Like, for example, Jennifer Lopez and sex.
Following a spate of rumors that Death Row Records planned to sell an unauthorized sex video starring Jennifer Lopez, the notorious rap label came clean Friday when the actress filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against the company.
The legal battle came just as Death Row Records confirmed that Suge Knight Films planned to release a video this summer, salaciously titled J.Lo Uncut: Tha Real Story. A spokesman for the label remained mum on the video's contents, but the title alone seemed to heighten speculation that Knight--as one tabloid reported this week--purchased a naughty home video from one of Lopez's former boyfriends.
"It should be out by mid-summer, but I don't know the content of the tape," a Death Row spokesman said.
That was enough to put J.Lo's lawyers on the attack. The singer-actress, who claimed to have no prior knowledge of the video (if it actually existed), asked the court to prevent Knight and Death Row from using her "name, voice, photograph or likeness in any manner."
But almost immediately after filing suit, Death Row backed down, and its lawyer wrote a letter to Lopez's camp clearing things up:
"My client is currently producing a videotape entitled J.Lo Uncut: Tha Real Story," writes Death Row attorney Jeffrey Lowy. But he added that Knight "does not possess a so-called 'sex tape' involving Ms. Lopez and an ex-boyfriend."
Sorry, guys. You'll just have to stick with Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.
"There's no sex video, there never has been," Lopez's publicist, Alan Nierob, tells E! Online. "We've said all along that we highly doubted it. If it were the case, it would've been non-consensual, without her knowledge and a complete invasion of privacy."
Nierob said his 30-year-old client had no choice but to take legal action. "We called them and we couldn't get an answer, so you've got to protect your client," he added. "She doesn't know of any tape that exists, but what if there was a tape done without her knowledge?"
The gossip tornado first began swirling Wednesday, when the Star supermarket tabloid published a story quoting an unnamed Suge Knight Films exec, who claimed "There is such a video, and it is definitely Jennifer Lopez. No doubt. You can see the big butt and everything."
The Star's source claimed the tape featured Lopez making love to a "long-time-ago" boyfriend who set up a candid camcorder during an encounter in the early 1990s. The ex-boyfriend was said to have sold the video to Knight, who planned to sell it on the Internet this summer.
Knight is currently in Sacramento County Jail, awaiting transfer to a federal facility after completing a five-year stint in state prison for an assault-related probation violation. The 310-pound rap impresario has long been a fierce rival of Lopez's ex-boyfriend, Sean "Puffy" Combs.
In addition to quashing the sex-video rumors Friday, Death Row lawyer Jeffrey Lowy insisted that his client did not leak the original story to Star magazine.
Nierob said that, because of Death Row's admission, Lopez's lawsuit will be dropped. "It's sort of a moot point because if there's is no tape, and they've gone on the record, it doesn't go further," he said.
Either way, Death Row has developed quite a reputation for scoring invaluable publicity at the expense of its rivals. Last December, the label took a jab at one of its former stars, Snoop Dogg, by posting the "Snoop Dogg Challenge" on its Website. The site featured links to songs from Snoop's new album for Master P's No Limit label, That Last Meal, and then encouraged listeners to compare it to Death Row's own Snoop rarities release, Dead Man Walkin'.
When asked Friday whether the J.Lo video was simply a PR stunt, Death Row spokesman Jonathan Wolfson replied, "You make what you want out of that," and then added, "It's never a dull moment on the Row."