PARAMOUNT . . . THE PRICE OF FLAME

Pop superstar Michael Jackson today brought a $100 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, the producers of "Hard Copy," calling a January 9 report aired by the TV tabloid show "slanderous, vicious and wholly fabricated." Diane Dimond, the "Hard Copy" reporter for the segment, claimed that a videotape had surfaced, allegedly showing Jackson sexually involved with a young boy, and that prosecutors had reopened their child molestation case against the singer. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office has denied that it is investigating such a tape. Also named in the suit: "Hard Copy" producer Stephen Doran, two hosts of a Los Angeles radio talk show where Dimond repeated her allegations, and Hard Copy source Victor Gutierrez.