newsmakers

newsmakers

Axl Rose case against Activision is dismissed

LOS ANGELES

A judge has ruled that Activision Blizzard Inc. did not violate an agreement with Axl Rose to prevent the inclusion of guitarist Slash in a “Guitar Hero” video game and has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Guns N’ Roses frontman.

Superior Court Judge Charles Palmer dismissed the case Wednesday, court records show. He agreed with attorneys for Activision that the gaming company never agreed to keep Slash’s likeness out of the game in exchange for the rights to use the Guns N’ Roses hit “Welcome to the Jungle.”

Rose sued Activision in November 2010 seeking $20 million in damages from the company. He claimed he allowed Activision to use “Welcome to the Jungle” in the game on the condition that Slash and his band, Velvet Revolver, not appear in the game.

Rose has been trying to distance Guns N’ Roses from Slash since he left the band in 1996, his lawsuit stated.

Lady Gaga says she’s had hip surgery

NEW YORK

Lady Gaga says she’s had surgery to fix her hip.

The 26-year-old singer posted on her blog late Wednesday that she had hip surgery and it “happened so fast.” She canceled her “Born This Way Ball” tour last week.

She thanked her fans in the post, saying they gave her “a lot of strength.” Lady Gaga said that as she was wheeled to surgery, she reflected on her fans. She wrote: “Sometimes you are so brave that it terrifies me. I wonder how it’s even possible.”

Lady Gaga canceled more than 20 dates on the remainder of her tour, which began last April. She originally postponed four dates last week after experiencing difficulties during her concert in Montreal. She explained to fans on Twitter that she’d hurt herself while performing some time ago.

Nielsen to count broadband viewers

NEW YORK

The company that measures television viewership soon will begin counting people who watch programming through broadband instead of a traditional broadcast or cable hook-up.

The move announced Thursday by Nielsen is a significant step toward recognizing a world where the definition of TV viewing is swiftly changing. For many years, roughly 99 percent of homes in the U.S. had televisions that received service through broadcast, cable or satellite signals.

Now the number of homes without such service is 4.2 percent — and growing each year. Most of those homes have TVs, however, and their owners watch programming through game consoles or services such as Netflix and Amazon. Starting in September, Nielsen will begin tracking the habits of these homes.

Rapper exits prison with US Marshals

ALBANY, N.Y.

Platinum-selling rapper Ja Rule left an upstate New York prison Thursday morning after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession and headed straight into federal custody in a tax case.

U.S. Marshals escorted the 36-year-old musician out of Mid-State Correctional Facility at 9:30 a.m., but it wasn’t immediately clear where he’ll serve time in the tax case.

The rapper, who had been in protective custody because of his celebrity, has some time remaining on a 28-month sentence for tax evasion.

Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, may have less than six months left and may be eligible for a halfway house, defense attorney Stacey Richman said. An order to pay $1.1 million in back taxes is one of the main reasons he wants to get back to work, she said.

Athletic couple land a WE show

NEW YORK

Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross and her football-playing husband, Aaron Ross, are the latest to submit themselves to reality television’s cameras.

The WE television network said Thursday that it is making “Glam & Gold,” a summer series involving the two athletes. Richards-Ross is a four-time medalist, and her husband is a defensive back for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The couple met when they both attended the University of Texas.

Since WE is a women’s oriented network, the series will focus on Richards-Ross, who has a family that also serves as business partners. Filming already has begun in Austin and Jacksonville.

Wire reports