Cohen drops Borat and Ali G characters

Borat is dead. Sacha Baron Cohen (above) told a British newspaper he's retiring the clueless Kazakh journalist as well as his alter ego, aspiring rapper Ali G. "When I was being Ali G and Borat I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing," the 36-year-old actor-comedian said in yesterday's Daily Telegraph. Baron Cohen brought Borat to the masses last year with his movie, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." He first introduced the character on HBO's "Da Ali G Show." (AP)

R. Kelly avoided having his bond revoked in his child pornography case but was admonished by a judge yesterday for missing a court date earlier in the week. Judge Vincent Gaughan set a May 9 trial date for the 40-year-old R&B superstar, whose case has been delayed numerous times since he was charged in 2002. Kelly missed a Chicago court appearance Wednesday after his tour bus was delayed in Utah because its logbooks didn't document enough rest time for the driver. The singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, apologized to the court. "I'm sorry for this whole incident," he told the judge. (AP)

After seven years of separation, Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli have completed an amicable divorce. The Los Angeles Superior Court judgment didn't provide details about a custody arrangement for their 16-year-old son, Wolfgang. The bass player is with his father on a Van Halen reunion tour. (AP)

Actor Chuck Norris is going to the courts to take on a new book titled "The Truth About Chuck Norris." Yesterday, Norris sued Penguin Group Inc. and the book's creator, Ian Spector, saying his good image is being spoiled by a book that depicts him as callous and unlawful and which he says includes false "facts" that are sometimes racist and lewd. In a lawsuit in US District Court in Manhattan, the actor, whose real name is Carlos Ray Norris, seeks unspecified damages, a halt to publication, and a recall of books already sold. A message left with a spokesman for Penguin was not immediately returned. (AP)

He's No. 1
"This makes me the official front-runner for next year's Drug-Fueled Downward Spiral of the year" - Comedian Stephen Colbert, on being named the Associated Press’s Celebrity of the Year