'ET,' 'Insider' back off Heath Ledger drug tape

While we cross our fingers and wait to hear that Heath Ledger’s toxicology tests prove his death was only a tragic accident, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider have been trying to cash in on a grainy video taken more than two years ago showing the actor bumping rails at the Chateau Marmont and admitting to (gasp) smoking weed.

The shows reportedly spent $200,000 to obtain the tape, but the New York Daily News says the show has backed off from airing the video after pressure from Hollywood hotshots — because they can’t be trusted to rely on good taste, after all.

On the tape, shot Jan. 26, 2006, Ledger tells his pals, “I’m going to get serious s--- from my girlfriend (Michelle Williams). We just had a baby three months ago.” He also offers: “I used to smoke five joints a day for 20 years.” Wow, since he was six? That would put him on par with most of Southern California’s teenagers, we’d think.

But again, we fail to see how a video from 2006 says much of anything, since Ledger long ago admitted fighting drug addiction. Not every media outlet can be as scrupulous as The Juice*, we suppose.

[Photo: Getty Images]