De Niro makes 50 Cent feel ‘like a normal person’

New York – It’s not every day that you see Robert De Niro on the cover of Vibe – with 50 Cent.

They posed for the magazine’s March issue to promote their new crime drama, “Righteous Kill,” co-starring Al Pacino and Brian Dennehy. The movie is expected to be released this fall.

50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, says he’d “hang out with Robert on Thursdays and Fridays” if he could.

“His celebrity is so strong that I get a chance to feel like a normal person for a little bit,” the 31-year-old rapper tells Vibe. “People get nervous around him. We had a table read, and it was amazing because there were people who came in who were like, all recognizable faces … and Robert comes in and Al comes in and it’s almost like, their knees are going shaky under the table. It’s great.”

50, who has sold millions of records, launched his film career with the autobiographical tale “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” in 2005.

De Niro won an Oscar for portraying a mob boss in “The Godfather: Part II.” His screen credits also include “Goodfellas” and “Heat.”

Ferguson tapped for correspondents’ dinner

New York – Less than a week after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen, Craig Ferguson learned he’ll be telling jokes to President Bush.

The CBS “Late Late Show” host revealed Tuesday that he’s been booked as the entertainer at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, scheduled April 26.

Ferguson, a Scotsman, recently passed an American citizenship test and was formally sworn in Friday. For his late-night viewers, he described the correspondents’ dinner as “like the Oscars for politicians.”

It’s also potential trouble for comics: Don Imus and Stephen Colbert both provoked some criticism for their pointed political jokes.

“There are 2,800 journalists in attendance, there (are) congressman, senators there, military brass, the Cabinet and I sit at the top table with the president and the first lady,” Ferguson said. “And I am thinking, ‘Does he know I can’t be kicked out now?'”

“I thought it would be the big thing, have the dinner and ‘As my last act as president, you go home, Ferguson,'” the 45-year-old talk-show host said. “And I’ll say, ‘I am home!'”

Hatcher wins ruling in lip-plumping suit

Los Angeles – Teri Hatcher has won a ruling in a feud between rival lip plumpers worthy of Wisteria Lane.

A judge ruled Monday that a $2 million lawsuit against the 43-year-old “Desperate Housewives” star should be moved out of court and into arbitration.

The lawsuit from cosmetics company Hydroderm, filed late last year in Superior Court, claims that a 2005 endorsement agreement with Hatcher’s production company stipulated that she would not pitch competing products.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Helen I. Bendix ruled both sides are bound by a prior agreement to arbitrate all of Hydroderm’s claims rather than litigate them in court.

The two sides signed the agreement Nov. 30, according to Hatcher’s lawyers, who filed the motion to move to arbitration.

According to the lawsuit, the company learned Hatcher was also pushing CityLips, a lip plumper made by City Cosmetics, which competes with Hydroderm’s Volumizing Lip Serum.

“Hatcher’s name, image and likeness have been linked to so many competitors’ products,” the lawsuit said, “that it is anyone’s guess as to what product keeps her skin and lips youthful.”

Pimp C died of accidental overdose of ‘syrup’

Los Angeles – Influential Southern rapper Pimp C died of an accidental overdose of a combination of drugs he had named in his lyrics – codeine and promethazine, the county coroner’s office ruled Monday.

The drugs are key ingredients in “syrup,” a narcotic of choice in Southern rap circles that was most famously celebrated by Three 6 Mafia and Pimp C’s group Underground Kingz in the 2000 single “Sippin’ on some Syrup.”

The coroner’s office said Pimp C had sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for up to 30 seconds at a time while sleeping. That illness combined with large amounts of prescription-strength cough syrup is what killed the rapper, coroner’s Capt. Ed Winter said.

DJ Screw, another influential figure in the Texas hip-hop scene, died of a heart attack in 2000 after a reported overdose of codeine-laced cough syrup.

Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was 33 when he was found in his bed Dec. 4 at the upscale Mondrian hotel in West Hollywood. The coroner’s office said his body was decomposing when it was found.

Vanity Fair’s Oscar party canceled

Los Angeles – It’s typically the hottest party in town on Oscar night – but not this year.

Vanity Fair has canceled its annual Academy Awards party, the magazine announced Tuesday.

“After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party,” said a statement posted on VanityFair.com.

“We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year,” the magazine said.

The Feb. 24 party was scrapped even though the writers guild is said to be on track for a possible deal with studios, possible as soon as this week.