At CNN, we are increasingly called upon to see if there's any truth to the celebrity death rumors that often swirl around cyberspace. Just this past Sunday one of them crossed my desk. James Avery, who played "Uncle Phil" on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," had died, according to a rumor on Twitter.

I fired off an email to his publicist, Cynthia Snyder, and within a couple of hours she confirmed that Avery was "indeed alive and well – just had a lovely wedding anniversary get away and chuckled at the hoax. He just completed a project with Alfonso Ribeiro [another "Fresh Prince" alum] directing."

But when I caught up with Avery at the premiere of the remake of "The Karate Kid," he definitely wasn't "chuckling."

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Everyone who's been waiting for “The Hobbit” to make its way to theaters was flummoxed to find out that Guillermo del Toro was stepping down as director.

Turns out, it wasn’t easy for him, either. Del Toro, who has already explained that the his decision was a difficult one, turned to fan site TheOneRing.net to provide a slightly more conclusive ending to his time spent at the helm of “Hobbit.”

After thanking those who supported him in his prior position, del Toro wrote that his “commitment to the project demanded enormous sacrifices both in personal and professional terms. The consequences of which will ripple for years. I relocated my entire life and family to New Zealand and first came on board in 2008.”

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Add Hall & Oates to the list of musicians boycotting Arizona.

The legendary duo has canceled a performance in Phoenix that was scheduled for next month because of the state's recently signed law that requires police to determine the immigration status of individuals suspected of being in the country illegally. Cypress Hill and Pitbull have also canceled Arizona tour dates, and Kanye West, Spank Rock, Tenacious D and Sonic Youth are also boycotting the state.

"In addition to our personal convictions, we are standing in solidarity with the music community in our boycott of performing in Arizona at this time,” the group said in a statement.

Since they were supposed to perform following a Diamondbacks game on July 2, the duo added, “We would like to emphasize that this has nothing to do with the management of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been professional and cooperative throughout our dealings with them. This is our response to a very specific action of the state."

According to Stedman Graham, the Chicago area needs to sit up and take stock of the benefits "The Oprah Winfrey Show” has brought to the city now while they still can. Winfrey's Chicago-based talk show ends in September, 2011.

During an interview with Fox News Chicago, Graham said he doesn’t think Chicagoans appreciate Winfrey.

“I don’t think they understand the value of who she is as a human being and what she’s done,” he told the anchors. “Because a prophet has no honor in its home town.”

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Philadelphia's most recognizable hip-hop group kicked off summer on Saturday with their annual Roots Picnic concert, but even when in a celebratory mood, the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico weighed heavily on the mind of the group's formidable drummer and bandleader, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson.

"They need to find another way...another solution besides offshore drilling, or onshore drilling. Another means of fuel solution," he said. "If Exxon Valdez wasn't what I thought [was] the death knell, then there should be absolutely no doubt in anyone's head that there's always a risk with offshore drilling."

The outcry of support in terms of benefit concerts or massive donation drives backed by celebrities or organized by the general public is low because of the difficulty in visualizing the impact, Questlove explained.

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As she did with "Telephone," Lady Gaga once again provides a lengthy, visually arresting cinematic short for her single "Alejandro," but this time with Madonna references instead of endorsements. (In case swallowing a rosary and a little S&M doesn’t tip you off, she dons black pants and a bra with strategically placed machine guns.)

Despite the breezy, laid-back, "hot like Mexico" vibe of the single, the accompanying video is dark and cold throughout its totality. There's snow, drab undergarments and Gaga carrying an initialed heart on a black satin pillow in front of a coffin. (If that doesn't say romance, well, we don't know what does.)

“Alejandro” director Steven Klein told Rolling Stone that the design and tone for the opus was influenced by painters more so than musicians or film directors. The process, Klein said, “was to express Lady Gaga's desire to reveal her heart and bear her soul."

In that case, Gaga’s soul contains some men blessed with incredible quads wearing killer stilettos. If you haven’t seen the entire video, you can watch it here (although, as with “Telephone,” it may feel a bit uncomfortable to watch on the job).

I have such mixed emotions about “Glee.”

Tuesday night is the season finale, and while I am super excited to finally be reaching the Regionals and for Quinn to hopefully get that baby out of her belly, I still have to deal with the fact that this is the end of the first season.

It was such a good one, though I could have done without the super long break between the initial episodes and the final ones. But what a way to go out, with what I suspect will be a battle royale between New Directions and Vocal Adrenaline!

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Happy Tuesday! There's so much to discuss, so let’s just do this:

The big news today is about Charlie Sheen – apparently that plea deal involving Sheen working with a theater group by day and sleeping in a jail cell at night fell through. (Hmm...we wonder why? Maybe because it wasn't such a bright idea in the first place?)

So now Sheen and his legal team must return to court in July, but what does that mean for his show, “Two and A Half Men”? Will they delay shooting the new season to accommodate Charlie? "Showbiz Tonight" will be hunting down the answers to that hot topic!

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Katie G.’s still got it.

The mom of eight had stiff competition on Sunday, between the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Celtics game, the Stanley Cup finals and the MTV Movie Awards, (and, um, the premiere of “The Next Food Network Star”; I couldn’t have been the only one with that scheduling conflict) but TLC’s back-to-back “Kate Plus 8” specials weren’t hurting for viewers.

While EW’s Ken Tucker thinks the two hours of Gosselin family fun could have just as aptly been titled, “The Horror, The Horror,” 3.4 million tuned in for the first 60 minutes, featuring the sextuplets' sixth birthday, while 3 million were watching for the second hour-long special, “Inside Kate’s World," according to EW.

The next "Kate Plus 8" special will air July 11.

MTV awards shows have never had a reputation for clean language. But as critics have pointed out, Sunday night’s Movie Awards was more profane than usual.

According to THR, one reviewer caught over 100 swear words for the two-hour ceremony, with only some of them caught by the censors. It was so noticeable that "Twilight" star Peter Facinelli started his acceptance speech for the Best Movie award on behalf of the "New Moon" cast by saying, "I've never heard the word [expletive] used so many times in one evening," before proceeding to use the curse word as often as possible (except when thanking Stephenie Meyer, because she's Mormon).

As a result, the network has issued a statement of apology, “to those in our audience who were offended by any objectionable words that might have slipped by for the live airing.”

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