VATICAN CITY (AP) – During a Christmas benefit concert at the Vatican, Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill launched into an unscheduled tirade against priests who abuse children, according to news reports Sunday.
Hill read a statement criticizing the church and its leaders during the Saturday night concert, where she was a featured performer.
Several Italian newspapers on Sunday ran translations of the statement, which was delivered in English. They quoted her as saying there was “no acceptable explanation for defending the church.”
“I realize some of you may be offended by what I’m saying, but what do you say to the families who were betrayed by the people in whom they believed?” La Repubblica newspaper quoted her as saying.
There was no immediate response Sunday to calls seeking comment from Hill’s label, New York-based Columbia Records.
Prelates in the audience included Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope’s vicar for Rome and the head of the Italian bishops’ conference, and his deputy, Monsignor Rino Fisichella. The pope did not attend. The Vatican said Sunday it had no comment.
Hill, a former member of the rap trio the Fugees, set a record for female artists in 1999 when she won five Grammy awards for “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
Dolly’s library
hits milestone
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) – Country singer Dolly Parton’s book program, which she started seven years ago to inspire preschoolers to read, has reached a milestone with delivery of its millionth book.
Parton was on hand Friday when her Imagination Library gave a copy of “The Little Engine That Could” to the parents of 1-year-old Cana Waynick of Danville, Ala. Children start receiving books at birth and continue through 60 selections until age 5.
Parton launched the library in 1996 to promote reading among children in Sevier County, the rural community where she grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains. Today, 206 communities in 35 states participate in Imagination Library.
Snoop sued over MTV’s ‘Fizzle’
LOS ANGELES (AP) – An actress has sued rapper Snoop Dogg and MTV over an episode of the television show “Doggy Fizzle Televizzle,” in which she claimed she was unwittingly made to appear as if she were naked and engaging in sexual relations with another actor.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Doris Burns accuses Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and MTV of breach of contract, fraud, invasion of privacy and defamation. She is seeking unspecified damages.
A spokeswoman for MTV, which produced and aired the show, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Messages left over the weekend for Snoop Dogg’s attorney were not returned.
Burns alleges that during the filming of a scene for the sketch comedy show hosted by Snoop Dogg, the show’s producers wanted it to appear that she was having sex with an actor playing her husband.
According to the suit, she refused. But she did agree to wear a tank top and underwear and hold the hand of the actor while sitting on the bed.
When the show aired Aug. 31, the episode looked very different because her torso and both actors’ hands were blurred, according to the suit.
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McDONALD, Pa. (AP) – Residents of this tiny Pittsburgh suburb want to honor songwriter Jay Livingston, co-writer of the popular Christmas song “Silver Bells,” with a historic marker at his boyhood home.
Livingston was born Jacob Harold Levinson in 1915 and stayed in McDonald, which had been a booming oil town, through high school.
Local historian Blanche Slates said Livingston’s signature tune, which describes a downtown Christmas shopping scene, almost had a different name.
“The original name was supposed to be ‘Tinkle Bells,”‘ Slates said. “But his wife told him the word ‘tinkle’ has bad connotations.”
Livingston and his partner, Ray Evans, wrote several songs and movie scores including “Mona Lisa” from the 1950 movie “Captain Carey USA” and “Silver Bells” – the duo’s biggest seller – which first appeared in the 1951 Bob Hope movie “The Lemon Drop Kid.”
Livingston, who died at age 86 in 2001, also wrote “Que Sera Sera” for the 1957 film “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” and the well-known television theme songs for “Bonanza,” “Mister Ed” and “The Bugs Bunny Show.”
A decision by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on whether to put a historical marker at Livingston’s boyhood home on Station Street is expected in the spring.
AP-ES-12-14-03 1318EST
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