Black Eyed Peas manager escapes Perez Hilton assault charge

Black Eyed Peas' Polo Molina has seen an assault charge filed by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton against him dropped.Molina was accused of punching Hilton, real name Mario Lavandeira, outside a Toronto nightclub after the MuchMusic Video Awards in June after the blogger allegedly made a homophobic slur about band member Will.I.Am.

But an assault charge against Molina was dropped yesterday (November 18) after he issued a written apology to the celebrity blogger.Molina also agreed not to contact Hilton except through his lawyer, not to carry a weapon for 12 months, not to come within 100 metres of Cobra NightClub, where the alleged incident took place, and to donate $500 (£300) to Toronto's Red Door Family Shelter, reports the Canadian Press Association.

His lawyer read the written apology outside court, saying: "I apologise for what I did on June 22 of 2009. Even though you [Hilton] engaged in highly offensive comments, including a homophobic slur to my clients, I acknowledge that these kinds of issues should not be resolved through a physical response." Hilton's lawyers said they were unhappy with the choice of words in the apology, but it was ultimately accepted."Although accepting the fact that he shouldn't resort to violence, he attempted to say that there was a precipitating cause," the celebrity blogger's lawyer Brian Greenspan, said. "A sincere apology is a sincere apology."

Black Eyed Peas ‘phunked’ with award blunder

“I gotta feeling, that tonight’s gonna be a good night...”
Well, not every night.

This the Black Eyed Peas learned when they were hurled in an award mix-up at the NRJ Awards in Cannes, France, last Jan. 23.

During the awards, the American pop group was mistakenly announced as the “Best International Group/Duo.” It turned out that the award belongs to German pop rock band Tokio Hotel.

Thankfully nobody from the band was at the ceremonies.
Choreographer Kamel Ouali and “TikTok” singer Ke$ha took to the stage to present the award but were pale-faced when no one picked it up.

Moments later, Kamel went back with Nikos Aliagas, the show’s host, to explain the apparent mistake.

According to Kamel he got confused with the card, which contained the names of both the nominees and the winner. Excited as he was, he called the first name he saw on the card.
Fans weren't satisfied with the explanation and soon, boos echoed inside the Palais des Festivals. Nikos defended the presenter, saying, “It happens!”
Kamel apologized to the audience, but blamed the organizers, reasoning that it could’ve been much simpler and less confusing if they simply put the name of the winner so as not to baffle the presenters.

Tokio Hotel bested other contenders such as U2, Green Day, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, and of course, the BEP for the award.

The Peas did receive an award for “I Gotta Feeling,” which was adjudged “Best International Song.”

This was not the first time a blunder happened at the NRJ Awards: Last year, in the same category, Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl,” was mistakenly declared the winner over the real victor, Rihanna’s “Disturbia.”

Winners of the award show were determined through votes by listeners of NRJ radio and TF1 TV.