TURKEYS
He’s no longer around to personally hand out the holiday birds, but a Thanksgiving tradition the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown started more than a decade ago is still going strong.
Brown died of heart failure last Christmas, but today his program, designed to help those less fortunate, kicked off with great success. Brown’s longtime friend and civil rights activist Al Sharpton was on hand in the late singer’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia to hand out the first turkey of the season.
The legendary entertainer started giving away free turkeys in 1991 and since then event organizers say more than 15,000 birds have been presented to needy families.
AN OLIVE BRANCH
Donny Osmond is extending an olive branch to talk-show legend Larry King.
The popular 70’s singer announced today that he apologized to King for revealing that his sister’s 16-year-old son had entered rehab.
The 49-year-old singer ate crow on NBC’s “Today” show this morning. This after he made the rounds on various entertainment shows last week chastising the CNN talk-show host for “throwing that question at Marie the way he did.”
Osmond and his sister, who hit it big with the “Donny and Marie Show” during the 1970s, both looked as though someone had knocked the wind out of them when King asked about Marie’s son during an interview last week.
Today, Osmond said he later learned the tabloids were about to break the story.
“I have to back up and apologize publicly to Larry King because I came out and said some things against him,” he said.
Donny added: “In hindsight, Larry King did Marie a favor. She was able to make a statement about the situation. … And so she’s grateful to Larry.”
Meanwhile, Marie, who is competing in tonight’s semi-final round on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” didn’t deny that her son is seeking treatment, though she refused to disclose the nature of his problem.