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"Across The Pond isn&amp;#039;t going to lie to you - it&amp;#039;s been a mixed week. For every hurrah at the announcement that the dodgy Defense of Marriage Act is out the door, there&amp;#039;s been a boo at allegations of racism. Still, there&amp;#039;s a new boyband war, so everything is going to be alright! Read on to find out what&amp;#039;s been going on in the grand old US of A this week... Aaron Carter is attacked by New Kids on the Block fans in weediest fight ever  Now, don&amp;#039;t get us wrong. Here at Across The Pond, we have no shame in admitting that we love a bit of boyband brilliance every now and then. Who doesn&amp;#039;t stick on a bit of Boyz II Men while kicking back for a relaxing bath? But we&amp;#039;re never going to pretend that boyband members or teenybop idols are the hardest of men, so imagine our surprise when we discovered that pop music is actually a terrifying world of turf wars and undefined &amp;#039;respect&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;disrespect&amp;#039;. We never thought this day would come. Reader, it has. Let us turn to Aaron Carter - the Carter that wasn&amp;#039;t in the Backstreet Boys, i.e. the &amp;#039;slightly worse Carter&amp;#039; - for some brave reporting from the ground. It turns out that Aaron was just minding his own business when he was set upon - nay, savaged - by a beastly group of New Kids on the Block fans for &amp;#039;invading their territory&amp;#039; (how dare he be in town when the Children of the Block are performing?) Across The Pond would like to believe that this fight went down much in the manner of West Side Story - God knows the choreography and finger-clicking would be on point - but unfortunately we feel this matter may have been settled with the use of fists, something Across The Pond obviously cannot condone.  Aaron bravely related this story to us, all the while trying to keep us from swooning over his many wounds by suggesting that the other side came off worse (&amp;quot;I think my knuckles might be broken, but that&amp;#039;s what they get&amp;quot;), in what is surely his first step to a Pulitzer Prize. And in his search for the truth, Aaron even wisely decided not to file a police report, which would be far too &amp;quot;girlie&amp;quot; (his actual words). Sadly, his brother Nick&amp;#039;s only gone and cast doubt on the whole altercation. Look, Nick, the Backstreet Boys are back, now. You&amp;#039;ll get your turn. For now, let us comfort Aaron after this hideous and ominous encounter. So long, DOMA. Don&amp;#039;t let the door hit you on the way out  There was genuine joy here at Across The Pond when it emerged this week that the Supreme Court over in the USA has ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional - in other words, they think that same-sex couples should be able to legally wed. Now, we don&amp;#039;t like to remain uncynical for long, but we did still have time to grin at the fact that Veronica Mars star and Gossip Girl voice Kristen Bell proposed to her baby daddy Dax Shepard, given that the pair had previously refused to marry until their gay friends could do the same. We hate to go all &amp;#039;teenage girl&amp;#039; but we couldn&amp;#039;t help but draw several rather large love hearts on our notebooks at this point. In fact, all of Hollywood seemed to embrace the news and a current of warmth and well-wishes spread the country. It was almost a little bit strange. Oh, and it came just after a woman called Wendy had filibustered a gang of Texas politicians for eleven hours without stopping to prevent them from passing new abortion laws. The Texans didn&amp;#039;t really like this so they voted anyway, even though it was 12.04am the next day and not 11.59pm like they claimed. Luckily, someone pointed out to them that this is real life and not Back to the Future and Wendy got her way. So go Wendy. And go Edith Windsor, the 83-year-old woman who challenged DOMA in the first place. Now if you could excuse Across The Pond for a moment, we think we have a touch of hay fever. Paula Deen&amp;#039;s racism allegations just won&amp;#039;t go away  Oh, wait, this oughta cure it. We mentioned Paula Deen in passing last week, but the