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Since The Sun is often written like a mediocre junior high newspaper, it makes sense that it would mistake schoolyard dynamics for actual news.

“Former pals Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow have done nothing to end rumours of a fall-out,” reports the outlet.

The “rumours,” based almost entirely on out-of-context quotes, have been around for months without being the least bit true.

What did the Sun witness that breathed new life into the nonsense? Were Madonna and Paltrow seen yelling at each other? Were there nasty remarks in the press? Have “sources” come forward with corroboration?

Um, no.

When Jay-Z performed in London on Sunday, Madonna and Paltrow happened to watch “from completely separate VIP areas.”

That’s it.

Madonna had the audacity to stand near her daughter Lourdes and boyfriend Jesus Luz, while Paltrow hung out with another buddy, Beyonce.

The Sun‘s reasoning boils down to a bizarrely childlike belief that getting a new friend means dumping an old one, and that you can’t be seen in public with your family because it’s totally embarrassing.

A source close to Paltrow tells Gossip Cop there’s still nothing to claims of a feud.

Unfortunately, when outlets use logic as baffling as the Sun‘s, the rumors might be around for a while.

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(GettyImages.com)

Did Johnny Depp step off the screen to become a daring, real-life crime fighter?

According to The Sun, Depp rescued musician pal Stephen Jones “from a mugger brandishing a broken bottle” as he and Jones left a Los Angeles recording studio.

“It was an extremely scary moment,” another “friend” tells the Sun. “This guy looked off his head.”

How did the Pirates of the Caribbean star supposedly react to the would-be robber?

“Johnny looked him straight in the eyes and told him to back off,” claims the friend, after which the wide-eyed hoodlum supposedly stared at Depp and said, “‘I ain’t stealing from Captain Jack’” before putting the bottle down.

What a thrilling tale!

One small problem.

Depp wasn’t in Los Angeles when this showdown allegedly happened.

He wasn’t even in the United States.

The actor was in Europe, where he still is.

Depp’s rep confirms to Gossip Cop that the bottle bandit incident “did not happen.”

Looks like another case of the Sun mugging… for attention.

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(GettyImages.com)

Talk about a Britney Spears story with no “support.”

There’s a rumor everywhere — thanks to The Sun — that Spears is forbidden to leave home without wearing a bra.

You read that correctly.

According to the paper, father Jamie Spears is embarrassed by “constant pictures of her nipples popping out of her clothes,” and insists Britney leave her house wearing the proper undergarments.

How “seriously” does Jamie reportedly take this new rule?

He’s supposedly threatened to fire one of his daughter’s security guards who has allowed her to be photographed sans bra several times.

Let’s end this nonsense right here.

There is no Nipplegate. There is no ban on Britney being bra-less.

A source close to Spears assures us it’s all made up. In fact, what really keeps “popping out” these days is how desperate outlets are to invent new Britney controversies.

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The Sun

The paper claims Rihanna was “rushed to [the] hospital” in Switzerland on Monday night.

After playing a sold-out concert in Zurich, the superstar was reportedly “taken to a private clinic via a blacked-out Mercedes” just after midnight. According to the Sun, Rihanna was “quickly escorted to the accident and emergency department” by her driver, bodyguard and assistant to receive treatment for a “mystery ailment.”

The real “mystery” here is how the Sun exaggerated the story to this point.

There was no “rushing,” a rep for Rihanna tells Gossip Cop. There was no emergency. There was no “mystery ailment.”

The rep explained, “She had an injured rib and went to have it looked at to be sure it was nothing serious, and it wasn’t. All is ok.”

So don’t be alarmed. The report of a serious health scare has more holes than Swiss cheese.

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(GettyImages.com)

Is Robert Pattinson going from fanging to head banging?

The Sun raised eyebrows EVERYWHERE this morning with a report that Pattinson “has landed his dream film role — playing Kurt Cobain in a Hollywood biopic.” Noting that Pattinson “has always thought of himself as a musician rather than an actor,” the paper says “securing a part” as the late Cobain “is ideal for the pin-up.”

A hero of the grunge rock scene with Nirvana, Cobain killed himself in 1994.

According to the Sun story, Pattinson was so determined to play the part, he vigorously lobbied Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, who supposedly wants Scarlett Johansson to portray her in the project.

The paper’s “source” claims Pattinson “has been calling and emailing [Love] non-stop,” and that he is “her number one choice to play Kurt.”

So did the Sun score a big casting scoop?

Not to be “curt,” but no.

The rumor is just plain wrong. A source close to Pattinson tells Gossip Cop there is “no accuracy” to today’s report.

