Madonna's people have confirmed that no, she's not going to perform "Girls Gone Wild" from her new album, which GGW-founder Joe Francis said ripped off his trademark. Madge is going to be performing "Give Me All Your Luvin,'" which already has its own music video featuring football players, letterman jackets and bored cheerleaders on the sidelines, M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj. more ›

"Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis is telling Madonna that she better not sing her new song "Girls Gone Wild" at the Superbowl this Sunday. Or else! more ›

Everyone's favorite pornographer, Joe Francis, is engaged in a court battle with The Wynn resort in Las Vegas over a disputed casino debt amounting to about $2 million. After being told by a Nevada Supreme Court judge that he has to pay it, Francis filed suit in an L.A. court yesterday claiming that he's being prosecuted maliciously. The Daily News reports that Francis incurred the debt in 2007. A Nevada Supreme Court has ordered him to pay it, and Francis' lawyer, David Houston, has said that he will ask the judge to reconsider. more ›

Everyone's favorite pornographer, Joe Francis, has been released on bail after turning himself in following charges of false imprisonment, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, and assault, reports L.A. Now. The charges relate to an incident that took place in Hollywood back in January. Francis allegedly met a group of three girls at the Supper Club, then tried to get one to go back to his house with him. more ›

Remember earlier this month when Gawker named Girls Gone Wild founder and USC alumnus Joe Francis as the Douchebag of the Decade? Francis apparently isn't denying his doucheyness, but he is seeving about these lines written in Gawker's post: "But this coked-out amoral direct-marketer (and a rapist!) is basically a zillionaire, various tax liens against him notwithstanding... Joe Francis! You have made the world a worse place! You have assaulted and raped!" more ›

A Gawker poll has named Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis as Douche of the Decade. He edged out Tucker Max and overwhelmingly beat everyone else, including American Apparel's Dov Charney. Francis, who completed a Business Administration degree and Entrepreneur Program at USC, has been a societal blight, from general douchecanoe-ness to underaged porn to tax evasion to asking the federal government to bailout the porn industry. But, really, you don't need to go beyond much other than his interview with Rolling Stone to understand why he earned this: "More than anything else, Girls Gone Wild started off as a product of my sexual fantasy... Girls look really good from age eighteen to twenty-five. It's just a fact that that's the best time for girls. Afterward, things start to happen — bad things." more ›

Not too long after a bench warrant was issued for Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis was he taken in by Federal Marshals this afternoon, five hours after he was supposed to arrive in court this morning. Francis, who was one-half of a team asking for Washington D.C. to bail out the porn industry last year, was due in court for tax evasion charges. He reportedly illegally deducted over $20 million from his companies. Francis told TMZ earlier today that he was sick and had a "note to prove it," but was going to head to court anyway. Looks like the feds were there to greet him. more ›

It's hard times for everyone these days, and that doesn't exclude those whose paychecks rely on people, well, getting hard. Thanks to the "limp" economy, porn pioneer Larry Flynt and his modern-era incarnate Joe Francis (of "Girls Gone Wild" fame), have teamed up to take on Congress in the hopes the Fed can act as a sort of Viagra. more ›

Most insane picture and story of the day: a cruise ship strikes submerged ice in the Antarctic and begins to sink, 154 passengers escape to safety. I guess the holidays just really stress some people out: "a 27-year-old man turned himself in to police early this morning after allegedly shooting his brother-in-law to death following a Thanksgiving celebration." Christ, did somebody burn the turkey? And the long lines waiting for Black Friday deals weren't... more ›

Red Hot Chili Who? The Good The Bad And The Wha? Clearly, the belle of this year’s 104 degree ball was Pittburgian genius, Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk. This master sampler/DJ/remixer melted faces on Saturday night with his awe-inspiring, intense nonsense -- super creations of musical hybrids -- a dozen songs spliced together to create something overwhelmingly familiar and entirely new. Energy, energy and more energy -- a giant screen flashed four frames reading... more ›

So, last night was USC's Fountain "Run", the ancient ritual signifying that finals are over and that seniors are officially done with school. I went into it thinking it'd be like UCLA's Undie Run, which from the looks of LAist's crack coverage several weeks ago, ranks up there on the debauch-o-meter with a transatlantic flight on Joe Francis' private jet. But this is USC. Things here are a bit tamer, right? Right? Despite the... more ›

Jack Valenti dies. Does this mean the end of those annoying 'downloading movies is like stealing your grandmother's purse' previews before every dvd ever made? - Bloomberg Eve crashes her gold Maserati on Hollywood Blvd. - TMZ Sexual battery charge filed in Los Angeles against ’Girls Gone Wild’ founder Joe Francis. Look out for 'Some Dude Goes Wild on Joe Francis' on dvd, real soon. - Boston Herald Dad who was released from prison... more ›

"You're trying to sell a historical period drama to a country like America, you don't want a big, fat, 250 pounds, red haired guy with a beard. It doesn't let people embrace the fantastic monarch he was, because they're not attracted to the package. Heroes do not look like Henry VIII. That is just the world we live in."
--WENN/IMDB

- Mayor and Police Chief booed this morning at a multi-million dollar groundbreaking - Daily News - Girls Gone Wild's Joe Francis gets 200 hours of community service over 2 years and must pay a half million in fines for creative bookkeeping and quasi kiddie porn since he admitted to filming underage girls getting naked. So LAist asks, does this make him a Sex Offender? - LAT - Paris Hilton pleads no contest on... more ›

Santa Monica's Mantra Films Inc., the company behind the controversial "Girls Gone Wild" video series, was busted for filming underage girls whom they'd coerce to flash or strip during Spring Break in Panama City Beach. more ›

that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. more ›