WITH his tribal tattoos, whispy beard and long dreadlocked hair, John Butler looks exactly like what he is, a laid-back indie-rocker who takes things pretty easy. But he's shown he can be a tough businessman too, announcing he has taken on - and beaten - the American ad agency that produced a commercial to run during the American Superbowl football game this year which featured actor John Stamos and a song that sounded very, very similar to one of Butler's. Within seconds of the Oikos Greek yoghurt ad going to air on February 6, Butler's fans started emailing and tweeting him to say the guitar riff in the background was almost identical to his hit Zebra, released in 2003. Butler and his management were rightly miffed and set out to see what could be done and Butler announced in a short statement he and USA advertising agency, Poptent, which created the ad: ''have come to a satisfactory settlement'' in relation to the matter. ''The advertisement will no longer contain this particular piece of music and both parties are happy this issue is behind them,'' the statement concluded, adding the gramatically challenging: ''No further comment will be entered into.'' Given it cost a reported $3.5 million to put the ad to air in the prestigious time slot where an estimated audience of 111.3 million people saw it, we can only imagine what the ''satisfactory settlement'' must have been. At the very least, it's unlikely Butler will have to buy a tub of yoghurt for the next few decades (we just love that ''have come to a satisfactory settlement'').

MARADONA'S OUT AS FANS CALL FOUL

"What a joke!'' That's the reaction of fans of Diego Maradona after the Argentinian pulled out of his trip to Australia for the second time this year (and in so doing joined a carousel of overseas stars who have cancelled tours recently, among them Van Halen, P.Diddy and, erm, Bananarama). Due to speak about his life and career in Sydney and Melbourne, with tickets ranging from $69 to $1800, Maradona pulled out this week after a scheduling clash with his club Al Wasl in the United Arab Emirates. Maradona, 51, was, of course, one of the very best players to grace the sport. Readers might also know him as one of the game's most splendidly flawed personalities, and a sort of Elvis of Football: we've had thin Diego, fat Diego, superfat Diego, superthin Diego - and superfat Diego all over again. There was Diego on drugs and Diego off drugs. Diego bragging, Diego pleading. Diego shooting at journalists (literally) and shooting himself in the foot (metaphorically). Anyway, despite all his legend and his imperturbability (Martin Amis wrote Maradona had ''a self-knowledge that remains persistently absentee'') charmed his fans into indulging him. Until now, that is. ''I paid $1800 for a ticket, and it's been postponed twice,'' wrote one fan on Facebook. ''MARADONA HAS DOGGED US !! … DOES THIS SURPRISE ME, OOOO NOOOOOO,'' another person wrote. ''Pathetic!'' one fan tweeted, while someone else added: ''Totally predictable!''. The SBS broadcaster Les Murray, who was to interview Maradona during the one-hour session, told smh.com.au he was extremely disappointed. ''I was looking forward to speaking to him. I've always been fascinated by him, so I'm naturally very disappointed,'' he said. That said, Murray would not criticise the superstar, saying he was ''very gracious'' in their past interviews. ''I actually interviewed him once at a time when he'd made a rule that he wasn't giving interviews,'' Murray said. Meanwhile, promoter John Denison from Entourage Football, who said on Monday he was anticipating a six-figure loss on the event's advertising campaigns, declined to comment.

CARMEN'S GOT TALENT