Violence shuts down Source Hip Hop Awards

MOB SCENE Police shut down the Source Hip Hop Awards last night — at which Dr. Dre and Eminem were scheduled to perform — after violence erupted and audience members stormed the stage. One man was reportedly severely beaten. The ceremony, which took place at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, was being filmed by UPN for broadcast on Aug. 29. If the show had not been interrupted, viewers would have seen Dr. Dre score five awards, including a lifetime achievement prize, while the Slim Shady took home two. About 2 1/2 hours into the delayed show, police say they received a message that a ”large fight” had broken out, and they arrived on the scene to restore calm. At that point more scuffles broke out, and some people began throwing bottles and CDs from their Source Magazine gift bags. So much for effective graft.

EM AGAIN Looks like Kim is biting back. Eminem‘s estranged wife has filed a $10 mil defamation lawsuit against her soon to be ex. Kimberly Mathers alleges that he slandered her in his onstage antics (tossing around an inflatable sex doll named Kim) and his song lyrics (um, the song ”Kim,” in which Em depicts his wife’s murder). She also claims that the rapper is unfit to care for their 4 year old daughter. The chart topper’s manager, meanwhile, says that the charges are ”without merit” and that Em will ”go to the mat” for joint custody of their child. Oh, the soothing legal tides of marital bliss.

LEGALESE It’s lawsuits galore for Big Media this week. Disney has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a racial discrimination suit filed by an employee at one of the company’s radio outlets, the Los Angeles Times reports. Judy Goodwin, formerly of L.A.’s KLOS-FM filed the suit last year, over a promotional campaign entitled ”The Black Hoe.” (No, they weren’t talking about farming.) She alleged that the promo was undertaken with the ”conscious aim and intent” of providing ”hoes” for a white male audience. She also said she suffered retaliation when she complained about black women workers being forced to pack boxes with ”black hoes” and ship them to advertisers. The company issued a statement yesterday apologizing for the incident. Welcome to the wonderful world of Disney…. MP3Board.com has filed a lawsuit against AOL and Time Warner (EW.com’s parent) over the legality of Gnutella, a Napster like file swapping service that was created by AOL’s Nullsoft division. The suit alleges that the companies should be liable for copyright infringement and damages incurred after the software program was posted on Nullsoft. (AOL removed the controversial program only hours after it appeared.) The Recording Industry Association of America is currently suing MP3Board.com for providing links to MP3 search engines, including Gnutella. The company’s lawyer says that they believe Gnutella is ”lawful” but that AOL TW should share the fault and damages ”in the unlikely event” that a court finds it unlawful. Rich D’Amato, a spokesperson for AOL, told EW.com that they have not yet had a chance to review the details of the suit, but that it would appear to be based in ”desperation rather than based in law.”

REEL DEALS Another Julia Roberts vehicle is in the works. Revolution Studios has acquired the rights to Jane Heller’s comic novel ”Sis Boom Bah” and asked screenwriter Dominique Lett to develop it into a project for Roberts, according to the Hollywood Reporter…. TV comedians Ray Romano (”Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Kevin James (”The King of Queens”) have signed a deal with Paramount’s Alphaville to jointly develop an as yet untitled feature…. Ready to feel inadequate? Variety reports that 11 year old Chaille Stovall is in final negotiations to DIRECT a family feature entitled ”Camp Grizzly.” The young prodigy recently won first place at the National Children’s Film Festival for a documentary called ”Looking 4 God.”

CASTING Nicolas Cage might be going a little MTV. Variety reports that the ”Gone in 60 Seconds” star is in serious talks to team up with ”Being John Malkovich”’s Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze. The $25 mil film ”Adaptation” is an unabashedly navel-gazing story about a screenwriter’s attempt to turn an anecdotal novel into a movie. Cage would likely take a pay cut to do the flick.

SYNERGY CBS is teaming with its corporate sibling MTV at the Super Bowl this year. The music network confirmed yesterday that it would mix the halftime show at the football extravaganza, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Veejay Carson Daly will also be involved with the event. Cool. With all this corporate crossover, pretty soon we’ll be seeing music videos for Rich and Sue and ”Real World” episodes in which cast members get voted out of the house.

POLITICAL CELEBS TV’s ”West Wing” prez Martin Sheen is lending his voice to an antigun promotion to counteract a progun commercial that used the strikingly similar voice of his bro Joe Estevez. The gun makers, of course, admitted to using Estevez because he sounded so much like the liberal presidential character. ”I want to set the record straight and place the gun makers’ despicable deception on notice,” Sheen said. Hey Joe, where you goin’ with that gun in your hand?

TOURS Dickey Betts wants to put the bad blood between himself and the Allman Brothers behind him, Launch reports. The guitarist, who was temporarily kicked out of the band earlier this summer, says that instead he will focus on his upcoming tour with the Dickey Betts Band. The shows start today in St. Petersburg, Fla., and end in Hartford, Conn., Sept. 23.