Shouldn’t single actresses know by now that giant diamonds worn on a particular finger shouldn't be flaunted in public? Cameron Diaz was photographed sporting an ostentatious sparkler yesterday in Santa Monica, suspiciously displaying the gory piece on her engagement ring-reserved finger in a very blatant manner. But considering she’s just barely started dating former cokehead/Jennifer Aniston ex Paul Sculfor, and has been linked to half a dozen other canoodling partners in the past few months, we’re not jumping on the “Diaz Engaged!” bandwagon quite yet. The notoriously anti-paparazzi actress might have just wanted to fuck with her camera-flashing enemies. Still, whenever a star makes the decision to debut a big ol’ gem there, it’s proven tough to gage those inevitable engagement rumors’ validity. We looked back at celebrity diamond-spotting of the past, from the most firm denials that led to splashy weddings, to the sure things that turned out to be false alarms, after the jump.

Celebrities: they're in ads! That's because celebrities tend to sell stuff to people, according to the New York Times, which broke this story wide open with an epic piece in yesterday's paper. There are three clear points that you, the educated consumer, must understand: Companies are run by starry-eyed celebrity hound white guys who will pay any price to hang out with a cool rapper or have their umbrella endorsed by Rihanna; many celebrities are themselves sheep, convinced that their endorsement deal is a meaningful attempt by a corporation to plumb the depths of their soul (it's really not! surprisingly); and finally, all of this is the fault of dirty gossip websites just like this one!

• Russell Simmons lost $15,000 worth of jewelry last Saturday after an employee left a suitcase full of his bling in the hallway of a Bleecker Street apartment building for 30 minutes. The mogul's reps deny the jewels were even his—they say the stolen merch belonged to the employee—but either way, the NYPD is on the case. [Page Six]

Because the music industry is an even worse place to invest your money than the newspaper industry at the moment, everyone is looking for the next big thing. The closest they've come is "360 deals," where artists get a huge check in return for a big cut of all their different revenue streams. First, Madonna signed a contract like this with Live Nation for $120 million. Then Jay-Z signed a contract with Live Nation for $150 million. Live Nation wants to sign 15 more artists to contracts like this. Then everybody else in music can quietly retire. Hope you like the Jonas Brothers a lot!

And you thought Rachael Ray's greatest crime was inundating the airwaves with cheesy catchphrases and popularizing mediocre recipes. According to some conservative wackos, she might be a terrorist sympathizer, too: After the daytime star was spotted wearing a keffiyeh-style scarf in a recent Dunkin' Donuts ad, right-wing squawkers like Michelle Malkin immediately proposed a boycott of the chain, claiming the garb was "a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos." The coffee giant blamed the fashion faux pas on a stylist today and announced it was halting the campaign effective immediately. But Ray is hardly the first famous person to be seen wearing the trademark Arab garb. Keffiyehs have been worn by downtown hipsters and celebs for years now. And Malkin conveniently failed to point out that the trend seems to have caught on with some of George W. Bush's closest family members, too.

Last night was the social event of the year for the finance community: It was the annual gala of the Robin Hood Foundation, the poverty-battling non-profit backed by banking heavyweights. The usual suspects from the worlds of hedge funds and private equity were in attendance, as were a smattering of celebs too classy for the Sex and the City premiere, including Jay-Z, Conan O'Brien, Russell Simmons, Tom Brokaw, David Byrne, and Cindy Sherman. Performances by Shakira, Sheryl Crow, and John Legend had noted hoofers like Henry Kravis, Steve Cohen, and Art Samberg tapping their feet underneath their tables.

"Who's the gay rapper?" It's been a parlor game in hip hop for years. A short and incomplete list of some of the most common names tossed around: Kanye West, Puffy, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Common, and, of course, lisping, yoga-master rap mogul Russell Simmons. While there are plenty of rumors for each one, most of those guys are suspected, honestly, because of their fashion sense (except Lil Wayne, who kissed a guy). Or because somebody's homeboy's cousin knows this cat who Puffy tried to do a three-way with. Innuendo is king. But now a formerly closeted gay MTV music executive named Terrance Dean is about to release a book—which has been anticipated for more than a year—that he says will out the gay rappers once and for all. Don't be mad, y'all! This could be the chance of a lifetime for one lucky closeted homosexual.

• Paris Hilton was banned from at least one Hyatt, in Moscow, for scribbling her name on the wall in black marker. But it was for a very important picture of Paris looking hot (at left, via the Sun), so it was totally worth the $9,000 fine. [Sun]

Scandal alert: Barack Obama has been complicit with rappers since at least 2006! He has collaborated with their nefarious aims! It's all there in a sordid report from Human Events, which lays bare the undeniable ties between Obama and individuals who have released albums containing rap music at one time or another. He hasn't rebuked them or repudiated them or even renounced them! Not even "foul-mouthed rappers" like Will.I.Am! Not even when, throughout the rap industry, "folks talk so openly and regularly about b———, n——— and hoes"! Yo Evan Gahr of Human Events, can you please drop some knowledge on these muhfuckas?

