be ready in weeks

LOS ANGELES

Bret Michaels could stage yet another comeback sooner than expected. Doctors say it is possible that Michaels, the outspoken 47-year-old former Poison frontman competing on “The Celebrity Apprentice,” could be healthy enough to appear on the NBC reality series’ live finale May 23.

Michaels, one of seven stars remaining in the competition, has been in intensive care since suffering a brain hemorrhage last week.

Michaels, who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 6 and underwent an emergency appendectomy April 12, was rushed to an undisclosed hospital last week with a severe headache. He was later diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which causes bleeding in the fluid-filled spaces around the base of the brain. The cause of the hemorrhage still is unknown.