MORNING REPORT - News from Sept. 9, 2000

TELEVISION

Honoring Their Own: The Friends of Black Emmy Nominees will gather at the Beverly Hills Hotel tonight to acknowledge African Americans competing in Sunday’s Emmy competition. Among the honorees: Halle Berry, lead actress and executive producer of “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”; Steve Harris, supporting actor in a drama, “The Practice”; “ and Charles Dutton for directing in a miniseries, “The Corner.” The Pioneer Award is being given to Don Cornelius, creator-producer-host of “Soul Train.”

MOVIES

Ad Protest: An African American activist has complained about an ad campaign for Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled”--a film about a black advertising executive who uses provocative images that’s due out Oct. 6. Najee Ali of Project Islamic HOPE says his group plans to picket the movie’s premiere and the offices of its distributor, New Line Cinema, unless the ad--which shows a black child with “nappy hair” eating watermelon--is modified. “I’m shocked and appalled that Spike Lee would have to resort to exploiting such negative images in order to promote the kind of controversy that translates into commercial profits,” Ali said. Though Lee has not commented on the group’s claims, New Line’s Steve Elzer responded: “We believe that the campaign is perfectly in sync with the important and timely themes which are presented in ‘Bamboozled.’ ” The New York Times has refused to publish the ad, but it is running in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times.

*

Injured in Action: The film “Flora Plum” has been put on hold after star Russell Crowe suffered a shoulder injury Tuesday in Austin, Texas, while training for his role as a circus performer in the Jodie Foster-directed movie. Details of the accident were not released but the “Gladiator” star was advised by doctors to undergo surgery at the end of the month.

*

Windfall: The British tabloid the Sun has reported that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones are $862,000 richer after the British celebrity magazine OK! paid them for pictures of their 1-month-old son, Dylan. “I hope these pictures will have a major impact on sales,” the Sun quoted OK! Editor Martin Townsend saying of the pictures, which were published Friday. Douglas’ spokesman, Allen Burry, disputed how much they were paid. “The figure isn’t accurate,” he said Friday, declining to provide details. Douglas, 55, and Jones, 30, plan to marry later this year.

DESIGN

Heating Up: The battle over the controversial design and siting of a proposed World War II Memorial has heated up in the wake of a sharply worded report Wednesday from the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which slammed the “serious and unresolved adverse effects” the project would have if the memorial is built as planned on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. The report was supported in an unexpected statement issued late Thursday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which had previously remained silent. The memorial’s sponsor, the American Battle Monuments Commission, has issued its first appeal to supporters for a letter-writing campaign. Letters (pro and con) can be sent to Harvey B. Gantt, chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, 801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., 20576. The commission’s final hearing is set for Sept. 21.

QUICK TAKES

The East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade will be broadcast live Sunday at 11 a.m. on KMEX-TV. The parade is listed in Sunday’s TV Times as tape-delayed at 1 p.m. KMEX changed the broadcast time after TV Times was printed. . . . Tickets go on sale at noon today for Rage Against the Machine’s concerts Tuesday and Wednesday at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. . . . Christopher Hampton’s “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” will replace “Blue” in the March 18-April 22 slot at the Pasadena Playhouse. “Blue” has been optioned for Broadway, and its producers want to schedule any future Pasadena production immediately before the as-yet-unscheduled Broadway run, said Pasadena artistic director and “Blue” director Sheldon Epps. . . . “The Grrl Genius Club,” a regular showcase of female stand-up comedians, returns to the Improv in Hollywood Wednesday with a lineup that includes Merrill Markoe, Sarah Silverman, Caroline Rhea and Beth Littleford. The ongoing comedy show benefits Caring for Babies With AIDS.