Viral Infection Stalls Jennifer Garner

WAYLAID: Jennifer Garner is “very sick” with a viral infection and “taking it day by day,” her publicist, Nicole King, tells USA Today, following a report that the Alias star, 32, had bowed out of all public appearances and promotion of her new movie, Elektra. It remains to be seen whether she will attend the movie’s Saturday premiere in Las Vegas, King said. The actress, who was photographed spending the holidays in West Virginia with her family and boyfriend Ben Affleck, was due to see a physician on Monday, said King, adding that there is no truth to the rumors that Garner is pregnant.

ORDERED: The case of Eminem vs. The Source magazine owners David Mays and Raymond "Benzino" Scott will proceed, Manhattan federal Judge Gerard Lynch decided Monday, the New York Post reports. The jurist said he will have to hear all the facts before ruling on whether the publication violated the copyrights of Eminem’s label, Shady Records, by publishing without permission controversial excerpts of two songs that the rapper, now 32, wrote as a teen. Eminem has since apologized for the lyrics, which contained racist remarks, but claims The Source broke the law by publishing them.

APPEARED: Richard Gere and two religious officials have recorded a public-service announcement for a pro-peace group in Jerusalem that hopes to motivate Palestinians to vote in next week’s presidential elections to replace the late Yasser Arafat, reports the Associated Press. “Hi, I’m Richard Gere and I’m speaking for the entire world. We’re with you during this election time. It’s really important: Get out and vote,” says the Chicago star, according to a transcript of the announcement obtained by the news service. Gere ends the 80-second spot produced by the pro-peace group, “One Voice,” with an appeal in Arabic: “Take part in the elections.” A spokeswoman for the actor, 55, had no immediate comment.

BLEEPED: The Federal Communications Commission has launched a preliminary investigation into a live show in which Motley Crue rocker Vince Neil delivered an expletive. “Happy f—ing New Year, Tommy!” Neil, 43, said to bandmate Tommy Lee during a live New Year’s Eve broadcast of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. The remark was carried to viewers on the East Coast but was edited out before the show was aired in the West, according to the Associated Press. A spokeswoman for the band tells the AP it was an off-the-cuff remark, not meant to test the FCC or broadcasting regulations.

REVIVED: Trolls are back, this time called Trollz, reports The New York Times, which says that the little big-haired dolls have been redesigned for modern times. “Instead of doing the post-Janet Jackson, Britney Spears thing, we went for Avril Lavigne, Hillary Duff, Jessica Simpson,” Esteven Ramos, a stylist who’s worked with Spears and Christina Aguilera, tells the paper. Ramos is helping to create Trollz for DIC Entertainment … which hopes to have the ugly-cute creatures on their own Web site in March – and in every American home by next Christmas.