Molina allegedly punched Hilton from behind outside a Toronto nightclub after the openly gay blogger called Black Eyed Peas’ leader will.i.am a “faggot,” a slur for homosexuals.

Following the hearing, Molina’s lawyer Mark Sandler read the written apology outside court.

“I apologize for what I did on June 22 of 2009, even though you engaged in highly offensive comments … I acknowledge that these kinds of issues should not be resolved through a physical response,’ the apology read.

Hilton told The Associated Press in an e-mail he was happy Molina had accepted responsibility for his actions.

“I look forward to reading his letter of apology,” Hilton said in the e-mail.

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, claims he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am inside the nightclub and was punched outside by Molina.

Shortly after the incident, the blogger posted the following message on the Twitter Web site: “I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.”

Hilton’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said they were unhappy with the choice of words in Molina’s apology, but it was ultimately accepted.

Molina has also agreed not to contact Hilton except through his lawyer, not to carry any weapons for 12 months and not to come within 100 meters (100 yards) of the night club where the dispute took place.

He was also required to donate $500 Canadian (US$476) to charity.

“I think everything that needed to be said has pretty much been said,” Molina said as he left the courthouse. “Yes, I do regret the whole night.”

The singer’s spokesman Gary Farrow says John was at home Friday and was feeling fine. He left the hospital early Thursday.

He says John planned to resume his suspended tour and would play scheduled U.S. dates with Billy Joel starting in Oakland, California on Nov. 14.

Illness has forced the 62-year-old musician to cancel several gigs in Britain, Ireland and the U.S. over the last few weeks.

Wanda Sykes’ weekly Fox comedy show debuts 11 p.m. EST Saturday, followed by George Lopez’s four-night-a-week talk show on TBS, starting 11 p.m. EST Monday. They join “The Mo’Nique Show” on BET.

Lopez is counting on an audience hungry for something different – as in the first Hispanic to host a nighttime talk show on a major network, cable or broadcast.

Sykes is the first black late-night host since the late 1990s, when celebrities Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Keenan Ivory Wayans tried and failed to follow in Arsenio Hall’s successful 1989-94 footsteps.

“There’s a huge percentage of people not watching late-night TV at all,” Lopez said, figuring that the shows headlined by hosts including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel draw from roughly the same audience pool.

For people of color, the actor and comedian said, “I don’t think a lot of their needs are met with the current talk shows. I would pull a different audience.”

Shari Anne Brill, an analyst with media-buyer Carat USA in New York, echoes Lopez’s assertion.

“There is a huge, growing multicultural population in this country, and the current late-night fare doesn’t really take them into account,” she said.

But neither Lopez nor Sykes are talking about practicing exclusionary TV. Lopez’s ABC sitcom drew a cross-section of viewers, and Sykes said she expects her show to attract the same mixed crowd she gets at her standup appearances.

“Young, old, male, female, all races, gay, straight. I love the audience that I draw,” Sykes said.

She rebuts the idea she got the job because of her gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation (the actress-comedian, who appears on CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” came out as gay in 2008).

“I do understand the importance of being on a late-night talk show as a black, gay woman. But I’ve been at this for 20 years. I don’t think they (networks) were saying, `Hey, it would be fun to get a black woman on late-night. Who fits that role?’

“I got this show in spite of being a black lesbian,” she said, adding that viewers will tune in to see her or Lopez and not a type.

“It’s all driven by the host. It’s not what you’re getting from a minority, it’s us,” Sykes said.

She doesn’t see an “Obama effect” in the sudden late-night diversity, given that she was approached before the election of the first African-American U.S. president. But Lopez said his interest was piqued as he campaigned for the Democratic candidate.

“Being with Barack for a year and seeing the people and how their eyes and their faces filled with hope for him, for this country … and, on a very smaller scale, to have a show that is fun and can galvanize people and bring them together” was appealing, he said.

The two shows, as sketched by their hosts, will take different approaches.

