Stevie Wonder has criticized Eminem for ridiculing Michael Jackson in his latest video. … Stevie Wonder has criticized Eminem for ridiculing Michael Jackson in his latest video.

Rapper Eminem refers to Jackson’s plastic surgery and the child molestation charges faced by Jackson in the video for latest single, “Lose It,” reports the BBC.

“Kicking someone when he’s down is not a good thing,” Wonder told Billboard magazine.

“I was disappointed that he would let himself go to such a level.”

Eminem was unavailable for comment.

“I have much respect for his work, though I don’t think he’s as good as late rapper 2Pac,” Wonder continued.

The 54-year-old star said that Eminem “succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of color.”

In October, Jackson asked TV stations to stop playing Eminem’s video, describing it as “outrageous and disrespectful.”

The rapper dresses as Jackson in the video, and is shown on a bed with young boys. His nose also falls off and his hair catches fire.

Cable channel BET responded by banning the video, its president Robert Johnson saying he felt it inappropriate to disparage a celebrity.

The video also mocks Madonna, Pee Wee Herman and MC Hammer.

ESTEFAN WRITING CHILDREN’S BOOK

She may have given up the concert tour circuit, but Gloria Estefan’s new career will put her on the book tour circuit.

The singer, who played her last concert in October, will author a children’s book. Her inspiration: Noelle, her beloved dog.

“I don’t think too much is known about the affinity that I feel for animals. I have a very real connection with them and although I’ve had many pets, especially dogs, I have found a new and very unique connection with my 2-year-old English Bulldog, Noelle,” the Grammy winner said Monday in a statement issued by her publisher, HarperCollins, which plans to release the book in both English and Spanish next year.

“She came to be a part of our family quite by accident and has brought us unforgettable experiences that I hope to share with the readers of my book based on her real-life experiences. I hope Noelle will bring the readers as much joy and surprise as she has brought into the lives of everyone who has met her.”

According to HarperCollins, the currently untitled book “will center on the life and adventures of an intrepid bulldog named Noelle who doesn’t feel like she fits into the new and mythical land she now calls home.”

Madonna, Spike Lee and Billy Crystal are among the many other celebrities who have recently published children’s books.

DOWNEY STEALS THE SHOW

Elton John called his Kennedy Center Honor “icing on the cake,” but actor Robert Downey Jr. got a frosty reception when he introduced the rock legend as “the other first lady.”

John, opera diva Joan Sutherland, conductor John Williams and actors Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were honored Sunday night with a star-studded tribute at The Kennedy Center, reports The Associated Press.

Downey stole the show with his rambling tribute to John at the 27th annual Kennedy Center Honors, excerpts of which will be broadcast Dec. 21 on CBS. The actor said he _ like losing presidential candidate John Kerry _ was suffering “from acute symptoms of another dual-diagnosis disease of mine: the ADD, of course, the altruistic Democrat disorder.”

That drew nervous laughter from the audience, which included Sen. Kerry as well as President and Mrs. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the woman nominated to replace him, Condoleezza Rice.

U.K.-born John, 57, has sold millions of albums worldwide in three decades with hits such as “Rocket Man” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” Downey said three phrases came to mind when he thought of John: “genius, life saver, the other first lady.”

STEWART’S BOOK WINS PUBLISHERS AWARD

Comedian Jon Stewart’s “America (The Book),” the television commentator’s million-selling riff on politics and other matters of satire, has been named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly.

In announcing the award Monday, Publishers Weekly called the book “a serious critique of the two-party system, the corporations that finance it and the `spineless cowards in the press’ who `aggressively print allegation and rumor independent of accuracy and fairness.'”

Stewart is best known as the host of “The Daily Show,” a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.

His book was released in September and immediately topped best-seller lists even as Wal-Mart declined to stock the book, citing a page featuring the faces of the nine Supreme Court justices superimposed over naked bodies. The page facing the nude photos has cutouts of the justices’ robes, complete with a caption asking readers to “restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe.”

SHERIDAN BLASTS RUMORS OF PLASTIC SURGERY

British-born actress Nicollette Sheridan has furiously hit back at the “malicious and patently false rumors” in gossip columns that claim she’s undergone plastic surgery, reports IMDB.com.

The blond bombshell, who currently stars alongside Teri Hatcher in the new hit TV show “Desperate Housewives,” is firing back at the “female journalists” she claims are spreading lies that she altered her face with cosmetic procedures. She says in a statement, “I’d be very interested to know who is feeding the rumors or whether they sprung whole cloth from their feverish, overactive and inaccurate imaginations.”

IT’S A NICE DAY FOR A NEW ALBUM

Veteran rocker Billy Idol is planning to release a new album in the spring, reports Billboard magazine. “Devil’s Playground,” due for release March 22, will be the former Generation X singer’s first new solo studio album in more than a decade and will feature the familiar guitar work of longtime compatriot Steve Stevens.

The set will be heralded by first single “Scream,” which will go to U.S. radio outlets in late January for airplay consideration and a video will follow.

“I am extremely happy with the songs I wrote with Billy … ,” Stevens recently wrote on Idol’s official Web site and his own site. “They are fresh, unruly and gave me the opportunity to revisit some of my New York punk rock roots.”

Idol, who was on hand last month to introduce Snoop Dogg and Pharrell at the American Music Awards, is planning a world tour to support the album.

TYLER’S NOSE KNOWS

Pregnant actress Liv Tyler has unveiled the physical alteration that’s left her convinced her baby’s a girl _ her nose has broadened.

The “Lord Of The Rings” beauty spoke of her bizarre theory during an exchange with Hollywould shoes representative _ and mother to a new baby _ Alice Sykes in New York recently. Sykes reveals the origins of Tyler’s prediction to Web site Pagesix.Com: “She told me she had been at Bigelow’s pharmacy and the assistant told her, `You’re having a girl in a week and a half.’ Apparently, the woman told her you can tell when you are having a girl because your nose goes wide.”

TITANIC ESTRANGEMENT

Leonardo DiCaprio found it easy to relate to the reclusive billionaire he plays in upcoming movie “The Aviator” because “Titanic” taught him what it feels like to be “estranged from the world,” reports IMDB.com

DiCaprio, 30, developed an affinity with real-life perfectionist filmmaker and airplane enthusiast Howard Hughes as he understands how fame can separate normality from reality. The 30-year-old actor feels he had a similar experience following the release of the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” but Hughes’ descent into self-imposed exile still interests him.

DiCaprio says: “Well, what fascinated me … is how someone with everything cannot necessarily lose it all, but lose the will and the ability to lead a normal life, which is a very scary concept. I mean, after `Titanic’ I had a couple of years of feeling very estranged from the world. But not nearly to the extent of Mr. Hughes _ he locked himself in a hotel room for the last 15 years of his life.

“I don’t want to say I identified with him. Certainly I identified with his unwavering need for perfection, as far as his aviation was concerned, and his movie-making was concerned. It’s something I strive toward in acting.”

TUESDAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actress Ellen Burstyn is 72. ABC News anchorwoman Carole Simpson is 64. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 48. Pop singer Nicole Appleton (All Saints) is 29. Singer Aaron Carter is 17.

(Compiled from staff and wire reports.)

(c) 2004, The Miami Herald.

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