As mentioned earlier, TMZ had been holding their tongue to report on the now widely circulated rumor that Brangelina were going to cause the earth's core to melt by separating. They've now weighed in, and the decision goes like this:

Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie are not pulling the plug on their relationship, multiple people directly connected with the couple tell TMZ. There's a report out that Brad and Angie are calling it quits. One source — who should know — says, "It's B.S." It is now safe to step back from the ledge.

Perez Hilton and Just Jared have also gone with the PR deflection, but—as it bears repeating—when you're a publicist playing on the level of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, you're going to do anything to put ice on a rumor while you work a press strategy to go about working it. Also, as Maura Johnston noted earlier today, TMZ totally screwed the pooch on that Axl Rose story they reported earlier. Also, they're far "better" at matters of dead celebrities (Michael Jackson, Brittney Murphy: two beats they've done early, spot-on reporting with) than anything else. So if one of them were reportedly dead, and TMZ reported it, I wouldn't question it nearly as much as this, which is something that's been buzzed about in the celebrity press particularly hard over the last few months.

The fact that I have any perspective to offer on this just struck me as, at the very least, sad.