For the Emmy’s opening number, Fox News trimmed a skit featutring Alec Baldwin playing a  television executive because the bit referenced Rupert Murdoch and the NewCorp hacking scandal. The joke was pre-approved by producers. Baldwin then removed himself from the skit itself–Leonard Nimoy replaced him– when the joke was snipped, writing today:

A couple of days later, I was informed that the producers had been told by some Fox entity that the joke had to be cut. I then asked that the entire piece be omitted, as I felt the joke was, perhaps, the funniest thing in it.

Baldwin was not at the awards ceremony; he had commited to hosting  a benefit  in New York to  honor Tony Bennett’s on the singer’s 85th birthday.

Leonard Nimoy replaced Baldwin in the censored piece, which omitted the television executive asking if Rupert Murdoch was listening to the call.  A Fox spokesperson told Deadline.com

they said they made the decision not because the joke involved Murdoch but because they take the phone-hacking allegations very seriously and did not want to be seen as making light of them.

Baldwin tweeted Sunday:

If I were enmeshed in a scandal where I hacked phones of families of innocent crime victims purely 4 profit, I’d want that 2 go away, 2.

In his Huffington Post piece, Baldwin had even stronger words for Fox and its parent News Corp

I suppose I am accustomed to a different experience, having worked on 30 Rock for so long, where we have been given the license to skewer the General Electric corporate culture without interference from GE. GE was nothing but gracious and even appreciative of the jokes.

However, in some sense, I understand News Corps.’ reluctance to include that joke. If I were accused of illegally hacking into the private phone messages of the families of innocent crime victims and doing so purely for profit, I would be eager for that scandal to go away, too.

There have been rumblings of Alec Baldwin running for Mayor of New York City, or possibly  for  Senate seat. Here’s his impression of Congress, based on having testified before both the House and Senate:

Jude Law as Hamlet: "Alas, poor Rupert, I knew him well...where your your jibes now?"

Acting on a lawsuit filed by actor Jude Law and his assistant Ben Jackson claiming their phones were hacked in New York by reporters working for  News of the World, the FBI plans to contact the actor, according an official who spoke with the BBC.

NOTW’s story, publish in September 2003 detailed conversations between the actor and Jackson which the suit claims  could only have been obtained by listening in on the pair’s phone messages. Since the messages were relayed through United States carriers, the suit opens the door to charges under US laws.

Additionally, Law has filed another suit against another of Murdoch’s paper, The Sun, alleging his messages were hacked by reporters in 2005 and 2006, resulting in four stories.

News International, the UK branch of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp said in a statement to the BBC:

We believe this is a deeply cynical and deliberately mischievous attempt to draw the Sun into the phone-hacking issue. The allegations have been carefully investigated by our lawyers and the evidence shows they have no foundation whatsoever.

Rupert Murdoch’s son, James may have proven even more ineffective at dodging the truth than his father at dodging pies. According to the BBC, the younger Murdoch who is the chairman of News International told:

the media committee on Tuesday he had not been “aware” of an email suggesting the practice went wider than a “rogue” News of the World reporter.

But ex-NoW editor Colin Myler and ex-NI legal manager Tom Crone have now said they “did inform” him of the email.

Mr Murdoch later said he “stands by his testimony”.

In 2008 NOTW settled a phone hacking claim against them brought by Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association; thesettlement payment was £600,000 (appr0x $967,000). In January of this year Bloomberg reported:

At least seven pending lawsuits from celebrities allege their phone voicemails were hacked into by News of the World.

Actress Sienna Miller received an apology and a settlement of £100,00 ($164,000) for legal costs and personal damages after filing suit against NOTW for phone hacks that occurred in the mid 2000. Miller was Jude Law’s girl friend from 2004 to 2006. They reunited three years later, but ended the relationship this February. Law and his relationships have long been tabloid fodder, but nothing justifies phone hacking.

An alleged 2003 News of the World phone hack of actor Jude Law and his personal assistant Ben Jackson while the duo were in New York is the first specific case of Rupert Murdoch’s law-breaking reporters operating in America.

Because the mobile phones were operating on American networks, United States law applies. Hacking into phones is a violation of Federal law and could also involve civil suits. Both Jude Law and Ben Jackson have retained counsel.

The FBI has already announced it is opening a preliminary investigation into claims that allegations that the scandal-ridden scandal mongers tried to hack into the phones of victims of the September 11 attacks.

The Telegraph reports a source close to the actor and Jackson said:

The allegation that they may have been hacked while on private visit in the United States is of great concern to them both.

It should also be of great concern to politicians, citizens, and to Fox News whose media commentators admitted last week that they wouldn’t touch the News Corp hacking debacle

with a ten-foot turban