Eddie Murphy

What is it this week and trash talking? The latest quasi-celeb to badmouth his former co-stars is, oddly enough, Bronson Pinchot, better known as Balki from Perfect Strangers. Believe it or not he was actually in other things too.

Eddie Murphy has signed on to play his idol, the late, great Richard Pryor, in a new biopic.

The film, Is It Something I Said?, which is being helmed by Oscar-winning Dreamgirls director/producer Bill Condon, who just did an outstanding job producing the 2009 Academy Award telecast, will chronicle Pryor’s career highs and lows, including his highly public battles with alcohol and drug addiction, his seven marriages to five different women and his struggle with multiple sclerosis.

She is one!

We’ve been wondering why Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen has begun resembling early Debbie Harry/Courtney Love/Sid’s Nancy and it’s because she’s harboring delusions of grandeur for her big rock career.

Why can’t successful actors leave well enough alone and be happy with their singular career (cough, Joaquin Phoenix)?

Why do they all want to be rock stars too (ahem, Kevin Costner)?

Now Taylor Momsen is joining in the unoriginality. 

And we ain’t talking about some crappy Clint Eastwood movie.

Eddie Murphy has been ordered to pay out more than $10 million in back child support (about $51,000 a month) to his baby mama, singer Melanie Brown, aka: Scary Spice.

The two dated briefly in 2006 but when Mel B announced she was pregnant with his child, he denied his paternity. DNA tests eventually determined the little girl, named Angel Iris, who was born on Murphy’s birthday, April 3rd, was indeed his child.

Now, after a fifteen month court battle, Murphy has been ordered to pony up.

Good.

Yesterday a British tabloid claimed Eddie Murphy and Shia LaBeouf were set to join the cast of the next Batman film, tentatively titled Gotham.

Today, Eddie’s reps are speaking out saying the reports are not true.

Bummer.

We thought Murphy would be a great Riddler.

On the other hand, if that means Shia’s out as Robin too, there’s a ray of sunshine.

According to a new report, Eddie Murphy and Shia LaBeouf will be joining the cast of the next Batman film being developed under the title Gotham.

Murphy would reprise the Riddler role played by Jim Carrey in the 1995 film Batman Forever while LaBitch would be playing Robin (ugh). Earlier rumors had Johnny Depp in the running for the Riddler role.

Rudy Ray Moore, the actor and hip-hop pioneer best known to blaxploitation fans as kung fu pimp Dolemite, died Sunday at an Akron, Ohio nursing home from complications of diabetes. He was 81.

Moore, the self-proclaimed “Godfather of Rap”, who was a noted influence of everyone from Eddie Murphy to Snoop Dogg, often said "What you call dirty words, I call ghetto expression."

Well then, rest in motherf---ing peace, Rudy Ray.

Terrence Howard celebrated his cover of Philadelphia Style magazine in Philadelphia yesterday.

Terrence is using the article to promote his new album. Yes, we said album. He’s going the Jamie Foxx-Scarlett “HoJo” Johansson-Don Johnson route. Yikes. Terrence showed off his pipes alongside Foxx in Ray , but that doesn’t mean he needs to make a record and force people to listen to it. Didn’t he learn anything from watching Eddie Murphy crash and burn?

Ummm…

Ummm…

Yeah.

What do you say about relative nobody Jo Champa (she had small parts in Little Buddha and Don Juan DeMarco) showing up to last night’s premiere of Meet Dave in that Kiss-of-the-Spiderwoman-gone-Vegas-Revue ensemble?

That’s a lot of nipple for a movie rated PG.

We think someone might be a liiiiiittle fame whore-y.

With Eddie Murphy’s big scary grin right behind her, we can’t decide if this picture is funny, creepy, tragic or all of the above.

This has bad idea written all over it.

Eddie Murphy is set to reprise his signature role as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop.

Variety reports that film studio Paramount is prepping a fourth installment in the action-comedy series with Rush Hour director Brett Ratner in negotiations to direct.

Paramount hopes to have the film in production next year and in cinemas in the summer of 2010.