Lopez promises to bring “the party back to late-night,” signaling a looser, hipper hour in the tradition of “The Arsenio Hall Show,” said analyst Bill Carroll of media buyer Katz Television in New York. Sykes is planning Bill Maher-type panels with both lighthearted and serious discussion of politics and culture as part of her mix.

“In some ways, these shows are looking at breaking the mold,” Carroll said. “Lopez Tonight,” he suggests, could be “what late-night might look like in the future.”

Sykes, whose show replaces Fox’s “Mad TV,” could compete successfully in her partial overlap with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” analyst Brill said. “Viewers could watch her show and then switch to `SNL’ in time for the news, which is the only part that’s funny anyway.”

Eva Longoria-Parker, Ellen DeGeneres and Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant are the scheduled debut night guests for Lopez. Sykes will welcome Mary Lynn Rajskub of “24,” Daryl “Chill” Mitchell of “Brothers” and “The Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan.

John Ridley, head writer for Sykes, said he’s wary of asserting that the show will “blow apart” the late-night model.

“If you look at all the shows, they’re not different. Are we going to have a monologue? Absolutely. Guests? Yes. A panel? Yes. But it reflects Wanda’s sensibility,” he said.

And that, it’s safe to say, is not akin to what Carroll calls the “predominantly middle-aged – to be kind – white men” that have long dominated late-night.

Gary Farrow said the pop star hopes to be released soon but has been forced to cancel concerts in England, Ireland and the United States.

John intends to rejoin the “Face2Face” tour later in the month when he and Billy Joel play concerts in northern California.

Farrow said 62-year-old John is suffering from a “bad case of the flu and a minor case of E. coli.” His Web site says he was advised by his doctor to postpone dates in Seattle and Portland.

The Daily Mail’s Web site quoted John’s partner, David Furnish, as saying “He’s OK – he’s fine,” after leaving a London hospital.

Farrow says the singer has rescheduled previously canceled dates during the European leg of his world tour.

Hatch completed a tax evasion sentence earlier this month. He complained to NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday that he was taken from his sister’s apartment while wearing boxer shorts in August and held in solitary confinement for 30 days after granting TV interviews without permission.

He called it “the worst time of my time in prison.”

But Barnstable County, Mass., Sheriff James Cummings says Hatch refused to get dressed when deputies arrived to take him to jail. The sheriff also disputes that Hatch was in solitary confinement.

Cummings calls Hatch “a stranger to the truth.” A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Providence, R.I., would not comment.

Hatch was convicted in 2006 of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won in 2000 on the CBS reality show.

Why?

Because a San Diego Scientology church supported Prop 8, the measure which took equal marriage away from gay and lesbian Californians. And because Haggis feels that the church leadership has lied.

The full letter, published by ex-Scientologist Marty Rathburn:

Tommy,

As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego. Their public sponsorship of Proposition 8, a hate-filled legislation that succeeded in taking away the civil rights of gay and lesbian citizens of California – rights that were granted them by the Supreme Court of our state – shames us.

I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.

In that first conversation, back at the end of October of last year, you told me you were horrified, that you would get to the bottom of it and “heads would roll.” You promised action. Ten months passed. No action was forthcoming. The best you offered was a weak and carefully worded press release, which praised the church’s human rights record and took no responsibility. Even that, you decided not to publish.

The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word.  Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.

I joined the Church of Scientology thirty-five years ago. During my twenties and early thirties I studied and received a great deal of counseling. While I have not been an active member for many years, I found much of what I learned to be very helpful, and I still apply it in my daily life. I have never pretended to be the best Scientologist, but I openly and vigorously defended the church whenever it was criticized, as I railed against the kind of intolerance that I believed was directed against it. I had my disagreements, but I dealt with them internally. I saw the organization – with all its warts, growing pains and problems – as an underdog. And I have always had a thing for underdogs.