Nevermind.

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(GettyImages.com)

The Sun has an “exclusive” report on whose “hot new date” Kim Kardashian is.

We’re sure Kardashian’s more anxious than anyone to find out.

According to the paper, soccer star Wayne Bridge and Kardashian were introduced at Miami’s Nikki Beach Club earlier this month. The two “have been swapping texts ever since and plan to meet” when Kardashian is in London next week. Bridge’s “pal” tells the Sun the soccer stud and reality TV queen “got on like a house on fire.”

They’ve “been in touch ever since and will be hooking up” in the UK, adds the Sun source. “He’s looking forward to catching up when she’s in town.”

We’re sure Kardashian is looking forward to “catching up,” too.

One thing, though.

She has no idea who her rumored hookup is.

“Who the hell is Wayne Bridge?” Kardashian tweets. “LOL Someone please fill me in because I have no clue!”

That’s how “good” the Sun is — it knows who you’re dating before even you do!

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(GettyImages.com)

For as well as they claim to know Robert Pattinson‘s life, many outlets still can’t seem to recognize the actor’s trademark facetiousness when they see it.

According to The Sun, Pattinson “is terrified his screaming fans are making him deaf.”

Really?

The Twilight superstar supposedly “revealed” recently that he “already suffers serious hearing difficulties — being made worse by the shrieks of his obsessed female followers.”

“I’m almost completely deaf anyway,” the paper quotes Pattinson as saying.

What the Sun fails to mention, of course, is that Pattinson said he was going deaf in jest from all the screaming that accompanies his every move.

Frenzied crowds greet the actor wherever he goes, and he was playing up the reception he receives at outings such as the noisy Remember Me premiere.

A reporter who recently spent time interviewing Pattinson one-on-one laughingly told Gossip Cop he’s a “teaser” and certainly didn’t have problems hearing the several times they met.

We’ve seen Pattinson in person twice recently, and he didn’t seem to have any difficulty. And other people we’ve contacted said they’ve never (pardon the pun) heard anything troublesome about Pattinson’s ears.

So fans made anxious by the Sun‘s alarmist tone need only remember to treat certain reports in the paper like they would one of Pattinson’s off-the-cuff remarks — as a joke.

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(GettyImages.com)

Did Justin Bieber diss Mariah Carey?

The world is abuzz after the teen pop superstar reportedly had some harsh words for Carey during an interview with The Sun.

Asked whether he’d like to collaborate with the songstress, Bieber is quoted as saying, “I don’t love her new music, it’s not the same. It’s like Michael Jordan coming back out to play in the NBA. She is past her best.”

Whoa!

Not surprisingly, the criticism was picked up everywhere by outlets wondering how the nice kid from Canada could mess with Mariah.

Well, he might not have.

A representative for Bieber told Gossip Cop the story is “totally off the mark” and that “no such comment was ever uttered” by Bieber about Carey.

And here’s more reason to believe The Sun may have gotten Carey-d away — the insulting remarks now appear to have been scrubbed from the article.

While Bieber’s supposed slam seems weirdly specific to come from nowhere… the newspaper is acting as though it never happened at all.

Maybe it didn’t.

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(GettyImages.com)

Gossip Cop has spent hours reaching out to everyone to verify the Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart shocker heard ’round the world.

Initially, we were told the interview was “a fake.”

We then contacted many, many more individuals, including the author of the explosive interview published in The Sun, “R-Patz admits: I AM with K-Stew.”

Unlike numerous other sites which took the interview at face value and never fact checked, including Hollyscoop (“Robert Pattinson Confirms He’s Dating Kristen Stewart) and HollywoodLife (“Finally, Kristen! Your boyfriend R-Patz ADMITS you are a couple!”), Gossip Cop verified with the reporter — more than once over the course of a few hours — what was and wasn’t said on Sunday.

The reporter told Gossip Cop Pattinson “didn’t say ‘we are a couple,’” adding that “he wasn’t going to spell it out in great detail.”

What the reporter did ask during the post-BAFTAs dinner, where Pattinson was several feet away from Stewart for this Q&A, was, “Is this a public appearance together?”

The reporter told Gossip Cop Pattinson replied, “We are together.”

When Gossip Cop pressed him on whether Pattinson’s response meant he and Stewart were a couple, the reporter said, “That’s my assumption from what he said.”

OK, so Pattinson never actually said they were “a couple.”

The Sun claims Pattinson “admitted” he and Stewart were a couple. But that is not the case.

This isn’t to say Pattinson and Stewart are or are not a couple.

