Sideshow: Prof: Franco deserved a 'D'

Former New York University film studies professor José Angel Santana is suing the school, claiming they fired him because he gave a D to star student James Franco in his "Directing the Actor" class.

Santana claims Franco deserved the grade because he missed 12 of 14 classes this semester. (Franco has also been busy this year earning a Ph.D., hosting the Oscars, starring in 900 new films, writing a dozen new novels.)

Santana says other NYU profs have become Franco's lapdogs, in return for hoped-for rewards. (Franco hired one prof, Jay Anania, to write the movie Shadows & Lies.)

"The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment," Santana tells the New York Post. "They've turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco's purposes . . . a possession, something you can buy."

An NYU rep tells TMZ the school has yet to review the suit, adding that Santana's claims are "ridiculous."

Lindsay Lohan's Playboy triumph!

Disgraced one-time teen movie star Lindsay Lohan's decision to pose nude (for a reported $1 mil) in Playboy is an all-round success! Sure, people continue to deride LiLo. Yes, like 90 percent of LiLo's other photo shoots, it ripped off classic Marilyn Monroe pictorials. Yes, it was roundly panned by critics as boring, unimaginative, unerotic and lame. And yes, the whole idea - that such a vibrant young actor would be reduced to selling herself to a glossy rag - is distasteful.

But no matter! The issue is selling well, says Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. "The Lindsay Lohan January-February Double Issue is breaking sales records," the octogenarian lady-killer tweets. Observers contest the claim, counterclaiming (with no statistics) that sales are miserable.

Chaz Bono calls off engagement

Chaz Bono, 42, whose advocacy for gay and transgendered issues found a platform recently on Dancing With the Stars, has broken up with fiancee Jennifer Elia.

Bono's rep, Howard Bragman, tells TMZ that the couple, who have been together since 1999, "leave this relationship with great love, respect and affection toward one another. No further amplification will be forthcoming, and they ask that you respect their privacy at this time." Bono, who was born a girl, Chastity Sun Bono, is the only child of Sonny and Cher. His proposal to Elia was especially heartfelt because it happened on TV, on the show Being Chaz.

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