Timberlake Will Host ESPN Awards Gala

Seth Myers gets in on the act, too

(NEWSER) - In a way, LeBron James was the star of last night's ESPY awards. No, he didn’t actually win anything, but he was on the receiving end of the most jokes, Time reports. In addition to the Steve Carell and Paul Rudd spoof above—in which the big decision was where to go for dinner, causing Carell to declare, “I am going to take my appetite to the Outback Steak House”—there were a bunch of barbs from host Seth Myers. More»

Sarah Phillips' real identity was questioned

(NEWSER) - ESPN has fired a writer who went from being a poster on the message boards at gambling site Covers.com to being a star columnist at ESPN.com without anybody checking her real identity. Sarah Phillips was sacked soon after Deadspin ran a lengthy expose questioning her identity and accusing her of involvement in a fraud and extortion scheme involving social media. Phillips, who said she was a 22-year-old West Coast university student and a hardcore gambler, never met anybody at ESPN in person and used photographs of several different people to accompany her writings at Covers. More»

Justin Bieber punks Taylor Swift, and more

(NEWSER) - In honor of April Fools' Day, the Huffington Post found video of 10 awesome (or awesomely embarrassing) pranks pulled on and by famous people:

• Tom Cruise: Upon being squirted in the face with a water gun by a British reporter, Cruise's priceless response included the line, "You're a jerk."
• Justin Timberlake: When Ashton Kutcher and Dax Shepard pranked him for Punk'd, with Shepard posing as a government official seizing his property because of unpaid taxes, JT actually cried. He later blamed his behavior on being stoned.

One report says News Corp could launch it later this year

(NEWSER) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is looking at launching a national sports channel to rival ESPN, reports Bloomberg . It quotes one insider as saying the owner of Fox News could pull the trigger late this year. The Wall Street Journal , which is owned by Murdoch, quotes an anonymous source (maybe one with an Australian accent?) as saying the company has been seriously kicking around the idea for several months. One difference with the Bloomberg report: The Journal says it would not launch this year. More»

ESPN gaffe apparently water under the bridge

(NEWSER) - Jeremy Lin has met with the ESPN headline writer who was fired over an offensive headline he wrote about the Knicks star's first loss, and all appears to be forgiven."It went incredible," Anthony Federico, 28, told Newsday . "We talked for an hour. I'm just so thankful." Federico has previously called the headline an " honest mistake ." More»