Isn't it crazy that the BIGGEST MYSTERY OF OUR TIME—whether or not hip hop/ R&B royalty Jay-Z and Beyonce actually got married last week—hasn't been officially solved yet? On Friday you guys were sending us all those tips about the crowd around Jay-Z's building for a rumored wedding, but we still don't have confirmation! The onstage yammerings of Mary J. Blige about the "wedding" are just not as good as a publicist's statement. And today the Daily News shows Jay-Z with no wedding ring on! What are all those so-called journalists doing these days? Elsewhere, gossip types say Beyonce is pregnant already. That would mean they had sex! We demand the national media drop everything and confirm this story, even if it means drawing every last reporter out of Iraq and stationing them throughout the Marcy Projects. Priorities, people.

• An anonymous caller told George Clooney about his new girlfriend Sarah Larson, "Dump the bitch before you're sorry." Clooney got his off-duty-cop chauffeur to have the call traced, but it was made from a pre-paid cell phone and they can't figure out who bought the phone. Also, the Sun found a supposed ex-boyfriend of Larson who said Larson had "special love potions."

Sometimes a celebrity marriage rumor comes along that you simply can't ignore. Photo agencies bombard you with visual proof, New York State court legislation is involved, and the very fact that the starry couple in question seems destined to stay together begin to haunt you throughout the day until you just can't stay quiet anymore. Today's are-they-or-aren't-they couple, of course, is Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z. Rumors surfaced on Tuesday that the pair had filed for a marriage license upstate, and construction on the rapper's rooftop coupled with reports that floral arrangements and standard wedding gear chandeliers had been shipped to his penthouse are beginning to convince us that the longtime couple is finally tying the knot. We sort through all the fishy and not-so-fishy details after the jump, and leave it to you to tell us whether or not we should "bite the hook," as Bobby Brown would say.

Hey, so yes, you, you, and you, and also you, have noticed that there's a bunch of paparazzi and police and all that down on Hudson and Canal. That means Jay-Z and Beyonce are getting married right now! Or at least that's the rumor. Maybe he's just giving some sort of charity concert, did anybody even think of that? Well if you're down there, go sneak in for us and send a full report. [NY Mag, pic from Joe the tipster]

Shawn "Jay Z" Carter signing with LiveNation demonstrates that one of the most entrepreneurial artists of our generation has decided that the business of recording music is advertising. The No. 1 digital music retailer, iTunes, has understood this for some time — Apple sells iPods, and iTunes is a service to make it relatively cheap and easy to fill those iPods. Carter will be happy to make a little chump change from digital sales, but the MC knows the real money is in branded events and merchandise. What the labels call "piracy" is actually free distribution of promotional material, and such a model is not without precedent.

HP endorser turned Mac user Jay-Z is dumping his current label, Def Jam, where he held the title of president, for a $150 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation. The deal includes increased financing for non-music ventures, touring, and new albums. The massive falloff in record sales means the industry's top moneymakers, whose profits subsidize the discovery and marketing of new artists, are deserting the labels. And who can blame them? (Photo by ashbyyokosuka)

The Times reported that rapper Jay-Z is about to close a $150 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation, and said, in its headline, that the deal is a "New Model For Ailing Business." Really? Because the whole thing sounds awfully familiar.

• Probably trying to dispel rumors she's about to divorce Guy Ritchie, and also drum up more publicity for her new album, Madonna overshared about her sex life to magazine Elle, saying screwing Ritchie is "amazing," even though both husband and wife sleep with BlackBerrys under their pillows. Elle pics are here. (Photo: Vanity Fair via Daily Mail)

Yesterday, a man named Clive Campbell filed a wacky $5 billion lawsuit against rap star and partial New Jersey Nets owner Jay-Z, as well as others associated with the huge Atlantic Yards construction project in downtown Brooklyn (which includes a new stadium for the Nets). The charge was that because Barclay's bought naming rights to the stadium, and was possibly involved in the slave trade way back when, everyone involved was illegally profiting from slavery. So that will be dismissed quickly. More interesting: Clive Campbell is the real name of DJ Kool Herc, the old school master widely credited as the founder of hip hop. So outlets started reporting that Kool Herc was suing Jay-Z—intergenerational hip hop madness! But then it came out that this was a different Clive Campbell [Gothamist]. Too bad, cause that would have been crazy. Now Jay-Z can turn his attention to warding off this "Voodoo Priestest"!:

On a broad socioeconomic basis, it's unlucky to be born black in this country. Chances are you'll have worse schools, a poorer neighborhood, and face more discrimination than white people. But if you're one of the lucky few who can get a toehold in the corporate world while still keeping abreast of the latest "urban" trends, you can get white businessmen to pay you millions of dollars just for spitballing ideas off the top of your head about how to sell things to white teenagers. Steve Stoute is living that dream.