Breaking news: Taylor Hicks filed a lawsuit to stop the sale of songs he claims copyright to on iTunes. The most interesting part of the response from the man being sued was this statement by the man regarding Hicks, “…he has previously turned down five-figure tabloid offers to speak about Hicks’s sexuality and his prior drug use.” Well well well, could Justin Timberlake have been right to suspect that Hicks is gay? Let’s hope the discovery process digs deep so we can get some answers on these questions. FYI: I did not include a copy of the court documents in this post. Read the whole story from The Smoking Gun below:

“American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks has sued a Tennessee music producer to halt the online distribution of songs the grey-haired crooner recorded five years before copping the reality TV crown. In a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alabama, Hicks charges that William Smith recently sold three of his songs via Apple’s iTunes music store (a copy of Hicks’s complaint can be found below). In an interview, Smith told TSG that after Hicks auditioned for him, he recorded the songs (which Hicks had written) in June 2001 with the help of Nashville session musicians. Smith said that he subsequently shopped the songs to 15 different labels, but none were interested in signing Hicks. Last month, Smith informed Hicks’s attorney of his plans to market one of the songs, “The Fall,” on iTunes, noting that “anything in his past that would reflect negatively upon him will stay there” as long as 29-year-old performer did not “go negative” against him. When asked if his July 24 e-mail was a veiled threat geared to forestall a copyright lawsuit, Smith denied that it was a “blackmail attempt.” Smith said that he would not seek to hurt the performer’s reputation, adding that he has previously turned down five-figure tabloid offers to speak about Hicks’s sexuality and his prior drug use. “Taylor was a young musician, so you can imagine what he was involved in,” said Smith. In response to Hicks’s complaint, Judge Virginia Emerson Smith yesterday signed a temporary restraining order barring distribution of the songs by Smith (who has yanked the titles from iTunes). Hicks’s first post-”Idol” recording, “Do I Make You Proud,” landed atop Billboard’s Hot 100 list upon its June release and Arista Records is scheduled to release his album in November.

Nick Lachey People has released its Hottest Bachelors 2006 list, and naturally Nick Lachey made the list. The one guy that made the list, and just seems to swing the other way is Taylor Hicks. Remember his purple velvet jacket on American Idol? I think Taylor is on the wrong bachelor list. Also making the list were: Ace Young, Archie Kao, Bobby Deen, Camilo Villegas, Chris Evans, Donald Faison, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jon Tenney, Kenny Chesney, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Lachey, Ryan Seacrest, and Taylor Hicks. We have pictures of all the guys who made the list in the gallery after the jump… Technorati Tags: Ace Young, Archie Kao, Bobby Deen, Camilo Villegas, Chris Evans, Donald Faison, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jon Tenney, Kenny Chesney, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Lachey, Ryan Seacrest, Taylor Hicks

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