By Mark Gray
11:37am PDT, Aug 29, 2021
Arrested
Former "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actor Nicholas Brendon was arrested in Indiana for prescription fraud. While Nicholas was booked on Aug. 18, the arrest largely went under the media's radar until Aug. 24. Reports said the actor was pulled over for driving erratically. When police asked for his ID, he apparently gave them someone else's ID and said it was his "twin brother." While chatting with cops, Nicholas was sweating and "appeared nervous due to a visibly racing pulse on his neck and shaking hands," TMZ reported, citing an affidavit. Cops later found a "small plastic bag that contained crystal/powder residue" and a pill bottle in a bag with a medication prescribed to "Nicholas Bender," the affidavit said. A prescription was also filled that day. Further, police noticed suspicious carpeting in the car, so they brought in K-9 dogs. The search turned up more plastic bags containing residue. Cops believed the former actor was abusing pills and or selling them because "he was using his brother's ID to procure more or that the ID he initially handed [the officer] belonging to Kelton is fraudulent."
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R.I.P.
A man who may have saved Jason Aldean's life has passed away. On Aug. 25, the country singer paid tribute to his longtime security guard Ryan Fleming, the man who pulled Jason off stage in 2017 when a gunman opened fire during a Las Vegas concert. In an Instagram post, Jason spoke of his long friendship with Ryan, which started in Georgia two decades ago. "When it came time for me to hire a security guy that I knew would always look out for me and my family, There was no question for me that person was Rhino," Jason wrote on Instagram. "He came out and traveled the world with us and for years if u saw me, Rhino wasn't too far away. He was the person who pulled me offstage during the Route 91 shooting and put his life in danger to take care of me and my crew. He was a good man and an even better friend." Jason was a handful of songs into his set during the Route 91 Harvest Festival on Oct. 1, 20217, when a man began firing into the crowd of 20,000. Still the biggest mass shooting in United States history, 58 people lost their lives that day and over 800 more were injured.
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Family feud
Duane "Dog The Bounty Hunter" Chapman's family isn't not seeing eye to eye. On Aug. 23, Bonnie Chapman and stepsister Cecily Chapman revealed that they were not invited to their father's upcoming wedding to Francie Frane. Cecily theorized that it was because she and her sister remind Duane too much of their mother, Beth Chapman, who passed away in 2019 following a battle with throat cancer. However, on Aug. 24, Bonnie — Duane and Beth's biological daughter — said the rift is actually based on her support of Black Lives Matter and racial equality. In a lengthy Facebook post, Bonnie accused her father of racism, homophobia, claimed he cheated on Beth and said he's not the same person he once was. "I have expressed time and time again my ever-growing disappointment in my father's progression into his old racist ways," Bonnie wrote. "I had forgiven my father after my mother's death for countless actions that I shouldn't have. He would cheat on my mom all the time, and I hated him every time he did it, but I forgave him for that because I wanted a relationship with my dad. I thought I had only one parent left. I was left with the racist and homophobic parents. My mother was a shining light in the void. I can no longer watch someone diminish her light with his hatred." Dog denied Bonnie's accusations and called it a "misguided attempt to derail our wedding."
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Sad goodbye
The backbeat of the The Rolling Stones has passed away. Charlie Watts, the band's beloved drummer, died in London on Aug. 24 at 80, a spokesman said. His health had been in question recently following an early August announcement that he would not be joining the band on its "No Filter" tour through North America after he had an unspecified medical procedure. Following Charlie's death, frontman Mick Jagger posted a poignant photo on social media of Charlie smiling while playing the drums, without any commentary. Keith Richards shared an image of a drum kit with a "Closed" sign hung on it. Ronnie Wood posted a photo of himself with Charlie and the message, "I love you my fellow Gemini, I will dearly miss you. You are the best." Sir Paul McCartney said, "Charlie was a rock, a fantastic dummer, steady as a rock. Love you Charlie, have always loved you, you beautiful man."
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Lawsuit
The baby on the cover of Nirvana's 1991 groundbreaking album "Nevermind" is now a grown man and suing the band for child sexual exploitation. On Aug. 24, Spencer Elden, who was 4 months old when the cover was shot, said he certainly didn't give the band consent to use his pic, and he claims his parents didn't either. The image used, he contends, is child pornography and also alleges that the group promised to cover up his genitals in the photo but never did. Spencer, who happily recreated this picture in 2016, is now suing the band, its surviving members and Kurt Cobain's estate, and he's looking for $150,000. "Nirvana exploited me when I was a baby to sell their music, but there is a person behind every image. I'm just asking the band to do what they should have done 30 years ago and redact my genitals from the image out of respect for my privacy," he told TMZ on Aug. 25. "If the world could forget about it, then maybe I could forget about it too."
Name game
So long, Kanye West. On Aug. 24, the rapper filed legal documents in Los Angeles to officially change his name to "Ye," TMZ reported. A judge will have to sign off on the request. If it happens,"Kanye Omari West" will be no more. 'Ye has always been a nickname, but he's ready to make the two letters his official full name.
Engaged
"Modern Family" alum Eric Stonestreet and his girlfriend of more than five years, Lindsay Schweitzer, are newly engaged, the actor announced in a sweet and humorous Instagram slideshow on Aug. 22. The Emmy winner and the pediatric nurse met at a charity event in Kansas City in 2016.
Wedding bells
She said yes! On Aug. 26, Instagram gossip account Deux Moi and People magazine, citing a source, reported that beauty Diane Kruger and "The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus are engaged. The couple first went public with their romance in 2017 and welcomed a daughter together in 2018.
