Silicon Valley Hearst May Have Pushed Out CEO [Victor Ganzi]

"Several industry observers zeroed in on William Randolph Hearst III, a family trustee widely known as Will, as a potential source of conflict with Ganzi." [Post]

Oprah BFF Forgives, Plugs James Frey [Books]

"James Frey might be a surprising choice, but I liked A Million Little Pieces." [Post]

Tinsley Mortimer's Reality Show Is Dead [Reality Tv]

That was fast: In March a casting call went out for socialite Tinsley Mortimer's reality show, and apparently MTV has already shot — and rejected as too boring — Mortimer's show. According to Page Six, the cable network's producers, who by this point are surely experts in whipping up drama from the barest of reality TV ingredients, couldn't make anything of the footage: "She looked good but she just got dressed and went to parties every day and didn't have anything interesting to say," a tipster told the Post. Uh, right, because reality television is all about stimulating conversation, and Mortimer was hired for her intellect. Translation: She didn't get into any brawls, do enough drugs, say anything racist or have a sufficiently interesting sex life. The show getting cancelled is a no-lose situation for Mortimer. She either takes it happily in stride or has gigantic breakdown that brings back the reality TV crews and launches her into broader starletdom. [Post]

"Partisan" MSNBC-ers Shut Out Of Meet The Press? [Feuds]

So the Post has posted the Page Six item Keith Olbermann was so worked up about yesterday, and it does indeed say Hardball host Chris Matthews "seemed" to be talking about a strategy for landing Tim Russert's job at a memorial event for the NBC personality, and that Olbermann is threatening to quit if he doesn't get Russert's Meet The Press job. (On Countdown, Olbermann denied issuing an ultimatum for Meet The Press and said Matthews shut down talk of him replacing Russert when an acquaintance brought it up.) But the gossip item also quotes a source, ostensibly from the traditional broadcast side of NBC News, who claims that Russert himself wanted NBC News political director Chuck Todd as his own replacement, and that the network will never install someone from MSNBC on the show:

The insider said, "They're cable. They're far too partisan. They have no gravitas. If gravitas is eight letters, they're about seven letters short."

Even more than the opinionated Matthews, Oblermann, with his long "special comments," has forced open a wedge at NBC News between the cable and broadcast side. (The division was explored, among other places, in this week's New Yorker profile of Olbermann.) It appears as though Meet The Press is the latest battlefield in this civil war, which in turn implies that, though Olbermann lashed out at longtime enemies Murdoch and Page Six over the Russert memorial gossip, the stories may very well have originated not with anyone from News Corp. but from a fellow denizen of 30 Rock, the NBC headquarters.

[Post, Previously]

Angry Black Statue Given Smiley Face [Art]

The statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pictured on the left was a little, well, "confrontational" and communist looking (??) for the U.S. Commission On Fine Arts, which approves monuments on the National Mall in Washington DC. So the Chinese sculptor who carved the 28-foot memorial gave the civil rights leader a face lift, softening his brow and turning up his lips "to resemble the hint of a smile," in the words of AP. Now tourists will be spared the apparently undesirable site of an angry-looking black men, and the commissioners indicated yesterday they are happy. The foundation responsible for making the statue refused to release a before/after picture, but Rick McKay of Cox managed to snap the above photo, which ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [AP]

"Michelle Obama says she was touched by first lady" [Michelle Obama]

GOD JUST EVERYONE LEAVE HER ALONE OMFG [AP]

John Mayer Finds Perfect Ironic T-Shirt [Celebrity Science]

Singer and sensitive blogger John Mayer has been trying to get this t-shirt for seven years. Now he has it and wrote a positively orgasmic blog post about it, even though it doesn't. Even. Fit. Why? Because it is a hipster holy grail, basically:

1. [The shirt] is not intentionally ironic; it's really meant to promote a local karate studio.
2. The juxtaposition between the intensity of the photo and the matter-a-fact-ness of the typeset.
3. It is truly new old stock, probably silkscreened 15 years ago
4. It's more limited edition than any tee shirt I've ever known or something.

Please, please stop talking John Mayer. Your many pretend boyfriends/girlfriends should not have to see you trying this hard.

[John Mayer via Animal]

"I Am Aware Of All Internet Traditions." [The Internets]

It's the official meme replacement for "the internets," "series of tubes," etc. and has to do Michelle Obama's angry, fictional rant against the Mayonaissians. [Wonkette]

Olbermann Lashes Out Over Russert Rumor [Feuds]

Terror At Michelle Obama "Doing God-Knows-What In The White House" [Shouting Heads]