Republicans not voting
for Britney Spears

Plus: Diesel’s dog sinks teeth into writer

Jennifer Graylock / AP

Some Republicans feel Britney Spears should not be asked to perform at their convention.

By Jeannette Walls

MSNBC

updated 2:48 a.m. ET Aug. 26, 2004

Some GOPers have a message to Britney Spears: Stay home.

The belly-baring pop star is being courted to attend the Republican convention in New York next week, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and that has sparked outrage among some conservative groups.

“Through her immature antics, Spears has probably done more to undermine sexual morality than all the misguided legislation introduced in the United States over the last decade,” the Illinois Family Institute wrote in an e-mail to members. “It would be the height of hypocrisy for a party that claims to represent wholesome values to celebrate her.”

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Citing Spears’ “lesbian” kiss with Madonna, her “general immodesty,” and her annulled marriage to a childhood friend, the group is urging Republicans to call the GOP’s convention hotline to protest any appearance by Spears.

Response to the e-mail has been “overwhelmingly positive,” the group’s executive director, Peter LaBarbera, tells The Scoop, though “a few people have argued that the Democrats have all the Hollywood celebrities so we need her star power, but I think that could be played to the Republicans’ advantage. . . . [Many] Americans are sick of celebrities’ political views being shoved down their throat.”

The IFI isn’t the only conservative group that wants Britney to stay away from the GOP convention. “I do hope she won’t be there,” Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition tells The Scoop. “If she is there, I doubt that she’ll be gyrating on stage. And I hope she doesn’t have a wardrobe malfunction.”

Gone to the dogs

IMAGE: Diesel
Fritz Reiss / AP

Vin Diesel’s dog is pretty tough on screenwriters: it bit one in the crotch.

Roman, the action star’s massive mastiff, chomped down on screenwriter Michael Kerner’s groin area, and the injured writer promptly filed an $8 million lawsuit.

“This is the kind of dog you have to be introduced to,” Diesel told the London Times. “And [Kerner] approached the dog and tried to submit it, tried to push his head down. The dog just snapped. . . . Probably was painful.”

Maybe Roman thought Kerner’s script was too filled with Hollywood clichés.

Notes from all over

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
Christina Aguilera’s rep is denying reports that she’s pregnant. The buzz apparently got started when the Dirrty singer was spotted throwing up in Los Angeles. “She has had stomach flu all week,” her publicist told ITV. “She is not pregnant.” . . . Michael Berg, one of Madonna’s Kabbalah advisors, has written a book called “Becoming Like God.”. . . . A Weblog supposedly written by Quentin Tarantino is a hoax, the actor/director’s rep tells CommanderBond.net. “It’s a fake,” Bumble Ward tells the site. “The guy is doing a great job though, don’t you think? And truly, I’d hate to ruin his fun. But it’s fake. Quentin hardly knows what a mouse is.”