Barack and Michelle Obama may soon become Kennedy adjacent because we've learned they're in escrow for a remarkable, mega-expensive, Martha's Vineyard estate.
Multiple island sources tell us the Obamas are in escrow for the estate owned by Boston Celtics owner, Wyc Grousbeck. The former Prez and First Lady have been renting the house this summer and loved it so much, we've learned they made an offer. The property is listed at $14,850,000. Our sources say they're paying less, but we don't know how much.
The estate -- incredible. It's 29 beachfront acres. The main residence is just shy of 6,900 square feet. It has 7 bedrooms, so Sasha and Malia have a place to crash, along with several of their friends. It has the obligatory pool, an outdoor fireplace, a chef's kitchen, vaulted ceilings and 2 guest wings. It has incredible views, especially while soaking in the second-floor balcony Jacuzzi.
The beachfront is private ... and comes with a boathouse.
Downside -- only a 2-car garage!!! Sorry kids.
The estate is listed by the realtors who dominate the area -- Tom LeClair and Gerret Conover. They did not return our calls.
The estate is currently in escrow and it's not a done deal just yet. We're told there are contingencies so it's possible it could fall apart, but we're told so far it's a go.
The late Stan Lee -- who co-created 'Spider-Man' -- would've been happy over the news that Sony pumped the brakes on giving Disney control of his character ... so says his daughter.
Sony's move to limit control over 'Spider-Man' -- and potentially remove the superhero entirely from Disney's Marvel Comic Universe -- is one that was necessary and something Stan would have appreciated ... so says his daughter, Joan Celia (JC) Lee.
ICYMI ... reports surfaced Tuesday that Sony and Disney reached a standstill in negotiating Spidey's future under Disney's umbrella, including any 'Avengers' spin-offs/sequels. Insiders told Deadline it was all about money ... Disney wanted a 50/50 stake in 'Spider-Man'-related revenue, and also wanted Marvel honcho Kevin Feige to be the guiding hand.
Welp, Sony was reportedly not too down with that -- they own the rights to 'Spider-Man,' and until now had partnered with Disney to crank out these last few films. That's all over now.
As for how the Lees feel about it, JC tells us ... "Marvel and Disney seeking total control of my father's creations must be checked and balanced by others who, while still seeking to profit, have genuine respect for Stan Lee and his legacy." AKA ... cameos don't cut it.
She goes on ... "Whether it's Sony or someone else's, the continued evolution of Stan's characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view."
“When my father died, no one from Marvel or Disney reached out to me. From day one, they have commoditized my father’s work and never shown him or his legacy any respect or decency.”
JC's parting words ... "In the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney's executives."
Justin and Hailey Bieber are set to say their "I dos" again in a place that's way off their usual paths -- but, obviously, they've fallen for the charms of South Carolina.
The Biebers finally sent out their save the dates, and TMZ got a sneak peek at the comic book-style card announcing their 2nd nuptials. It's short on specifics -- this isn't the formal invitation -- but says the ceremony and party are going down Sept. 30 in South Carolina.
You'll recall ... this is Justin and Hailey's 4th attempt to get their wedding party on the books -- and it looks like the couple has finally settled on a time and place to pull the trigger.
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Now, on the face of it, ya think ... what gives? Justin and Hailey have no special connection to the Palmetto State. The Biebs has nothing but Canadian roots, and of course, the Baldwins are New Yorkers through and through.
So, it appears their choice boils down to nothing more than -- WE LIKE THIS PLACE!!!
Justin and Hailey were spotted last week around Palmetto Bluff -- a gorgeous waterfront area on the May River, which is a major tourist attraction. Bieber's also been there before, on tour and otherwise, and seems to dig it.
The southern charm must have rubbed off on Hailey too. Truth is, South Carolina's known for stunning wedding venues, so it's not as odd a venue as you were thinking.
Here's another little nugget we found -- our sources tell us party planner to the stars, Mindy Weiss, is putting the Biebers' shindig together. She's done events for the Kardashians, Heidi Klum, Ellen DeGeneres, Ciara, Diana Ross, Katy Perry ... and tons more.
The only question now -- will you have the catfish or the shrimp???
Tommy Lee wanted a bite at Emeril's, but all he got was the boot ... he says he got thrown outta the joint because he dropped an F-BOMB when staff asked him to take off his hat.
The Motley Crue drummer and his new wife, internet personality Brittany Furlan, were at LAX Tuesday when they broke down their dinner fiasco in New Orleans ... they say the people running Emeril's Delmonico lost their lids over some caps and a harmless curse.
Tommy and Brittany say they were both wearing hats when they entered the fancy establishment Tuesday night, but only he was asked to remove his ... and that's when all hell broke loose.
