More on Grammys
From the New York Post Page Six
Even though CBS, which is airing the show tonight at 8 p.m., is on its equivalent of orange alert over the broadcast, the Grammys should still attract one of its biggest TV audiences ever, as everyone tunes in to see how the world’s top pop stars respond to the brouhaha over Janet Jackson‘s breast exposure during her live performance with Justin Timberlake at last Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Though Jackson was booted from tonight’s telecast, at press time her Super Bowl cohort Timberlake – who ripped the top of her costume off, exposing her breast – was still scheduled to perform on the show.
Of course, it could have something to do with Timberlake’s high profile – he’s up for five Grammys, including Album of the Year – and Jackson’s waning profile (she’s promoting her first new album in three years). So producers will be eagle-eyed as rappers and pop stars including Britney Spears , Beyonc, 50 Cent, Christina Aguilera and Madonna, who is practically required by her job description to shock the nation, all show up at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.
And even though we definitely won’t be seeing any raunch onstage tonight, there will certainly be skin on display on the red carpet.
“We’re going to see a lot of cleavage,” predicts Hollywood stylist Phillip Bloch. “Everyone is in a ‘breast’ state of mind these days – not only because of Janet, but because of the Golden Globes, where Mary-Louise Parker showed all her cleavage and then made that hilarious joke about how she was breast-feeding and it made her boobs look so good.”
Click on Full Article to read more
Still, insiders say that CBS has been warning all the performers to tone down their red-carpet outfits – so there will probably be nothing to compete with Jennifer Lopez‘s famous, slit-to-there green chiffon Versace gown from the 2000 Grammys or Lil Kim’s half-a-dress-and-a-pastie number from the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
But be sure that the stars will push it as far as they can.
“Christina Aguilera is always looking for attention,” says MSNBC.com’s Jeannette Walls. “She’ll be one to watch for.”
But even Aguilera – who is fond of wearing leather chaps that expose her bum and bumping and grinding with her backup dancers – will not have much chance to shock, as she’s performing her muted ballad, “Beautiful.” Besides, there won’t be a single moment of spontaneity – CBS is doing everything it can to avoid another Janet-type incident, installing a five-minutue delay so that anything deemed inappropraite can be edited out of the telecast.
All of Hollywood is reeling from the repercussions of Jackson’s peep show, as the Federal Communications Commission continues its inquiry into the incident, and the Oscars and the SAG awards both consider installing lengthy time-delays of their own. MTV, meanwhile, was banned from filming a new reality show at a high-school campus which had previously granted permission.
The atmosphere is so tense that the NFL even punished Justin Timberlake’s old *NSYNC (news – web sites) bandmate JC Chasez, barring him from singing his hit, “Some Girls (Dance with Women),” at the Pro Bowl, which airs on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. tonight – a move that angered Chasez so much that he refused to sing the National Anthem before the game, as originally planned.
“Now it turns into a censorship issue,” Chasez said this week. “One bad apple is spoiling the bunch.”
Interestingly, Grammy producers replaced original opening act Janet Jackson with Prince, who’ll perform with Beyonce.
Prince, as you may recall, sent Tipper Gore into a frenzy with his 1984 ode to masturbation, “Darling Nikki,” and used to fill his stage shows with scantily clad, writhing female dancers. In 1991, he famously attended the Video Music Awards in skin-tight yellow pants, with panels cut out to reveal his butt.
But he’s toned down his act since becoming a Jehovah’s Witness a few years ago (interestingly, Jackson was also raised in the faith). Prince has even been reported to go proselytizing door-to-door in his native Minnesota.
“This may not be the Prince we knew from before,” notes Blender editor in chief Andy Pemberton, who adds that he’s nevertheless “thrilled” to see His Purple Majesty back in action.
Other potential highlights include an 11-minute funk medley, which will be led by multiple Grammy nominees Outkast, along with George Clinton and members of Earth, Wind & Fire and George Clinton.
Also slated to perform are 50 Cent, the White Stripes, the Black Eyed Peas, Sean Paul and the Foo Fighters – whose frontman, ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, expressed his disgust over Jackson and Timberlake’s Super Bowl antics.
“Get them on the Playboy Channel,” he said this week, adding that the stunt was nothing more than “blatant exhibitionism.”
But Grammy producers are no doubt taking comfort in the rest of tonight’s performances, which include a tribute to Luther Vandross, featuring Alicia Keys and Celine Dion (news), and a tribute to the Beatles, featuring Sting and Vince Gill.
And there’s an all-star tribute to the late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, featuring Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris and Dwight Yoakam, as well as Billy Bob Thornton.
In fact, the famously eccentric Thornton – who is known for his acting, not his singing – may be the most shocking element of tonight’s show. But he says there’s a good reason he’s been invited to perform – the actor first befriended Zevon in the 1970s in L.A., when they lived in the same apartment building and bonded over their shared obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“Warren saw me one day taking my mail out of my mailbox and putting it back in, taking it out and putting back in,” Thornton says. “He goes, ‘You have that too, huh?’ “