Tattle: 'Thriller' jacket up for auction

SO MANY CELEBRITY shmatas go up for auction each month, Tattle wonders if it's all the same pieces being sold and re-sold.

Didn't the Michael Jackson "Thriller" jacket already go up for sale?

Or was that the sequined glove?

Or MJ's chimp?

It's so hard to keep track who has Dorothy's red shoes, the original Kermit muppet or Anthony Weiner's first wiener shot.

That said, the jacket Michael wore in his "Thriller" video is hitting the auction block.

Auctioneer Darren Julien says the red and black leather jacket is "the most recognized and significant piece of pop culture" to come up for sale, and he expects it to fetch at least $200,000 at the Music Icons auction June 25 and 26 at Julien's Auctions, in Beverly Hills.

MJ autographed the jacket as a gift to his longtime costume designers, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush. A portion of the proceeds from its sale will benefit the Shambala Preserve, where Michael's two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, have been living since they left Neverland ranch in 2006.

Other items up for sale include the wig Michael wore when he announced his ill-fated "This Is It" concert series in London, a fedora and spangled glove he wore on stage, his shirt from the "Scream" video and the battered mailbox from the Carolwood Drive estate where he died in 2009.

The auction also includes memorabilia from Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, the Beatles and Frank Sinatra's patent leather boots and 1986 Jaguar.

* In other MJ news, TMZ.com says insurer Lloyd's of London has gone to court to get out of paying Michael's estate $17.5 million for losses incurred on "This Is It."

Lloyd's claims it doesn't have to honor the policy because Michael and promoter AEG allegedly lied about Michael's medical history and because Michael did not disclose he was taking prescription drugs.

Lloyd's is asking the court to declare the policy null and void as a result of the alleged fraud.

Back on tour circuit

Buffalo Springfield is touring for the first time since the 1960s.

After a few California shows this month leading up to an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, "There will be a fall tour — September, October, November," the group's Richie Furay told Billboard.com.

Furay, Neil Young and Stephen Stills reunited for the first time in 42 years to play the Bridge School Benefit Concerts last October.

Simon says jump

We're done with this "X Factor" nonsense.

After being in, then out, then in again, Fox said yesterday that Cheryl Cole is officially out as a judge of "X Factor" and Nicole Scherzinger (right) will replace her.

Meanwhile, London's Daily Mirror reported that although Cheryl may have been fired two weeks ago, she was asked to return over the weekend.

According to Simon Cowell, Cheryl refused.

"We got to the point on Saturday when we genuinely thought she was going to accept the offer," Simon told the Mirror. "Again neither she (Cheryl) nor they (will.i.am and her management) returned any calls."

Simon, of course, claims he "did the right thing," but he apologized to Cheryl and said he hopes they can work together again.

He added: "I apologize that all this has become public and I understand the stress she is under."

What he meant to say was: "Look, 'The Voice' was stealing our thunder and I needed to concoct something that would get my show some ink. If I hurt Cheryl's career and feelings as a byproduct of that, I guess I'm sorry."

Charges dropped

D.C. prosecutors have dismissed a charge against the actress who played Pocahontas in "The New World."

Q'orianka Kilcher (left) and her mother, Saskia Kilcher, were arrested last June after the actress chained herself to the White House fence and her mother poured a black substance over her. Q'orianka, whose father is a Peruvian Indian, was protesting the sale of land in Peru to oil companies. Peru's president, Alan Garcia, was meeting that day with President Obama, and the Kilchers hoped to disrupt his visit.

Prosecutors dropped the charges against both women yesterday after they completed community service.

Tattbits

* Lady Gaga has accepted an invitation to participate in a gay pride parade in Rome's Circus Maximus - the closing event of 2011 Euro Pride.

Ambassador to Italy David Thorne said in a statement yesterday that he is "very proud to have an Italian-American artist of her stature" come to the Italian capital.

* Billboard.com reports that Chaka Khan's duets album will feature a duet with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler on a yet-to-be-decided Led Zeppelin song.

"We literally just clicked," Khan tells Billboard.com of Tyler. "We were at Elton John's party and we got to talk and we both wanted to sing together. We said, 'Let's do a mutual song, by you know, a neutral band - a band that we both love,' and we both love Zeppelin."

* The Supreme Court has

turned away the latest attempt by Wesley Snipes to get his conviction and prison sentence on tax charges overturned.

The high court yesterday refused to hear an appeal from Snipes, convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file income-tax returns.

Snipes started a three-year term in a federal minimum-security prison in December.

BANGShowbiz. com and Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

Email:gensleh@phillynews.com.