[A.j. Hammer, Co-host:] Now, on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, slamming Sarah Palin. Tonight, Ashley Judd declares all-out war on Sarah Palin. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with Ashley`s dramatic video.
[Ashley Judd, Actress:] It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.
[Hammer:] Judd`s dramatic demands and Palin`s fired-up response. Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with Ashley Judd taking aim at Sarah Palin. The Etta James-Beyonce-President Obama smackdown. Tonight, why one of the most beloved singers of all time is bashing Beyonce
[Etta James, Singer:] She`s going to get her ass whipped.
[Hammer:] And even goes after Barack Obama.
[James:] He isn`t my president. He might be yours.
[Hammer:] Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with Etta James` remarkable attacks caught on tape. Plus, brand-new developments in the Michael Phelps pot scandal. Is Phelps pulling out of the next Olympics? TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now. Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer, broadcasting tonight and every night from New York City.
[Brooke Anderson, Co-host:] Hi there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson coming to you from Hollywood. And tonight, the number of brand-new celebrity feuds is absolutely astounding.
[Hammer:] It is sure is, Brooke. And we begin with the wildest one of them all over the killing of animals in the wild. Tonight, the slamming of Sarah Palin by one of Hollywood`s hottest stars, Ashley Judd who is hot under the collar and using a must-see video to make her point. So let`s see here. We`ve got a Hollywood star, Sarah Palin, Palin- bashing, and the killing of defenseless animals, which why is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you there is no doubt this is making big news right now.
[Daphne Brogdon, Tv Host And Comedian:] It`s the battle of the babes because Ashley Judd and Sarah Palin are duking it out over who should save the animals in Alaska.
[Hammer:] That`s right, they`re duking it out over wolves?
[Judd:] When Sarah Palin came on the national scene last summer, few knew that she promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves.
[Hammer:] Ashley Judd has teamed up with eco-group Defenders of Wildlife to lead a campaign against Palin and Alaska. Judd`s got a beef with Palin`s endorsement of a plan to hunt wolves and bears from airplanes. Judd`s so mad she made this.
[Judd:] It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery.
[Brogdon:] She wants to go after Sarah Palin because, you know, who the heck else do we know who`s up in Alaska?
[Hammer:] But Palin says, "Back off, Judd." She calls Defenders of Wildlife an extreme fringe group saying, quote, It is reprehensible and hypocritical that the Defenders of Wildlife would use Alaska and my administration as a fundraising tool to deceive Americans into parting with their hard-earned money. Shame on Defenders of Wildlife for twisting the truth." Palin says they`re distorting the facts and that Alaska needs to control the population of wolves and bears so there are enough moose and caribou for hunters.
[Brogdon:] On the one hand OK. Sarah Palin`s got a point the flat-out actress lady. But at the same time, I think Sarah Palin`s credibility is so weak right now.
[Hammer:] But why target Palin with this video?
[Brogdon:] She`s really put herself out there in the forefront of being, you know, Caribou Barbie. And so if they`re going to go after somebody, you know, that`s who they`re going to go after. So there`s no way she`s going to put up with anybody like Ashley Judd or anybody else getting in the way between her and her moose.
[Gov. Sarah Palin:] I know you guys love your good moose-hunting also.
[Hammer:] This isn`t the first time Palin has been targeted for her love of hunting and the mighty moose. Who can forget this "Saturday Night Live" spoof?
[Amy Poehler, Actress:] Shoot a mother-humping moose eight days of the week. Lying dead lying dead because I`m an animal and I`m bigger than you
[Hammer:] Palin has never shied away from her love of moose.
[Brogdon:] When she lost the vice presidency, she invited all the press into her kitchen and she`s making them moose cocktails, moose burgers, moose meatballs
[Hammer:] It`s been months since Palin was on the national stage as a candidate and she`s still a lightning rod for controversy.
[Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Co-host, "the View":] Hang on a minute. Don`t tell me what I can think and what I can`t think.
[Hammer:] Today, the mere mention of Palin`s name made the ladies of "The View" get into a big-time yelling match. Conservative co-host Elisabeth Hassleback right to Palin`s defense.
[Hasselbeck:] That`s pretty easy for anyone to right now try to jump on Sarah Palin. You want your name in the paper? Say something about Sarah Palin. You want a little attention? Say something about Sarah Palin.
[Joy Behar, Co-host, "the View":] The main thing with Sarah Palin is that she`s not kind. You saw her the turkey incident. Now we see the wolf thing. She`s not kind to animals.
[Hammer:] It`s this fire that put Sarah Palin smack dab into the center of controversy time and time again. But will this video go down in Palin infamy like the Katie Couric interview or Tina Fey`s subsequent SNL spoof?
[Brogdon:] I don`t think it`s going to have a lot of staying power. I think anytime anybody has an issue anywhere near Alaska, they`re going to use Sarah Palin as their prime target.
[Hammer:] So is there more to this slamming of Sarah Palin than meets the eye? Well, joining me tonight in Hollywood is Carlos Diaz who is a correspondent for "Extra." In New York, it`s Lauren Lake, who is a criminal defense attorney and a TV host. All right. Let`s take a look once again at some of that Internet video that Ashley Judd is starring in. She`s a spokesperson for Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund here. Let`s roll that.
[Judd:] When Sarah Palin came on the national scene last summer, few knew that she promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves. Now, back in Alaska, Palin is again casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife.
