The Access Entertainment Week In Review

(April 14, 2007) — The week started with a bang, as radio show host Don Imus drew heat for inappropriate remarks he made on the air last Wednesday.

Imus said he was “embarrassed” by the remarks, in which he referred to the mostly black Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed ho?s.” He said he had made the comments in the course of “trying to be funny,” but he was not trying to excuse them.

Whether he meant ill will or not, the industry responded with anger and disapproval. MSNBC suspended his television show. Advertisers dropped out. Politicians, civic leaders and entertainers all went on the record with their opinions. And, ultimately, CBS fired Imus from his radio position altogether.

Meanwhile, the paternity question surrounding Anna Nicole Smith’s baby, Dannielynn Hope Smith Marshall, came to a conclusion, as Larry Birkhead was deemed the father over Howard K. Stern after DNA test results returned in Birkhead?s favor.

While Stern has no plans to fight for custody over baby Dannielynn, there is the chance that Anna Nicole’s mother, Virgie Arthur, might seek joint custody with Birkhead.

Anna herself will be the subject of a movie, starring Willa Ford as the late blonde bombshell, as well as a tell-all book written by her bodyguard, Big Moe.

There were other paternity questions this week, as a Georgia woman went to court claiming Chris Rock is the father of her child, and former Spice Girl Melanie Brown listed Eddie Murphy’s name on the birth certificate of her infant daughter – despite having no conclusive proof that he is indeed the dad.

In other news, Jennifer Lopez mentored the ‘American Idol’ finalists, but her coaching couldn’t save Haley Scarnato from getting eliminated. Leeza Gibbons also waltzed into the sunset after being eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars.”

Celebrity couples were in flux this week, with Richie Sambora and Heather Locklear finalizing their divorce, rumors of a budding romance between Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal surfacing, and Ashlee Simpson was caught in a liplock with Fall Out Boy rocker Pete Wentz by photographers.

And there were run-ins with the law: Snoop Dogg agreed to five years’ probation and 800 hours of community service over charges of gun possession by a felon and sale or transportation of marijuana.

“Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis was arrested after a warrant was issued over a contempt of court citation, which a judge ordered after negotiations soured on a settlement agreement between Francis and seven women who accused him of filming them topless when they were underage.

And finally, in movie news, Halle Berry confessed that she’ll be shaving her head, Shia LaBeouf was confirmed for the cast of “Indy 4,” and David Arquette unveiled his new film …in a cemetery!