celebrity chef has really been on a downward spiral in the last seven days following the news that she previously used the N-word and allegedly referred to black waiters as &amp;#039;slaves&amp;#039; at a Civil War-themed event. Weirdly, America didn&amp;#039;t seem to like this much and it&amp;#039;s been an expensive slur for Deen, given that she&amp;#039;s now lost her job on the Food Network and her endorsements with Walmart and Target, among all sorts of other embarrassments. It&amp;#039;s certainly sparked something of a racism debate, with everyone from Reverend Al Sharpton to Ciara weighing in, while Deen went on Today to insist she&amp;#039;s really not racist, honest (her appearance received a &amp;#039;mixed&amp;#039; response). But if that&amp;#039;s not quite enough of a racism storm for you, Kate Gosselin - former reality star and mother of eight - helped out when an old photo emerged which showed her &amp;#039;slanting her eyes&amp;#039;. Now Kate&amp;#039;s ex-husband is second-generation Korean, and she&amp;#039;s also insisted that she isn&amp;#039;t racist and said it was a &amp;quot;happy memory&amp;quot; with him (yeah, the use of the term &amp;quot;happy memory&amp;quot; probably doesn&amp;#039;t help her case - neither does the fact that when a fan sent her an &amp;#039;Asian wig&amp;#039; she &amp;quot;naturally&amp;quot; slanted her eyes). Oh dear. Jim Carrey doesn&amp;#039;t want you to watch his movie  Jim Carrey might have made some horrific movies in his time - too many to mention, to be fair - but there&amp;#039;s one that he&amp;#039;s really ashamed of, and it happens to be Kick-Ass 2. Now you might find this strange, considering the fact that the first Kick-Ass was kind of loved, but it turns out that what Jim is really upset about is the level of violence involved in the sequel (you&amp;#039;d think he might have had a clue from edition one, but apparently not). Actually, Jim tweeted that he&amp;#039;s had a change of heart since the tragic Sandy Hook shootings (those of you claiming that he just wanted to dodge the dreaded publicity tour, be ashamed of yourselves). The only thing is that fans then started suggesting that Jim should donate his fee if he feels that strongly, and it all got a bit awkward.  We&amp;#039;re not really sure what to make of all this to be honest - though a Universal Pictures boss cheerily admitting that the movie is &amp;quot;often offensive&amp;quot; probably wasn&amp;#039;t as helpful as he thought. If Jim is suggesting there&amp;#039;s a link between movies and violence, then that&amp;#039;s a pretty bold statement (and you can find out what other Hollywood types think about it all here). Personally, Across The Pond is inclined to believe the link is muddy at best, given that it watched Silence of the Lambs at a sleepover when it was 12 and still hasn&amp;#039;t skinned or eaten any people. Bieber World continues to get more and more strange  One week, we would love to go a whole blog without mentioning Justin Bieber, but unfortunately he is just too rich with material. In the past seven days alone, he has reportedly got a new girlfriend who happens to be married; been sued for assault and battery by a photographer; injured his neck by tumbling down some stairs; received an endorsement from P Diddy, received a slating from Johnny Depp; and grounded a plane to look for his monkey (YES - Bieber&amp;#039;s monkey is back). When even Simon Cowell is suggesting that it might be time for you to &amp;#039;take a little break&amp;#039;, you know that you might have a serious problem. Bieber, however, has a calling to provide teenage girls with blandly inoffensive &amp;#039;beats&amp;#039;, and this is the price he must pay. But hey, his manager Scooter Braun - who also happens to mentor &amp;#039;lad band&amp;#039; irritants The Wanted - has a plan, and that plan is to create a new talent show. Y&amp;#039;know, he&amp;#039;s kept Bieber on track, so fame-hungry television wannabes will be putty in his hands, right? Love Lives     One Direction star Zayn Malik gets a huge tattoo of girlfriend Perrie Edwards&amp;#039;s face on his bicep. A wise decision, given that no-one has ever regretted a tattoo, especially not one of a girlfriend from your youthful years. And we all know that Zayn has always remained 100% faithful to Perrie (...oh).  