That sounded like a bunch of hooey, and so a great time with editorial headlines was had by all. All except for one blog, in which Piven’s illness made sense due to the planetary systems in our birth charts. “In Piven’s case, transiting Saturn made a pass over Uranus and Pluto in his chart in September as he was preparing for the opening of the play, and by October when the play opened Saturn had moved to a point exactly opposite Saturn in his birthchart. A transit of Saturn to Saturn’s place in the natal chart occurs every seven years and generally stimulates a challenge of some kind,” says Beliefnet. Whoa.

Anyway, then came all the reasons why Piven would bail out of the play, using sushi as a horrible excuse, like bad reviews, poor turn-out and his conflicting partying schedule. After he left the play, ticket sales went down even more, and his ex-cast mates publicly talked crap about him, which meant they were either bitter that he cost them a more successful show, or he really was the bag of dicks everyone who has come into contact with him claims him to be. In the meantime, Piven flew to Bangkok over New Years for what I’m sure will be a quick recovery.

But now, the story is that Piven never quit the play — he was fired, for doing things like continual lateness, being rude to the cast and crew and using his understudy if the crowd sizes weren’t to his liking.

“He wanted out of his contract for about a month—he was trying to get out of it,” says another major Plow player, claiming the Emmy-winner was “disappointed” doin’ it live night after night. The mercury poisoning excuse was a way out to save face,” according to E! Online.

Whatever the actual case is, this sounds much more reasonable. Jeremy Piven makes Ari Gold seem like Richie Cunningham and he has hair plugs.

Next time you see him eating sushi at Nobu, be sure to take lots of pictures and immediately send them off to the Internets. Once he’s allowed back there, that is. Douche.

via Defamer.

The anti-Scientology critics of the group Anonymous are gearing up for another protest against the couple’s controversial faith outside the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Last month the group, whose members often don “V for Vendetta” masks with mustaches, heralded the play’s first preview by carrying signs that read “Scientology Kills” and “Free Katie, keep Tom.”

via Rush & Malloy

While we’re on the topic of Ace Young – soak it in, friends, soak it in – I met him. A couple years ago, I was working as a receptionist at a Manhattan recording studio, and Ace Young came in on my birthday to do some kind of voice-over work. My co-worker thought it would be cute to get him to sing Happy Birthday to me. We could all tell he was absolutely dying for any and all attention, so he obliged. He came up to the reception desk, leaned down and sang Happy Birthday to me not more than five inches from my face, as every single one of my co-workers stood behind me and watched this very, very uncomfortable moment unfold. At the end of the day, I didn’t know what was more embarrassing – the fact Ace Young sang to me on my 23rd birthday, or the fact I secretly loved it.

But I digress…..good for these people for continuing to find work, but Broadway? Really? One of the most, if not the most prestigious theater setting in the world, one that dates all the way back to the early 1800’s, has been through history-changing eras of prohibition, stock market crashes and war, not to mention its famous stages, of which have been graced by the amazingly talented likes of Fred Astaire, Julie Andrews and Bernadette Peters? And now people line the blocks for A.C. Slater? That’s not a question. People line the blocks for A.C. Slater.

Could this man really be the new Gene Kelly of our generation?

Sweet Jesus.