But I reached a point several weeks ago where I no longer knew what to think. You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.

The fact that the Mormon Church drew all the fire, that no one noticed, doesn’t matter. I noticed. And I felt sick. I wondered how the church could, in good conscience, through the action of a few and then the inaction of its leadership, support a bill that strips a group of its civil rights.

This was my state of mind when I was online doing research and chanced upon an interview clip with you on CNN. The interview lasted maybe ten minutes – it was just you and the newscaster. And in it I saw you deny the church’s policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there was no such policy, that it did not exist.

I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.

You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church. This is a lovely retired couple, never said a negative word about Scientology to me or anyone else I know – hardly raving maniacs or enemies of the church. In fact it was they who introduced my wife to Scientology.

Although it caused her terrible personal pain, my wife broke off all contact with them. I refused to do so. I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.

For a year and a half, despite her protestations, my wife did not speak to her parents and they had limited access to their grandchild. It was a terrible time.

That’s not ancient history, Tommy. It was a year ago.

And you could laugh at the question as if it was a joke? You could publicly state that it doesn’t exist?

To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?

And that is when I read the recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times.  They left me dumbstruck and horrified.

These were not the claims made by “outsiders” looking to dig up dirt against us. These accusations were made by top international executives who had devoted most of their lives to the church. Say what you will about them now, these were staunch defenders of the church, including Mike Rinder, the church’s official spokesman for 20 years!

Tommy, if only a fraction of these accusations are true, we are talking about serious, indefensible human and civil rights violations. It is still hard for me to believe.  But given how many former top-level executives have said these things are true, it is hard to believe it is all lies.

And when I pictured you assuring me that it is all lies, that this is nothing but an unfounded and vicious attack by a group of disgruntled employees, I am afraid that I saw the same face that looked in the camera and denied the policy of disconnection. I heard the same voice that professed outrage at our support of Proposition 8, who promised to correct it, and did nothing.

I carefully read all of your rebuttals, I watched every video where you presented the church’s position, I listened to all your arguments – ever word. I wish I could tell you that they rang true. But they didn’t.

I was left feeling outraged, and frankly, more than a little stupid.

And though it may seem small by comparison, I was truly disturbed to see you provide private details from confessionals to the press in an attempt to embarrass and discredit the executives who spoke out. A priest would go to jail before revealing secrets from the confessional, no matter what the cost to himself or his church. That’s the kind of integrity I thought we had, but obviously the standard in this church is far lower – the public relations representative can reveal secrets to the press if the management feels justified. You even felt free to publish secrets from the confessional in Freedom Magazine – you just stopped short of labeling them as such, probably because you knew Scientologists would be horrified, knowing you so easily broke a sacred vow of trust with your parishioners.

How dare you use private information in order to label someone an “adulteress?” You took Amy Scobee’s most intimate admissions about her sexual life and passed them onto the press and then smeared them all over the pages your newsletter! I do not know the woman, but no matter what she said or did, this is the woman who joined the Sea Org at 16! She ran the entire celebrity center network, and was a loyal senior executive of the church for what, 20 years? You want to rebut her accusations, do it, and do it in the strongest terms possible – but that kind of character assassination is unconscionable.

So, I am now painfully aware that you might see this an attack and just as easily use things I have confessed over the years to smear my name. Well, luckily I have never held myself up to be anyone’s role model.

The great majority of Scientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested in improving conditions on this planet and helping others. I have to believe that if they knew what I now know, they too would be horrified. But I know how easy it was for me to defend our organization and dismiss our critics, without ever truly looking at what was being said; I did it for thirty-five years. And so, after writing this letter, I am fully aware that some of my friends may choose to no longer associate with me, or in some cases work with me. I will always take their calls, as I always took yours. However, I have finally come to the conclusion that I can no longer be a part of this group. Frankly, I had to look no further than your refusal to denounce the church’s anti-gay stance, and the indefensible actions, and inactions, of those who condone this behavior within the organization. I am only ashamed that I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology.

