Hilton cancels appearance at Billboard Music Awards

Los Angeles – Paris Hilton won’t joke about her peeps.

The hotel heiress canceled an appearance at next week’s Billboard Music Awards because she didn’t like the jokes written for her, according to a spokesman.

“It is my understanding that some satirical references ridiculed some of her peers,” her spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said in a statement. “Paris did not want to say anything that could appear hurtful or embarrassing about people she knows.”

Mintz said Hilton received a script Friday that contained material she found “objectionable.” Representatives for Hilton and the awards show could not come to an agreement about the script’s content so she decided to scrap the appearance, he said.

A call to Billboard was not returned early Saturday.

The Billboard Awards will be handed out Monday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show is scheduled to air live on Fox.

American Indians praise Gibson’s casting for film

Goldsby, Okla. – Mel Gibson’s effort to find an indigenous cast for his new movie “Apocalypto,” which depicts the end of the Mayan civilization, is drawing praise from American Indian leaders.

Gibson wanted an indigenous cast for the project, so the filmmakers found people from the Yucatan, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Xalapa, Veracruz and other spots. Two of the cast members are from the United States, three are from Canada and the rest hail from Central America.

“It is very important to note that Mr. Gibson has gone to great lengths to cast indigenous people in this film,” Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill Anoatubby said. “This not only helps make the film more realistic, it serves as an inspiration to Native American actors who aspire to perform relevant roles in the film industry.”

Gibson screened the movie Friday for a sold-out audience at Chickasaw Nation’s Riverwind Casino. Tickets were $55, proceeds going to American Indian health organizations and charities.

Rudy Youngblood, who makes his acting debut as Jaguar Paw, and Raoul Trujillo, who portrays Zero Wolf, arrived in sports utility vehicles and stood on Riverwind’s version of the red carpet – a black carpet that led into the theater – to pose for photographers.

Youngblood, a powwow dancer, singer and artist, told reporters he was just there to enjoy the movie, which opens in theaters Dec. 8.

Lopez’s first husband still wants to write memoir

Los Angeles – Jennifer Lopez’s first husband, Ojani Noa, said in court he plans to fight her efforts to quash a tell-all memoir.

Noa, 31, said Friday in a pretrial hearing that he regrets agreeing to a June 30 preliminary injunction that prohibits him from “criticizing, denigrating, casting in a negative light or otherwise disparaging or causing disparagement” to Lopez.

“I want to fight this thing to the end,” he said.

The judge gave Noa until Jan. 17 to hire a lawyer or represent himself.

Lopez filed her lawsuit April 10 and obtained a temporary restraining order barring Noa from publishing intimate details of their sex life.

Noa said Friday that Lopez misunderstood what the book was about.

“This was to be about my life story, coming here from Cuba,” he said. “She was only a part of my life, but I was going to talk about my other girlfriends, as well.”

Lopez, who has appeared in films such as “Selena” and “Out of Sight,” married Noa in February 1997 after meeting him in a Miami restaurant. They divorced 11 months later.