Sean Delonas, America's Favorite Editorial Cartoonist, isn't on the New York Post's Page Six today! WE WON! Or, you know, maybe he picked a weird time for a vacation, he's normally off on Mondays.

Andrea Peyser is always on the sex tip, yall! The NYP attack columnist seems to lash out in print as a way to repress her natural urges for, say, some legs that just don't stop.

Zut alors, Michael Kors! Make sure your pockets are empty, Monica Lewinsky! Transvestite teenagers are jacking up residents of a fancy Greenwich Village building, for wig money. This is an important window into sociocultural relations:

Bad: Rupert Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff is rumored to be having an affair with his younger employee. Far worse, for Wolff: this gives News Corp (and others) a chance to get back at him.

Octogenarian gossipmonger Liz Smith continues to chronicle the reactions to the New York Post's shocking move to drop her column, and we will continue to report them as well, forever! Today: Warren Beatty is supportive!

If you thought Liz Smith was cranky and bitter about her profession before the New York Post dropped her column, just wait until you hear the 86-year-old gossip columnist now.

Yesterday Rupert Murdoch himself, the big guy, took the time to sign off on an uncommonly civil apology for the New York Post's racist cartoon. But Al Sharpton is still demanding actual actions. Whoa now!

Here is a humdinger of a bit of gossip actual confirmed news: Liz Smith, octogenarian gossip queen of New York, has been dropped as a New York Post columnist. Sad, but expected.

The Post is dropping gossip columnist Liz Smith. The reason? The economy, naturally. "Like so many other newspapers around the nation, we are buffeted by unprecedented economic gales," Col Allan, the Post's editor, explained in a letter to Smith earlier this month when he informed her that the paper had decided not to renew her $125,000-a-year contract. But if you're thinking the 86-year-old gossip is planning to retire her quill pen, think again! Smith says she'll continue turning out a column five days a week for syndication to other newspapers, she'll be penning a twice-a-week column for Daily Variety, and she's also signed on as a contributing editor of Parade magazine. Oh, and she'll be contributing to wowOwow, the website for elderly women that she co-founded last year, where, she says, she's looking forward to posting scoops "free from the constraints of newspaper deadlines." [NYT]

• More on Peter Chernin's departure from News Corp. and the likely possibility that Rupert Murdoch will hand over the reigns to his son, James. [WSJ, NYT]
• Rupert Murdoch has issued an apology for the Post's chimp cartoon. [NYP]
• Kathy Griffin scored a $2 mil. advance from Ballantine for a memoir. [NYO]
• The FT is cutting costs by giving employees three-day weekends. [E&P]
• The recession is wreaking havoc on pilot season in Hollywood. [Variety]
• Your amusing and totally frightening stat of the day: The average television viewer watches 151 hours of TV each month, a new record. [B&C]
• Oscar picks for 2010, just in case you wanna get a head start. [NYO]

Sean Delonas' New York Post cartoon said, essentially, "Screw you, monkeys." The Post itself said, "Screw you if you didn't like it." But Rupert Murdoch—their boss—is suddenly being polite! Did Rev. Al win?

Black people (so demanding!) weren't satisfied with one protest of the New York Post and the paper's shitty non-apology for Sean Delonas' racist chimp cartoon. What's behind this? Lots of history!

The New York Post's 'apology' for the Sean Delonas cartoon has not satisfied Spike Lee, who calls it "pathetic" and "lethargic." As well as racist! Why won't this black man trust the New York Post?

The New York Post issued an angry non-apology for Sean Delonas' monkey cartoon. The New York Times issued a mealy-mouthed non-apology for its winking John McCain(*cough*SEX*cough*)-lobbyist story. Please; it's very important to non-apologize correctly:

• Project Runway filmed its season finale under the tent in Bryant Park today. When—and if—you'll ever get to see it remains up in the air. [NYT]
• It's predicted the broadcast of the Academy Awards on Sunday will be among the lowest-rated Oscars on record. [AdAge]
• The Post has apologized for its chimp cartoon the other day. [E&P]
• The New York Times Co. has slashed its dividend to zero. [NYP]
• New York and AMI are joining Hachette Filipacchi and dropping out of the Magazine Publishers of America. [NYP]

Lost in all this controversy over NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas' ham-handed monkey bigot hackery is this: will this national uproar hurt the sales of Delonas' kiddie book? That would be the real tragedy.

Whatever intern is tasked with explaining current events to Barbara Walters failed miserably today, as she misunderstood the growing controversy about a perceived-to-be-racist Post cartoon in the most hilarious way possible.

In your informative Thursday media column: Wired's publisher is out, John Updike's death begets a new book, NYP employees are pissed, and good and bad ideas for newspapers:

Rev. Al Sharpton, having no other plans for the day, just held a protest outside the New York Post's headquarters to protest Sean Delonas' monkey cartoon. It's more outrageous than Don Imus, sez the Rev!

• CBS reports that profits plunged 52 percent last quarter. [Variety]
• The editor of the Post is defending the chimp cartoon in yesterday's paper; meanwhile, Al Sharpton led a protest outside News Corp. today. [E&P, WCBS]
• Despite the horrible reviews, the second-season premiere of Bravo's Real Housewives of New York City on Tuesday set a high for the series. [THR]
• Chris Mitchell has been named the publisher of Conde Nast Traveler. [MW]
• Conan O'Brien will conclude his 16-year Late Night run on Friday. Then it's off to LA to take over for Jay Leno as host of the Tonight Show. [NYT]