Sincerely,

Paul Haggis

Ps. I’ve attached our email correspondence.  At some point it became evident that you did not value my concerns about the church’s tacit support of an amendment that violated the civil rights of so many of our citizens. Perhaps if you had done a little more research on me, the church’s senior management wouldn’t have dismissed those concerns quite so cavalierly. While I am no great believer in resumes and awards, this is what you would have discovered:

* Founder, Artists For Peace and Justice,
- sponsoring schools, an orphanage and a children’s hospital in the slums of Haiti
* Co-Founder, BrandAid Foundation and BrandAid Project
- marketing the work of artisans from the poorest countries in the world,
* Board Member, Office of The Americas
- supporting peace and justice initiatives around the world
* Board Member, Center For The Advancement of Non-Violence
* Member and active supporter, Amnesty International
* Member, President’s Council, Defenders of Wildlife
* Member and fundraiser, Environment California and CalPirg
* Member and Award Recipient, American Civil Liberties Union
* Member and supporter, Death Penalty Focus
* Member and supporter, Equality For All
* Fundraiser, NPH (Our Little Brothers) – for the children of the slums of Haiti
* Member, Citizens Commission on Human Rights
* Patron with Honors, IAS
And formerly:
* Trustee, Religious Freedom Trust
* Board Member and fundraiser, Hollywood Education and Literacy Project
* Board Member and fundraiser, For The Arts, For Every Child
– supporting art and music in public schools
* Board Member and fundraiser, The Christic Institute
- supporting Human Rights in Central America
* Founding Board Member, Earth Communication Office
* Working Board Member, Environmental Media Association
* Fundraiser, El Rescate – Human Rights for El Salvador
* Fundraiser, PAVA – Aid and Human Rights in Guatemala

Awards for outspoken support of Civil and Human Rights:

* Valentine Davies Award – Writers Guild of America
“for bringing honor and dignity to writers everywhere”
*Bill of Rights Award – American Civil Liberties Union
*Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award – Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
*Peace & Justice Award – Office of the Americas, presented by Daniel Ellsberg
*Signis Award, Venezia, World Catholic Association
*ALMA Award – National Council of Latino Civil Rights
*Ethel Levitt Award for Humanitarian Service – Levitt & Quinn
*Prism Award – Entertainment Industries Council
*Humanitas Prize (2) – Humanitas
*Legacy Award, for Artistic and Humanitarian Achievement
*Environmental Media Award – EMA
*EMA Green Seal Award – EMA
*Image Award – NAACP
*Creative Integrity Award – Multicultural Motion Picture Association
*EDGE Awards (2) – Entertainment Industries Council
*Artistic Freedom Award – City of West Hollywood
*Catholics in Media Award – Catholics in Media Associates

And many dozens of fundraisers and salons at our home on behalf of Human and Civil Rights, the Environment, the Peace Movement, Education, Justice and Equality.

On Friday, he completed a federal sentence for evading taxes on his winnings and faced a new challenge: landing a job in a down economy and paying off what may be hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes nine years after he became one of reality TV’s biggest villains.

Hatch was freed shortly before 6 a.m. Friday from Barnstable County jail in Bourne, Mass., sheriff spokesman Roy Lyons said. He was driven home by sheriff’s deputies to the apartment he shares with his sister in Newport, R.I., and arrived there around 7:30 a.m., Lyons said.

Hatch’s sister declined to comment Friday and instructed a reporter to leave the property.

During “Survivor’s” first season in 2000, Hatch became the man viewers loved to hate by masterfully forming alliances with his teammates, then gleefully pitting his allies against each other until he became the last contestant standing. After that, he built on his celebrity to land more gigs on TV and radio. David Letterman named him the “fat naked guy” because of his penchant for nudity.

