Showbiz Today

Napster Files Appeal in Court; Rapper Eminem Can't Avoid Controversy; 'The Klumps' Return in 'Nutty Professor II'

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM MORET, CO-HOST: Hi, everyone, I'm Jim Moret in Hollywood. Laurin Sydney is in New York.

Free music fans may be scrambling to download songs, with the future of Napster now in doubt. The popular music-sharing Web site filed an appeal today, trying to block a judge's ruling that could effectively dismantle the site within a matter of hours.

Dennis Michael has the latest reaction to this legal battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the Napster file-sharing online service to stop assisting in the trading of copyrighted materials, effective midnight Friday. The decision was issued 10 minutes after the conclusion of arguments Wednesday.

MARILYN GILLEN, "BILLBOARD" MAGAZINE: I think there was a lot of expectation that the injunction might be issued. I don't think anybody expected the judge to issue it yesterday.

MICHAEL: Unless the judge's order is stayed, Napster will have to eliminate any copyrighted materials from its trading scheme, a requirement that would essentially force Napster to shut down its file-sharing server. Napster broke the news to its community of users in a Webcast Wednesday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANK BARRY, CEO, NAPSTER: The judge's ruling is essentially this: that one-to-one noncommercial file sharing violates the law. We'll fight this in a variety of ways to keep the Napster community growing and strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL: On the other side of the fight, attorney Howard King, who represents Napster's archenemy, Metallica, reacted to the ruling.

HOWARD KING, ATTORNEY: The opinion the judge issued yesterday couldn't have been better had she given us the pen and asked us to write it ourselves. MICHAEL: But that opinion is not unanimous in the music industry. Cypress Hill is currently touring with Limp Bizkit in a Napster-sponsored free tour.

B-REAL, MUSICIAN: You don't want to be working for free, you know, but I have faith that, sooner or later, they're going to come up with something that is going to be fair to the artist and fair to them, you know, for their services.

MICHAEL: Time Warner, the parent corporation to CNN, is a member of the Recording Industry Association of America, which spearheaded the suit against Napster. The RIAA, in a prepared statement, said they were pleased with the court ruling, quoting here: "This decision will pave the way for the future of online music. This once again establishes that the rules of the road are the same online as they are off-line."

But stopping Napster will take more than Wednesday's court order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN FANNING, CREATOR, NAPSTER: We will keep fighting for Napster and for your right to share music over the Internet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL: And even if Napster is stopped, the idea of widespread file sharing on the Internet is one that has taken root.

MARILY GILLEN, "BILLBOARD" MAGAZINE: There's Freenet, there's Nutella, there's ones that are being developed in garages right now that we don't even know the names of yet. The impetus right now -- I think you're going to see the record labels trying to step up in the next several months and try and maybe fill that void with maybe a legal alternative as well.

MICHAEL: The future arrived faster than the record labels expected, and now they're struggling to make that future one that they can live with, one they can survive.

Dennis Michael, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORET: Napster may be in jeopardy, but there's always Tapster. Those musical giants of "Spinal Tap" have created their own free music Web site, Tapster.com. Now that site features the mythical band's new tune, "Back From the Dead." In fact, that's all it features.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK SMALLS, MUSICIAN: I use Napster myself on occasion. What shall I download today? Well Tapster settles that for you. There's only one tune up there, "Back from the Dead." You know what to download. Go do it. DAVID ST. HUBBINS, MUSICIAN: I am not really terribly computer literate. I have a Commodore 182, not 128 -- it's a misprint. He comes and delivers actual mail to my house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: Eight is enough for Eminem. The rapper, who held the top spot on the albums chart for eight consecutive weeks, landed in the third spot this week. But with more than 5 million copies of his "Marshall Mathers LP" sold, he shows no sign of slowing down. But what Eminem is doing is offending a number of people with what they say are hateful lyrics.

Mark Scheerer looks at all the talk about Eminem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK SCHEERER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nowadays, everybody's got something to say about Eminem, the bestselling hip-hop artist of the year.

CHUCK D., MUSICIAN: He's a good rapper.

KURT LODER, MTV NEWS: A troubled guy, perhaps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Eminem is great.

PEPA, MUSICIAN: I don't listen to Eminem too much.

PRAS, MUSICIAN: Yes, I'm going to have to support Eminem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, Eminem, keep doing your thing.

SCHEERER: Slim Shady is his alter ego. The initials of his real name, Marshall Mathers, give you Eminem. The Missouri-born 27-year- old, who has spent some of his youth in Detroit housing projects, has released two major label CDs with blunt lyrics and sociopathic themes that would be over the top on the "Jerry Springer" show.

CHUCK D.: One thing I look in the rap game is that people pick some topics that are different. He's definitely picked some different topics.

