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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 18
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Alan Jackson still a hunk of a man
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Newnan car salesman Alan Jackson still has it, according to Country Weekly readers. The country singer is among the top 10 sexiest men in country, reports the music weekly on stands today.
Nicole Kidman’s Aussie fiancé, Keith Urban, captured the top spot.
Readers picked their top 10 sexiest male country artists with Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney rounding out the top five, in that order.
“The biggest surprise is how rapidly over the last couple of years Keith Urban has shot to the head of the class,” editor Bill Gubbins said.
Urban and Kidman are preparing to marry but have not formally announced a date. Various media reports say they will get hitched this summer.
About 32,000 readers voted online and by mail in the first poll, Gubbins said.
Newcomers Gary Allan and Chris Cagle ranked sixth and seventh, with established artists George Strait, Jackson and Billy Ray Cyrus Nos. 8-10, respectively.
The magazine has a similar poll ranking country music’s hottest bachelors, but many of the artists picked by readers on this list are married and have families.
“They’ve made it clear that the wedding ring doesn’t matter in terms of sex appeal,” Gubbins said.
The magazine will be releasing readers’ picks for country’s most-beautiful women this month.
Celebrity docket
David Gest, most famous for being married to Liza Minnelli, is being sued by a former employee, claiming sexual harassment. And the complainant is — gasp — a guy.
Charles R. Beyer of Lakeland, Tenn., claims in a federal court lawsuit that he was harassed and humiliated by Gest while working as his personal assistant last July.
“David A. Gest made sexual comments, touched the plaintiff in a sexual nature, wrote sexual comments in the plaintiff’s calendar, paid another employee to touch the plaintiff,” Beyer, 35, wrote in a complaint he filed himself.
Gest’s attorney, Edward Bearman, said his client tried to do Beyer a favor by giving him a temporary job that lasted only nine weeks.
“The guy just wouldn’t go away,” Bearman explained. “I think this is just a bogus attempt to get some money out of a celebrity, and I’m not even sure he qualifies as an employee.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated but did not substantiate Beyer’s claims.
Minnelli and Gest married March 16, 2002, at a celebrity-choked spectacle that included Michael Jackson as best man and Elizabeth Taylor as maid of honor. They separated in July 2003 and filed for divorce later that year.
Gest moved to Memphis in 2004, where he staged the fabulous “David Gest’s All-Star Holiday Extravaganza” featuring Jane Russell, Petula Clark, Gale Storm, Patricia Neal and Tippi Hedren.
Britney by the numbers
According to Nielsen ratings info released by NBC on Friday, more than 9 million viewers tuned in to rubberneck Thursday night as “Dateline” forever soiled its news department’s reputation by airing its exclusive Matt Lauer interview with preggers pop tart Britney Spears. The ratings were so substantial that the once-proud Peacock Network opted to rerun the hourlong, overturned tanker-truck accident — on the programming black hole known as Friday night, for the three of us still not thoroughly fascinated by J-Love talking to dead people. Or as the gum-smacking singer herself put it: “I’m an emotional wreck right now, but not in a bad way.”
‘Idol’ court victory
“American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard has been awarded $2 million in his lawsuit against his ex-manager for misappropriating the singer’s money and credit cards.
Studdard, 26, of Birmingham, won the television talent show in 2003 and filed suit last year against ex-manager Ronald W. Edwards and Edwards’ promotions company, Sez Inc.
Jefferson County (Ala.) Circuit Judge Scott Vowell awarded Studdard $500,000 for his actual losses and another $1.5 million in punitive damages, the Birmingham News reported this week on its Web site.
Vowell dismissed Edwards’ promotions company from the suit because it was bankrupt and had no assets. Edwards filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 17, 2005.
The suit claimed Edwards misused more than $246,000 of the singer’s money.
According to the judge’s ruling, Edwards took money from Studdard’s checking and other bank accounts, improperly used his credit cards and even used Studdard’s money to repay a $10,000 bank loan. Studdard has sold more than 2.2 million records, but the damage to his credit because of the fraud made it hard to obtain financing to buy a home, Vowell’s order said.
Celebrity birthdays
Today: Singer Barry Manilow is 60. Director Bobby Farrelly (“There’s Something About Mary”) is 48. Actor Thomas Haden Church (“Sideways,”) is 45. Actor Greg Kinnear is 43. Actor Jason Patric is 40.
Sunday: Musician Paul McCartney is 64. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 64. Singer Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men is 35. Country singer Blake Shelton is 30.
Contributing: News services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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