Rihanna sexual assault video has Parents Television Council up in arms

Rihanna's video for "Man Down," which finds the 23-year-old singer playing a woman who shoots a man who has sexually assaulted her, was still stirring heated debate Friday.

The Parents Television Council is urging BET to stop airing the video and asking MTV not to put it into rotation. BET began airing the video Tuesday.

On cnn.com Friday, author Leslie Morgan Steiner thanked Rihanna for shedding light on a "subject no one wants to hear about: the rage and vengeance fantasies that often constitute a normal, healthy reaction to rape and domestic violence."

Meanwhile, National Organization for Women president Terry O'Neill told MTV News that she didn't find the video exploitative and said she believes Rihanna is "working out personal issues through her art." The singer was physically assaulted in 2009 by then-boyfriend Chris Brown.

As of Friday, BET said it would continue to play the video. MTV said it was in the process of reviewing it.

Farewell, Marshal Dillon

James Arness, who played Marshall Matt Dillon on the long-running CBS Western "Gunsmoke," died Friday at the age of 88.

Arness reportedly got the role that made him a household name when his friend John Wayne turned it down. Wayne introduced the first episode of "Gunsmoke" in 1955, saying about Arness, "I predict he'll be a big star."

The show ran until 1975 and was the longest-running dramatic series in history until NBC's "Law & Order" tied it in 2010.

On jamesarness.com, a letter written by the actor "in the event I was no longer here" was posted Friday. In it, he thanks fans "for the many years of being a fan of Gunsmoke" and says, "The best part of my life was my family, especially my wife Janet."

Good time for 'Fast Times'

Cast members from beloved 1982 teen flick "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" are scheduled to reunite tonight when the film is inducted into the Guy Movie Hall of Fame at the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards.

According to ew.com, Robert DeNiro will present Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus, Brian Backer, Forest Whitaker and director Amy Heckerling with trophies at the ceremony, which will air at 10 p.m. Friday on Spike TV.

In the words of stoner-surfer Jeff Spicoli, the character played by Penn in the movie: "Awesome! Totally awesome!"

Briefly

• Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn have split, according to people.com. Rumors began swirling last month when the actress, 26, failed to accompany Penn, 50, to the Cannes International Film Festival, where his latest film, "The Tree of Life," took the top prize.

• British pop singer Adele, who played a sold-out show at Royal Oak Music Theatre on May 23, has had to cancel the remaining nine dates on her North American tour because of laryngitis.

• Playwright Tony Kushner was awarded an honorary degree Friday from the City University of New York. The degree was initially withheld because a university trustee accused Kushner of being anti-Israel and called him "a Jewish anti-Semite." Kushner won a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Angels in America."

• Former National Public Radio chief Vivian Schiller is headed to NBC News to run its digital operation. Schiller resigned as head of NPR earlier this year amid controversy over the firing of commentator Juan Williams and after a former NPR fund-raiser was caught calling the tea party movement racist.