LOS ANGELES — We saw Beyonce play Etta James. We probably won't soon see the singing divas duet.

The 71-year-old singer says in an audio clip that surfaced online yesterday that she would "whip" Beyonce for singing "her song" "At Last" at an inaugural ball for President Obama. "The great Beyonce ... I can't stand Beyonce," James said in the clip from a Jan. 31 concert at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam, British Columbia. "She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever."

Beyonce portrayed James — and sang the 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren — in the film "Cadillac Records" last year.

Representatives for James and Beyonce declined to comment.

CYRUS DENIES MOCKING ASIANS

NEW YORK — Miley Cyrus is responding to criticism that she mocked Asians in a photograph of the tween star stretching the corners of her eyes.

"In NO way was I making fun of any ethnicity!" Cyrus wrote yesterday in a posting on her official Web site. "I was simply making a goofy face. When did that become newsworthy? It seems someone is trying to make something out of nothing to me."

The photo, making the rounds online, shows the "Hannah Montana" star and five friends squinting their eyes into a slanted expression. An Asian man sits next to Cyrus, not participating in the group pose.

The OCA, a group dedicated to advancing the social, political and economic well-being of Asian-Pacific Americans, criticized the 16-year-old star this week for setting "a terrible example for her many young fans" by "mocking and denigrating individuals of Asian descent."

In a statement, OCA executive director George Wu said the group hopes Cyrus will apologize to her fans.

STARS SELLING CDS AT BIG DISCOUNTS

NEW YORK — Lily Allen isn't giving away her new CD, but at $3.99, it seems close.

The 23-year-old British star is teaming up with MySpace Music and www.Amazon.com in a promotion that will offer her sophomore CD, "It's Not Me, It's You," for that low price until Feb. 16. The CD is out Tuesday. MySpace Music already has been offering a free preview.

The Pussycat Dolls and Dierks Bentley also have offered their CDs for $3.99 on MySpace Music in the initial days of the albums' release. Kanye West and the Killers recently had their discs available on iTunes for $4.99. New CDs are usually about $10 to $20.

THE BOSS GETS LETTER OF APOLOGY

Bruce Springsteen has posted a letter of apology that his camp has received from Ticketmaster Chief Executive Irving Azoff. Last week, many fans were unable to log on to Ticketmaster when tickets to some 2009 tour dates went on sale, but were redirected to Ticketmaster's resale site, TicketsNow, where tickets to those shows were being sold at a steep markup.

Springsteen posted his response on his Web site, calling the relationship between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow "a pure conflict of interest."

The New Jersey attorney general's office has launched an investigation.