Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Now it's Comedy Central's "It" Bad Boy comic, Carlos Mencia, leaping into the Don Imus media firestorm. He tells this column that he's taping a bit in response this week that will soon find its way onto his show. It certainly won't calm anyone down.

"We're going to address it in a way that I don't know any minority would. What it boils down to is this: If a black man or black woman had said those comments, it wouldn't be an issue. Why is that? Is that fair? Is that equal?" he asks, referring to Imus' firing in the wake of complaints over his insulting reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team. "I feel like as a responsible American, I should point out that I think that's hypocritical and that's b———t … When rappers do all this stuff it's OK. When Mencia does it, it's OK. When Chappelle and Chris Rock do it, it's OK because that's different. That's b———t!"

Mencia, who actually has taken his own critical hits for the way he throws racially charged verbiage around, makes it clear, "For me, it's pretty basic. I'm saying a) I want to preserve my right to say what I want to say, and b) as long as your intent is to be funny and to be good, if you're not a racist at heart, I don't care. And if you are a racist at heart, you'll get yours. But when somebody attempting to be funny gets in trouble like that, and we all know the hypocrisy in it, that's not cool at all. That's just us flexing our societal muscle. To be quite honest, I think it's even worse than when white people displayed racism back in the day because that came from true ignorance."

Mencia acknowledges, "I know that I'm going to get in trouble with my community for this. I know some people are going to be like, 'You're a sellout,' and all this stuff. But, you know what? If we keep doing this to white people, inevitably one day the white community is going to get pissed off and tell us we can't do white jokes, and I rue that day. Don't tell me what I can or can't talk about."

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC: Gerald McRaney and Delta Burke celebrated the recent 20th anniversary of the day they met with a renewal of vows ceremony and party the "Jericho" star tells us was "absolutely like a fairy tale."

He notes that his wife planned the event, attended by some 40 family members and friends.

It took place at a rented house at water's edge on the Gulf of Mexico, Sanibel Island, off Ft. Myers, Fla. "She had a 90-ft. blue runner that went down the beach — the whole theme was blue to go with the ocean — white chairs for the guests, a wrought iron archway done with a tulle material and seashells. We wrote vows for each other. She had a 25-30-foot-long dinner table, maybe even longer, covered in white linen with beautiful china and silverware and 70 candles, and decorated with painted driftwood, lights and little shells. People sat down to a seven-course meal under a tent, but the tent was clear so you could see the palms, the moon, the clouds and stars. The dance floor was surrounded by strings of lights in real seashells. It was magic."

McRaney says that although some folks turned out for a look, they kept a respectful distance. "There is an old Florida feeling there, and the people couldn't be nicer."

GIRLS OF FUTURE PAST: Preproduction is underway on the August-debuting "Flash Gordon" series for the Sci Fi Channel (Peter Hume of "Charmed" and Robert Halmi Sr. and Jr. executive produce), with a 22-episode commitment in place and actor Eric Johnson (Whitney Fordman in "Smallville") set to star. Now they're interviewing actresses to play Flash's leading lady, Dale Arden — a TV reporter with a Yale education and small-town spirit. Vancouver is standing in for outer space, and a Canadian actress is wanted for the role.

With the big-screen "Speed Racer," starring Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci revving up for a June production start in Berlin, casting forces on the feature have been on the lookout for a child actress to play the young Trixie, Christina's character. Producer Joel Silver has made it clear that the adaptation of the popular 1960s Japanese anime series will be a big, G-rated family film. It's being directed by brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski of "The Matrix" blockbuster movie fame.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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