Ya gotta hear Tommy defend his use of the F-word with more "f**k yous" ... and stick around to watch him go digging for gold.
There's no beef with Emeril himself ... but sounds like Tommy and Brittany will be dining elsewhere next time they're in New Orleans. Can't blame 'em, plenty of good eats in that town!!!
Future, 21 Savage and fellow Atlanta rapper Big Bank Black gave back to their community in the funnest way possible ... AND helped everyone stay cool in the process.
The rappers rented out the entire water park at Six Flags White Water in the ATL Wednesday, and seemingly invited everyone from their Zone 6 neighborhood to get some relief from the summer heat at an epic "hood day."
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We're told the 3 hip-hop stars dropped around $300k on this year's celebration for Zone 6, which included free food and drinks for everyone. Savage and Big Bank joined in on the good times on the lazy river too.
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Other celebs who got wet and wild at the park included Tommie Lee from 'L&HH' and reality star Shekinah Anderson. There was also no shortage of chicken fights and surprise dunking ... 21 Savage even fell victim!!!
Mario Woods would be "honored" to know his 2015 shooting death inspired Colin Kaepernick to begin his social justice campaign ... so says Mario's mom who's praising CK as a hero.
We spoke with Gwendolyn Woods who tells us she was "overwhelmed" when she read the PAPER Magazine article in which Colin says Mario's "execution" at the hands of San Francisco police officers essentially led to his kneeling protest during the National Anthem.
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Woods tells TMZ Sports ... she believes Colin has been doing great work putting a spotlight on police violence and applauds him for "putting his money where his mouth is."
As we previously reported, Mario was shot 21 times by SFPD officers who were responding to reports of a stabbing in the area. Mario was holding a knife and cops claimed he was a threat so they opened fire. But, cell phone video NEVER showed Woods getting aggressive with police. Gwendolyn sued the City of SF and got a $400,000 settlement in 2018.
Now, with Colin mentioning Mario's name again -- his story is back in the headlines and Gwendolyn says she's extremely grateful to Kaepernick.
"He should know that he's impacted a family and a community that never had a platform, never had a voice," Woods says ... "I am very proud of him."
Gwendolyn says Mario was a huge 49ers fan -- so aside from the social justice work, she thinks Mario would have gotten a huge kick out of knowing the starting QB of his favorite team was inspired by him.
"To feel that someone of Colin Kaepernick's stature spoke his name ... spoke truth to his light, yeah, I like to think my child can rest a little easier."
This smiling schoolgirl would go on to become an honor student and prom queen in high school, a beauty pageant pro, a movie star and ultimately ... an Oscar winner.
After winning Miss Ohio USA in 1986, she was the first-runner up in the Miss USA contest ... losing out to Miss Texas. A few years later, she moved to NYC to pursue her acting dream ... and it worked out VERY well!!!
She made her TV debut on a 1989 sitcom costarring Leah Remini, and landed her first film role in a Spike Lee joint in 1991. The '90s saw her star continue to rise as she starred in movies along with the likes of Eddie Murphy and Warren Beatty.
Like most big stars, she got cast in a superhero role shortly afterward, and took home the Academy Award for Best Actress in another film in 2001 ... making her the only black woman to do so. Oh, and she's also been a 'Bond' girl.
Recently, she's been seen kicking ass in the 'Kingsman' and 'John Wick' films.
Drake and Big Freedia have a New Orleans musician in his feelings ... according to a new lawsuit, he says the rappers straight-up jacked his beats and passed them off as their own.
Samuel Nicholas III -- who goes by Sam Skully -- is suing the rappers claiming they used his beat for their hit collab, "In My Feelings." He also claims Drake stole another one of his beats for his wildly successful track, "Nice For What"
According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Sam Skully claims Drake and Big Freedia sampled a portion of his 2000 track, "Roll Call," but they never asked for permission and never forked over any dough.
In the docs, Sam Skully claims he published the beat on a CD he released in New Orleans way back in 2000, but says he didn't know his work had been stolen until years later ... when Drake and Big Freedia released songs that started climbing the charts.
Sam Skully is also going after a ton of huge record companies -- Asylum Records, Cash Money Records and Republic Records -- and he's suing for damages.
We reached out to Drake ... so far, radio silence.
Tee Grizzley is mourning the loss of his manager after his car was riddled with bullets Tuesday night as he rode around Detroit.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the deadly shooting went down Tuesday night, when a gunman opened fire on Tee Grizzley's Cadillac Escalade. We're told the rapper's manager, Jobina Brown, was sitting in the back seat.
Our sources say the SUV had stopped and Tee Grizzley was getting out of the front passenger seat as the shooter approached on foot and pulled the trigger ... hitting Jobina in her left side. The driver of the SUV told cops he heard Jobina scream right before 3 to 4 shots were fired.