But he never paid his taxes on his winnings and failed to pay taxes on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show as well as $28,000 in income from rental property. He was convicted and sent to prison in 2006, and the judge tacked on extra prison time to his sentence after finding he had lied on the stand, giving him a 51-month prison term.

On Friday, after serving more than three years of that sentence, he began a 3-year term of supervised release.

Hatch doesn’t have a job yet, but he will have to find one and will have to refile his 2000 and 2001 tax returns and pay all his back taxes, said Barry Weiner, chief U.S. probation officer for Rhode Island. He must also complete a mental health program.

According to court papers, Hatch is still working with the IRS to determine how much money he owes, although the judge found when he was sentenced that he owed more than $400,000 in back taxes, not including interest and penalties.

In court papers filed this month, Hatch complained of his worsening financial situation and said he has struggled to find employment. In July, he asked a court to allow him to travel to Samoa for a “Survivor” 10-year anniversary show. He said the pay he’d receive for the show would help him pay some back taxes.

“Especially in this depressed economy, finding a job can be difficult,” Hatch wrote at the time. His request was denied.

Hatch, who is gay, has asked the court unsuccessfully in the past to grant him permission to live in Argentina, where his husband is from. Prosecutors objected in part because of the amount of money he owes. Weiner said those on supervised release are typically only allowed to leave the country under special circumstances, but he wouldn’t speak specifically about Hatch’s case.

He also won’t be able to leave Rhode Island – a state with a 13 percent unemployment rate, one of the worst in the country – unless he gets special permission to do so. Weiner noted, though, that Hatch probably has a better chance of finding employment than many recently released prisoners.

Most of Hatch’s time in custody was spent in a federal prison camp in West Virginia, but he was released earlier this year to a halfway house and then to home confinement at his sister’s apartment. In August, he got into trouble with the Bureau of Prisons when he granted three TV interviews while on home confinement to NBC’s “Today” show,” local NBC affiliate WJAR-TV and the NBC-owned “Access Hollywood.”

The Bureau of Prisons said he was only authorized to give the “Today” interview and ordered him taken to jail for violating the rules. Hatch’s lawyer said they thought all three were allowed, and Hatch said he was being punished for comments he made during the interviews, when he criticized the judge and prosecutor in his case and said he was discriminated against because he is gay.

A federal judge last month found that Hatch broke the rules and allowed the Bureau of Prisons to add nine days to his time behind bars as punishment.

Birkhead took the stand in a preliminary hearing to determine whether two doctors and Smith’s lawyer-boyfriend should stand trial on charges of conspiracy to illegally provide her with controlled substances.

Birkhead told a Superior Court judge he saw bottles of Valium and other narcotics after moving in with Smith in 2004.

Birkhead testified that defendant Dr. Sandeep Kapoor was Smith’s regular physician at the time and identified Kapoor seated across the courtroom.

The testimony was the first to name Kapoor as one of Smith’s key doctors.

Prosecutor Rene Rose sought to show a video of Kapoor socializing with the former Playboy model at a gay pride parade and party. The video shows the doctor nuzzling and kissing Smith, Rose said.

However, Kapoor’s attorney Ellyn Garafalo objected that the video was irrelevant to the case.

Garafalo previously told The Associated Press Kapoor is openly gay and never had a sexual or social relationship with Smith.

Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry said he would review the video before deciding whether to allow it as evidence.

Kapoor, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Smith’s lawyer-boyfriend Howard K. Stern have all pleaded not guilty. They are not charged with Smith’s death in a Florida hotel in 2007, which was ruled an accidental overdose.

Birkhead fought Stern for custody of Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn. Stern lost that battle when Birkhead proved by DNA evidence that the little girl was his.

In his testimony, Birkhead described a whirlwind romance that began when he met Smith at a charity event before the Kentucky Derby in 2003. Birkhead said he became Smith’s personal photographer and moved into her home, sharing it with Stern.

Birkhead said he lived there until the fifth or sixth month of Smith’s pregnancy.