SCHEERER: Eminem's raps about gays, whom he relentlessly labels "faggots," have some calling him a dangerous homophobe.

SCOTT SEOMIN, GLAAD: Lyrics in songs such as "Criminal" encourage violence against gay men and lesbians. They talk about stabbing -- "I'll stab you in the head whether you are a fag or a lez." These are dangerous, dangerous lyrics.

LODER: He pushes a lot of buttons, but I think that's his thing. He admits this, I'm going to go out and push people's buttons. If I know that this is going to make you mad, I'm going to do it.

B-REAL: People need somebody to point the finger at. and he's that guy.

SCHEERER: His estranged mother has filed a $10 defamation of character suit against him for things he said in interviews. Recently, two separate gun-related charges were brought against him in Michigan. And his wife was taken to the emergency room following a reported suicide attack. Currently on tour with the summer's hottest rap ticket, featuring his producer, Dr. Dre, Eminem declined to talk with CNN about his troubles.

(on camera): Do these real-life violent incidents he's connected with in the long-run help or hurt his career?

CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, SR. WRITER/MUSIC CRITIC/"TIME": In the short term, they really help his career, because I think that people see that he's more real. I mean, rap is all about being real. Long term, though, I think it hurts.

ALAN LIGHT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPIN: There is a sense watching Eminem that there's a train wreck coming here, and it's hard to know what the end of all of this trouble is going to be.

SCHEERER (voice-over): Looking for the real Eminem? You might start with one of the tracks on his new CD where he says, "I don't mean to be mean, but that's all I can be. I'm just me, and I am whatever you say I am."

Mark Scheerer, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Eminem was bumped to the third spot by some of the same pop stars he criticizes in his lyrics. A compilation album called "Now That's What I Call Music IV," featuring the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, among others, took the top spot. While Spears' album, "Oops I Did It Again," held at number two.

Now a look at the week's top singles, as compiled by "Billboard" magazine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

9: "Higher," Creed.

8: "Absolutely," Nine Days.

7: "I Wanna Know," Joe.

6: "Jumpin' Jumpin'," Destiny's Child.

5: "Try Again," Aaliyah.

4: "Everything You Want," Vertical Horizon.

3: "Bent," Matchbox Twenty.

2: "Incomplete," Sisqo. 1: "It's Gonna Be Me," 'N Sync.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Eddie Murphy has a possible identity crisis in the "Nutty Professor" sequel, and X-woman Famke Janssen joins us live to talk about "Love & Sex."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: Here's a warning,

Lock up the refrigerator -- the Klumps are back. When Eddie Murphy introduced the large family in his 1996 hit, "The Nutty Professor," they were so memorable that a sequel was built around them.

Bill Tush talks to Eddie Murphy and his co-star, Janet Jackson, about "Nutty Professor II: The Klumps."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The advertising line for "Nutty Professor II" says it all: Eddie Murphy is the Klumps.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS")

EDDIE MURPHY, ACTOR: The only thing that's permanent is family. Ain't that right, Daddy?

Get your butt out of my chair!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUSH: Murphy plays all five adult members of the Klump family -- and to think it all started as just one dinner scene in 1996's "Nutty Professor."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE NUTTY PROFESSOR")

MURPHY: Hercules, Hercules, Hercules!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: You know, that -- I mean, we thought those dinner scenes were funny, but we didn't know they were going to be like -- whenever anyone talks about -- to me about "The Nutty Professor," they always reference those -- oh, those scenes at the dinner table.

TUSH: Now the trick is try and make it funny for a whole movie.

MURPHY: The challenge was to get these characters and have them be, you know, a part of the movie, and part of the story, and interact with each other, and have it be me doing all of them and for you to forget it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II")

MURPHY: Please look at me!

Damn, now here we go!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUSH: So, for Murphy, it was back in the makeup chair to transform himself into Mama, Papa, Ernie, Granny and, of course, Sherman. And let's not forget he also had to play Sherman's evil side...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II")

MURPHY: Buddy Love.

See you later, Chunky Butt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURPHY: After I'd do Buddy Love, I'd have a stiff -- I'd always have a stiff necks after I'd do him from screaming and hollering and (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

TUSH (on camera): Well, we'll have to bleep that out.

MURPHY: I hate this stuff. Then you bleep it out and people at home go, he said (EXPLETIVE DELETED), I know he said (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

TUSH (voice-over): While Murphy has his hands full, so does his onscreen love, Denise, played by Janet Jackson, mostly because while Murphy is the Klumps, he can't be all of them at the same time.

JANET JACKSON, SINGER/ACTRESS: It was tough. I had -- Sherman's here, and Mama's a tennis ball, and somebody else is an X, and somebody else is this. It was a major challenge, but it was a lot of fun doing this film.

