In case you missed it over the Christmas weekend, the NBA returned to action after a bit of a delayed start to the season.

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Still reading? Good.

The best part of this news, from the standpoint of those of us who like to gawk at celebrities, is that the Los Angeles Lakers were playing. The Staples Center is the premiere spot for courtside celeb viewing, and Sunday was no exception. But forget Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon.

The highlight for us was rappers Lil Wayne and Kanye West, right, exchanging a shake and a hug. Wayne's camo shorts defied gravity in their ability to stay above his knees despite riding way below his waist. Perhaps even more baffling was the addition of snowboard boots, below, to the ensemble. Gotta love L.A.

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All of this makes for a good reason to watch this classic "Pants on the Ground" clip from "American Idol" (sorry, you'll have to go find the Brett Favre version on your own). Take it away, General:

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Zombies! And Kanye! The rapper in a frame from his new video, "Monster."

Kanye West's controversial video for "Monster," off his album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," has finally been released. Why is it controversial, you ask? Because it features some disturbing imagery (corpse-like women, dismemberment, to name just a couple things). You can judge for yourself by visiting Rolling Stone to view the video.

The final version does come with West's disclaimer: "The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any groups of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such."

"Monster" drops on the heels of another recent music video controversy. Rihanna last week was forced to defend her video for "Man Down," which portrays the singer's violent interpretation of taking revenge for sexual assault. Rihanna later called her video "art with a message," and told BET, "We just wanted to hone in on a very serious matter that people are afraid to address, especially if you've been victimized in this scenario," Rihanna said.

Related content:

• Kanye West slideshow
• Rihanna slideshow

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Halle Berry.

• Halle Berry breaks her silence on custody issues involving Nahla, her daughter with ex Gabriel Aubry. "Our issues were never about fighting for her," she told Extra.

• Ben Affleck has pulled out of Baz Luhrmann's big screen, 3-D rendering of "The Great Gatsby" due to a scheduling conflict.

• Are things getting serious between Cameron Diaz and Alex Rodriguez? The slugger met her parents, according to Life & Style's Scene Queens.

• Just 12 days after the death of his father, actor Tim Robbins has lost his mother. Mary and Gil Robbins were married for 59 years.

• The charity named for Kanye West closed "mysteriously," the New York Times writes.

Katy Perry and Kanye West collaborated on "E.T." and the video for the song debuted online ahead of its MTV premiere Thursday night.

What do you think? Does the futuristic thing work for Perry? We're definitely not in California anymore ...

Related content:

• Katy Perry slideshow
• Kanye West slideshow
• Katy Perry's low tops raise mom's eyebrows

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Kanye West managed to behave himself on Twitter last night, writing "Damn ... I can't find the words to explain how I feel about the best new artist award ... Don't wanna say the wrong thing," after Esperanza Spalding's surprising win. But at New York's Fashion Week, he's requiring a little more help when it comes to staying in line. 

During a stop outside the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge on Sunday, Kanye "was in a mad dash to get out, but stopped in his tracks, removed his glasses, and gave a once-over to the girls at the door -- a brunette, a blond and a redhead," according to an eyewitness." Before he had any time to chat them up, "his handlers ushered him out. It seemed like this is something they're very good at doing."

Other celebs who stopped by the Mercedes Lounge on Sunday: Kellan Lutz, Fergie -- who later sat in the front row at the Diane Von Furstenberg show -- and Molly Sims.

Related content:

• Slideshow: Stars come out for Fashion Week

Christmas came early this year in the form of a newly leaked Christmas song from Kanye West. No dark or twisted anything here in "Christmas in Harlem," a tune that is, dare I say, a little jolly! And catchy. And features A FIRST-PERSON RAP FROM SANTA ("I'll be there soon on my sleigh, me and Rudolph / thugs think I’m a blood 'cause I won’t take this red suit off / I swear I got the freshest wardrobe / I let my beard grow cause it's cold in the North Pole"). What's not to love?

Collaborator CyHI tweeted that what leaked is an unfinished version and "the real one is coming!” Kanye tweeted that “Christmas in Harlem” will eventually feature additional vocals from Cam’Ron, Jim Jones, Pusha T, Big Sean and Musiq. In the meantime, take a listen below.

Kanye West has canceled his TODAY concert that was scheduled to take place Nov. 26.

The hip-hop star announced the news in a tweet posted Friday morning. "I'm not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons," he wrote.

On Thursday, TODAY aired an interview with West that focused on his comments about former President George W. Bush's reaction after Hurricane Katrina.

West took offense to how the interview was handled. TODAY maintains he was treated no differently than any other guest.

Related post: West responds to Bush; angry tweets explained

Kanye West appeared on TODAY Thursday in a prerecorded interview in which he responded to President George W. Bush’s reaction to the rapper's allegation that Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina indicated that Bush “didn’t care about black people.” In his book “Decision Points,” Bush called that moment “one of the most disgusting moments” of his presidency.

“As far as it being the worst moment of his presidency, you know, I can't ... really speak to that ... his take, his explanation, I completely agree with. And I -- I empathize. It's totally -- and I felt like that the entire time,” West told Matt Lauer in the interview. Continuing, West said that he knew it wasn’t right to call Bush a racist. “And you sit there and you know -- you know in your heart as a person that to -- an emotion -- you  know, in a moment of emotion to peg someone or to call a name or peg someone as a racist is not -- it’s -- it’s just not right.”

Amid that confession another controversy stirred, this time in a series of tweets  from West, written after he taped the talk with Lauer Tuesday, alleging that he was put in an uncomfortable situation in the course of his TODAY interview. What really happened?

As explained Thursday morning on TODAY, while West was speaking to Lauer on Tuesday, explaining at one point that he empathized with the president in the wake of his own Taylor Swift controversy, tape of West’s MTV VMA appearance rolled in the background.

West: Yo, how am I supposed to talk if you're gonna run this thing in the middle of my talking?

Lauer: It's under, you won't be hearing it.

West: I am hearing it while I am trying to talk.

Lauer: OK, can you take the sound out of the overheads please, let's pick up. You said it wasn't a race thing?

West: Please don't let that happen again.

West will appear on TODAY for a live performance on the Plaza on Friday, Nov. 26.

Related: theGrio: Are Kanye's meltdowns overshadowing his music?