• Usher and R. Kelly are sleeping with the same girl? Not Tameka Foster, I hope. [SOHH]
• The brothas get no love from Heroes star Hayden Panettiere. [MG]
• All you ever needed to know about how sad things are in the Sudan. [WP]
• Y’all know I am not a big Angelina Jolie fan, but how cute are Brad and Zahara? I will say it’s kind of tragic when a kid that young knows how to spot the paps in their hiding places and point and wave. [JJ]
• Felicia Pearson writes a memoir that shows she’s shockingly similar to her character on The Wire, Snoop. []

Bono, the entertainment business’s resident bleeding heart, took over as guest editor for July’s Vanity Fair issue and focused on his favorite continent, Africa. To commemorate this historic event, famed photographer Annie Liebovitz shot 20 different covers.

As for the covers themselves, I was wondering why it looked like Madonna was about to kiss Maya Angelou’s ear and why Bush was violating Desmond Tutu’s space like that until Jossip informed me that the whole thing was supposed to look like a game of telephone. I’m not sure that is readily apparent, but the covers — featuring Alicia Keys, Brad Pitt, Condoleeza Rice, Don Cheadle, and Barack Obama, to name a few — are impressive nonetheless.

[VF]

According to at least one reviewer who caught the premiere of Ocean’s 13 at Cannes last night, it was pretty fun to watch. Reports say the stars in the photo above have had to defend the film to critics in Cannes who don’t like its light-heartedness, even though the Ocean’s 13 castmembers have spent much of their time there raising millions of dollars for amFAR and Darfur relief. They aren’t allowed to laugh, too?

I really don’t care what Mariane Pearl wanted. Okay, that sounded like a harsh thing to say about a victim of tragedy. Let me back track a bit. Of course I care about the plight of Mariane Pearl — the horrible death of her journalist husband, Daniel, at the hands of Islamic militants — and I admire the courage it took to write her book, A Mighty Heart, which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie turned into a movie that premiered yesterday at Cannes. But the caring? It only goes so far.

Everyone wants to use the fact that Mariane Pearl, a biracial woman, suggested that Angelina Jolie play her in the movie as an excuse for one of our biggest white movie stars to parade around in glorified black face and a kinky wig in a major motion picture. In the year 2007! It’s an excuse that doesn’t fly with me. So, I repeat. I don’t care what Mariane Pearl wanted — there is no way I will ever, ever, ever go see a movie in which a woman who looks like this:

plays a woman who looks like this:
.

In terms of racial fairness, I expect little from Hollywood. Still, when talented black and biracial actresses are forced to play the wife, the sexual vixen, or the ghetto buffoon because there are no real roles written for them, it kills me that a woman who counts herself as worldly as Angelina Jolie does has the gall to take a meaty part out from under them. Just because a trip to the tanning salon and a bad wig allowed Jolie to slightly resemble the woman she was playing, it’s not right. This is an issue that goes way beyond the physical, but, in Hollywood, narcissism trumps common sense and decency at every turn.

If she ever decides to be an actress when she grows up, little Zahara Jolie-Pitt better watch her back. Her mom might steal all her parts.

• Shar Jackson wants a Neptunes beat for her new album. Maybe Britney Spears will let her borrow “Slave For You” as a thank you for babysitting her babies while she was in rehab. [Starpulse]
• Because sometimes a professional athlete’s salary just isn’t enough, ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Richard Seigler resorted to pimping in his spare time. []
• Mims tells the world, Bubba (from Forrest Gump)-style, about the depth and scope of his love for shrimp. He also recommends Sonic burgers. [GrubSt]
• Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and George Clooney plan to use the press surrounding the premiere of Ocean’s 13 to call attention to Darfur. [AP]
• Mariah Carey’s recording a new album and getting acting praise from the producer of her new movie, Tennessee. I saw Glitter. This producer has a motive. [EUR]
• And that’s it for the week. I don’t know about you, but I’m off to Miami for a much needed weekend getaway. Have a great weekend, and kiss your mothers!