Why was TMZ so late to the story about Sandra Bullock's cheating husband Jesse James? It takes a Rat to know.

We don't like that Sandra Bullock-blindsided-by-Jesse James-and-the-tattooed-stripper lady story much, because Sandy's such a likeable plain jane who spent all that time bearding for Matthew McConaughey and now it's looking like the plum dumb Jesse may have been bearding for Sandy.

And after watching him on Celebrity Apprentice, we really liked believing that Jesse was a sincere and stand-up simple guy. But it's definitely a Hollywood tabloid story! And you'd figure it would be something the nasty conscience-free slugs at the corporate porn-pushing gossip site TMZ.com would be all over, sliding in the hot oiled jealousy and grappling in the celebrity embarrassment takedown behind their shaved bronzed midget frontman.

But they're not.

While even the LA Times splooged with stories about Oscar curses as it avoided the Tom Cruise elephant in the room, the gutter site has been tiptoeing around the story the same way they ignored Owen Wilson's troubles. Heck, the subliterate slugs even ran a pathetic diversionary story this morning about Jesse's missing dog.

Why such sympathy for the villain? Why the sidestepping cowardice?

Is it because the Bullock movie The Blind Side is distributed by Warner Bros., which owns TMZ?

Is it the McConaughey connection?

Or just the standard oh-bitch-pleez TMZ immorality and corruption?


Tabloid Baby pal The Big Cheese at the independent, entertaining, infiltrating news and gossip site Rumor Rat has the exclusive story.

Read it here.

And keep writing your own comments, Teemzers.

UPDATE: Just how pathetic and paltry is TMZ's coverage of this major scandal? Click here to read Rumor Rat's analysis and comparison with the work by the pros at RadarOnline.