Sideshow: Diddy denies Tupac setup

Hip-hop mogul

Sean "Diddy" Combs

has denied a report posted by the Los Angeles Times on its Web site (

» READ MORE: www.latimes.com

) that says Diddy's friends were responsible for the '94 shooting and robbery of L.A. rapper

Tupac Shakur

at a New York studio. The Times claims Diddy knew about the shooting beforehand. "The story is a lie," says Diddy, who back then was managing the career of Shakur's outspoken rival and enemy,

Biggie Smalls

(also known as the

Notorious B.I.G.

).

"It is beyond ridiculous and completely false. Neither [Biggie] nor I had any knowledge of any attack."

Tupac, who suffered five bullet wounds, claimed Diddy set him up. The shooting sparked the infamous feud between East and West Coast rappers that eventually claimed Shakur's life in '96. (A year later, Biggie Smalls was murdered in retaliation.)

The Times says the story is based on FBI records and interviews with - unnamed - witnesses.

Stephen Colbert

's online propaganda arm Colbert Nation (

» READ MORE: www.colbertnation.com

) says the planet's premier political pundit will tape his show -

here!

- in Philly April 14 through 17, the first time the show has gone on the road. But you'll have to watch it on TV: In yet another testimony to Colbert's potency and popularity, all four shows, at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center, quickly sold out.

Heather Mills

, who just bagged a $49 mil divorce settlement from

Paul McCartney

, also has landed herself a new job. Celeb show

Extra

says Mills will be among the judges at the Miss USA Pageant, set for April 11 in Las Vegas.

Due to a skin infection, pianist

Murray Perahia

has canceled his tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and will be replaced in the April 9 Kimmel Center date by the rising Curtis Institute of Music pianist

Yuja Wang

. She'll play Mozart's

Piano Concerto No. 24

with conductor Sir

Neville Marriner

.

George Clooney

tells

Extra

and

Entertainment Tonight

that rumors that he is rejoining the cast of NBC's

ER

for the medical show's 15th and final season are wrong.

Simon Cowell

announced on Monday's episode of

Oprah Winfrey's Big Give

that he's doled out $162,000 to help the family of a 3-year-old cancer patient pay off their mortgage. "I never knew that doing good could feel so good," that cuddly rapscallion said.

Does

Madonna

's marriage to

Guy Ritchie

hang "by a thread" as Brit tabloid the Sun puts it?

Are they living separate lives?

Why didn't Guy attend Madge's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week?

Is the dead 'tween them?

Not if you listen to the "Like a Virgin" singer and prophet. In a statement, Madonna says she and her guy Guy remain "happily married." In fact, "all is well and wonderful" at the joyful couple's English estate.

Will Smith

has rubbished a report in Radar magazine that asserts that he and his (amazing) wife

Jada Pinkett

have been recruited to join the Church of Scientology - ostensibly by their close friend

Tom Cruise

.

The

I Am Legend

star tells the New York Daily News that although he and Tom are close, they don't believe the same things. "You don't have to be Jewish to be a friend of

Steven Spielberg

. You don't have to be a Muslim to be a friend of

Muhammad Ali

. And you don't have to be a Scientologist to be a friend of Tom Cruise," Smith said. "I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions. And I respect all people and all paths."

In a similar case,

Kimora Lee Simmons

also denies Radar's claim she's a Scientologist.

New York City Mayor

Michael Bloomberg

will make a cameo appearance on the April 10 episode of NBC's

30 Rock,

which previously has featured guests

Al Gore, Edie Falco, Jerry Seinfeld

and

Elaine Stritch

.

Rock

's

Dean Winters

tells TVGuide.com that Hizzonor was "fun" and "cool."

"He's a natural. I think you have to be, to be mayor of New York."

Girls Gone Wild

auteur

Joe Francis

has offered sometime escort

Ashley Dupre

, also known as Kristen, $1 mil to do a photo spread and go on some sort of

Gone Wild

tour.

"Her face is on the cover of every newspaper in the country," Francis says of Dupre, who owes her 15 minutes of fame to disgraced former New York Gov.

Eliot Spitzer

, who allegedly used her services.

"It's clear that the public wants to see more of her," Francis says.

USAToday.com says Dupre stands to make more than $5 mil from various offers. She's been asked to rep a brand of vodka, to pose for numerous nudie mags (surprise), and to star in numerous porn movies (surprise).

Mark Burnett

, who is to reality TV what

Leonardo da Vinci

was to art and science in early modernity, has been asked to exec produce the

MTV Awards

for the second year in a row. In a diss on the Oscars, Burnett tells Variety that the June 1 event is "the most relevant movie awards show in America today. . . . It honors the movies that millions of young Americans go to see" - as opposed to those esoteric Oscar winners that no one watches.

Her ma,

Jayne Mansfield

, would surely be proud:

Mariska Magdolina Hargitay

, who plays the tough, yet tender - and

very

single - Det. Olivia Benson on

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

, has bagged an awesome man.

Well, her character has: People mag says that on April 22

SVU

will pair up Olivia with a new love interest played by

Bill Pullman

.

Last week Mariska told TV Guide, "I've been begging

Neal

[

Baer

, exec producer] for five years to give me a boyfriend."

Frank Herbert

fans listen up: Variety reports that actor-turned-director

Peter Berg

will direct the third motion-picture adaptation of the sci-fi writer's classic novel

Dune

. Word is Berg, who helmed the terrorism-in-Saudi Arabia yarn

The Kingdom

and the smash hit football tearjerker

Friday Night Lights

, will stay faithful to the book.

David Lynch

first assayed to render

Dune

on the silver screen in '84, while the Sci-Fi Channel adapted it as a mini-series in 2000.