Carrie Prejean -- the dethroned Miss California USA -- is in meltdown mode because of a solo sex tape.
Prejean -- who made headlines for her stand against gay marriage and her strong ties to fundamentalist religion -- is supposed to appear on "Today" next week to push her new book.. "Today" producers have called TMZ, making it clear the interview has changed and they want details on the sex tape.
TMZ has also received calls from CNN, FOX and various other outlets asking for info.
The reason they're all calling TMZ -- we obtained the tape several months ago but decided not to run it because it was too racy.
As we first reported, Prejean and Miss California USA officials had sued each other and were in settlement talks last week. Sources tell us Prejean was demanding more than $1 million but when Pageant officials showed her they had a copy of the tape, it took less than a minute for Prejean to fold and walk away with nothing in her pocket.
Prejean had sued the Pageant for allegedly firing her because of her beliefs and disclosing confidential information about her -- including her breast implants. The Pageant countersued, claiming Prejean had repeatedly violated the terms of being Miss Cali USA.
The reason the tape became such a smoking gun -- under Pageant rules, all contestants signed forms that gave assurance they had no nude videos or pictures in their past.
Chris Jericho Slurs Speech
WWE star Chris Jericho is wrestling with a pretty serious controversy -- after he made a slew of offensive slurs against Middle Easterners and gays.
Jericho was at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival two weeks ago ... for a screening of a movie in which he appears. During a Q&A session, Jericho referred to the moderator several times as "Hadji" -- a term sometimes used as a racial slur against Middle Easterners.
After the first wave of slurs -- and a random shot at Paris Hilton -- the host jokingly takes Jericho's drink to sniff it for booze, when Chris chimes back, "it's apple juice ... fag."
Jericho tells TMZ, "After seeing the video I realize some inappropriate comments were made and I apologize if I offended anybody." Jericho continues, "Just know that everyone on stage was having a blast and we all shared a drink and a laugh after! The good news is I got my wish of being posted on TMZ."
Yes you did, Chris.
Jude Law ... THIS IS YOUR BABY
Samantha Burke says Jude Law has yet to meet his six-week-old baby girl ... but if he happens to look through Burke's photos on Facebook, at least he'll know what little Sophia Lee looks like if he ever runs into her down the road.
Celebrity Park People
Public parks are a great place for stars to have a picnic, soak up some rays ... and dodge the occasional stranger danger.
You Belong in the Circus!
Step right up ... and check out the oddities of Hollywood -- we've got bearded ladies, tight rope walkers, jugglers and a half-woman/ half-fish!
And the best part ... no animals were harmed in the making of our circus!
Who's Your Daddy?
Can you guess whose famous genes spawned these cute kids?
Stretched Out
Celebrity faces aren't the only thing getting a good stretch in Hollywood. Yoga has become the new "IN" thing!
Ryan Seacrest's lawyers aren't taking any chances -- they just got a temporary restraining order against the alleged stalker who was arrested at the E! building today.
Under the terms of the restraining order, filed by Ryan's lawyer Blair Berk, Chidi Uzomah is ordered to stay 100 yards away from Ryan. Uzomah must stay clear of Ryan's home, job, vehicle. He can have no contact -- either direct or indirect -- with Seacrest.
We're told Seacrest's people fear Uzomah is a real danger. We're hearing Ryan's lawyers moved quickly so LAPD Threat Management detectives could serve Uzomah with the TRO while he's still being interrogated at the jail. As we first reported, Uzomah is being held on felony stalking.
Chidi was convicted of three misdemeanors last month after attacking Ryan's bodyguard at a hospital in Orange County. He had a knife in his pocket. Uzomah pled guilty to three misdemeanors and was placed on probation. One term of probation -- stay away from Ryan. The D.A. is now considering whether to ask the judge to violate Uzomah's probation.
Uzomah was taken into custody earlier today ... moments after showing up to the E! building in Los Angeles with a knife. He also showed up at a radio station in Burbank earlier this month, looking for Ryan.
Jon Gosselin may be on the hunt for a new lawyer soon, because we've learned the person who sponsored New York attorney Mark Heller to appear on Gosselin's behalf in Pennsylvania has formally made a motion with the court to withdraw his support.
Attorney Mike Marino filed his motion today, saying he wants to wash his hands of the whole case. Marino told us he had never had contact with Heller until Mr. Heller found him in a legal directory, cold called him and asked Marino to sponsor him for a one-time-only case -- Jon vs. Kate.
Marino says he had never heard of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" when he agreed to sponsor Heller. As Marino put it, "I don't watch that kind of junk on TV."
The judge will schedule a hearing on Marino's motion. We also learned Marino sent the judge a letter last week requesting out of the whole case.
If Heller doesn't find a new sponsor, he can't practice in PA.
Dr. Conrad Murray is finally breaking his silence about his ongoing child support case to TMZ, claiming he and his new lawyer are determined to make all the Doc's non Jacko-related problems go away.
Murray only has four more days to report to a Las Vegas court before a judge will issue a bench warrant for his arrest for missing a child support hearing on Oct. 7.
But Murray's new lawyer, Chris Aaron, tells TMZ that Team Murray is desperately trying to work out a "temporary resolution" with the District Attorney's office.
Aaron says Murray has a perfectly good explanation for going MIA, saying, "It was not intentional missing his court date -- it was simply an oversight. Dr. Murray has every intention of resolving and taking care of his personal responsibilities."
Murray is accused of stiffing baby mama Nenita Malibiran out of $13,311.47 in payments for their 10-year-old son. And in case you've been living under a rock ... he fueled Michael Jackson with Propofol which the L.A. County Coroner says killed him.
Under the category, "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" ... the lawyer who stepped in to vouch for Jon Gosselin's attorney has some deep regrets today, over a case he says is "so insignificant to me."