We're told it's unclear if Tee Grizzley was targeted in the attack -- but neither he nor the driver were hit.
Our sources say Tee stayed behind at the scene while the driver called police, and an ambulance rushed his manager to a hospital ... where she died from her wounds. Jobina was 41.
Aaliyah lives on in many forms, and now there's a new wax figure to celebrate her incredible life.
Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas just unveiled its very first wax sculpture of the late R&B singer, immortalizing Aaliyah in one of her iconic looks.
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The spot-on wax statue is being rolled out Wednesday night in the heart of the Vegas strip, with a special unveiling for Aaliyah's family and a bunch of celebs.
Honchos at Madame Tussauds tell TMZ ... Aaliyah's wax figure was inspired by the music video for her smash hit, "Try Again," and the details are down to a T ... with the exact same outfit, hair style, makeup and lower-back tattoo.
We're told the designer worked closely with Aaliyah's fam, especially her brother Rashad Haughton, to ensure the sculpture brought her character back to life.
As you know ... Aaliyah died in a plane crash way back in 2001, but she's still got a huge following ... and fans will be able to check out her wax statue this summer in the same exhibit as other stars from the 1990s.
Rachael Harris -- famous for playing the super bitchy fiance in "The Hangover" -- is calling it quits on her real-life marriage ... she just filed for divorce.
The actress filed docs to divorce Christian Hebel on Wednesday after over four years of marriage. The couple has two young children together, 3-year-old Henry and 1-year-old Otto.
It's not clear what led to the split.
Rachael and Christian tied the knot back in May 2015, and a bunch of celebs went to their wedding ... including Kelly Ripa and Neil Patrick Harris. They got married at New York City Hall.
The timing of the filing is interesting ... just 5 days ago she canceled a scheduled appearance for a convention for the TV show, "Lucifer," on which she is a main character, citing personal reasons.
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Rachael has tons of acting credits ... including the 2010 flick "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and a long-standing role on "Suits." Christian is a violinist on Broadway.
Taylor Swift's cooked up a plan to get back at Scooter Braun for buying the rights to her early music -- so SHE will own the new masters -- but she's got some legal hurdles to overcome first.
The singer told "CBS News Sunday Morning" -- in an interview airing this weekend -- she will rerecord her past songs she'd originally done while signed to Big Machine ... the label Scooter bought a few months back.
As you know ... Taylor was PISSED and went on a rant against Scooter for snapping up her early catalog -- but her plan to cover her own songs won't exactly hurt Scooter the way she thinks it will. Industry experts tell TMZ ... every label, including Big Machine, has a rerecord clause in its contracts with artists. The clause prevents the artist from rerecording on another label, or on their own, and marketing those rerecordings.
Now, we're told that clause usually has an expiration date. We don't know when Big Machine's clause expires, but even when it does ... there's another roadblock. Experts tell us it's called an original production clause -- and it prevents the artist from copying the OG version. So, when and if Taylor remakes her Big Machine tunes ... she will have to deviate from the first versions.
Taylor's revenge scheme has been pulled off before ... most notably by Prince during his battles with Warner Bros. Records. However, in his case, the rerecordings ended up making the originals more valuable. In other words ... Taylor could unwittingly end up putting more cash in Scooter's pockets.
From what music industry experts are telling us, though, Scooter can't be too concerned with Taylor's plan because his $300 million investment in Big Machine has already been a boon. We're told the company's full catalog -- not only Taylor's songs -- is now valued at close to $1 BILLION!!
So, Taylor WILL get something -- she'll own her new master recordings -- but if she's just doing it for revenge ... it might not be a great play.
Larry King's wife, Shawn, is not going to declare war on her now-estranged husband who just filed for divorce ... because she's been told by doctors he's dying.
Sources who have spoken directly with Shawn tell TMZ, Shawn has had issues with Larry for years -- and Larry with her -- but she says there's a bigger issue. Larry's been in and out of the hospital over the last 6 months, and she says doctors have told her Larry doesn't have much longer to live.
We're told Larry was at Cedars-Sinai Cardiac ICU in late April, at the same time John Singleton was in ICU. Our sources say doctors told her Larry might only have a short time to live -- they were clearly wrong. Larry was transferred to a 24-hour care facility and then went back to the hospital.
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TMZ broke the story ... Larry filed for divorce Tuesday because we're told their 2 kids came to him and urged him to divorce her. A source on Shawn's side says only one of their children urged him to divorce her.
