Ponytailed Queen Latifah discussed someone with really bad hair - blond-banged Remy Ma, who stands accused of shooting her own friend, Makeda Barnes-Joseph.

"It's an unfortunate situation, because there's so much gun violence that's already taken out so many of our kids, so it's tough when it's someone who's famous," Latifah told Jamie Foster Brown on the red carpet. "I mean, I've gotten in trouble for having a weapon in the past for my protection." [The Queen was arrested in 1996 for carrying a loaded pistol.] "It wasn't the right way to go about it, and I learned from that."

Latifah's longtime personal trainer Jeanette Jenkins was by the actress' side - on hand for any last-minute workouts, we presume. Asked by Brown if she has a boyfriend, Jenkins stammered, "I'm in a relationship. I have been for a long time," before beating a hasty retreat down the red carpet past "Hairspray" stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Nikki Blonsky.

********************************

TomKat's spawn, Suri Cruise, gleefully ran around Biography Bookstore in the West Village on Monday, dropping books at the feet of mom Katie Holmes. Afterward, mom and daughter headed across the street to Magnolia's bakery for some treats.

********************************

You know things are rough when you're fighting with your own No. 1 fan site.

Sources say Usher is trying to shut down usherforever.com because the woman behind the site, Erika Jackson, doesn't care for his fiancee, Tameka Foster.

"He's had his lawyer send her papers," said an insider.

Foster has proved unpopular with many fans, amid rumors she was responsible for the firing of Usher's manager (and mom), Jonetta Patton.
In May, Usher parted ways with longtime publicist Simone Smalls, and recently his other longtime rep, Chris Chambers, left the team. Chambers is said to have disapproved of the "open letter" Usher released to fans last week.

The singer wrote: "It's disturbing that the media and bloggers (under the guise as 'fans') continuously speculate on the personal aspects of my life."

Usherforever.com repeated a scathing response to that letter, originally from Rolling Stone, which called the move "petty."
If that wasn't bad enough, another source tells me that Usher is likely to miss an August deadline to deliver his next album, meaning it won't be available in gift-friendly November.

However, a spokeswoman for Jive Records said a release date had never been set. Usher's new personal rep responded to a detailed e-mail, saying, "your information is not accurate," but did not elaborate.

********************************

Stone Phillips has ended his 15-year run on "Dateline NBC" on a grace note.

Budget cuts cost the lantern-jawed anchor his reported $7 million-a-year job in June. But on the way out, he bought a car for his longtime assistant to thank her for her loyalty.

"She's still at 'Dateline,'" said one NBC insider, who confirmed the gift. (The source could not confirm the make of car, but I'm told it was an Audi.)

********************************

Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany spent three hours at the Children's Museum of Manhattan on Friday afternoon with soon to be 4-year-old son Stellan. The family checked out the newest exhibit, "Gods, Myths and Mortals," played 20 questions with Aristotle and climbed on the Cyclops cave.

********************************
NOBODY can control Britney Spears. Now she's taken over as her own business manager and publicist. Though she's still signed to Jive Records, a source told Page Six, "She is doing all of her own business now." Our spy saw Spears at Aspen on West 22nd Street yesterday afternoon "signing contracts" - possibly related to the recent deal she inked to open a Las Vegas club. The messy mother of two recently cut ties with her manager Larry Rudolf, her mother, and her publicist.

********************************

O.J. Simpson has been hitting the bottle since he was tricked into semi-confessing to double-murder last year with his "If I Did It" book project. Simpson was at The Ivy in Aventura, Fla., the other night "falling all over himself and couldn't stand up, even though he tried several times," said our disgusted spy. "He started screaming for everyone in the restaurant to go with him to Mansion [in Miami]. I don't think anyone took him up on it." If the book ever gets published, the families of his slain ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her pal Ron Goldman will share the profits.

********************************

HEATHER Graham dirty-dancing with a sexy gal pal while sucking a lollipop at the Plumm, and turning down a free bottle of champagne, saying, "I am not drinking"