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Apparently Canadian politeness does have its limits. Just a few days ago, actor Billy Bob Thornton and his band the Boxmasters were touring the country with legend Willie Nelson. The band has since pulled out of the tour, after audiences reacted negatively following Thornton’s testy interview on a Canadian radio show.

Thornton refused to answer host Jian Ghomeshi’s questions because he had the nerve to mention his Oscar-winning acting and screenwriting career. (Hey Billy, at least he didn’t bring up your history as a creepy asshole.) BBT wouldn’t answer simple questions and ended the interview by refusing to play with his band, who performed an instrumental without him. It seems BBT doesn’t want to be seen as your typical actor-turned-musician, but as a spoiled diva.

The next day the band played Toronto and was received with a collective ”Boo! Hiss!” from the crowd. BBT forgot that a country sometimes listens to its radio shows and reads entertainment news. Soon after, a message appeared on Willie Nelson’s official website, announcing that the Boxmasters were pulling out of the Canadian tour. 

See the astonishingly ass-y interview here.

Perez Hilton just posted the new music video for Lily Allen’s Not Fair, off her album It’s Not Me, It’s You. Allen is a frequent target of the opinionated blogger, and while he’s getting her some publicity, he’s not digging the video. Quoth the queen: “She looks high as a kite during the whole vid. That’s probably what they were going for and all, but she didn’t have to get all ‘method’ actress for it!”

The song is about a great guy, who, sadly for Lily, sucks in the sack. The video has the singer performing on a country show, twisting around in a white jumpsuit. I don’t think it’s that bad! Judge for yourselves here.

It’s been widely reported that Paper Planes singer M.I.A. named her recently-born son Ickitt. The press has been attempting to scrape up some significance for the odd moniker. MTV reports that Daily News asked South Asian scholars and writers for clues as to the name’s origin, but came up with nil.

Now the singer has taken to her MySpace page to dispute the rumored name, writing, “My baby is not called Ickitt, Pickit or Lickit thank you very much to all the Hollywood press. He’s a baby, he don’t need press! I didn’t release the baby name because I didn’t think it was news!!!!” I don’t know if I believe that last part; surely M.I.A. knows that celebrity baby names are always news.

Jamie Foxx premiered a new music video recently and it features a host of big-name stars. “Blame It” is off his third release “Intuition.” The song is a social commentary on both the evils and the joys of “a-a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.” Foxx spins a familiar tale of woe involving a drunk chick who gets another cup of devil’s brew only to spill it on herself. And she’s so wasted she doesn’t even care.

Jake Gyllenhaal, Forrest Whittaker, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ron Howard make brief but knowing appearances in the club as Foxx rubs all over the drunk chick. The stars don’t have much to do but stare at the camera or off into the distance, and the effect is a little puzzling. Is this the crew Foxx typically rolls with? At least the dancing, suit-wearing panda is having fun.

The second season of Flight of the Conchords premiers January 18th at 10. Thanks to the show’s popularity, you can already watch it on HBO’s website. This episode finds the boys firing manager Murray, whose success with Crazy Dogs has come to end after the band’s breakout hit is discovered to sound exactly like a 15-year-old Polish song.  While Murray moves into his car, the boys record a jingle for Femident, a woman’s toothpaste. They also appear in the commercial, emerging from toothpaste tubes in darling, pink-striped toothpaste suits and hats. As in the first season, the characters break out into elaborate musical numbers. Murray, played by Rhys Darby, delivers an especially stirring operatic vocal reminiscent of Pavarotti. Enjoy it yourself here.

Britney Spears performed a re-worked version of her new song Womanizer at the Bambi Awards in Germany this Thursday. Perez Hilton’s verdict is: “She wasn’t great, but she wasn’t embarrassing.” He added that the pop star seemed a little stiff and had too much downtime in between dance moves, but he liked the remixed song.

However, the best part of the night wasn’t Brit’s actual performance but when she accepted an award from crazy-boots fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The Olsens of the celebrity world are just kooky enough to have a believable repartee with Uncle Karl, but Spears and Karl make for an awkward pair. Says the eccentric designer to the open-mouthed, uncomprehending Spears, “[You are] coming back not only as a phoenix, but as a bird of paradise.” Britney looks out uneasily at the audience for a moment, then turns back to Karl, nodding with let’s-get-this-shit-over-with determination. Then the camera flashes to the audience to capture a perplexed-looking Meg Ryan. She looks like she doesn’t know whether to laugh, feel pity, or excuse herself to go do some shots at the bar. Share in Meg’s puzzlement below.

Meet pop’s latest monster.

If you frequent Perezhilton.com, you’ve seen the name Lady Gaga. Perez, along with the New York Post, called her “the future of pop music.” He often refers to Christina Aguilera’s ultra-blond sex doll look as a rip-off of Lady’s edgier style. So who is this frightening-looking pop creation?

