Sideshow | Better than a commutation

Mere days before her DUI trial begins on July 11, news comes that

Real Life

poet

Nicole Richie

, 25, is pregnant - a condition that may save her from jail.

TMZ.com, which says it has confirmed the pregnancy, says the pa is Nicole's bf, 28-year-old Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden. And In Touch Weekly says the couple are hard at work planning a summer wedding. (Better get a move on.)

Nicole's legal troubles stem from a December incident during which she was busted driving the wrong way down an L.A. freeway and proceeded to admit to the cops that she was on marijuana and Vicodin.

If found guilty, Nicole would ordinarily get a minimum of five days - and a maximum of up to 12 months - in jail. Her reps have yet to comment.

Weeks after he was fired from

Grey's Anatomy

,

Isaiah Washington

continues to fulminate.

The latest has the actor telling Larry King that it was Patrick Dempsey's fault the costars got into an on-set fight during which I.W. used a homophobic slur. Washington says McDreamy is late to work so often it pushed him over the edge.

Asked about gay Grey costar T.R. Knight's widely reported assertion that the slur was aimed at him, I.W. said, "That's a lie."

In what must be his 18th different version of the story, Washington said the slur he used wasn't meant to insult gays, but merely to designate "somebody who is being weak."

He said he was telling McDreamy that no one treats him like a [slur], and in addition to the anti-gay slur, he used two (deeply, nastily) misogynistic slurs, too. This means, of course, that I.W. wasn't insulting anyone. He was merely implying that all women and all gays are weaker, that they're below men.

Spike Lee

announced yesterday that he'll next make a $45 mil war drama set in Italy about the contribution black American soldiers made in WWII.

"We have black people who are fighting for democracy who at the same time are classified as second-class citizens," the 50-year-old 4 Little Girls director said. "That is why I'd like to do a film to show how these brave black men, despite all the hardship they were going through, still pushed that aside and fought for the greater good."

Lindsay Lohan

spent her 21st b'day on Monday in rehab, though she did venture out for some meals and get-togethers with friends over the weekend.

Kate Moss

' man

Pete Doherty

, who seemed to be on the mend, isn't. Yesterday, the 28-year-old Brit rocker and wasted would-be genius pleaded guilty in a London court - after arriving hours late - to another drug charge. (He was nicked with crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine.) Pete, who's been receiving court-ordered drug counseling, will have to wait for the judge to make a ruling.

Rod Stewart

's 26-year-old son (with Rod's ex-wife, model

Alana Stewart

),

Sean Stewart

, yesterday pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges for an alleged attack on a couple outside a Hollywood Hills party.

Tobalus and Ericka Stein say Stewart and some buddies approached their truck April 22 and began "swinging their arms at, punching, throwing bricks and other items at, and striking the bodies of plaintiffs" and the truck. The couple already filed a lawsuit - which does not mention a motive for the alleged attack.

Stewart, who is free on $60,000 bail, is due back in court Aug. 6.