TUSH: And as much as "The Klumps" is a comedy, it's also a love story between Denise and Sherman. Can you buy that?

JACKSON: I don't find it difficult to fall in love with someone like Sherman. I mean, he's a great guy when you think about it. He's very intelligent, he has so much love and warmth, he's so kissable.

TUSH: Here's another thing you can buy into: If "Nutty Professor II" is a hit, a Klump family reunion won't be far behind.

Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Long after the Klumps sock away their box-office earnings, it will be "Charlie's Angels"' chance. The movie, based on the TV series, debuts November 3 and we've got an exclusive look at the trailer. The heavenly creatures this time are played by Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: A new breed of knockout.

CAMERON DIAZ, ACTRESS: Hi, Keith. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm good. I just...

DIAZ: Could you hold on a second? It's just been kind of crazy this week at work.

ANNOUNCER: Cameron Diaz.

DIAZ: I'm like a virgin, you know. I mean, it's my first time here.

ANNOUNCER: Drew Barrymore.

DREW BARRYMORE, ACTRESS: A little help.

ANNOUNCER: Lucy Liu.

LUCY LIU, ACTRESS: At your service.

ANNOUNCER: And Bill Murray.

BILL MURRAY, ACTOR: I love a fire.

ANNOUNCER: This fall, get some action -- "Charlie's Angels."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Famke Janssen, one of Hollywood's newest leading ladies, has scored a double play this summer. She plays a superhero with telepathic powers in the megamovie "X-Men," and she stars in the soon- to-be-released romantic comedy "Love & Sex," which explores the ongoing battle between the sexes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "LOVE & SEX")

FAMKE JANSSEN, ACTRESS: ... ruin our relationship.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Your nose is your cute.

JANSSEN: You never tried to get me back before. What ego trip are you on?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Can I kiss it?

JANSSEN: What?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Your nose. JANSSEN: Adam, stop screwing up my life. I'm involved with somebody else.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Marry me? Please.

JANSSEN: Are you listening to me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Joining us now is a woman who we are going to be listening to and is never going to have those kind of problems, Famke Janssen.

Welcome to SHOWBIZ TODAY.

JANSSEN: Oh, if only I was so lucky.

SYDNEY: But here you are, gorgeous, talented and smart, I might add, you went to Columbia University.

JANSSEN: Thank you.

SYDNEY: But you do have those problems? We always think that women like you are untouchable.

JANSSEN: I know. Isn't that funny how somehow, you know, we get that tag? But no, I just -- I battle with the same issues everybody else does.

SYDNEY: In fact, one of the themes of this movie is finding your own happily ever after. So what would your happily ever after be?

JANSSEN: I definitely would want to spent it with somebody I'd love dearly and, you know, just have a lot of time for one another and understanding and all that kind of good stuff. But that, of course, is the battle in "Love & Sex" and in life.

SYDNEY: And in the professional world is there a happily ever after for you?

JANSSEN: I am pretty happy at the moment, I just wish, you know, it will continue as it does right now, just like a good, nice, slow uprise is the way it's been going. It's really great for me.

SYDNEY: And it certainly is an uprise.

JANSSEN: Yes.

SYDNEY: Now, first we have "Love & Sex" -- I think you shot it in 21 days.

JANSSEN: Yes.

SYDNEY: And then there is the mega hit "X-Men" with a megabudget.

JANSSEN: Which was shot in six months. Completely different taste.

SYDNEY: Exactly. Which one did you feel more comfortable in?

JANSSEN: "Love & Sex." "Love & Sex" is just -- it's the kind of movie that it's almost like living your life, but then at a very fast pace in 21 days, all of a sudden going over five, 10 years of your life, and you know, the pacing of a film like "X-Men" is a whole different type of things, it's just so slow, you sit around and wait. "Love & Sex" was just a wonderful experience for me.

SYDNEY: And you've always chosen rather eclectic projects.

JANSSEN: I try to. I just try to challenge myself, I try to defy expectation, always try to do something differently, so I just, you know, keep myself entertained that way.

SYDNEY: You came from Holland about 13 years ago was it?

JANSSEN: Yes, probably something like that.

SYDNEY: Do you feel totally Americanized?

JANSSEN: I do, I do.

SYDNEY: There is not a hint of an accent, as we discussed in the green room.

JANSSEN: Right, that's true. Yes, I have been here for so long now -- I have gone to school here, all my friends are Americans, I have lived in New York for a really long time, so this is my home.

SYDNEY: And when you were back in Holland, did you ever think that you would star in the number-one hit megamovie of the summer?

JANSSEN: No, never even...

SYDNEY: And what are your friends saying to you?

