R&B star Bobby Brown has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for violating his probation. The star's wife Whitney Houston was not in court on Friday to hear her husband's sentence on violations, which include assaulting her. Brown, 35, was put on probation for two years in January after he pleaded guilty to a 1996 drink-driving charge. He went on to violate probation when he attacked the Grammy-winning Houston in December - bruising her cheek and cutting her lip. Atlanta State Court Judge Wayne Purdom told Brown, "Since you completed most original conditions, I don't feel obliged to sentence you to 120 days." As Brown had shown he has had counseling and completed community service, his sentence was reduced by 60 days.

Elusive pop superstar Michael Jackson was thrown out of a store in Aspen, Colorado - after he refused to remove his ski mask. The singer, 44, who is on holiday in the ski resort, was apprehended by police after store staff in Glenwood Springs asked him to take off his headgear. Store spokesperson Sharon Webber says, "An individual refused to remove the mask so was asked to leave on Tuesday. We called the police who responded very quickly." Lieutenant Bill Kimminau adds, "We got a call about a man acting strangely in the store." Police recognized the Dangerous singer and did not take the matter any further. Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone Bain has confirmed the singer was pulled over by police after leaving the shop. She says, "The police car pulled to the side and just asked that he show his face, and he did, and that was it. There was no altercation or any kind of encounter." Jackson, who is awaiting trial in California on seven charges of molesting a teenage boy, was spotted in Aspen earlier this week walking accompanied by an unknown male youth.

Actor Bill Murray celebrated Sofia Coppola's achievement as the first American woman to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar by joking he and other crew members wanted to quit her while shooting Lost In Translation. Murray - on stage to present a montage for the Best Picture nominee at last night's ceremony - quipped that certain members of the team lacked confidence in Coppola's leadership, and they came close to pulling out of the critically acclaimed project. He said, "Four days into shooting, certain members of our Tokyo crew politely asked if they could quit the film. They did not feel that the director knew what she was doing. We were politely refused. We continued to follow her and her devoted cameraman up and down back stairs, service elevators of a five star Tokyo hotel in the middle of the night, steeling shots and a little piece of the heart of Tokyo. There are still some of us who think the director should have been replaced - would have cost us one week. We could have picked it right up again. Tonight, she becomes the first American girl ever to be nominated for Best Director and her film for Best Picture."

Comic actor Robin Williams took full advantage of Janet Jackson's breast- baring controversy - by tweaking his nipple at last night's Oscars. Television bosses imposed a five-second on the televised broadcast of the ceremony - sparked by Jackson's raunchy turn last month - in the fear skimpy Oscar outfits may reveal too much flesh. And when Williams stepped up on stage to present the Animated Feature award, he mockingly pinched his nipple to raucous applause from the audience. Host Billy Crystal quipped, "This is the reason for the five-second delay."

Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney has promised to wash cars dressed in a toga - if people donate to his father Nick Clooney's congressional campaign. The Ocean's Eleven star, 42, is hosting a fundraiser at his Studio City, California home on March 6 to boost funds for Democratic candidate Nick's run for the US House of Representatives. Clooney has sent letters to potential campaign donors, promising to don a bed sheet and scrub vehicles if they give his dad at least $500. The note reads, "OK, this is a little tricky. I'll start with a warning: I'm asking for money so you might want to stop reading and pretend you never got this letter. My father, Nick, is running for the US House of Representatives in Kentucky's fourth District. He's the Democratic candidate. If he wins, he'll be the only Democrat from Kentucky in Congress. There's a limit to what anyone can donate to a campaign. If I was allowed, I'd pay for the whole thing (and cover a few Father's Days), but I can't. So, I'm writing you in hopes of scaring up some cash for his Congressional bid. If you can't or don't want to, I understand. However, if you can... I'm having a cocktail party at my house. It's a benefit so there will be entertainment, hors d'oeuvres and booze. And I'll wash your car every week till it's paid off and Armor-all the tires... in a toga. Hope to see you there, George."

Mel Gibson has a message for the harshest critics of his movie The Passion Of The Christ - he forgives them. The devout Catholic, whose movie depicting the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life has sparked accusations of anti-Semitism, insists he will try to adopt a forgiving attitude to those who have prejudged his work. He says of the controversy, "It's like a wave. I didn't expect anything this huge. For an entire year, it's been nothing but nasty editorials and name-calling. Right out the box, without anyone even seeing it, pre-judgment and condemnation, which is like totally so wrong, I think. I just hope they can kinda see clearly, that's all. It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction. I can't say that it's always coming from someplace wholesome. It's not personal - you try not to have it be personal. If you take on resentments like that, they'll kill you. So you gotta give 'em away and try and perform an act of love even for those who persecute you, and I think that's the message of the film." The movie took in $23.6 million in just one day when it opened in America on Wednesday.

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have confirmed they will definitely leave hit Broadway musical The Producers on April 4. The producers of the show have declined to comment, although John Barlow, a spokesman for the production, says casting is currently under way and when the new performers are signed, they will be announced. Since the two stars rejoined the Mel Brooks musical on December 30, the show, which had faltered at the box office, has bounced back to sold-out status. Several names have been mentioned to replace Lane as Max Bialystock, including Kelsey Grammer. Grammer, however, has decided to do a TV movie instead. The producers have also been reportedly talking to comedian Jon Lovitz.

Johnny Depp is desperate to step into his pirates outfit and appear in a sequel to The Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl. Oscar-nominee Depp, 40, desperately misses playing swashbuckling character Captain Jack Sparrow in the Disney blockbuster - a role he based on Rolling Stone Keith Richards - and he's desperate to start filming a follow-up to the hit 2003 film. Depp explains, "I went through a decompression period after the first film. If you're really connected with a character, you always do to some degree. You miss the guy. You miss being that person. The only thing that was in the back of my mind was the hope that there would be a sequel some day, so that I could meet him again."

Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion Of The Christ has inspired a new craze across America for Christian-themed jewelry. The hit film, which follows the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life, is at the center of continued controversy with accusations of potentially inciting anti-Semitism. But as well as fierce debate, the movie has also led hordes of people to buy such souvenirs as crucifixes, lapel pins and cards tied to the film's promotion. A particularly popular item is a pendant fashioned from a single nail made of pewter and attached to a leather strap, say officials of Bob Siemon Designs, licensed by Gibson's Icon Productions to produce jewelry linked to the film. The pendants represent the nails used in the film to fasten Christ to the cross. The company has shipped around 75,000 cross pendants to Christian bookstores across America and approximately the same amount of nail pendants.

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker has dismissed reports Kim Cattrall has refused to star in the anticipated Sex And The City movie - insisting she is the hesitant one. Throughout the hit comedy's six year history, there have been persistent reports Cattrall and Parker did not get along, with the alleged animosity being the cause of Cattrall's reluctance to sign up for the film. However, Parker insists co-stars Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Cattrall are all ready and willing to do the movie - and she has yet to agree a deal. She says, "The other women, to my knowledge, all have deals to make a movie and I'm still figuring that out with my bosses." She adds, "If we do this movie I think it will be right on the heels of where we left off." The raunchy comedy came to an end last Sunday.

Actress Ashley Judd has been force to leave the cast of Broadway show Cat On A Hot Tin Roof to have surgery on her injured foot. Judd tore a ligament after an awkward landing during a February 17 performance. The screen beauty, 35, briefly returned to work last week but doctors now say she must stay off the foot. Her last performance was on Sunday. Understudy Kelly McAndrew will continue the role until the show's 14 March closing.