But the claim that there was any kind of monumental admission or “fessing up” at the dinner on Sunday simply is not true.

As Gossip Cop has maintained from the beginning, it’s up to the actors to reveal when and what they want to reveal.

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Is Megan Fox set to join Simon Cowell as a judge when “X Factor” launches in American next year?

A story that started in The Sun before being picked up worldwide cited Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent” co-judge Amanda Holden‘s speculation that “Beyonce, Megan Fox and Paula Abdul are all shoo-ins” to join Cowell on the U.S. version of “X Factor.”

Of course, when you read what Holden actually says, it’s a far different story. She predicts (as many have) that former “American Idol” colleague Abdul will join Cowell on the new “X Factor,” adding, “As for the other judges, who knows? Beyonce would be good – and maybe Megan Fox, because she has a crush on the Cowell!”

Somehow, the throwaway quote led to many sites to then claim Fox is “linked” to the new show.

Gossip Cop can shoot down the Fox “Factor” talk right now.

A representative for the actress tells Gossip Cop, “It’s ridiculous.”

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(GettyImages.com)

(GettyImages.com)

We can’t help but think The Sun wanted news about Simon Cowell, wanted news about Robert Pattinson, and, when nothing materialized, decided to throw the two together.

Today came a story (picked up everywhere) claiming Cowell has approached Pattinson “to sign a major record deal,” and that Pattinson “can basically write his own cheque.” What’s more, The Sun insists, Cowell’s offer has triggered a bidding war among record labels for Pattinson’s musical talents.

“Twilight fans are such an excitable bunch I’m wary of even letting this out the bag for fear of the hysteria it will unleash,” the item’s author begins, immediately before stirring the pot with no word from Pattinson’s side or Cowell’s. In fact, the only “source” who does speak supplies the story with an easy exit, saying, “Robert is reluctant to be turned into a pop star… He is a bit wary of signing up with Cowell who is, of course, associated with X Factor and pop.”

Gossip Cop is “a bit wary” of the entire premise. While it’s true that Pattinson enjoys playing music – and that Cowell’s partner Simon Fuller is involved in Pattinson’s upcoming Bel Ami project – the actor’s focused on a skyrocketing film career. No one whom Gossip Cop asked about the Cowell rumors said anything to the contrary. So while it’s certainly possible Pattinson could one day put out a record, claims that talks with the X Factor impresario are happening and a deal imminent are off base.

Follow @GossipCop on Twitter for updates…

(TheSun.co.uk)

Like a bad flu spreading through the halls of a middle school comes the claim from the British tab, The Sun, that Jude Law and Sienna Miller “will be moving back in together next year.”

The story, which winged its way to the U.S. and across the globe, reports that the couple, who rekindled while both were on Broadway, plan to cohabitate beginning this spring.

According to a “source,” who conveniently laid out the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and HOW in a perfectly phrased sound bite, “They have told staff that they are in love and will be moving back to London in the spring and they will be living together as a couple once again.”

But just as Gossip Cop was about to buy them a “Welcome Mat” that read, “Sienna & Jude,” a source close to Miller told us us it was unlikely they’re setting up house together since they both have their own places in London. The source also noted that actress will be in New York for a bit, and wouldn’t even have the time to look for a new home for them.

Gossip Cop will continue to follow this story.

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(PerezHilton.com)

At least Perez Hilton is consistent – consistently late and wrong.

Yesterday, Gossip Cop debunked a story about Will Ferrell wanting to play Simon Cowell in a movie. It all originated with quotes printed in The Sun in which the funnyman said, “I would love to play Simon Cowell in a movie – heck I would love it. It would be my dream role.”

Ferrell then comedically compared Cowell to his “Anchorman” character Ron Burgundy.

Now fast forward – a day later – and you have Perez’s piece, which begins, “LOLs! Will Ferrell has revealed his dream role – to play the lead part in a Simon Cowell biopic!”

No, LOLs… Perez, who’s so afraid of Gossip Cop that he blocks us on Twitter, actually takes Ferrell’s JOKING about playing Cowell seriously.

No, seriously.

“Cop Blocker” Hilton writes, “Simon actually has a pretty good sense of humor — we could kinda see this happening!”

Seriously?

Well, it’s not going to happen. Gossip Cop fact-checks, and Ferrell’s rep told us – yesterday – these reports are “false.” 

Besides Ferrell’s kidding, the only other thing that’s laughable here is Perez’s reporting.

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(GettyImages.com)

A rumor getting major, major attention today has Will Ferrell considering a film role as… Simon Cowell?

