Tattle: Jodie Foster snags DeMille honor

IT SEEMS that just yesterday

Jodie Foster

portrayed a teenage prostitute in "Taxi Driver." Thursday it was announced that she'll receive the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 70th annual Golden Globes ceremony on Jan. 13.

Foster, a two-time Globes and Academy Award winner, was honored as leading actress at both ceremonies for 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs" and 1988's "The Accused," which she won in a three-way tie at the Globes with Sigourney Weaver for "Gorillas in the Mist" and Shirley MacLaine for "Madame Sousatzka."

DeMille Award winners are chosen by the board of directors for the foreign press group. It includes about 90 reporters who cover Hollywood for overseas outlets, gush about a lot of bad movies and eat a lot of free food.

"Jodie is a multifaceted woman that has achieved immeasurable amounts of success and will continue to do so in her career," said the press association's president, Aida Takla-O'Reilly. "Her ambition, exuberance and grace have helped pave the way for budding artists in this business. She's truly one of a kind."

She began her career at 3, starring in a Coppertone commercial, and went on to act in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "Nell," "The Brave One" and "Carnage." She also directed the films "Little Man Tate," "Home for the Holidays" and "The Beaver." Her next role is as a government official in director Neill Blomkamp's sci-fi saga, "Elysium," with Matt Damon.

Stop the presses.

Daily News

staff writer

Jenice Armstrong

reports that

Ebony

magazine has put "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star

NeNe Leakes

on the cover of its money and power issue.

Paraphrasing Jenice:

Somewhere in heaven, Ebony's founder, the late John H. Johnson, is rolling his eyes at the sight of Leakes' seminude torso partially covered in diamond-esque bling grinning on the cover of his magazine. She's holding a glass of bubbly. You can almost hear her yelling, "I'm very rich, b----."

This isn't what Johnson had in mind 67 years ago Thursday, when he published the first issue of a magazine to present much-needed positive images of black Americans.

We know these are tough times in the publishing industry. Maybe Ebony editors were looking for a touch of controversy. Lord knows NeNe brings that. Maybe they didn't want to use the faces we've all come to associate with mega-money such as Oprah, Beyoncé, Puffy, Magic or Jay-Z.

We get that.

But why not put someone on the cover who represents true black wealth like, say, real-estate moguls Quinton Primo III and R. Donahue Peebles, each of whom is estimated to be worth at least $300 million? Or Janice Bryant Howroyd, who along with her family, is worth an estimated $250 million? Those are the kind of people I think of when I think of black wealth.

NeNe, who came to fame not that long ago as the in-your-face co-star on Bravo's "Real Housewives of Atlanta," isn't in their league. Various unsubstantiated Internet reports estimate her net worth at around $4.5 million. That's chump change when you compare her with the real black power-hitters.

Two of the most powerful women in media -

Oprah Winfrey

and

Arianna Huffington

- are joining forces.

The pair has launched "HuffPost OWN," a new section on the Huffington Post website that will feature material from the Oprah Winfrey Network and Oprah. com. The new online destination will focus on lifestyle advice and personal inspiration.

Oprah said she was "delighted to join the conversation" at the Huffington Post. In a blog post, Arianna said Oprah is "made for the Internet," given her qualities of engagement and authenticity.

*

Bruce Springsteen

,

Jon Bon

Jovi, Billy Joel, Christina Aguilera, Sting and other celebrities will join forces for a one-hour live telethon "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together," airing Friday at 8 p.m. on NBCUniversal stations and streaming at NBC.com.

Money raised during the telethon will be donated to American Red Cross relief efforts. Besides being televised on NBC, the concert will be carried on Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, E!, G4, Style, Syfy and USA channels. Other networks may join.

The show will be hosted by NBC "Today" anchor Matt Lauer and NBC talk-show host Jimmy Fallon. NBC News anchor Brian Williams will also take part.

Guys, it's only an hour. How about letting the performers use the time?

Those interested in donating to the hurricane relief effort can visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or make a $10 contribution by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999.

* Ne-Yo joined Tim McGraw

for a surprise performance Wednesday night before a few hundred invited guests at a private event on the eve of the Country Music Association Awards.

"For me, I feel like in another life I might've been a country artist," Ne-Yo said in an interview after the performance.

And he's not joking. He's found lots to love about Music City since joining McGraw for a songwriting session a few years back.

"Faith Hill actually made me fried chicken," Ne-Yo said. "She cooked fried chicken for me, and it was fantastic. I knew I was coming out here to write, so I was expecting to go to like a studio and hear some skeletal track and then just go from there. I went to Tim and Faith's house. It was me, Tim and a guy with a guitar in the living room as the kids ran around, and it was the greatest writing experience I've ever had in my life."

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.