Country fans give ABC the boot

Washington ABC’s decision to cut an angry anti-terrorism song from its July Fourth television special is leading a senator who is an avid country music fan to send a pair of his own boots to network anchor Peter Jennings.

Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., said Wednesday it was in response to ABC’s decision to remove country artist Toby Keith’s song from the concert.

“This is a disgrace and the rankest kind of hypocrisy from these so-called advocates of free speech,” Miller said in a Senate floor speech.

The network deemed the song, entitled “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” too angry to lead off a prime time family special.

Miller planned to ship his 12-year-old boots Thursday, and country music stations are organizing a mass mailing of hundreds of boots next week.

No, really, it’s Tom

London Tom Cruise spent 90 minutes signing autographs and talking on fans’ cell phones at the British premiere of “Minority Report.”

Wednesday evening, 3,000 people packed Leicester Square, hoping the 39-year-old actor would do his customary mingling with the crowd.

Sometimes when talking to strangers on fans’ cell phones, he said, it was difficult to get the people on the other end of the line to believe it was him.

“It’s great fun to chat to people’s friends and family members on the phone. I just say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ but most of the time they don’t believe it’s me. So sometimes they hang up on me.”

Live from Asbury Park

Asbury Park, N.J. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform live from the boardwalk July 30 for NBC’s “Today” show, his publicist confirmed.

Springsteen will perform several songs from “The Rising,” his first studio album with the E Street Band since 1984, set for release that day.

“Today” will broadcast in its entirety from the boardwalk in Asbury Park, highlighted by Springsteen’s “Today Summer Concert Series” performance from the adjacent Convention Hall, his publicist said Wednesday.

Katie Couric and Matt Lauer will broadcast from the beach and take a tour of Springsteen’s adopted “hometown.”

Joel out of treatment center

New Canaan, Conn. Billy Joel has checked out of Silver Hill Hospital, a substance abuse and psychiatric center he entered earlier this month for treatment.

Claire Mercuri, Joel’s publicist at Columbia Records, said the singer left the hospital Wednesday. She declined further comment.

Columbia Records has said little about the reasons Joel went to Silver Hill on June 14. The hospital is known for a celebrity clientele and individualized care.

But Joel, 52, told People magazine he became “very depressed” after a respiratory infection forced him to cut short a spring tour with Elton John. The tour will restart in September.