ARE YOU FOLLOWING STRIPPERGATE?: Here's a little update from Jeanette Walls's gossip column:

Are Hollywood forces behind that lawsuit that a stripper filed against the National Enquirer? That’s what some industry insiders are wondering after Antonella Santini, a stripper who lives in Vancouver, sued the tabloid for libel when it ran an article claiming that Ben Affleck performed hanky panky on her.

“IT’S VERY INTERESTING to me that Affleck himself has not sued,” says a source, “Yet the stripper has. Now, if Affleck’s people want to discredit the story, they can point to the stripper’s case without having to go through the process of disclosure.” What’s more, the lawyer representing Santini is with Rintala, Smoot, Jaenicke and Rees, a Los Angeles-based law firm that has worked on the same side as Affleck’s lawyer, Marty Singer. Affleck’s rep, when asked why he hasn’t filed a suit yet, said the star is “still considering his options.” Santini’s attorney couldn’t be reached for comment, and the National Enquirer tells The Scoop it stands by the story.

It's a funny scandal: huge, but entirely contained in the entertainment press.