"Highly sexually erotic" public kissing. Poor parental skills. Hurling a can of beans at a photographer.
Banned from an entire country for bad behavior. The past couple of days have seen a "perfect storm'' of celebrity hi-jinks, involving Richard Gere, Hugh Grant, Alec Baldwin and Snoop Dogg. ?
In India, a New Delhi court issued arrest warrants for Gere as well as Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function "transgressed all limits of vulgarity," media reports said. Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants after a citizen filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Gupta earlier viewed television footage of the event, which he called "highly sexually erotic," saying the pair violated India's strict public obscenity laws.
Gere and Shetty "transgressed all limits of vulgarity and have the tendency to corrupt the society," the judge said. Such cases against celebrities often filed by publicity seekers are common in conservative India. They add to a backlog of legal cases that has nearly crippled the country's judicial system.
Gere left India shortly after the kissing incident, and it was not immediately clear how the warrant would affect him. Gere is a frequent visitor to India, promoting health issues and the cause of Tibetan exiles. Last week, crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of the 57-year-old star of "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo" and "Pretty Woman" after he embraced Shetty and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an HIV/AIDS awareness event in the Indian capital.
? In London, meanwhile, actor Hugh Grant was arrested for allegedly throwing a container of baked beans at a photographer, police said. The Metropolitan Police don't identify suspects who haven't been charged, but said a 46-year-old man was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and released on bail.
Photographer Ian Whittaker told the Daily Star tabloid that Grant had kicked him and shouted abuse before hurling the beans at him Tuesday morning. ? The saga of divorced dad Alec Baldwin, caught yelling at his daughter on a voicemail message, continued as he asked NBC to let him out of his "30 Rock" contract so he can devote his time to the issue of "parental alienation.
" "If I never acted again I couldn't care less," Baldwin said in a pre-taped appearance for ABC's "The View," scheduled to air today. The actor, in a transcript provided to the Associated Press by "The View," said that he also wanted to quit "30 Rock" so the sitcom and the hundreds who work on it wouldn't "be hurt by the situation." NBC, however, quickly shot down the idea.
? And then there's Snoop Dogg. The rapper has been refused entry into Australia because of his extensive criminal record, the immigration minister said Thursday, the second time this year the rapper has been barred from entering another country.
Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., was due to fly into Sydney this week to co-host the MTV Australia Video Music Awards. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Snoop Dogg's visa was canceled because he had failed to pass the country's strict character test, which takes criminal convictions into account.
"He doesn't seem the sort of bloke we want in this country," Andrews told Sydney's Macquarie Radio. Earlier this month, Snoop Dogg was sentenced to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service after he pleaded no contest to felony gun and drug charges in California.
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