Talk about nuts: Levi Johnston in pistachio ad

Levi Johnston is “doing it with protection now.” Or at least that’s the case when it comes to eating pistachio nuts, according to a commercial starring Johnston, the father of former Alaska govenor Sarah Palin's grandson, Tripp.

In the ad, for Wonderful pistachios, Johnston appears onscreen with his bodyguard and manager Tank Jones. Jones appears to survey the scene, and when he signals it’s safe, Johnston cracks open a nut as a voiceover states, “Now Levi Johnston does it with protection.”

This unsubtle nod to Johnston’s teen dad status isn’t unexpected — it's impossible to imagine a scenario where we’d have anything to say about him after he and Bristol Palin split if he hadn’t fathered her child.

The commercial plainly advances a notion that if you impregnate the right person, you can make money for doing so. Johnston’s golden ticket happens to come in the form of an innocent 10-month-old. (Although the company’s blog says “no babies were created in the filming of this ad.”)

Joan Wickham, who is handling corporate communications for the ad campaign, said the larger message wasn’t part of the company’s talks when Johnston was signed.

“We aren’t making any type of pregnancy comment. We just tried to pick quirky celebs doing funny things. We wanted something to catch attention,” she said.

“Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien,” “Chelsea Lately,” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” are among the programs during which the ad will air. The company said that for now, this is the only commercial featuring Johnston.

Jon and Kate plus Web site out of date
As Kate Gosselin made the rounds on her “I can’t pay my bills tour,” reps for TLC continued to have no comment whatsoever as to when filming of the newly renamed “Kate Plus Eight” will resume.

Slideshow: Jon and Kate Gosselin Meanwhile, Zondervan, the publishing house that printed Gosselin’s earlier books, “Multiple Bles8ings” and “Eight Little Faces” is not promoting her third book, “Love is in the Mix: Making Meals into Memories” on its Web site any longer.

Zondervan reps were unavailable for comment; the book was due out this fall. The official Gosselin family Web site Zondervan links to is no help: sixgosselins.com, which displays a splashy “The Gosselin 10” headline, still has the family very much together, and part of “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.”

Boston can’t be bothered with Cruise
Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and their daughter Suri have temporarily relocated to Boston while Cruise films “Wichita,” but unlike past trips where paparazzi chronicled their every move, Boston seems undisturbed by their presence.

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Slideshow: Celebrity Sightings The family has rented at least two floors of a hotel in an upscale area of the city, but paparazzi are rarely seen nearby. According to some who live in the hotel’s residential units, the Cruise-Holmes family isn’t even a talking point. Cruise has been spotted out and about with little-to-no security detail, drawing little-to-no attention from passersby.

The explanation could be either that his star has fallen considerably, or maybe it’s just a matter of geography.

“Hey, it’s Boston. People are just more interested in the Red Sox than Tom Cruise,” said one local.

Courtney Hazlett delivers the Scoop Monday through Friday on msnbc.com. Follow Scoop on Twitter @courtneyatmsnbc