Celebrity Mound

PEOPLE magazine scored the first pictures of Clay Aiken and baby son Parker (along with the unsurprising “I’m gay!” interview) for $500,000 after, sources said, OK! bowed out. “We were in the running,” an OK! source said, “but then [new editorial director] Kent Brownridge passed.” We reported last week that Brownridge was loath to pay large sums for exclusives. Instead, he opted for a lame Kim Kardashian cover. Brownridge’s arrival has already seen the loss of editor Sarah Ivens, executive editor Rob Shuter and reporter Laura Schreffler. A rep said, “We did bid on the Clay story but thought it was just all right, not phenomenal.”

(source)