To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > People April 28, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2000/04/28/npfri Tasteless in Jefferson County Sarah McLachlan song used on Columbine video without her permission ... and she wants it off. Also: Another Pamela Anderson Lee sex video? Does she know you don't have to tape it? - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amy Reiter As if peddling grisly footage of the Columbine High School massacre for $25 a pop weren't tasteless and exploitative enough, it now appears that the Jefferson County, Colo., authorities set the murders to music -- without the permission of the artists. And Sarah McLachlan is not amused that her song was selected for the soundtrack to the carnage. McLachlan and her label, Arista Records, are demanding that her trademark song, "I Will Remember You," be removed from the exploitative video. "The Columbine High School shootings that occurred over one year ago were a catastrophic tragedy. Our compassion goes out to the family and friends of the victims of this unfortunate event," Arista's statement reads. "Neither Sarah McLachlan nor Arista Records were ever approached for the usage of her music or image within the video being released. In fact, we are demanding that her song 'I Will Remember You' be removed from this exploitative video tape." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No ordinary bird "I am as territorial as a robin, who will drill his beak into the skull of any interloper robin who wanders onto his patch." -- Feminist author Germaine Greer, writing about being attacked in her home on Monday by an obsessed 19-year-old female student in London's Daily Telegraph. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dance, Andy, dance! Now that he's kicked his addictions and is living a life of sobriety, Andy Dick says he's ready to "take the bull by the horns" and do his own comedic thing. "So far, I've just been a little bitch boy. Everybody's little comedy bitch boy, you know, dancing monkey, marionette strings -- you pull the strings and I'll pick my nose," the actor says in an upcoming US Weekly interview. "I really have been that, but I liked it. I was always appreciative to just let people take advantage. I was a happy little bitch boy." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - And speaking of puppets ... Pets.com has filed a suit claiming that "Late Night" writer Robert Smigel -- creator of "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog," Conan O'Brien's foul-mouthed puppet pal -- defamed its cuddly spokesdog. The Internet pet store got its back up after Smigel (sock puppet in tow) called the Pets.com mascot a cheap knockoff of his bow-tied friend on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," creating, says Pets.com, "an undesirable, unwholesome and unsavory mental association" between the two puppets. "In an attempt to harm the Sock Puppet's audience appeal and market share, and to increase Triumph's popularity through a public 'controversy' or 'scandal,' [Smigel] has claimed on national television, the Internet and in print media that Pets.com stole the idea," the complaint alleges. "Late Night" executive producer Jeff Ross told Aaron Barnhart's TVBarn.com that he thinks the lawsuit is "hysterical." A complaint ... for him to poop on! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Juicy bits Rick Rockwell's come a long way from the days when he declared -- mouth full of pizza -- that he thought his then-wife Darva Conger was "great." Asked about Conger's potential nude spread in Playboy, he told ABC News that he would thumb through the issue at the magazine stand. (The guy never even saw his wife naked.) But he didn't plan to splash out on it. Said he, "I won't give her an extra nickel." Start saving your allowance. The members of 'N Sync are headed to the big screen. They'll begin work on the flick -- the title and plot of which will be revealed at the Cannes Film Festival -- early next year. "By turning to film," chirped a spokesman for the producer, Total Film Group, "fans around the world can enjoy their remarkable talents." Oh joy. Does Pamela Anderson Lee reach for the record button every time she has sex or what? According to Scotland's Daily Mail, Lee and her ex-boyfriend Brett Michaels, of Poison fame, are trying to block Internet Entertainment Group from releasing a homemade video of them going at it with gusto. "We're in this thing together," Michaels told the press. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can shut IEG down so they don't get to put it out in every video store. That was not the intent when we made the video for ourselves." Uh ... what exactly was the intent? salon.com | April 28, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Amy Reiter is a staff writer for Salon People. For more columns by Amy Reiter, visit her column archive.