Monday, March 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
It's St. Patrick's Day, time for the traditional wearin' o' the red here at People in the News, but we wonder if Oksana is a blue Baiul after making a spectacle on ice of herself this weekend. The Olympic skating darling and points leader in the John Denver Celebrity DUI Derby was supposed to perform in a charity event in Stamford, Conn. Instead, she took one spin around the rink and left to sign autographs. The emcee said the 19-year-old ice leprechaun "changed her mind and elected to just do a free skate." A free skate is exactly what it was for some: More than 100 patrons, their Irish up after Baiul's rinky-dink effort, demanded a showing of the green -- refunds of their $15 tickets. "I'm outraged, I'm furious, and my daughter is disappointed," snarled one.
Miscellany
*Outraged, furious -- the daughter is definitely disappointed. Carrie Fisher has her hair buns in a knot because those Oscar weenies didn't nominate mum Debbie Reynolds' for her role in "Mother." "I have some bitterness about that -- especially after I saw some of the other nominated performances," Fisher says. "I'm a loyal child." So deep, so profound was Fisher's anger that Oscar producers had to call her three times before she agreed to work on the awards telecast. Not to present an award -- "My fear was that (they) wanted me to do something with Mark Hamill, some sort of horrible 'Star Wars' thing," Fisher says -- but to help script the presenters' remarks (she is a novelist and screenwriter these days). "They're not having couples present this year, so there won't be any of that pretend repartee stuff -- for which I'm sure America will be grateful," Fisher says.
*Nothing prompts a celebrity pile-on like a good lesbian sitcom. To a guest cast that already includes Oprah Winfrey and Laura Dern, the notorious coming-out episode of "Ellen" has added Demi Moore, Dwight Yoakam and Billy Bob Thornton. It will take scripting efforts of Carrie Fisherian proportions to fill that many famous mouths with pretend repartee stuff.
Fuhrman flies
Almost as creepy as the phrase do something with Mark Hamill is this dispatch from Sandpoint, Idaho: They love Mark Fuhrman! More than 1,000 copies of Fuhrman's new blame-diverting volume on the O.J. Simpson trial, "Murder in Brentwood," were sold during a book-signing this weekend in the ex-detective's hometown. We're turning green, all right -- quick, hand us a news-sickness bag! "This is what America's all about," Fuhrman said of the crowd, stoned on his own blarney. "It's not politicians and attorneys and celebrity athletes who murder people." But disgraced racist perjurers are just fine, judging from the repartee stuff in Sandpoint: "I think he's just super," one woman said. "He could be my neighbor anytime." This is what America's all about? We're outraged, we're furious and our daughters are disappointed.
Compiled by Scott Dickensheets
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