POP / ROCK

Lopez Under Fire for ‘I’m Real’

Jennifer Lopez has raised the ire of two New York deejays and a Los Angeles activist with the use of a racial epithet in one version of her new single, “I’m Real,” a duet with rapper Ja Rule. The singer-actress’ use of the N-word in a remix of the song is hardly a music first--the hot-button term is a longtime, controversial staple of rap music--but in the past it has been invoked almost exclusively by African American artists. Lopez, a Bronx native of Puerto Rican heritage, delivers a “slap in the face” to the black community by using the word in the song, morning deejay Troi “Star” Torain told listeners of music station WQHT-FM. Torain, part of the Star and Buc morning tandem, has demanded an apology by Lopez. Meanwhile, Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope in Los Angeles has called for Epic Records to pull the song version because the use of the word by “a nonblack artist as popular as Jennifer Lopez is internationally, can only inflame racial intolerance, bigotry and hatred.” There were reports Thursday that Lopez would be met by protesters today when she appears live on NBC’s “Today” show. Representatives for Epic could not be reached for comment.

McLean’s Mom Says A.J. ‘Optimistic’

Just days after A.J. McLean entered a rehabilitation program, his mother reports that the Backstreet Boy is feeling optimistic and safe. “He’s very, very positive,” Denise McLean told MTV. “The first thing I heard in his voice was relief. He felt he was safe and getting what he needed.” McLean said that A.J. has already begun to make progress in battling the depression and anxiety that led him to abuse alcohol. He also has started talking about how he could use his problems to help others--”kids and adults who are going through the same thing,” said his mother, who also serves as his manager. She was hesitant to promise that A.J. would be done with rehabilitation in time to rejoin the Backstreet Boys on tour next month.

TELEVISION / RADIO

Harvey Sidelined for the Summer

Renowned radio commentator Paul Harvey will have outpatient surgery later this month at the Mayo Clinic to repair a weakened vocal cord. Harvey has been off the air since mid-May, recovering from what he believed was laryngitis. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic diagnosed the vocal cord problem last week, said Chris Berry, vice president of ABC News Radio. The 82-year-old commentator’s broadcasts are based in Chicago and reach approximately 24 million listeners daily. “He has a virus that settled in his vocal cord,” Berry said. “They’ll do an outpatient procedure which will strengthen his vocal cord. I expect him back on the air by the end of August.” Harvey signed a reported 10-year, $100-million contract with ABC Radio Networks last November to continue the “Paul Harvey News and Comment” program he started in 1951. Harvey’s other program, the folksy “The Rest of the Story,” passed its 25th anniversary in May. Guest commentators have been doing Harvey’s broadcasts in his absence.

BET, CBS Join Forces

Black Entertainment Television (BET) is joining forces with CBS News in a production agreement that will strengthen BET’s news division and its signature shows “BET Nightly News” and “BET Tonight with Ed Gordon.” Under the terms of the agreement, BET will receive cutting-edge technical production resources and expand its news-gathering and production capabilities. Both BET and CBS News are owned by Viacom.

THE ARTS

Art Censorship No ‘Sensation’

Censoring controversial art exhibitions is pointless because most people who would be offended stay away, according to “Crossroads: Art and Religion in American Life,” a new book by David Halle, director of UCLA’s LeRoy Neiman Center for the Study of American Society and Culture. In an audience survey of “Sensation,” the Brooklyn Museum show that New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tried to shut down in 1999, Halle found that only 6.2% of those interviewed had a negative response and hardly anyone objected to Giuliani’s nemesis, a painting of the Virgin Mary decorated with elephant dung by Chris Ofili.

QUICK TAKES

NBC has announced that Lorne Michaels, creator and producer of the network’s “Saturday Night Live” franchise, has signed a deal to develop a daily talk show for fall 2002. . . . ABC’s “Nightline” will broadcast a tribute to veteran children’s television host Fred Rogers tonight at 11:35 p.m. In an interview with “Nightline’s” John Donvan, Rogers remarks on the potential for television “to be a landscape of nourishment for the human family.” The final new episode of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” airs this summer on PBS. . . . Lauryn Hill, Marc Anthony and Luther Vandross are teaming up to help earthquake victims in El Salvador and India by playing a benefit concert in San Jose on July 29. Organizers of the concert, which is being dubbed Aftershock, hope to raise $5 million for quake relief.