Saucy Santana says the goons who shot him and his friends in a drive-by might be from the same strip club where he was pulling girls away from straight dudes.

We talked to the rapper Wednesday while he was still in his hospital gown ... just a few hours after he and 2 pals were shot in Miami following a late night at a gentleman's club called The Office. Santana makes no bones about it, he thinks this was homophobic retaliation.

Check out his rationale ... Santana, who is openly gay, tells us he believes guys he'd seen at the club were pissed because he and his crew were getting all the love from female strippers.

He posted video of himself partying it up, and he certainly wasn't shying away from the spotlight there ... even doing a little twerking himself. He says he was just having a good time and tipping the dancers, but he believes straight guys there didn't appreciate it one bit.

Fast-forward to around 4 AM ET ... and Santana's friend's Honda was riddled with bullets. A rep for the Florida Highway Patrol tells us a white Chevy sedan pulled up alongside them and opened fire with 6 to 7 shots.

Santana and one pal were shot in the arm, and the third friend was hit in the hand. All of them were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Harvey Weinstein's long battle with his accusers appears to be winding down, he's reached a tentative $25 million settlement with dozens of his alleged victims ... TMZ has confirmed.

The deal, struck Wednesday, means the disgraced studio mogul will NOT be required to admit any wrongdoing or pay anything to his accusers himself. Insurance companies repping The Weinstein Company will shell out the full amount.

More than 30 women accused Weinstein of a variety of allegations ... ranging from sexual harassment to rape. The alleged victims -- from actresses and former employees -- will share the payout ... with 18 alleged victims splitting $6.2 million and no individual getting more than $500k. There's a separate chunk -- $18.5 million -- that'll be set aside for those in a class-action case and future claimants.

The total payout is actually $47 million ... with a huge chunk covering legal costs. The settlement means that all civil suits against Weinstein and The Weinstein Company will also get dismissed. The New York Times was first to report the story.

Genie Harrison, a lawyer for one of the victims, told The NYT,  "I don’t think there’s a markedly better deal to be made. We have really, truly done the best we can under the circumstances, and it’s important for other victims to know this, come forward and be able to get the best level of compensation we were able to get.”

A$AP Rocky is back in the land of milk and honey -- where he was once jailed for weeks on end -- and despite some stormy weather, he's having a blast with locals this time around.

Flacko was seen leaving his hotel in Stockholm Wednesday a few hours before he's set to take the stage at the Ericsson Globe arena. A$AP had one of his handlers holding an umbrella, but he's hardly trying to go incognito.

This is the first time Rocky's been back in Sweden since he was released from custody in August, during his assault trial ... and he's spending a lot of time in "the slums" ... his words. He'd told us he wanted to go to an area known as the "no go zone" to spend time with underprivileged fans -- and he's true to word.

You'll recall ... A$AP also wanted to go back to the prison where he was held for a month to perform for the inmates. Prison officials seemed open to it at first -- but he got shot down at the last second, when he finally submitted a formal request.

Sweden's Prison and Probation Service cited overcrowding at their facility and other security and logistical concerns for not accommodating the rapper.

All good though ... he's gonna do his own thing across the way in front of folks who love him. No harm, no foul.

Boxing legend Leon Spinks -- who famously beat Muhammad Ali in 1978 -- is fighting for his life in a Vegas hospital, TMZ Sports has learned ... and his wife is asking for prayers.

Details surrounding the 66-year-old's condition are unclear -- but we know his family and friends are very concerned.

In fact, Leon's wife, Brenda, went to social media saying, "Reaching out to ask you to kindly send some prayers out for my Beautiful Husband Leon so that he may overcome the obstacles that have crossed his path."

Spinks has fought back from serious medical situations in the past -- he was hospitalized in 2014 after a piece of bone from a chicken wing caused major damage to his intestines.

The boxer underwent several surgeries and spent weeks recovering at a rehabilitation center.

Spinks is a boxing legend -- he was inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017.

His 1978 victory over Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight championship of the world is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in boxing history.

Pro golfer Tommy Gainey -- famously known as Tommy "Two Gloves" -- was arrested in a major prostitution sting in Florida ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The 44-year-old was 1 of 124 people busted in an undercover investigation in Polk County, Florida dubbed, "Operation Santa's Naughty List."

