Report: Chappelle unhappy with Comedy Central’s plans

Dayton, Ohio – Comedian Dave Chappelle says he may never return to his hit Comedy Central show if the cable network goes through with plans to air new episodes culled from material he filmed before leaving the series.

“I feel like it’s kind of a bully move,” Chappelle told the Dayton Daily News in a telephone interview for a story Wednesday.

Last May, Chappelle stunned his fans and the entertainment industry by skipping out on a $50 million contract and leaving “Chappelle’s Show” in mid-production. He spent two weeks in South Africa before returning home in Ohio. He has since resumed performing live standup.

Chappelle said his possible return to “Chappelle’s Show” is still up in the air.

“But I think if they air that stuff, I can’t see how I’m going to be able to,” he told the Daily News. “That will damage our relationship.”

Comedy Central has said in the past it plans to air the material, but wouldn’t comment on any current specific plans.

Singer believes someone is trying to sabotage him

Washington – Scott Stapp thinks a recently released sex video showing him and Kid Rock with several strippers is meant to sabotage him.

“Obviously someone wants to hurt me and doesn’t want me to be successful in my solo career,” Stapp told AP Radio in a recent interview.

Stapp claims the tape, which was made in 1999, was stolen from him. He and Kid Rock have won a temporary court order preventing World Wide Red Light District from distributing the video or promoting any part of it.

Red Light, which sold the infamous Paris Hilton sex tape in 2004, had displayed a 40-second preview clip of the video on its Web site. The company has acknowledged that the tape came from a third party, but has denied that it was stolen.

The tape was released just days after Stapp, the former lead singer of Creed, married former Miss New York Jaclyn Nesheiwat in Miami on Feb. 10.

Singer Gary Glitter’s trial on obscenity charges to open

Vung Tau, Vietnam – Gary Glitter was scheduled to go on trial today on charges he committed obscene acts with two underaged Vietnamese girls.

The former British glam rocker has been accused of kissing, fondling and “engaging in other physical acts” with a 10-year-old and 11-year-old at his rental home in the port city of Vung Tau last year.

His trial, which will be closed to the public, will be held at the courthouse in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. The verdict will be read publicly Friday.

Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, faces three to seven years in prison if convicted.

“He says he has not committed any crime,” his lawyer, Le Thanh Kinh, said Wednesday. “I will do my best to defend him,” though he added it will be “very difficult.”

Glitter has said he was teaching the girls English at his home and considered them “like his grandchildren.”

He has been in police custody since Nov. 19, when he was seized in Ho Chi Minh City trying to board a flight out of the country.

Two shot at Kanye West show

London – Two concert-hall ushers were shot during a Kanye West show, police said Wednesday.

West Midlands Police said the men were wounded at the National Exhibition Center, near Birmingham in central England, on Tuesday as several people were being ejected from the venue for trying to get in without tickets.

“Firearms were discharged and two stewards were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds,” police said in a statement. “Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.”

The concert was the last stop in Britain on West’s “Touch the Sky” tour. The 27-year-old rapper was scheduled to perform today in Milan, Italy.

Actor helps launch new ‘Short Churchill’ Cuban cigar

Havana – Joseph Fiennes, who co-starred with Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1998 film “Shakespeare in Love,” has helped launch a new Cuban cigar, tossing off a few lines from “Romeo and Juliet” in honor of the cigar’s maker.

Fiennes was the featured visitor as Cuba began its annual cigar festival Monday night, presenting a cigar size called the “Short Churchill” by Cuba’s state-owned Romeo and Juliet brand at Havana’s Gran Teatro.

“I’ve really gained a newfound respect for the kind of level of attention, detail, complexity and energy that goes into making a cigar,” the actor told reporters.

According to legend, World War II British Prime Minister Winston Churchill smoked more than 200,000 Cuban cigars during trips to the island, Fiennes said.