50 Cent pleads not guilty

Springfield, Mass. — Rapper 50 Cent pleaded not guilty to assault charges stemming from an incident at a concert.

Steve Leary, the lawyer for the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, entered the plea Monday in Springfield District Court, said James Orenstein, first assistant district attorney for Hampden County.

Jackson, 26, didn’t appear in court.

At a concert in Springfield in May, Jackson allegedly jumped into the crowd after someone threw or squirted water at him. Three women were injured. After an investigation and a hearing last month, a clerk magistrate decided there was probable cause for assault and battery charges.

Jackson, who lives in Farmington, Conn., is scheduled to appear for a pretrial conference Feb. 8.

Fox hunter deemed a fox

London — A pro-fox hunting campaigner who stormed into the House of Commons and heckled lawmakers is rated one of the country’s “most dateable men.”

Otis Ferry, 21, who was among a group of pro-hunting activists that entered the House of Commons during a debate, is lauded as a pinup boy in the December issue of Tatler magazine, the publishers said Wednesday.

Ferry, son of Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry, was virtually unknown before September’s highly publicized protest and a subsequent court appearance.

Despite his burst of fame, Ferry had to settle for second place behind actor Hugh Grant in the magazine’s top 100 men list, which hailed the return of the “cool toff” — a British word for the upper crust.

Spacey in line for Bono prize

Palm Springs, Calif. — Kevin Spacey, Laura Linney and Bryce Dallas Howard will be among the award winners at the 16th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival.

The festival, founded in 1990 by then-Mayor Sonny Bono, will be Jan. 6-17. It will include more than 200 movies from 60 countries.

Award winners also include Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson and Kirk Douglas.

Spacey is the winner of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award for Acting, Directing and Producing, and Jackson is the winner of the Career Achievement Award for Acting.

Neeson and Linney won the Desert Palm Achievement Award for actor and actress respectively; Douglas will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award; and Howard will receive the Rising Star Award.

Love pleads not guilty in assault

Los Angeles — Courtney Love pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a confrontation with a woman at her ex-boyfriend’s house.

Love, 40, entered her plea before Superior Court Judge Terry Green. She is scheduled to return to court for a Dec. 15 pretrial hearing. The felony charge is related to an April 25 incident; Love allegedly found a 32-year-old woman sleeping on a sofa and threw a liquor bottle at her and chased her with a flashlight.