That’s right. According to The Sun, in a story picked up EVERYWHERE - which is a good excuse to drop lines from “Anchorman” – Ferrell is quoted as saying, “I would love to play Simon Cowell in a movie – heck I would love it. It would be my dream role.”

The funnyman goes on to explain that it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to play the blowhard “American Idol” and “X Factor” judge since he sees in Cowell “a lot of Ron Burgundy,” referring to the 1970s TV newsman he perfected in “Anchorman.” “They are like long-lost twin brothers separated at birth,” Ferrell says of the two television titans, adding, “Simon Cowell and Ron Burgundy are pretty much the same role, apart from Simon being ruder.”

It’s a funny thought. But just like Ferrell’s supposed desire to open a British pub, it should NOT be taken seriously. Ferrell was just joking around. His representative tells Gossip Cop any real discussion of Ferrell donning a too-tight black t-shirt and Cowell’s scowl on the silver screen is “false.”

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(OK! Magazine)

A number of outlets reporting that Angelina Jolie is in the process of adopting a baby from Syria focus on how it will impact her relationship with Brad Pitt… but don’t adequately cover the nature of a potential adoption itself.

The gossip press is consumed with the notion Jolie has fulfilled her desire for a seventh child, putting her at odds with a reluctant Pitt. The British Sun claims Jolie “is planning to add to her six children with a Syrian baby” and cites “U.S. reports” that the actress “has filed paperwork in her name only.” Meanwhile, OK! magazine splashed its cover with an “Angie’s Adopting… Without Brad!” announcement, later quoting an “insider” as saying Jolie “is determined to complete her rainbow family” despite Pitt’s protests.

Now blogs are running with the Syrian story as a way to keep Brangelina drama in the headlines. But in their rush to drive a wedge between the two, Gossip Cop suspects the tabs sped up the adoption claim without the facts.

OK! reports Jolie met the unnamed girl she wants to bring into her family during a U.N. Refugee Agency trip in October. Moved by the child’s account of fleeing extremists, Jolie made the decision to adopt, a “friend” explains to the mag, which cites a British newspaper “source” as saying the paperwork “has gone through.”

There are two issues here.

First of all, during her recent visit Jolie met with refugees who had fled to Syria – not Syrians. So it’s more than likely that if she adopts a girl she met during the United Nations trip, she is not Syrian.

Second, if the girl is Syrian, she’d be exceptionally difficult for Jolie to adopt. Gossip Cop spoke with the Syrian embassy and confirmed that “securing custody of Syrian orphans for immigration is extremely difficult as adoption is essentially illegal in Syria.” Laws concerning personal status matters are handled by religious authorities in that country, and a Muslim child would not be possible to adopt.

Since OK! and others mostly focus on how Jolie’s “single-minded mission has caused a major rift” with Pitt, of course, they ignore whether the process might cause a major rift with the law.

What bothers Gossip Cop about these stories is that the tabs act as though celebrities are constrained only by a small set of personal relationships. If Jolie ends up adopting this girl, it will somehow be construed as a sign of trouble with Pitt. If she doesn’t, then it’ll be reported as Pitt putting down his foot.

Either way the magazines succeed and sell.

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(GettyImages.com)

The tabs are so obsessed with Madonna‘s Jesus Luz relationship you’d think they’d spend a few minutes on minor distractions like details.

The pop icon is “slightly on edge,” the Sun reports, as she supposedly jets off to meet her boyfriend’s parents in Brazil, “fuelling talk she’ll marry him.” The visit is “her way of saying she will make this relationship permanent,” a “close family pal” told the paper.

Not surprisingly, Perez “Cop Blocker” Hilton also got the purpose of the visit wrong.

While it is true Madonna is flying into Rio de Janeiro, she isn’t taking her cues from “Meet the Parents.” The Sun and dozens of other outlets fail to mention the actual reason for the trip: to raise money for humanitarian programs in the spirit of her Raising Malawi organization. Plans to meet with local business leaders have been on Madonna’s Brazil agenda for a long time.

She may well meet with her beau’s family – but Gossip Cop thinks the confirmed charity work should at least be mentioned alongside the prospective in-laws visit.

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(GettyImages.com)

Is the anchorman becoming a barman?

The British Sun reports that Will Ferrell “fancies being the landlord of a traditional British pub” and hopes to buy one “the next time he is in London.”

The paper even supplies a lot of colorful quotes and attributes them to the comedian. ”I wouldn’t want a celebrity place, it would be an old-fashioned pub… I could get some great material off all the regulars,” Ferrell supposedly says, going on to declare that American imitators can’t compare to the real thing: “Over-priced fish and chips does not constitute a real British pub.”

