Well our Laker girl has finally come full circle, popping up on a Seattle morning news show looking cracked out of her God damn mind. No, actually, make that several news shows—the American Idol host looks equally out of it on a number of clips that have since popped up on You Tube. And while a publicist for the star blamed technical difficulties and the fact that poor Paula was exhausted, the fact that she cancelled all subsequent interviews leads us to wonder—does Paula have a problem?

Far be it from me to start flinging accusations, but I’ve been watching TV, attending concerts and watching live news broadcasts for a long time, and I don’t seem to remember a microphone glitch being to blame for a string of inconvenienced celebrities suddenly slurring their speech, rolling their eyes and falling out of their chairs. Paula claims she was hearing questions from two reporters in two different cities at once and just became flustered. But flustered people tend to ask what the hells going on—they don’t throw their hands in the air, eyes glazed over and struggle to form coherent sentences while they start to come down.

Paula’s had a history of erratic behavior. Her bouts of incoherence and inability to stand on her own two feet behind the judge’s table aside, this is a woman who’s suffered through two failed marriages, sought treatment for bulimia, underwent a supposedly excruciating series of back surgeries that left her with pain she’ll endure for the rest of her life and a full inch shorter, and just last year, agreed to go on Dr. Phil so that perhaps he could pair her with Mr. Right.

And we haven’t even touched on the countless excuses and stories she’s used over the years to explain away her behavior. And on Monday’s premiere of the show, as Rosie O’Donnell so bluntly pointed out, Paula sure was spending a lot of time staring down the straw of her Coke can… business as usual, wandering eye and all.

The problem is Paula’s publicist insists the former pop star has never touched a drink in her life and that prescription drugs are absolutely not involved. Typically, when publicists are trying to cover something up they’re a tad more vague, so I’m not quite sure what to believe. One thing’s for sure—you’d better damn well believe we’ll be watching, and the second that lady hiccups, I’m sending a drug lab down there to demand a urine sample myself.

Moving away from Paula and on to this whole Grey’s Anatomy drama. I frankly don’t know what to say other than the fact that I’m appalled.

It was bad enough when word spread that during an altercation on set with Dr. Mc Dreamy Patrick Dempsey, Isaiah Washington referred to T.R. Knight as a “faggot”. But now, after the dust had finally settled some, a reporter brings it up at the Golden Globes and Washington runs with it, telling reporters the incident never happened.

Then why the hell did you write that long winded apology letter to the press back in November Isaiah?

One look at the reaction from Knight, who damn near bolted from the stage; One look at the awkward smile and subsequent giggle from Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes; One look at the nervous fidgeting from damn near half the cast, and it became obvious—Isaiah Washington is a damn liar.

Katherine Heigl talked about the incident with Access Hollywood moments later, taking a real step out on a limb and standing up for her “best friend” T.R. Knight, saying Washington should “just not speak in public” and making it quite clear she’s “not OK” with what went down. Less than 48 hours later, Knight’s appearing on Ellen, telling DeGeneres that Washington did indeed say the word and that the entire cast and crew heard it.

What I want to know is this. The gay community had managed—and I’m not quite sure how, but we’d managed—to give Washington the benefit of the doubt, accept his apology and put the incident behind us. How stupid do you have to be to not only dredge the whole thing up again but to then deny it in front of the media. If there’s one thing gossips don’t like, it’s being blatantly lied to—particularly when half the gossip writers in Tinseltown are gay.

If the shoe had been on the other foot… If T.R. Knight had pulled a Michael Richards and called Isaiah Washington a “n****r”, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion about who owed who an apology and would this cost him a job. T.R. Knight would be out on his ass faster than you can say “has been”. The incident at the Laugh Factory has already cost Richards the majority of his fan base and every gig on his calendar for the foreseeable future. And while I know the gay rights movement hasn’t progressed near so far as the fight for racial equality, I for one am sick to death of people being held to different standards. Isaiah Washington should not be allowed to spout off whatever homophobic epithet he feels like at a given moment, and ABC and Shonda Rhimes should be ashamed of themselves for allowing three days to go by without issuing a statement.

UPDATE: Late afternoon Thursday, ABC issued a statement saying they would be examining this serious situation thoroughly and promper measures would be taken. Washington followed up with a statement of his own, seemingly sincere, that he'd be meeting with folks from GLAAD to figure out what he can do to better the situation. A step in the right direction, but we've seen Washington apologize before.

I have never been a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan. But I know plenty of people who are… readers of this column. The only way to let the folks behind Grey’s Anatomy know how valuable gay viewership is to the success of that show is to stop watching until something is done about this deplorable behavior. I'm withholding judgment to see how ABC chooses to handle the situation. To let a network sweep this under the rug is a disgrace, and it’s high time we let Hollywood know just what we mean when we say equal rights. Thanks to the wonderful world of modern technology, we’ve got some contact info for you to complain. You can reach ABC president Stephen McPherson by emailing This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or placing a phone call to 818-460-7200. I urge you, do not let this issue go. Stand up for our rights!

I just want to slip in another little silly comment before we move on to the meat this week—mostly because I don’t want to end the column on a downer.

So as most of you know, Lindsay Lohan finally made a “proactive decision” for her health and checked into rehab earlier this week. I just love the fact that while she’s referring to it as “proactive” and mom is wandering around telling anyone who’ll listen how proud she is of the careful steps her daughter is taking to remain healthy, the two of them still wont say the words, outloud, that Lindsay has any sort of a substance abuse problem.

Lindsay Lohan has yet to turn 21 years old, and she’s been boozing it up since she was 18. Not to say I wasn’t boozing it up at 18, but I was attending class, holding down a job and walking out of clubs on my own two feet. To do otherwise is to have a problem, plain and simple, so I think this goes a bit beyond being “proactive,” wouldn’t you say?

Just food for thought while Lindsay lounges poolside at Promises studying lines for her next big gig.

And on that note, I’m going to offer up pics of a stud who has no other purpose to serve in this column other than the fact that he’s hot and a Texan. Clinton’s a model we stumbled upon over at MostBeautifulMan.com , so feast your eyes and enjoy.

remember to stop and smell the gossip!

Until next time!