HOUSTON, BURT HAS A PROBLEM

On Tuesday, The New York Post quoted unidentified sources as saying that Burt Bacharach, a musical director for the Oscar ceremony, was so frustrated with Whitney Houston during rehearsals last week that he pulled the plug on her performance.

A source told the paper that Houston seemed a bit "discombobulated" during rehearsals Friday, missing a cue and singing the wrong song. The "discombobulated" singer then giggled at the sparkles on her dress and ran to the craft service table to scarf down three meat-and-potato burritos and a bowl of cheese puffs.

An Academy spokeswoman said the singer had a sore throat. "You saw all that smoke that surrounded Isaac Hayes during the show, didn’t you?" the spokeswoman said. "That’s probably what caused Whitney’s sore throat, all that smoke. I’m sure that was it. She probably accidentally inhaled a lot of smoke."