ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

TELEVISION

Rivera Hits Back, Blasting His Critics

Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera has lashed out at the Baltimore Sun for a story criticizing him for maintaining that he observed a “friendly fire” incident in Afghanistan--when he was actually 100 miles away--and was so “choked up” he recited the Lord’s Prayer.

Rivera says he made an “honest mistake,” confusing the Dec. 5 battle, in which three American soldiers were killed, with another “friendly fire” incident at which he was present. Media response to the error, he said, smacks of “Geraldo-bashing.”

“The whole basic premise that I lied or was dishonest is absurd on its face, and were it any other reporter, would not even pass the laugh test,” he told the Washington Post. “This is the most false, hideously absurd allegation I’ve ever had leveled against me.”

Rivera also accused CNN of “malignant hypocrisy” for covering the dispute, saying that anchor Aaron Brown’s report “made me want to puke.”

Brown said he’s “comfortable” with CNN’s report on the controversy, adding that he has “zero doubt that if the shoe were on the other foot ... Fox would be all over me like a rash.”

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MUSIC

More Bang Than Expected at Concert

It was a concert celebrating Finnish independence--a Dec. 2 gala at London’s Royal Festival Hall in which Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Finnish music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was conducting the work of a fellow Finn: Magnus Lindberg’s monumental orchestral composition “Kraft.”

The Philharmonic Orchestra’s crescendo, however, proved to be more rousing than usual, as a colossal gong snapped off its mount and careened into the 3,000-strong audience.

To the horror of those in the front rows of the venue, one man was struck on the head and another eight concert-goers were trapped in the frame of the huge circular instrument.

According to England’s Associated Newspapers, David Whelton, managing director of the orchestra, escorted the injured man to a side room for some emergency bandaging as frantic officials offered a cup of tea.

“He was terribly decent about it and didn’t complain,” Whelton said. “After we patched him up, he went straight back to the hall to listen to the rest of the concert.”

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POP/ROCK

Rappers Victorious

Over Snapple, TBS

The Sugar Hill Gang, which hasn’t had a hit since the early 1980s, got a shot in the arm when a New York District Court judge awarded the hip-hop pioneers nearly $3 million in their suit against the Snapple Beverage Corp. and Turner Broadcasting System.

A jury found the defendants guilty of using a live video performance of the Sugar Hill Gang’s hit single “Rapper’s Delight” in a 1998 ad for the Goodwill Games, an event produced by TBS. On Friday, the rappers were awarded $165,000 in compensatory damages and $2.8 million in punitive damages.

The group said that it was told the performance would only be broadcast by Snapple on closed-circuit monitors during a party. Though the group was never compensated for the use of the material, Snapple and TBS claimed it knew in advance that the footage would be used for TV ads.

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MOVIES

Friedkin, Blatty File Another Copyright Suit

Director William Friedkin and author William Peter Blatty have sued Warner Bros., accusing the studio of copyright violations and fraud in last year’s theatrical release of a version of the 1973 horror classic “The Exorcist,” which earned more than $40 million when it was shown.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, raised the complicated question of what constitutes a “new” version of a movie.

The duo claims that it should be compensated for “The Exorcist--The Version You’ve Never Seen,” which contained 11 minutes of new footage and had other material reworked. They also said that Warners violated copyright law by failing to register the film as a derivative of the original and identifying itself as the sole author of the movie.

In May, Friedkin and Blatty filed a similar complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that they were cheated out of profits for the new “Exorcist” under a series of television licensing agreements.

A Warners spokesman said the studio hadn’t seen the suit and declined to comment.

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No Penalties Assessed

to Seagal in Court

“Hard to Kill” star Steven Seagal slandered a co-worker but doesn’t owe her any damages, civil court jurors in Los Angeles have decided.

Patricia Nichols filed the lawsuit last year, saying she worked with Seagal on a failed 1999 music recording project. She said the 50-year-old actor falsely accused her of embezzling from the production company and said she was “unfit as an employee.”

Nichols wept after the verdict was read Friday, then vowed to appeal. Seagal’s attorney, Christopher Rudd, said the ruling was a vindication. Jurors “found he said some bad words but that he shouldn’t have to write a check to a plaintiff who was trying to shake him down,” he said.

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Elaine Dutka