As we first reported, attorney Michael Marino was contacted by Jon's lawyer, Mark Heller, asking for help to get admitted to the Pennsylvania Baron a one-time-only basis. Marino tells TMZ he had never met or spoken with Heller before and thinks Heller randomly pulled his name out of a legal directory.
Marino says he agreed to do a solid for Heller and sponsor him so Heller could get permission from the judge to rep Jon.
Marino says at the time, he had no idea who Jon and Kate Gosselin were -- "The names didn't mean anything to me," Marino said, adding, "I thought it was some simple divorce case where some lawyer wanted to be introduced to the court."
Marino, who is semi-retired, says "I don't watch that kind of junk on TV. It was so insignificant to me." Marino told us when he realized the divorce was a contested mess, he wanted out, and it had nothing to do with the fact that Heller had been suspended by the New York State Bar for a variety of misdeeds.
Heller withdrew his sponsorship this past Thursday. The ball's in your court, Mark.
The Game is in a serious feud with the wrong gang of homies -- the lawyers who saved him from 5 years of hard time.
The legal team who repped the rapper in the wake of his 2007 arrest on gun charges claims Game never forked over $34,683.90 in bills for the work they did.
In the suit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court, the firm, Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert, claims they even got the guy "a successful outcome."
... and since Game was facing a potential five-year sentence in state prison ... and only ended up serving eight days ... you'd think he got his money's worth.
The lawyer for Michael Jackson's kids is set to appear in court for the first time today, as lawyers for the estate and Katherine Jackson's lawyers try to reach an agreement on merchandising all things Michael.
UPDATE 7:10 PM -- And we're done for the day. Biggest headline -- the judge has approved a major Jackson merchandising deal, but there is still one more deal (with AEG for a Jackson memorabilia tour) to be decided upon.
UPDATE 7:03 PM -- The judge has set an evidentiary hearing for Friday -- so the AEG deal won't be approved (or denied) until then.
UPDATE 6:45 PM -- An attorney for AEG says the company wants the deal taken care of this week.
UPDATE 6:41 PM -- And we're back on the record.
UPDATE 6:34 PM -- The judge has ordered a short recess in the hopes all sides can reach an agreement on the AEG deal today.
Where there's a high-profile story -- there are lawyers who want to be on TV. We have a warning.
WARNING: If any lawyer claims on TV he or she is representing Michael Jackson's estate or the Jackson family -- they're full of it, because we're told no one who is doing this has been retained in any capacity.
Kobe and Vanessa Bryant are striking back at the maid who accused Vanessa of various abuse on the job -- including an alleged incident where the maid was forced to stick her hand into a bag of dog crap.
The Bryant's lawyers, Loeb & Loeb LLP, just released the following statement on behalf of the couple:
We have learned that a former employee of the Bryants, Maria Jimenez, has filed a complaint against our clients. Ms. Jimenez's outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false. The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven.
The lawyers in Britney Spears' conservatorship case went to court this morning to ask the judge for... what else???? They want to hire more lawyers to defend Britney.
Brit's mouthpiece claims the singer needs two civil lawyers to defend her in Sam Lutfi's defamation case against Britney and her family. Here's the deal. The two lawyers will cost a grand total of $935 an hour. The judge gave the green light, so the Bank of Brit is fully open for business.
Spears is expected to keep the legal profession afloat during these hard economic times.
Brad Pitt struts his stuff on the cover of December's Vanity Fair -- and TMZ has learned that no one was more surprised to see the steamy cover on stands than Brad himself. A source close to Pitt tells TMZ that Brad shot the photos, taken by artist Robert Wilson, in September 2005, but didn't have any idea at the time -- or anytime since -- that they would be used for the cover of VF. Pitt had agreed to be in Wilson's avant-garde video art project last year, and signed a legal release at the time for the still and video images taken in the shoot. But until the Vanity Fair cover emerged this week, Pitt didn't know that he would be the magazine's coverboy.
Reps for Vanity Fair tell TMZ, "In a letter dated October 5, 2006, and sent to Pitt care of Brillstein-Grey [Pitt's managers], Wilson informed Pitt that a still image from his portrait was going to be featured in the December art issue of Vanity Fair." A source says that Pitt never saw the letter.
Pitt's lawyers are said to be weighing their legal options. His rep gave the following statement to TMZ: "We are very disappointed that Vanity Fair has chosen to put an unauthorized cover on their magazine. It seriously makes me question their integrity and motives."
A rep for Vanity Fair tells TMZ: "Brad Pitt posed for a Robert Wilson video portrait, and in the photo release (signed by Pitt), agreed to allow Wilson to use the portrait or any images from that sitting in connection with any publicity on Wilson's video project. Vanity Fair decided to do a story on Wilson's video portraits and obtained rights to the entire collection of photographs from those sittings, which included Pitt's."
Carrie Prejean -- the dethroned Miss California USA -- is in meltdown mode because of a solo sex tape.
Dr. Conrad Murray is finally breaking his silence about his ongoing child support case to TMZ, claiming he and his new lawyer are determined to make all the Doc's non Jacko-related problems go away.
The Game is in a serious feud with the wrong gang of homies -- the lawyers who saved him from 
The lawyer for Michael Jackson's kids is set to appear in court for the first time today, as lawyers for the estate and Katherine Jackson's lawyers try to reach an agreement on merchandising all things Michael.
Where there's a high-profile story -- there are lawyers who want to be on TV. We have a warning.
Kobe and Vanessa Bryant are striking back at the maid who accused Vanessa of various abuse on the job -- including an alleged incident where the maid was forced to stick her hand into a bag of dog crap. 
The lawyers in Britney Spears' conservatorship case went to court this morning to ask the judge for... what else???? They want to hire more lawyers to defend Britney.