Unfortunately, these comments are about as authentic as a pub in Albuquerque. Ferrell “has no idea” where this story came from, his rep tells Gossip Cop, adding “he never said it.”

Sounds like a case of wishful drinking on the Sun‘s part.

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(GettyImages.com)

“If the twinkling ring on her wedding finger is to be believed, BRITNEY SPEARS is getting hitched for the third time,” reports The Sun.

Of recent there have been a bunch of stories intimating that Spears is ready to walk down the aisle again, mostly because she and her boyfriend Jason Trawick recently vacationed together in Mexico.

But not every story can be based purely on what one sees. The Sun’s latest, “Will Britney tie the knot again,” rests almost entirely on the diamond ring she’s wearing, and the fact that she looks happy (which she is).

The problem here, though, is that Spears has several diamond rings that she likes to wear, but are definitely NOT engagement rings. Plus, Gossip Cop knows for a fact that sometimes Spears likes to toy with the paparazzi.

Nevertheless, we checked the story with a source close to Spears, who told Gossip Cop that a wedding is “not on the horizon” anytime soon.

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(GettyImages.com)

In a piece titled, “Sienna and Jude bark together,” the Sun reports that Sienna Miller and Jude Law had a reunion recently at a party thrown by Jonny Lee Miller, who stars opposite Sienna in the Broadway play, “After Miss Julie,” and is also a good buddy of Law, who’s currently on Broadway as well in “Hamlet.”

According to the paper, the two stars were “delighted” to see each other when “Johnny Lee Miller… staged a bash for his co-star’s dog Bess, which has just recovered from a kidney infection.” 

And what a delightful dog tail, er, tale it is. Gossip Cop, however, has a bone or two to pick. The dog that Sienna now has is not named “Bess” – it’s named “Porgy.” Close. And her co-star spells his name “Jonny,” not “Johnny.”

While we were already skeptical of this alleged pooch party story, Sienna’s rep told Gossip Cop, “Someone made this up.” And not well either.

(GettyImages.com)

According to The Sun, David Letterman wasn’t the only one to cause relationship strife with comments on his late night program last week.

The paper claims Madonna‘s admission that “she’d rather get hit by a train than get hitched again” triggered trouble with young boyfriend Jesus Luz.

A source tells the paper the two almost never fight, but that Luz had told friends he was planning to marry Madonna, and her comments to Letterman “had made a fool of him.” He “was heartbroken to learn in such a public way they weren’t on the same page,” the source adds.

“They had a huge row afterwards,” reports the paper, adding, “It was a serious ding-dong.”

Sorry, but we have to ding this ridiculous rumor. Madonna’s rep tells Gossip Cop talk of a fight is “not true.”

(GettyImages.com)

A number of stories popped up today about Kate Hudson being pregnant, thanks to the Sun and its article headlined, “You hiding tum-thing, Kate?”

In an article about Hudson and Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez looking at homes in California, the British tabloid wrote, “Kate Hudson and Alex Rodriguez have been eying up new pads – and it looks like they may need a nursery.”

Huh?

The story claimed, “You, Me and Dupre star Kate was showing signs of a baby bump as the pair toured various Malibu properties.”

Not surprisingly, bloggers picked that up story and spread it like a bad cold. However, since Gossip Cop is about fact-checking and accurate reporting, we should tell you to put away the cigars. Hudson’s rep tells Gossip Cop, “She is not pregnant.”

(GettyImages.com)

(GettyImages.com)

You’d think a paper named The Sun would illuminate the truth more often.

The tab now claims Janet Jackson plans to wear black for a year to mourn the death of her brother, Michael Jackson. A “source” tells the paper that “as a mark of respect she has decided to only wear black clothes to express her grief, and she has had to go on a number of shopping trips to find suitable items to wear.” The custom will conclude on the anniversary of Michael’s death next June, when Janet’s “time of reflection will come to an end.” The Sun goes on to suggest that Jackson’s decision to perform in black earlier this month at MTV’s Video Music Awards was evidence of this “new wardrobe.”

Really? That’s strange. Because a little more than a week ago, Jackson was in white and beige at a Ralph Lauren event during Fashion Week in New York City. And just last night she wore a blue dress to amfAR’s Inaugural Milan Fashion Week event.

In fact, it’s difficult to find her in black at all recently when she’s not performing.

A source close to Janet told Gossip Cop that the Sun story was a big old yarn. Sure seems that way to us.

Case clothed.

(GettyImages.com)

Once again, Perez Hilton has taken a ridiculous report about Lindsay Lohan, refused to waste precious time checking facts, and then spun the tale to make it sound likely.

