It’s not often that a celebrity bothers to respond directly to rumors in the media, but that’s what uber-producer Timbaland did when he heard a ‘leak’ about the follow-up to his hugely successful Shock Value album.

He got in touch with MTV and cleared up the situation – which claimed he had secured Justin Timberlake, Usher and Gwen Stefani to appear on the album.

"It’s funny," Timbo said about the surprisingly detailed report, which claimed it was based on an advance preview of five tracks from the album. "I’m surprised people are watching me like that. I am recording the album, but I don’t know none of them joints, none of them songs. That’s just bogus."

As for an official track listing, the production wizard was mum — and he didn’t confirm or deny whether any of the artists listed in the report will appear on the album. He did speak generally about the album’s direction, however.

Now, what I am shocked about is that there’s been no denial that he’s naming the album Shock Value 2. That really is a shockingly bad album title…

But in other interesting news, Timbaland reminds us that he’s going to be producing the next solo album from Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, Chris Cornell. Considering Cornell’s metal pedigree, I’ll be lining up to hear what a hip-hop producer can do for him!