[Hammer:] All right. I know how this all works. It`s not lost on me at all that Ashley Judd is invoking Sarah Palin`s name in the ad to give her cause the most attention it possibly could. Carlos, what do you think? Is this a terrific strategy or is this a cheap shot? I mean, Ashley, you know, has got ties to Kentucky and there`s absolutely no hunting at all in Kentucky. Oh, wait. Come on. I mean, I don`t get this whole thing anyway. It`s like, aerial killing? So it`s OK if you`re on foot but not if you`re on a helicopter? The helicopter shouldn`t be going so fast? You know, here`s the thing. Yes, she knows if she invokes Sarah Palin`s name, and by the way, she invoked Sarah Palin`s name first, "We must stop Sarah Palin, not this group. We must stop Sarah Palin." So she invokes her name for simply the publicity of the entire thing. Yes. Defenders of Wildlife wants the thinning of the herd, as they call it, to go away all together. And to be clear, Lauren, this is not going on just in Alaska. It`s going on everywhere. So using Sarah Palin`s name actually probably a pretty smart idea for them.
[Lauren Lake, Criminal Defense Attorney:] Well, for them, yes. It`s marketing and strategy. They go after the big fish and you know what? Sarah Palin has always wanted a lot of attention. Unfortunately, now, she`s getting attention she does not want. But she should have thought about that because they were spoofing the animal killing, even on "Saturday Night Live" if we can remember that just a little while ago with the campaign. So now, it may come back to haunt her.
[Hammer:] Yes, and let`s not forget Sarah Palin still has a lot of supporters out there. And a lot of people, quite frankly we`ve seen this before they don`t like it when celebrities get involved and start mouthing off to support a certain cause or agenda like this. Carlos, what do you think? Are more people going to wind up on Palin`s side or Judd`s side?
[Diaz:] I`m going to have to side with Sarah Palin on this one. I think Ashley Judd is an amazing person and I think she`s as a great interview. But I think I mean, on this one, you know, you`re attacking Sarah Palin for something that Alaskans had in effect a thinning of the herd for years. It`s not something Sarah Palin put into effect. It`s something that`s been around for a long time. And maybe if Ashley would go up to Alaska and spent a lot of time up there, visit and do some research, maybe she would have a different story.
[Hammer:] That`s true, but the other side of this also, the extra piece to fit in here is the fact nobody likes to see these pictures of these animals getting hurt or killed. And I`ve got to tell you, the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT producers man, our crew is hard at work. Hours were spent scanning the blogosphere by our producers. Ashley Judd, I have to say, was getting slammed by most of what we were seeing out there. So Lauren, who do you think is going to come out on top in all of this?
[Lake:] You know what? I feel like people are going to see through this. This is just a marketing propaganda-type campaign. We`ve seen it with PETA. We`ve seen it on so many occasions. And that`s why I say Sarah just has to be careful. When you seek attention, sometimes you get the negative attention and this is one of those times she actually did and she may not have deserved it. Unfortunately, that`s the way campaigning goes, whether it`s for animals or for the presidency.
[Hammer:] Yes. And Sarah Palin remains a lightning rod as I have said. And as we`ve seen in the past, every time her name comes up on "The View" in conversations is like mixing oil and water. And we saw it happen again today as we just showed you. But I want to watch again what took place between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar when they went off on a little bit of a tangent. Can we roll that, Charles?
[Whoopi Goldberg, Co-host, "the View":] That`s vastly different.
[Hasselbeck:] She`s using Sarah Palin who has also been standing up for human rights and in terms of children`s rights. To attack her for this
[Behar:] Animals, not children right now.
[Hasselbeck:] Hang on a minute. Don`t tell me what I can think and what I can`t think.
[Behar:] It would be nice if we could just stay in the area.
[Hasselbeck:] Are we at a socialist table here?
[Hammer:] All right. Kind of takes you back, doesn`t it? Carlos, are you amazed? Here we are, Obama is in office, the election is history. And just mentioning Sarah Palin`s name on the panel of "The View" is like throwing gas on a fire.
[Diaz:] It is. It is like throwing gasoline on a fire. I missed that. I missed those bickering debates from the girls on "The View." I`m happy to hear that once, not a lot. I happy we can get that back on. I think we saw this whole thing with Ashley Judd and Sarah Palin with the wrestling ring, maybe some oil. And then you know
[Lake:] No.
[Hammer:] I`m marking it all down, right here, Carlos. And you will get the attribution if this ends up happening. Got to end it there, Carlos Diaz, Lauren Lake, thank you. All right. Brooke, moving on, I can tell you that there is an attack on another big star that`s caught on tape. We`ve got it. This is wild. Legendary singer Etta James going off on Beyonce.
[Anderson:] Yes. She sure does, A.J. And I not only does Etta rip into Beyonce, she also takes a swipe at President Obama. It`s the Etta James- Beyonce-President Obama smackdown. You`ve got to hear this take. Coming up.
[Hammer:] Also, Michael Phelps speaks out for the first time about that shocking picture of him smoking marijuana. Is Phelps actually having second thoughts about competing in the 2012 games? Is he pulling out? We`ve also got this
[Jeanne Moos, Cnn Correspondent:] Kevin Allen called the police on the police.
[Unidentified Male:] I`m being dragged out of my car. This is ridiculous. I`m being assaulted.
[Anderson:] Tonight, a guy calling the cops on the cops. And it`s all caught on tape. Talk about a wild 911 call. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN. And now the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news right now. [Caption Reads Mother of octuplets leaves California hospital, 10 days after giving birth. HBO picks up polygamy series "Big Love" for a fourth season.]