Yesterday, “Scoop” Hilton picked up a story from the Sun that claimed Lohan has been “tapped… to appear in the upcoming season of [the British version of] Celebrity Big Brother!!!” He added, “producers were reportedly discussing the details with LOLhan in Singapore this week.”

First of all, it’s not happening. Lohan is not doing the reality show. Moreover, she was NEVER “discussing” the details with producers. Lohan’s rep told Gossip Cop that the show’s execs “have been calling and emailing her whole team, and it has been a pass. This is a tacky way to get cheap publicity.”

Unfortunately their publicity stunt worked because Hilton and other equally unreliable sources reprinted this nonsense.

(Summit)

What a week it was for Gossip Cop!

Gossip Cop really busted Star magazine with its story that “Grey’s Anatomy” lead Ellen Pompeo’s husband, Chris Ivery, cheated on her – during her pregnancy – with a teen.  A lot of outlets picked up that story, but Gossip Cop exclusively obtained an email from the teen that read, “I talked to Star Magazine and they were trying to offer me $20,000 for information about Chris. That is ridiculous because nothing is true about us having a relationship.” We confronted Star about the pay-to-say, but not surprisingly no one got back to us.

That same rag got it all wrong when claiming that Natalie Portman just moved to L.A. to be closer to Sean Penn, who’s going through a divorce. Besides the fact that he’s been linked to another woman, Portman moved to the West Coast a year ago.

Despite numerous outlets reporting that Penelope Cruz was pregnant, Gossip Cop led the charge and finally busted that bad dish.  We have it upon good authority that she is “100 percent NOT” pregnant. Plus, we saw some photos of her recently smoking. Still that didn’t stop Perez Hilton. He wrote that despite Cruz’s own “claims” that she’s not pregnant, he believes that she is – and he called her a “liar.” Whoa!

In more pregnant news, the National Enquirer ran a piece that said Mel Gibson was concerned that his pregnant girlfriend wasn’t eating enough. Not true, said his publicist, who recently had dinner with the couple and noted how “healthy” she looked. The Enquirer also waited a good 30 seconds after “The Office” star John Krasinski and Emily Blunt got engaged to say they were fighting over wedding plans. But a rep for Krasinski told Gossip Cop: “There is nothing factually accurate to the story in the National Enquirer except that John and Emily are engaged.”

Then we smelled a rat with a Brad Pitt gerbil story. The British tab The Sun claimed he bought his kids an approximately $83,000 gerbil run, complete with mazes, tunnels and seesaws. That story was full of gerbil pellets.

This week John Mayer was the subject of two wrong romance stories. When Janet Charlton’s Hollywood reported that “The Hills” (and Kristin Cavallari) were alive with the sound of Mayer’s music, we were the first on the scene to say there was “No Such Thing” going on between the two. (Of course, that didn’t stop journalism’s joker Perez Hilton from repeating the fabricated tale). And the other inaccurate love story involving Mayer was an In Touch cover piece on Jessica Simpson that claimed she was secretly hooking up with him again. Yeah, also not true.

In other love news, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were once again the subject of nasty nuptial rumors, but Gossip Cop spoke to sources close to them and found out it was just the same naysayers singing the same old (off-key) tune. The couple is still making beautiful music.

And it seemed like yesterday the blogs were saying Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron were engaged. Well, the rumor this week was that they are headed for splitsville. Gossip Cop investigated and didn’t find proof to support this sophomoric “High School Musical” tale.

The British Star magazine was trippin’ when it printed a story that Rihanna and Chris Brown, who are legally barred from being near each other, are now planning a trip together to Mexico – meaning they would be outside of U.S. jurisdiction.  The only distance to be noted here is that this story is far from true.

With “Sex and the City” filming in New York this week, there were many a rumor Cop had to handle.  For starters, in the course of just a couple of days, a New York paper said Kim Cattrall was still with her much younger chef boyfriend (uh, they broke up months ago), and that she’s now an American – nope, Cattrall is still a Canadian citizen. Then, rather oddly, the tabs came to Gossip Cop to verify a rumor that Chris Noth (aka “Mr. Big”) was engaged in real-life. We contacted Noth, who texted us back, “Not true.” And, Gossip Cop had amazing footage of thousands of fans peacefully surrounding Sarah Jessica Parker as she moved from one area of shooting to another. Totally worth a look.