JANSSEN: They're very -- my family is really excited. Everybody is really excited for me. I just never -- I never even thought of becoming an actress at the time, so I really wouldn't have thought about being in the number-one movie in the country, and you know -- so it's just -- it's a really nice ride. It's a fun surprise when that stuff happens.

SYDNEY: And when you were making it and you saw the dailies, did you have a clue?

JANSSEN: The dailies of "X-Men"?

SYDNEY: Of "X-Men," yes.

JANSSEN: I didn't see dailies, and even then I don't know that I would have had a clue. It's very hard to foresee that kind of stuff. You never know. Even if all the elements are in the right place, you never quite know whether it is going to work or not, and in this case we got lucky and it did.

SYDNEY: Absolutely. Now, you have telepathic powers, can you tell we are out of time for now?

JANSSEN: Of course. We always are.

SYDNEY: But you're going to come back and talk about your next project.

JANSSEN: Great.

SYDNEY: Thank you so much.

JANSSEN: Thank you.

SYDNEY: And SHOWBIZ TODAY will continue right after this, so please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: Actress and director Betty Thomas is 53 today. "Coach" sidekick Jerry Van Dyke is 69. And it's "all in the family" for producer Norman Lear, who turns 78.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORET: If the idea of roughing it in the Australian Outback appeals to you, hurry up -- applications for "Survivor II" are due on Friday. About 800 "Survivor" wannabes lined up at CBS Studios in New York today to register and to audition for "Survivor II: Australian Outback. " Meanwhile, Wednesday night's "Survivor" episode saw Jenna get booted from the island in the South China Sea. We spoke with the young mother of two earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNA LEWIS, "SURVIVOR" CONTESTANT: I wished that I had had a little bit more strategy. But if it did involve lying straight-faced to somebody and then looking over my shoulder every time, wondering if anyone was turning on me, I am glad I didn't have a strategy. Mine was just to go there and have fun and be physically strong. And I think that I accomplished that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYDNEY: Whoopi Goldberg has accomplished something with the debut of her new cable series. "Strong Medicine" was seen in a healthy 1.7 million households Sunday night, according to one estimate.

Sherri Sylvester reports on the Lifetime series about women in white coats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STRONG MEDICINE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Oh my God, Call 911. Her water broke. She's having a baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Women's health issues receive treatment stat in "Strong Medicine." The concept for the new drama was born alongside Whoopi Goldberg's grandson in 1998. Witnessing the long hours of labor gave her new insight into the medical profession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STRONG MEDICINE")

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, ACTRESS: You do well with nothing.

ROSA BLASI, ACTRESS: This is where I live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLDBERG: Since they have to be concerned about what the babies are being born made me believe that, if this was information that I didn't have, maybe a lot of people didn't have it. And maybe it was a time for a show to offer something more than some good-looking doctors and a love life in a hospital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STRONG MEDICINE")

JANINE TURNER, ACTRESS: We don't have a woman's center.

GOLDBERG: You will if you can figure out how to work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: Two schools of thought are explored through characters brought together to practice. Rosa Blasi plays a doctor from a free clinic. Janine Turner stars as a researcher from a prestigious hospital.

TURNER: To one particular problem, there can be two completely different, yet valid answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STRONG MEDICINE")

BLASI: She promised me she would stay clean. I am...

TURNER: Look, drug addicts make lousy mothers.

BLASI: If people in this community don't trust me, they don't come in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLASI: This is a drama about women. The issues that we are dealing with in every episode are women's health issues that are not brought up on other series, where it's just general medicine.

SYLVESTER: Executive producer Goldberg also plays a women's health expert, and will make occasional rounds at the hospital. She says "Strong Medicine" is just that, without the usual overdose of doctors in love.

GOLDBERG: As the doctor and the nurse are laying in bed -- and she's so, you know -- then they kiss and fade to black. If our doctor ends up in bed with anybody, they are going to be discussing it. You know, and when you come back from commercial, they are still going to be discussing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "STRONG MEDICINE")

TURNER: It is an extremely rare birth defect which can cause mental retardation.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Wait, no. No, this can't be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER: They will be practicing "Strong Medicine" on the Lifetime network.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Friday on SHOWBIZ, it's a fond farewell as we take you behind the scenes on Kathie Lee's last day with Regis. And he may be 12, but country singer Billy Gilman knows how to tug at the heart strings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: I guess my invitation got lost in the mail. OK.

That's all the time we have for now. But won't you please join us tomorrow on SHOWBIZ, as we say goodbye to Kathie Lee and look back at her years with Regis?

Until next, in New York, I'm Laurin Sydney.

MORET: In Hollywood, I'm Jim Moret. We leave you now with Janet Jackson's latest music video from her movie, "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps." So long.

(MUSIC)

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