newsmakers

September 2, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Clooney, Will Smith join cancer telethon

LOS ANGELES

George Clooney, Will Smith and Gwyneth Paltrow will join an impressive list of stars taking part in September’s “Stand Up to Cancer” telethon airing on major networks. Other celebrities announced Wednesday include Denzel Washington, Renee Zellweger, Kathy Bates and Richard Branson. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lance Armstrong and Elizabeth Edwards were previously announced as participants. Performers will include Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Neil Diamond, The Edge, Herbie Hancock, Lady Antebellum and Leona Lewis. Queen Latifah, Martina McBride and Stevie Wonder were among those already announced.

“Stand Up to Cancer” is aimed at raising money to speed up innovative cancer research. The telethon will be simulcast commercial-free (8-9 p.m.) on Sept. 10 by ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC as well as a variety of cable channels.

Douglas treating tumor as ‘curable’

LOS ANGELES

Michael Douglas is vowing to beat cancer. The 65-year-old “Wall Street” star said in an interview with People magazine that he expects to make a full recovery after a walnut-sized tumor was found on the base of his tongue in early August. Douglas is undergoing an eight-week course of radiation and chemotherapy in New York. His doctors said there is no evidence the cancer has spread. “I’m treating this as a curable disease,” he said. “It’s a fight. I’ll beat this.”

hConan O’Brien’s new show: ‘Conan’

NEW YORK

There’s Madonna, Oprah and now ... “Conan.” Conan O’Brien took the simple approach Wednesday in announcing the name of his new talk show on TBS. “Conan” will kick off Nov. 8. He posted a YouTube video announcing the show’s name to his fans. He scrawled the name on a white sheet of paper using a black marking pen.

Threats keep dolphin protest out of village

TOKYO

The star of “The Cove,” an Oscar-winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had to cancel his trip to Taiji, the village at the center of the controversy because of threats from an ultranationalist group. Instead, Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s “Flipper” TV show, hosted a reception Wednesday for some 100 animal-lovers at a Tokyo hotel.

Today, he will take a petition signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations demanding the end of the dolphin hunt to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, escorted by police security. The 70-year-old had initially planned to take the petition to the Japanese Fisheries Ministry. That was also canceled on advice from Japanese police.

Taiji, which has a population of 3,500 people, defends the dolphin-killing as tradition and a livelihood. In the past, some of the captured dolphins have been sold to aquariums. Others are eaten as meat. “The Cove,” which won this year’s Academy Award for best documentary, depicts a handful of fishermen from Taiji who herd a flock of dolphins into a cove and stab them to death, turning the waters red with blood. The Taiji dolphin hunt begins every year on Sept. 1, and a fishing group has confirmed that the hunt is on this year.

Casino fires Waits, bans Paris Hilton

LAS VEGAS

Paris Hilton was banned Wednesday from two Wynn resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, and her boyfriend was dismissed as a nightclub partner following their arrests in a vehicle that police said reeked of marijuana. Wynn Resorts Ltd. spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne told The Associated Press Hilton had been barred from Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.

Meanwhile, boyfriend Cy Waits was “separated” from his job after less than a week as top managing partner of the Tryst Nightclub at Wynn and XS The Nightclub at Encore, Dunne said in a statement. The moves come after Hilton was arrested Friday and later charged with felony cocaine possession. Waits was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs but has not yet been charged.