The Word

GOSSIP. When we first opened our inbox yesterday and saw that Jessica Simpson was appearing on the cover of the magazine “Dear Doctor,” we thought: “Poor girl. Look how far she’s fallen. From the cover of fashion magazines the world over to something read in podiatrist waiting rooms the world over.” But when we read further, we saw that it was for a good cause. Simpson was talking with the mag about her work with Operation Smile, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to treating children around the world with facial deformities. Which is really nice and sincere and amazing and made us feel awful for trying to be snarky about poor Jessica and how she should also start working on “Operation Getting John Mayer Back from Jennifer Aniston with Apologies to Tony Romo.” But we won’t. Damn you, Simpson! You win — this time.

‘Lost’ in clarification
Harold Perrineau, who plays Michael Dawson on “Lost,” might be seen as bitter with the ending of Season 4 (hint: his character dies). This might have something to do with the fact that he told TV Guide that he found the ending “not cool,” and thought the death had racial implications, saying that “Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype.” Of course, because “Lost” fans have nothing better to do than talk about the show ad nauseam, a bad publicity storm started. So yesterday, Perrineau clarified his statements to Entertainment Weekly, saying, “Michael’s a black character and I’m a black person ... I can’t really separate those two things ... I accept that this is what [the producers] need to happen for something else to happen later.” Um. Yeah. We still think he’s bitter.