US TV shows deny Madonna threats

Producers of two of America's leading TV shows have denied rumours they received threats from Madonna's representative after booking her brother Christopher Ciccone as a guest.

Ciccone was reportedly due to appear on 'The Insider' and 'Entertainment Tonight' to publicise his tell-all book about life with the superstar, but the interviews were said to have been cancelled at the last minute.

Rumours have circulated that bosses at the TV station received a call from Madonna's representative, Liz Rosenberg, threatening to cut their access to the 'Music' hitmaker if they went ahead with the Ciccone interviews.

A spokesperson for both programmes has now strongly denied that anyone was contacted by Rosenberg in relation to the scrapped on-air chats.

The representative tells the New York Post gossip column PageSix: "That's not us."