W/C September 19, 2005  

Forest Whitaker is joining the cast of the hit FX cop show The Shield. Whitaker will play an ambitious internal affairs officer assigned to investigate Detective Mackey, the rogue cop played by series star Michael Chiklis. Look for Whitaker on new episodes of The Shield starting in January.

After two days of deliberation, a Philadelphia jury acquitted Beanie Sigel of all charges in his attempted-murder trial on Monday, Sigel was alleged to have shot Terrence Speller in 2003. In 2004, during his first attempted murder trial, a jury could not come up with verdict after five days of deliberation and a mistrial was declared.

Mariah Carey got four nominations, while 50 Centpicked up three for the 33 rd Annual American Music Awards. Destiny's Child, Fantasia and Eminem each received two nominations, while R. Kelly, John Legend, Ciara, Omarion, 112 and Pretty Ricky picked up one apiece. The AMA's will be held at The Shrine Auditorium in LA on November 22 nd.

Earlier this month, R.Kelly's wife, Andrea, was granted an emergency protective order to keep the singer away from her, claiming physical abuse, harassment, stalking and interfering with her personal liberty. She had written in her petition that she didn't want any contact with him "at all, by any means." When that order expired on Friday, she asked for it to be dismissed instead of extended, but she's since hired one of Chicago's top divorce attorneys, Donald Schiller, who told MTV News that while Andrea Kelly hasn't filed for divorce, the couple are now separated and she's moved out of their home.

Oprah Winfrey has pledged $10 million of her own money to Hurricane Katrina. "I plan to build homes and take on other worthy Katrina projects."

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher finally said, "I do" on Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Los Angeles area at a private house, according to published reports. Among the some 100 guests attending the wedding were Moore's second husband actor Bruce Willis and Lucy Liu. AP, People Magazine and US Weekly are all reporting it Both stars publicists haven’t returned calls.

Nelly is getting his own reality show that will chronicle his "day-to-day life." The rapper said, "I look forward to showing my fans what my world is about and bringing more attention to my non-profit organizations." Nelly got involved in campaigns for bone marrow registration when his sister lost her battle with leukemia. He also runs the non-profit organization 4 Sho 4 Kids. The reality series is expected to air sometime early next year.

The Fugees , Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel, have set a December 27th release date for their new untitled album. The group's first new single in almost 10 years, "Be Easy," debuted on urban radio last week. A video from the new project will be released in the coming weeks.

The premiere of the Chris Rock produced and narrated comedy, one of the most highly praised new shows of the season, drew one of the biggest premiere audiences in UPN history, even pushing the outlet past one-time Thursday ruler NBC for a half-hour. "Chris" drew 7.8 million viewers at 8 p.m. ET Thursday (Sept. 22), making it the most-watched comedy premiere in the network's 10-year history and the No. 3 premiere of any kind (behind "Star Trek: Voyager," which launched the network in 1995, and " Enterprise" in 2001). The show also scored a 3.2 rating among adults 18-49, placing second in its time period to CBS' "Survivor."

R&B singer D'Angelo was involved in a one-car accident on September 19th. The singer's 2003 Hummer was headed east on Route 711 in Virginia's Powhatan County when it ran off the road and slammed into a fence before overturning. The singer and the vehicle's other passenger, Lynne Sellers, were taken to area hospitals by helicopter.

Dame Dash has sold his 25 percent stake in the Rocawear clothing line to his partners Jay-Z and Russian investors Alex Bize and Norton Cher of the Comet Group for $30 million. Dash told vogue.com, "In the past five years, I've learned so much and made so much money that I don't feel any animosity. We've all prospered. I feel like my partners don't understand what I'm trying to represent. We were getting a bit too demographic. I also think my partners, but not Jay -- he wasn't really active as far as the business went -- were thinking I was using Rocawear to fund my lifestyle. I think they felt like I was using Rocawear money to fund everything else I was doing when, in actuality, I was funding other companies, like America magazine (the luxury magazine he launched last year), out of my own pocket." The mogul will now focus his attention on his wife Rachel Roy's contemporary line, the Damon Dash menswear line, the State Property sportswear line, and Team Roc, a collection of athletic clothing. Dash also owns the Pro-Keds sneaker company.