Martha v. Rachael

You know it's a slooooow celebrity gossip news day when TMZ, Page Six, and iVillage all decide that Martha Stewart being mad at Rachael Ray is a big story.

Apparently, both of them aired Barry Manilow appearances at the same time yesterday (gasp!) and Martha gave Rachael what TMZ calls a bitchslap. I guess it's all relative since it sounds more passive-aggressive than aggressive to me, but here's what Martha said:

"I'd never met Rachael Ray - I think she's fun and lovely - but, you know, we have Barry Manilow live this morning, and he taped an episode of the Rachael Ray show that was supposed to air tomorrow. But for some reason, they pushed the show up to today, and now Barry is on two shows at once. He's live with us, but it's really not fair to the artist because these performers deserve to reach as big of an audience as possible. But anyway, we have him here. Live."

TMZ has the video here. Rachael Ray's spokesman said: "Barry was a fantastic guest, and we wanted to lead our sweeps with the best show we had in the can, and that was Barry Manilow."

If I were Martha, I wouldn't take on Rachael Ray - she seems a bit too feisty. But, Martha has been to the joint and that could give her the advantage.

[Photo from iVillage]