According to officials, Gainey was arrested for soliciting a prostitute -- and is facing a 1st-degree misdemeanor solicitation charge.

The sting op was a 6-day investigation using undercover detectives to target prostitution, human trafficking and child predators.

Cops say they used Internet advertisements to arrange meetings between the detectives and suspects.

Officials presented a "Naughty List" showing all 124 people arrested -- Gainey is on the board.

Jail records show Gainey was booked on Dec. 8 and was released on Dec. 9 after posting bail.

Sheriff Grady Judd explained the situation moments ago ...

"He's married. He told us he was here for a charity golf event and it was supposed to be in the next morning tee off. He didn't make it. He was a scratch."

Judd added, "We charged him with soliciting. He missed his tee time the next morning."

Gainey has been a pro golfer since 1997 and joined the PGA Tour in 2008, where he gained notoriety for wearing gloves on both hands, unusual in the sport.

He's never won a major tourney but he's become a fan favorite for the way he dresses and plays -- in particular, he has a unique swing.

Gainey has had major sponsors over the years -- from Under Armour to Adams Golf and A.O. Smith.

Disney's got trust issues ... it's being sued for straight-up jacking a battle cry that a breast cancer awareness company says has been theirs for more than a decade.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ...  Trust Your Journey -- a Nevada-based company formed as a result of a personal fight and victory over breast cancer -- is suing the Mouse House claiming the company's illegally slapping its slogan, "Trust Your Journey," on "Frozen 2" merch.

If you've seen the movie, you know that's basically Anna and Elsa's theme. But, in the suit, Trust Your Journey says Disney's slapped the slogan on t-shirts, posters, jewelry and tons of other stuff ... despite its trademark on the phrase.

The fact cops were all over Juice WRLD multiple times -- including an NYC bust last year -- pisses off his friends, who think cops were merely profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets.

Sources who regularly interacted with Juice and were close to him tell TMZ ... all of the run-ins he had with cops are more than suspicious. The fact feds just happened to show up at multiple airports where he and/or his private jet were searched is enough for Juice's inner circle to believe this might well have something to do with race and rappers.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Juice got arrested in 2018 at NYC's La Guardia Airport after officers responded to a call for "prohibited items" found inside one of his checked bags. We're told the items included a small amount of marijuana and bottles of codeine cough syrup.

Fat Joe won't get in between Nick Cannon and Eminem's fresh rap beef -- even though he helped start it -- but what he will support ... a good, old-fashioned battle of the bars.

We got Joey Crack in NYC Tuesday and asked for the man himself to weigh in on how this war of words is unfolding between NC and Slim Shady. After all, he did let Em get on his track, "Lord Above," and throw the initial barbs about Nick's baby mama, Mariah Carey.

In his feature, Eminem says he tried warning Nick about Mariah before the "Wild 'N Out" host "got his jewels clipped" and goes on to say Nick is "p***y whipped" ... not to mention calling him out by name. It all dates back to a decade-old beef Em seemed eager to revive.

Now, back to Joe ... the guy actually tried claiming innocence with us, saying he's nothing more than a bystander here who's worked with and respects both guys. FJ tells us he bears no responsibility -- even though it was his song that kicked this off.

Antonio Brown is going off -- again -- blasting everyone from Ben Roethlisberger to the "racist" NFL and even knocking the XFL in the process.

It all started with AB trying to point out the NFL's inconsistency when it comes to the way different players are treated in the wake of negative allegations.

Brown alludes to his former Pittsburgh Steelers teammate, Anthony Chickillo -- who was arrested this year for allegedly attacking his girlfriend.

Chickillo (who is white) was placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List and missed 2 games -- but was allowed to rejoin the team once prosecutors decided to drop the case.

The NFL is still actively investigating -- and Chickillo could face discipline in the future, but for now he's active and playing ... and AB is upset.

"Guess all mighty @nfl can hold players out against there will no criminal charges pending nothing but A Caucasian player gets a domestic go to jail still out there playing targeted hate against us everywhere my peeps."

Of course, Brown hasn't played since Week 2 as the NFL investigates rape allegations made by his former trainer, Britney Taylor.

The flaw in Brown's comparison is AB is a free agent and teams can sign him if they want -- but so far, no one wants to take the risk.

