GWYNETH PALTROW, CHRIS MARTIN COLD PLAY SLOW PLAY IN DIVORCE
Gwyneth Paltrow needs to tell her estranged hubby to get off the dime, because we’ve learned he never responded to her divorce petition and the judge has taken notice. Gwyneth filed for divorce April 20, 2015. Chris was served with legal docs on May 18th and the case has laid dormant since then. According to legal docs the Coldplay frontman never filed an answer to her divorce petition. The judge has now notified Gwyneth and Chris, the actress may now be eligible to get a default judgment. Typically, that means she’d get what she asked for in her divorce petition. We broke the story, Gwyneth wants joint custody of their 2 kids. BTW … she filed her petition without a lawyer. But, as we reported, we’re told business managers for Gwyneth and Chris have been privately hashing out a settlement, mostly involving their considerable assets. Based on what we know, it looks like Chris and his team simply never got around to filing an answer, which they’ll probably do now. Either way, if Chris doesn’t snap to, he may wake up suddenly single.
“FIGHT THE POWER” AT THE OSCARSABC
The Oscars made a statement by playing Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and now the group has a statement to the Oscars … they’re pissed off.
Group member Professor Griff tells us he thinks the Academy was just paying lip service to black protesters and will go right back to business as usual. Griff says Public Enemy is all about change — radical change — and the Academy’s efforts fly in the face of that. He adds, “The show can’t claim the blackness of Public Enemy’s message.” That said, Public Enemy does not have rights to license the song … Universal Music does. So the man wins again.
MOBB DEEP’S PRODIGY RECORD LABEL WILL PAY 6 FIGURES … IF He Tweets
One half of Mobb Deep and Universal Music have squashed their legal beef, but if Prodigy wants to get paid … he’s gonna have to jump on Twitter. According to docs, the rapper and Universal’s publishing arm reached a settlement — he had sued for back royalties, accusing the label of skimming revenue from his solo work. Under the settlement, Universal Music Publishing Group will fork over $153,751.21 to Prodigy’s lawyers … with one string attached. Prodigy must publicly declare the feud is over, with this specific tweet: “My dispute with UMPG was all a misunderstanding. Thankful that we resolved it quickly and happy to be continuing my long-standing relationship with UMPG.” That’s over 140 characters, so it’ll be a two-parter — but when you see it, know that Prodigy got paid.
RICK ROSS YOU CAN’T PROSECUTE ME … Groundskeeper Had Drugs
Rick Ross just got indicted in the alleged pistol whipping of his groundskeeper, but TMZ has learned his attorney thinks there’s no case here … because Ross was acting in self-defense.
Ross’ attorney, Steve Sadow, gave the court a heads up he believes Ross should be immune from criminal prosecution because the groundskeeper was committing felonies on Ross’ property — which means the rapper would be within his rights to beat up the man. Ross has claimed Jonathan Zamudio, the groundskeeper, was partying with cocaine and drug paraphernalia in the guest house of Ross’ Georgia estate. Sadow says he will make the case that Ross was “acting in self-defense and in defense of his property when he encountered trespassers.” A grand jury handed up several charges last week … including kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm while committing a crime.
OSCARS GIRL SCOUT SKIT $65K NOT RAISED … SCOUTS HONOR
Chris Rock made it look like his battle cry raised a fortune for the Girl Scouts … sadly, it did not. A Girl Scout rep tells us they sold around 500 boxes of cookies at $5 a pop. That comes to $2,500 … far short of the Oscar tote board revealing a grand total of $65,243. A rep for the Scouts tells us the $65k number was just a joke … for the skit. It’s possible some of the audience members ordered boxes that would be delivered at a future date. And it looked like the beneficiaries of the loot were the troop in which his daughters — Lola and Zahra — are members. Turns out the money is going to a different troop … the one based in Inglewood, CA. His daughters are members of a New York-based Girl Scouts troop. Nonetheless … still a good night’s work for the Girl Scouts