Katy Perry is spotted out on a date with John Mayer. Seriously, if this whole &amp;#039;love triangle&amp;#039; with Robert Pattinson continues for much longer, it might reach Miley-Liam levels of tedium.  Real Housewives and Glee star NeNe Leakes remarries her ex-husband Gregg. Her upcoming wedding special might have the best name ever: I Dream of NeNe. Nice.  Full House star Jodie Sweetin splits from her hubby after 15 months.  Adam Driver off of Girls tied the knot with Joanne Tucker, which moved us far more than we expected.  Girls of the Playboy Mansion star Holly Madison is engaged - nope, not to Hef.  Josh Hutcherson is dating his Paradise Lost co-star Claudia Traisac. I wonder how she felt when he said he got &amp;quot;stirrings&amp;quot; from smooching Jennifer Lawrence on The Hunger Games. It was certainly something we didn&amp;#039;t want to hear.  The Following&amp;#039;s Natalie Zea is engaged after dating her fianc\u00C3\u00A9 for ten years. &amp;quot;He wanted to make sure he gave the car a thorough test drive before he bought it,&amp;quot; she said. So romantic.  LA Ink&amp;#039;s Kat Von D has ended her engagement to Deadmau5, claiming he cheated on her (he&amp;#039;s denied it). But as if a relationship between a Kat and a Mau5 was ever going to work anyway.  Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale is dating Revolution&amp;#039;s Graham Rogers - and dropped in a bit of shade by saying she&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;past the bad boy stage&amp;quot;. Look away now, Chris Zylka.  Kim Kardashian&amp;#039;s step-brother Brody Jenner is dating model Bryana Holly.  Courteney Cox is keeping it in the Cougar Town family - she&amp;#039;s confusingly dating her on-screen ex-husband Brian Van Holt.  Selma Blair has denied that she is engaged, explaining that the ring on her engagement ring finger is just a ring and not an engagement ring. I think celebrities do this to us on purpose.  Katie Holmes is reportedly planning a divorce anniversary party. Wait, we have to buy gifts for divorce anniversaries now?  Ryan Seacrest is apparently moving on from Julianne Hough with Sports Illustrated model Dominique Piek.  Also in the news...     Jared Leto dresses up in drag for Candy magazine; looks astonishingly like Zooey Deschanel.  Forbes unveils its annual star power lists. The highest-rated actress is Angelina Jolie. At number FORTY-NINE.  The Bachelorette reduces its viewership to giggles by introducing &amp;quot;hot tugs&amp;quot; - which just turn out to be hot tub boats. Go cleanse your dirty minds.  Kimye release fake photos of North West to test which of their friends are loyal. Sneaky (brilliant). Hopefully Jay-Z&amp;#039;s seen a real one given that he kind of told reporters he had. Oh, and Jay-Z&amp;#039;s totally on board with the name, too, as long as a &amp;quot;thumbs up&amp;quot; to reporters counts as totally on board.  Demi Lovato&amp;#039;s father sadly passes away, and she pulls out of X Factor USA filming. Demi&amp;#039;s also set up a scholarship program in her dad&amp;#039;s memory.  Gossip Girl star Kelly Rutherford has filed for bankruptcy after an intense custody battle.  The Wanted say they had to cut sex scenes from their E! reality show. Across The Pond is devastated.  Speaking of sex scenes, Kanye reveals that he almost released his own sex tape because it &amp;quot;could only have helped him&amp;quot;. Is there a world record for lack of modesty, anyone?  Mischa Barton is annoyed that her DUI is mentioned in The Bling Ring. Yeah, well, Mischa, we&amp;#039;re still annoyed about Marissa Cooper in so many ways, so let&amp;#039;s call it quits.  Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher are told to lose weight for Star Wars. This is mainly annoying us because we thought about making a gravity joke and then remembered physics classes and the difference between mass and weight and got muddled. And also because it is insane.  MTV is to air an alternate ending to The Hills. The only way this will be exciting if it&amp;#039;s actually real.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a494180/across-the-pond-five-biggest-us-showbiz-stories-of-the-week/>