Z 104 - Tuesday, April 1

Tuesday, April 1

The Hot Rumor of the Day is throwing some of the executive producers from "American Idol" under the bus. Blake Lewis isn’t a big fan of fellow Season 6 contestant Sanjaya Malakar. During a recent interview with a radio station in Florida, they asked him how Sanjaya was, Blake responded, "I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to him. I was never a fan of Sanjaya's. I didn't think he should've been on the show at all. It's bad for television. It was terrible, terrible television." Blake also claimed that Sanjaya was actually cut at some point early on. But, according to Blake, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe stepped in and kept him in the competition. He doesn't go into specifics, but it seems odd. He insinuates that the producers wanted to keep him in the competition because his sister, Shyamali, made it through to Hollywood. And then he somehow stayed after she was cut.

Jessica Simpson is feeling "much better" after being hospitalized with a kidney infection. She was admitted to Cedars-SinaiMedicalCenter on Friday for a "minor kidney infection" and was released yesterday. Tony Romo wanted to be by her side but had prior commitments in Dallas. Jessica recently returned from Iraq, and is currently working on a country music album.

Back in January, we reported in a Hot Rumor of the Day that the New Kids on the Block would be reuniting. An announcement was supposed to be made in February, but nothing happened. Instead, Danny Wood denied the report on his blog. Now, we found out that all five original New Kids, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Walhberg, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood will appear, together, on the "Today" show this Friday. Technically, there's no word that they'll be performing, just that they'll be out in the "courtyard". They are reuniting in time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their album Hangin' Tough.

Once again, Rihanna and Chris Brown tried to rain on the romance rumor parade. Rihanna talked to People magazine saying, "We are best friends, honestly, like brother and sister. I won't say that we're just friends – me and Chris are really best, best friends. We both started our careers around the same time. He is one of the only people in the industry. I trust and hang out with all the time. If he was a boyfriend, I would say that." For his part, Chris Brown says, "They keep asking me, 'What's the deal?' I'm like, 'There's no deal. No deal'. We're just friends."