The dynamic duo of Perez Hilton and In Touch lost all touch with reality when they claimed that Rosie O’Donnell and Star Jones were going to team up for a reality show. Gossip Cop debunked that quickly. And on the subject of reality TV, after ignoring John and Kate Gosselin all summer we posted a piece and asked you all what you felt about them. Incredibly, the vast majority of you expressed the same sentiment as Gossip Cop – who cares about the two of them? (Barring something unbelievable, don’t expect to see their names in Gossip Cop after this.)

This week the New York Post wrote that Lindsay Lohan was staying under the radar in Austin, Texas, where’s she’s slated to film the movie, “Machete.” Sadly, the New York newspaper somehow missed that Lohan was in New York. We even showed footage of the paparazzi staking her out while shopping in Manhattan – just about the same time that the erroneous “Austin” item was being written. Not to be outdone, New York’s other tab, The New York Daily News did a piece insinuating that Kate Hudson is engaged to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez. That paper also struck out. They are not engaged.

Across the pond, the Daily Mail said that Uma Thurman was going to walk down the aisle in Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana had lived, but Gossip Cop proved that that, too, was a royal lie.

“Twilight” Highlights: Gossip Cop started the week off nicely, having taken a bite out of Now magazine, which published fabricated Robert Pattinson quotes, but then removed them from its website after Gossip Cop called them out on it. Later we posted a video of the paparazzi hounding Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. The footage showed the two being pursued as they got into a taxi in Vancouver, and then Stewart literally fleeing from the cab and sprinting into their hotel. We debated long and hard whether to show the footage (shot by a third party), and ultimately we felt that writing about it might lead people to think that, like our competitors, we were making it up or were exaggerating the details. But by presenting it, we believed, everyone could accurately assess (even eyewitness) for themselves the harassment that the two “Twilight” stars unfortunately have to endure.

Then there was that OK! cover that was not OK. It blared, “Rob Risks It All For Kristen,” and cautioned, “How his engagement to Kristen is putting Rob’s career and the future of Twilight in jeopardy.” Engagement? Not true. There was so much more, including how the filmmakers were concerned that Pattinson and Stewart hanging out together would affect how people felt about the “New Moon” plot in which her character falls for Jacob Black, played by Taylor Lautner. One, the story is nonsense, and two, nice job insulting “Twilight” fans and implying they can’t separate fact from fiction. Speaking of fiction, there were some other doozies this week, including Pattinson and Stewart sneaking off to an island off of Canada’s coast for a weekend getaway. Stewart, by all accounts, was in Vancouver that weekend. That story was more like Fantasy Island. And we ended the week with the new, expanded, non-bootlegged HD version of the “New Moon” trailer. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. And if you have, watch it again!

(Oh, and then there was that thing about Robert Pattinson using steroids. No, really.)

There was so much more this week, like our correcting that Casey Wilson was dumped from “Saturday Night Live” because of her weight; Megan Fox being taunted by a cursing paparazzo; the Michael Jackson tribute concert being postponed and moved to London; and the surprising news that Ellen DeGeneres was tapped to be the fourth judge on “American Idol.”

And yes, for 30 glorious minutes on Friday it seemed like karma had caught up with Perez Hillton, whom Gossip Cop wrote about for The Huffington Post. For half an hour, PerezHilton.com was temporarily down, and so inaccurate reporting and snide comments were briefly suspended. Many rejoicing readers and Twitterers wrote Gossip Cop wishing that it would be permanent. All we can say is spread the word about Gossip Cop to ALL of your friends, and maybe one day that dream will come true.

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This is the most ridiculous celebrity gerbil rumor we’ve heard in a long time. According to the Sun, Brad Pitt plunked down nearly $83,000 to build a gerbil run for his kids – that is, for his kid’s gerbils, not for the kids themselves to run in.

The Sun reports the tricked out gerbil complex “features a maze of tunnels, seesaws and platforms which makes the rodents the most pampered vermin on the planet,” and, claims a source, Pitt had “fun putting the run together with his kids Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Pax.”

If you believe the Sun’s tail, er, tale, after August 20 when the gerbils were purchased, Pitt, an architecture enthusiast, “personally oversaw every step of the project at his family’s French estate.” Adds the article’s so-called source, “It’s incredibly complex and cost a lot but Brad’s more than happy with any activity that can combine his two passions – his kids and architecture.”

We reached out to a rep for the “Inglourious Basterds” star, and have yet to receive a response. We did, however, contact a couple of sources who knew nothing about this.

Gossip Cop says this story is full of pellets.

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The Sun believes it has cracked the case of Blanket Jackson’s unknown sperm donor. According to the British tab, “Macaulay Culkin is the mystery dad of Michael Jackson’s son Blanket.”

