To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > People April 11, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/04/11/nptues Don't squish the chameleon Boy George: Dropping disco balls make you feel like you got something real; Matthew McConaughey: Tips on gettin' nekkid with bongos. Plus: The mysterious case of the missing Puff Daddy. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amy Reiter No matter how much you really want to hurt Boy George and make him cry, he will not give you a second chance. Particularly if there's any danger that you might drop the world's largest disco ball on his head. The Los Angeles Times reports that, before agreeing to appear at a gay dance event boasting said whopping mirror ball, the gender-bending '80s icon -- who was nearly crushed by a plummeting mirror ball of average size last year -- took a few precautions. At his insistence, the event's promoter provided him with a written pledge that the ball will be kept at least 50 feet away from him. At least. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A BAFTA shake "I scatter them around. This one might go next to the blender. I'm not sure." -- Kevin Spacey on the sprawling stash of awards he's won for his work on "American Beauty," after being handed the BAFTA award (the British equivalent of an Oscar) for Best Actor. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Can't smile without Babs What's happened to Barry Manilow's self-image? Backstage at the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs awards Sunday night, the '70s crooner told gossip guy Baird Jones that the person he'd most like to see play him in a movie of his life would be ... Barbra Streisand. In fact, he maintains, Babs would slip into his shoes like buttah. "Barbra Streisand and I both have so much in common," mused Manilow. "We're Jewish, from Brooklyn and we both have the same big noses." And apparently that small matter of differing gender is simply not a problem. "Barbra Streisand did great as a man in 'Yentl,'" the singer points out. "And cross-dressing is such a rage with the Academy Awards, maybe Barbra would win an Oscar." Oy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We did not assign an interview to that man Mr. DiCaprio "Don't you newspeople ever learn? It isn't the mistake that kills you. It's the coverup." -- President Clinton, chiding ABC News president David Westin about his handling of "Leogate" at the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner on Thursday night. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mouth service Forget 'N Sync. Here comes lip synch. Again. Fabrice Morvan, sole surviving member of the infamous lip-synching duo Milli Vanilli, is reportedly trying to stage a comeback by releasing one of the dance-pop hits that helped him and his other non-singing half, the late Rob Pilatus, shoot to fame and fall from grace in a late '80s/early '90s flash. But this time, Morvan swears he's really singing. "My dream was always to become a singer-songwriter, a performer," he recently told the BBC. And what about all those people still snickering about the 1990 Grammy award he and his partner had to surrender in shame? "I'm not worried about the critics," he says. "I've been doing what I've been doing all through the years, and that is to go with the flow and go with my heart ... The rest is up to the universe. The people will decide." But will they forgive? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sage advice from the bangin' buffman "Get naked, but don't get caught." -- Matthew McConaughey on what he learned from his naked bongo playing tribulations last year. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Juicy bits Oh, Puffy, Puffy, Puffy. Whom will you let down next? On Saturday night, Puff Daddy pulled out of a concert in London at the last minute. His disappointed fans, many of whom didn't learn of the cancellation until they showed up at London's Wembley Arena, were given their money back -- but no explanation. Talk about a bum rap. Speaking of puff daddies, Wireless Flash News reports that Willie Nelson has just recorded a pro-pot public service announcement asking the government to stop "arresting adults who smoke marijuana responsibly." Well, as long as they don't inhale. And in other cause celeb news, the Associated Press reports that "Babe" star James Cromwell, who played the farmer who kept everyone's favorite porker from the butcher's knife, is appearing in a new TV commercial for PETA. In the ad, Cromwell, a devout vegetarian, pleads, "Pigs are sensitive, intelligent animals. Please do your part. Stop eating pigs." What a ham. If you're suffering from Debbie Allen withdrawal, you might want to schedule a trip to Atlanta. In late August, you can get your fix at the Alliance Theatre, which has announced that it will open its season with the world premiere of a drama written and directed by the "Fame"-ous choreographer. "I think it's a crowd-pleaser," Allen recently told the Associated Press. "It will leave you thinking." Thinking, perhaps, how lucky we all are that she's no longer crapping up the Oscars with those endless dance routines. This is it. Huey Lewis has let the producers of "American Psycho" know that he'd rather not have his song "Hip to Be Square" appear on the film's soundtrack. According to Q Online, Lewis' last-minute change of heart (onaccounta all the violence in the flick, based on Bret Easton Ellis' book) sent Koch Records scrambling to recall and replace thousands of CDs across the country. Bet they don't think it's so hip to be square ... salon.com | April 11, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Amy Reiter is a staff writer for Salon People. For more columns by Amy Reiter, visit her column archive.