During his Wednesday morning Twitter sesh, Brown also addressed Ben Roethlisberger -- retweeting two people who brought up Ben's sexual assault cases.

AB didn't comment specifically on Ben's legal issues but did engage one critic who wrote, "Ab a real loser. Big Ben made that bum. Soon as Ben was done with him he was out the league."

Brown replied, "Check his stats before I came n I was done with that loser long time ago."

Yeesh.

When another person suggested AB should join the XFL, the WR shot that down hard too.

"No way," Brown wrote ... "they run the media they set me up clowns."

Chris Brown just introduced the world to his new baby son ... Aeko Catori Brown.

CB posted the first pic of his and Ammika Harris' new son Wednesday on Instagram. He simply captioned it with his son's name. Ammika posted the same picture on her Instagram Story and captioned it, "Forever won't be enough with you."

As we reported back in November ... Chris welcomed his second child with his ex. At the time, both of them posted cryptic messages on social media alluding to the birth of their child.

Chris had posted a pic of himself smiling and looking down at something off-camera with the caption of the date ... 11-20-19. We now know he was proudly looking down at Aeko. Ammika had also alluded to the child's birth on her Instagram Story, writing ... "I was in love, when I first saw you."

This is CB and Ammika's first child together. It's Ammika's first child and CB's second child. He has a 5-year-old daughter named Royalty with Nia Guzman.

Lizzo's mic cut out repeatedly at a big gig in Indianapolis, but she didn't just get named Entertainer of the Year for nothing ... and made sure the show went on.

The "Truth Hurts" singer was the headliner Tuesday night at the 99.5 ZPL Jingle Jam at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, but midway through her second song, "Cuz I Love You" ... technical glitches made things less than good as hell.

Lizzo's wireless microphone went silent and she didn't know it, and for some reason ... nobody alerted her until she'd powered through the rest of the track unaware nobody could hear her.

Before going live on one of the most-watched daytime talk shows, this curly girl was tearing it up in New Jersey. The former high school cheerleader was discovered while performing in her senior high school play, "The Ugly Duckling."

She's since had a stellar career that included a long run on "All My Children." She ultimately married her costar and they had 3 beautiful children. She's been the cohost of a syndicated morning talk show since 2001. She and her hubby started their own production company and in 2014 she was named one of the most powerful people in media.

President Trump's reelection campaign apparently likes to think of their boss as an equal to the destroyer of worlds, the villainous Thanos ... but the 'Avengers' character's creator is NOT having it.

A Twitter account managed by Trump's reelection team posted a super-produced clip in which DT's head is superimposed over Thanos' body from 'Infinity War' ... and he snaps his Democratic enemies -- who just introduced articles of impeachment -- to dust.

They captioned the post, "House Democrats can push their sham impeachment all they want. President Trump's re-election is 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲." Funny, right? WRONG ... so says the comic book writer and artist who brought Thanos to life back in 1973. He ain't laughing.

Jim Starlin -- the creator of Thanos -- says he finds it pretty disturbing that Trump's goons are comparing him to a mass murderer -- Thanos literally goes around blowing up planets in "The Avengers." He says, "How sick is that? These are sad and strange times we are going through. Fortunately all things, even national nightmares, eventually come to an end."

Starlin also said he felt violated by the creative hijacking, and said DT has an infantile ego.

Funny enough ... the scene of Thanos snapping that Trump's team used in their hypercut is actually from the part where he dies in the final movie. Spoiler alert ... Tony Stark ends up with all the Infinity Stones, and then snaps Thanos and his henchmen to oblivion.

Tyler, the Creator's new piece pays homage to himself, his alter ego and his latest album ... and it's helping a celebrity jeweler close out the year with a bang.

The eccentric rapper's chain features a pendant of IGOR -- the alter ego he debuted this year -- and it's dripping in a variety of diamonds. Blue, black, white and even chocolate and cognac diamonds, to be specific!

It's made out of 18k gold and comes with a shiny "T" clasp for the chain and "IGOR" emblazoned on the back.

The jeweler, Ben Baller, points out the intricacies of the piece ... including how the gradient levels of brown match Tyler's IGOR's skin tone when the light hits it, and how you can make out the curvature of the nose.

Baller's clearly proud of his handiwork -- which he says is his final piece of the decade -- and Tyler is too. Good reason for pride all round ... the thing cost $275,000!!!