There ya go, everyone! It was Jacko play pal Macaulay Culkin! (Now we all know what he was doing “Home Alone.”)

The Sun even managed to find a source - conveniently without a first or last name -to say, ““Jackson idolised him – that’s why he asked Mack to donate sperm . . . Deep down, I think he always wished Mack was his son. Creating Blanket was the next best thing.”

Well, glad that’s solved! Oh, wait. This story is totally made up.

A rep for Culkin told Gossip Cop it was “too preposterous for us to even acknowledge.”

Frankly, Gossip Cop is feeling just a wee bit left out, since at this point we’re pretty much the only ones who have not been identified as Blanket’s possible biological father.

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Wouldn’t Megan Fox be purrfect as Catwoman? Well, the Sun reports that the “Transformers” star “has signed up to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie.”

According to the Brit paper and the dozens of other outlets that followed “suit,” Fox is a done deal to don the latex worn by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry in previous Batman films.

But put away the saucer of milk for now. Fox’s rep says the casting rumor is “not true.” She adds, though, that “I’m sure she would love to.” So maybe one day down the road we might still see a Fox playing a catwoman.

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Many outlets, some even highly legitimate, repeated a rumor that Cameron Diaz is now “dating” Keanu Reeves.

The Sun, among the first to kick off the rumor, reported that the two were at The Whisper Lounge in L.A., where a spywitness said, “They looked very cosy.” The tab went on to say Diaz and Reeves then went to the movies.

Call a caterer, get a band . . .

Oh wait, let’s look at the facts. Well, Reeves and Diaz are friends who starred together in “Feeling Minnesota.”

But maybe they were on a date?

Well, Gossip Cop figured out where this rumor originated. It all came from a simple sighting on People.com the day before. The item read: “Cameron Diaz and Keanu Reeves, grabbing drinks with a female companion at The Whisper Lounge at West Hollywood outdoor shopping mall The Grove. The two sipped pinot noir during their friendly-looking 45-minute meeting.”

That’s funny. The Sun and the other outlets didn’t mention the other “female companion,” possibly because it would have ruined that whole tale about it being a “cosy” (sic) date rather than, as People reported, just “friendly-looking.”

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There’s been a disproportionate amount of speculation, particularly by the British press, that Lindsay Lohan has had lip injections. The Sun wrote “The Mean Girls star sparked rumours she’s had a ‘lip job’ when she rocked up to [an “Inglourious Basterds” screening] with a plumper smile than usual.” And the UK’s Daily Mail said the actress “appears to have added a pair of bee-stung lips.”

Well, guess what?

Gossip Cop happened to run into Lohan last night, and with a much better view of her than those reporting from across the Atlantic, we can tell you that it didn’t look like Lohan had injections to make her smackers look fuller. Her rep explained, she simply “uses a great lip plumper.”

Happy that’s resolved.

And Lindsay: thanks for the shout-out to GossipCop.com on Twitter last night!

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Yes, the words “fake” and “Pamela Anderson” are often used together, but in this instance the fake part has less to do with the surgically enhanced bombshell than with the story circulating about her workout routine.

Basically, The Sun – and the dozens of blogs that routinely fail to fact-check – ran quotes from an alleged interview with Anderson in which she credited her good body and skin to – that’s right – sex. According to The Sun and others, Anderson said, “Looking good to me has always been because of the amount of sex I’m getting… I’ve hardly ever been a member of a gym and I can’t follow diets.”

Well, Gossip Cop suspected the story was somewhat phony, and even phoned a mutual friend of ours and Anderson’s, who told us that the “Stacked” star once gave somewhat similar quotes . . . but well “over a year ago.”

It also sounded fishy because the reporter surprisingly didn’t ask about Anderson’s recent rendezvous at the Hard Rock Hotel  & Casino with ex-husband Tommy Lee. Additionally, when questioned later in the piece whether she would ever marry again, the “Baywatch” star was quoted as saying there was a time when she thought, “’You know what, I’d love to, but who’s going to have me?’ Seriously, imagine the advert in the lonely hearts column: ‘Mother of two, boisterous boys. Slightly crazy ex-husband never too far away.’”

Yeah, why would she now call Lee “crazy,” and, more puzzlingly, say “advert,” a word not used by Americans – or Canadians like Anderson.

When Gossip Cop put The Sun to task, they said that until we alerted them they were “not aware Pamela had not done any interviews in a while.” The paper then said that the freelancer who fed them this story admitted, “The interview was indeed done last year but his quotes had never been used.” How about the quotes being fake?

The Sun added, “Sorry for any confusion.”