I did some Youtubing and her big songs (”Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi”) sound pretty much like you’d expect. There’s nothing special about her voice; it’s the standard, sweet, dance-pop sound. Thumping beats and lyrics about drunk clubbing complete the package. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; ”Just Dance” is probably exactly what drunk club-goers want to hear.

Lady Gaga blends together elements of Peaches, Kylie Minogue, and Madonna, who in turn are sampling artists from the 70’s and 80’s. And isn’t that what pop music is all about? I think part of what sets Lady Gaga apart is her all-out dirty-girl image.  My favorite part of the video for “Just Dance” (which you can watch here) is when she humps a blow-up killer whale doll in a kiddie pool. This is trashier than X-tina at her dirrrtiest. Her edgy, extreme styling helps too.  Outfits like the one above look like they might be worn by super-villains in an X-Men movie.

See the Lady live on Jimmy Kimmel in a dress she told Perez was inspired by “cocaine.” The next Madonna? What do you think?

Rocker Juliana Hatfield hasn’t been in the spotlight much since the ’90s, but some of us remember her for 1993 CD Become What You Are. (That was back when MTV played videos.) Hatfield toured with the first Lilith Fair. She also told the magazine Interview that she was still a virgin, though in her mid-20’s at the time. She later said of the interview, “I think there are a lot of people out there who don’t care about sex, but who you never hear from, so I thought I should say it. The magazine I did the interview for is full of beef-cake hunky guys and scantily-clad models, so I thought it would be really funny to say that I didn’t care about sex in a magazine that’s full of sex and beauty - but no one really got the joke.” These non-sex-having people sound kinky.

The now 41-year-old rocker recently entered treatment for anorexia, something she says she struggled with in the past. On her blog she writes that when life gets hectic, instead of turning to drugs or alcohol, she restricts her food consumption. She is now in a treatment facility and writing about her experience on her blog, http://julianahatfield.com/blog/. She says of the harrowing period before she entered treatment: ”I was dehydrated and anemic — anemia caused by malnutrition — and I didn’t even know it; I didn’t realize the seriousness of my problem until I had already entered dangerous territory. My anxiety was so great… that at some point I lost my appetite completely and it was no more about restricting food but became an almost inability to eat.”

We wish Hatfield strength in her recovery! Check out some old-school MTV below, with Juliana Hatfield Three’s “My Sister.”

British pop star George Michael was busted for drug possession this weekend. He was arrested in a public lavatory as the Brits say, after the loo attendent reported him for loitering. The drugs are said to include marijuana and crack. Crack?! I didn’t know he was that far gone. Cops confirmed that a 45-year-old man was arrested on Hampstead Heath, where the Victorian South End Green bathrooms are an infamous meeting spot for gay men who go cruising around the Heath. The area is a quick drive from the mansion Michael shares with partner Kenny Goss.

In 1998, Michael was busted for engaging in lewd conduct in a public restroom in California. In 2006, he was twice arrested for drug offenses. Michael released a statement last night, in which he said, “I want to apologise to my fans for screwing up again and to promise them I’ll sort myself out. And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them.” Oh George. The 90’s were a good time for him, but the 00’s–not so much.

That’s the question asked in the current issue of People Magazine. In the late-90’s, the Fugees front-woman had gone solo with her bestselling and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She was an international superstar poised to take over the world. She was versatile, talented and smart enough to expand her career and move into any field she chose, from acting to activism. What happened?

I would sum up the article by saying: life happened. For one thing, she had five kids, all with Rohan Marley, son of Bob. From the sound of it, Marley’s left it up to her to raise their brood. Hill now lives in relative anonymity in suburban New Jersey with her mother and the kids. Marley tells the magazine that Hill continues to write songs all the time, sparking rumors that she’s planning a comeback.

However, her public appearances in the past years have been rocky to the say the least. Let’s just say that in the video game of celebrity, she’s racked up a lot of crazy points. She’s kept reclusive for years, but ventured on-stage in 2001 to record an MTV Unplugged album that was basically a taped nervous breakdown. She started demanding to be addressed as Ms. Hill and alienated old friends like fellow Fugees member Pras Michel. She toured in 2007, but her habitual lateness, clownish makeup and outfits, and raspy-sounding voice alarmed fans. Rumors spread that she was mentally ill or on drugs, and Michel publicly expressed his view that she was bipolar.

A Rolling Stone article from 2003 points to her relationship with “shadowy spiritual advisor” Brother Anthony as a factor in her transformation. Hill met him in 2000, and soon after she fired her management team. Hill’s friends didn’t trust Brother Anthony, who preached an ideology all his own. She became increasingly influenced by his teachings, some say brainwashed by them. The article also cites competition with former boyfriend and Fugees member Wyclef Jean, unhappiness in her relationship with Marley, and the pressures of fame as sources of frustration for Hill.

Whatever happened, fans still yearn for the fresh-faced and together Hill of 1998. As she keeps showing us, though, she’s not that person anymore, and seems to feel that she never really was.