Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

‘Peace, Love and Condoms’: That’s how actor-comedian Eddie Murphy closed his response Friday to gay activists who had protested his appearance on Thursday’s “Late Show With David Letterman,” which was based in San Francisco this week. In his statement, Murphy said he was a “misinformed” 21-year-old “kid” when he taped a 1981 HBO special that included a routine about the possibility of AIDS being transmitted through kissing. “I know that AIDS isn’t funny,” Murphy continued, responding to similarly themed placards that had been carried by protesters who asked that he be removed from the CBS program. (He appeared but did not address the controversy on-air.) “It’s 1996 and I’m a lot smarter about AIDS now--as we all are. I deeply regret any pain all this has caused.” Murphy reiterated earlier statements saying that he is “not homophobic” and “not anti-gay,” adding that he has lost people close to him to AIDS and has donated both time and money to the cause.

POP/ROCK

Brooks Ropin’ Into L.A.: Garth Brooks will give his first Southern California concerts since a 1994 Hollywood Bowl benefit show with scheduled appearances June 19 at the Forum and June 24 at the Pond of Anaheim. Tickets for the Forum show will go on sale next Saturday with the Pond show on sale the next day. Brooks will soon join the Beatles as the only acts to sell more than 60 million albums in the U.S. The Beatles have sold 68 million albums, but that’s over the course of more than 30 years. Brooks has been recording for just seven years.

TV/RADIO

Julie, Yes; Bill & Bob, No: Julie Andrews has a most unlikely supporter in her protest over the omission of her “Victor/Victoria” cast mates in the Tony Award nominations: Cable’s Comedy Central. The network on Friday announced that it too is “outraged over the snub of ‘Victor/Victoria’ ” and so would offer free air time to Andrews and her cast mates on June 2, as a “platform to counter-program the Tony Awards.” However, referring to offers by several networks to give the presidential candidates air time before November’s election, the comedy network said it would “buck the industry trend and refuse to offer a free forum for the 1996 presidential candidates, thereby snubbing them.”

Auteurs on the Little Screen: Ridley and Tony Scott, the brothers who between them have directed a list of feature films including “White Squall,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Days of Thunder” and “Top Gun,” are co-executive producing “The Hunger,” a new half-hour anthology series featuring “story lines and characters from more than 60 years of the best in horror pulp fiction.” The series, which has been picked up for 22 episodes by cable’s Showtime, where it is slated to premiere in October, will feature a morphing host who will change his fiendish form from week to week to introduce and conclude each story. . . . Meanwhile, another well-known movie director, Renny Harlin (“Cliffhanger”), is also aiming to get into the TV business. Harlin will direct, and his wife, actress Geena Davis, will executive produce a Paramount Television series pilot based on the live-action CD-ROM game “Terror T.R.A.X,” described as a “ ‘Cops’ meets ‘X-Files’ combination.”

DANCE

Joffrey, Folklorico at Music Center: The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago will bring back “Billboards”--a full-evening performance to the music of Prince choreographed by Laura Dean, Charles Moulton, Peter Pucci and Margo Sappington--for five performances, July 11 to 14 at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The appearance is part of the 1996 Southern California Theatre Assn. dance series at the Music Center, which will also include four performances by Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, a company of 65 dancers and musicians led by artistic director Amalia Hernandez, Sept. 26 to 29.

QUICK TAKES

Comedian and ABC sitcom star Drew Carey will perform a special Mother’s Day show at 8 p.m. Sunday at Igby’s Comedy Cabaret in West Los Angeles. Tickets are $5. . . . . CBS will bring back “Central Park West”--with the newly abbreviated name “CPW” and new stars Raquel Welch and Gerald McRaney--on both Wednesday and Friday nights at 10 p.m. during June. Don Johnson’s “Nash Bridges” will return to Fridays at 10 p.m. starting July 5. Meanwhile, four remaining new original episodes of the canceled series “Picket Fences” will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m., starting June 5. . . . “Walker, Texas Ranger” star Chuck Norris, while hosting the International Taekwondo Championships at UCLA tonight, will receive his 8th degree black belt in taekwondo and be deemed a grand master in the sport, making him the first Westerner to receive either distinction in any martial art form in 4,500 years of martial arts history, according to the International Taekwondo Assn. . . . Enrique Iglesias’ self-titled release was named pop album of the year, while Luis Miguel and Gloria Estefan took honors for top male and female artist at the Latin music awards Premio Lo Nuestro a la Musica Latina, held in Miami Thursday night.