Williams Scraps Shows, Short of Breath

(NEWSER) - Robin Williams' health troubles may be more serious than thought. The 57-year-old entertainer is in a Florida hospital with heart problems, the Miami Herald reports. Yesterday, Williams canceled four shows in Florida after citing shortness of breath, but he planned to be back on tour March 11. Sources, however, tell the Herald he could be out of commission for a while. More»

Comedian's wife files to end 19-year marriage

(NEWSER) - Funnyman Robin Williams and his wife are splitting up after 19 years of marriage, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The divorce petition, filed by Marsha Williams in San Francisco, cited irreconcilable differences. The pair met when Marsha worked as a nanny for Williams' son from a previous marriage. She later became his personal assistant and produced hits like Mrs. Doubtfire. More»

Old slur 'doesn't mean what it used to,' he says

(NEWSER) - Ricky Gervais has done it again. The boundary-busting, always irreverent funnyman has been accused of using a slur associated with people with Down syndrome on Twitter ( here , here , and here )—and making goofy faces to go with the tweets. He was instantly called out on it, reports ABC News , but Gervais insisted the word he used no longer refers to someone with Down syndrome, but rather refers to "a div, a dozy spud-headed twonk," adding: "I would NEVER use it to mean Down syndrome.” Gay "used to mean happy. Words change. Get over it," he snapped. But he added that "the police" have "come round and confiscated all my awards." The tweet was illustrated with another goofy face. More»

Daniel Radcliffe, other big names miss out on nominations

(NEWSER) - Last year's Tony Awards saw a plethora of Hollywood winners— to the annoyance of some —but this year looks to be a different story. Quite a few big names were skipped over when nominations were announced today, most notably former frontrunner Daniel Radcliffe for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Others who missed out: Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Kiefer Sutherland, James Earl Jones, Kathleen Turner, and more. More»

Twitter tries and fails to take down another celebrity

(NEWSER) - Bill Cosby is not dead, despite what you might have read on the Internet this afternoon. In fact, the 73-year-old comedy legend is alive, well, and making up words on Twitter, reports WPIX . Using a term he created after a similar false alarm in February, he tweeted today, "Again, I'm rebutalling rumors about my demise." He added , "Emotional friends have called about this misinformation. To the people behind the foolishness, I’m not sure you see how upsetting this is." To learn more about things the web has actually killed, click here . More»