As for what triggered things ... we're told Shawn came to Larry's bedside and asked him to adjust his will/trust. Sources connected to Larry say Shawn's endgame was to get more for herself and screw the kids out of their inheritance. Sources on Shawn's side call BS, saying the estate planning lawyer told Larry and Shawn to update the docs and when she was told he had days to live she was merely following through, but in no way tried to screw over her kids.
The couple would have celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in 2 weeks. This is his 8th marriage.
Scottie Pippen's estranged wife, Larsa Pippen, says she is NOT hooking up with NBA superstar Ben Simmons ... adamantly denying she was getting close to the hooper earlier this week.
There were reports Pippen and Kendall Jenner's recent ex-boyfriend were looking like a couple at The Highlight Room on Monday night ... with the non-couple leaving within minutes of each other that night.
The news would be a MAJOR deal in the Kardashian world since Larsa is BFFs with Kim and Kourtney. #SCANDALOUS!!
But, Larsa is having NONE of that talk ... saying she never even saw the 23-year-old Sixers point guard that night ... and would NEVER betray a family friend a la Jordyn Woods.
"I never even saw him, let alone left with him," Larsa said in a heated IG story. "He dated my bff's sister and I would never."
Liam Hemsworth is the one who's pulling the plug on his marriage, because TMZ has learned he just filed for divorce from Miley Cyrus.
Liam filed legal docs in L.A. ... citing the standard "irreconcilable differences."
Sources connected to the couple tell TMZ, Liam and Miley had a prenup, keeping their earnings during the marriage separate, so there won't be a fight over money. And, since there are no kids, we're told the divorce will be easy breezy.
The handwriting was on the wall for weeks ... Miley and Liam announced their separation August 10, after less than a year of marriage. Our sources tell us Liam is "over the marriage" and just wants to move on.
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The day before telling the world she split from Liam, Miley was spotted making out with her longtime friend, Kaitlynn Carter, at Lake Como in Italy. There were allegations of infidelity, although it appeared the couple had split months before.
The date of separation is relevant, not so much legally, but in terms of PR. In the docs, filed by disso queen Laura Wasser, she does not list a date of separation ... it reads TBD -- to be determined.
Here's what's interesting ... our sources say, despite appearances, Miley had made overtures as recently as this week, saying she wanted to work on the marriage, but Liam was steadfast that it was over. We're told fact is, Liam's people said he would be "insane" to jump back in.
Liam and Miley had been drifting apart for some time ... Liam was photographed in June grocery shopping without his wedding ring.
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The breakup started out amicable, but it quickly turned nasty, with claims of drug use and infidelity. She released a song last week, "Slide Away," which we're told is her version of the split, blaming it on Liam's alleged penchant for whisky and pills ... something he strongly denies.
4:25 PM PT -- We just got Star out in NYC who says the NYPD was absolutely the force that shut the event down. She said cops hounded school officials, telling them the end couldn't happen.
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12:08 PM PT -- More bad news for Cardi -- another back-to-school giveaway planned for today in The Bronx has been canceled. She says the NYPD called it off due to safety concerns ... but she's flummoxed, claiming there haven't been any issues at similar recent events.
Cardi chooses her words about this cancellation a bit more carefully than she did Wednesday morning, but it's clear she's agitated and disappointed ... and offers an apology to the Highbridge school missing out on free school supplies.
She announced the giveaway a few days ago along with the now-postponed Brooklyn school event.
9:11 AM PT -- The NYC Department of Education is weighing in on the controversy and clarifying what exactly happened and why. A rep for the NYCDOE, Miranda Barbot, tells TMZ ... the event Cardi was ranting about is NOT canceled, but merely postponed for security reasons.
She tells us, "This is a misunderstanding and the event will not be canceled. The Principal of Brooklyn Democracy Academy was not previously aware Cardi B was planning to attend her back-to-school event, and she was concerned there would not be enough security in place. We are working with the NYPD to make sure this event is a success, and they were not involved in canceling this event." That backs NYPD's understanding of the sitch.
The good news ... these kids are still gonna get their back-to-school drive. No harm, no foul?
8:39 AM PT -- NYPD had nothing to do with shutting down the back-to-school event in Brooklyn ... according to law enforcement sources. We're told the school shut it down, and cops were never involved ... they didn't know about the event until Cardi posted her rant.
We don't know if Cardi's gotten word about that, but she has deleted the IG post with her rant.
Cardi B is FUMING over the NYPD allegedly shutting down her pal's back-to-school event -- and speaking of fumes, she wants New York's finest to choke on hers.
The Bronx-born rapper went on a tear Tuesday night, calling out the NYPD for what she says were bullying tactics that effectively torpedoed her friend Star's school giveaway for kids coming back to school. Safe to say, CB's nuclear.
She claims the NYPD got ahead of this charitable event that was scheduled for later this month after they caught wind of it, called up the school principal and scared them into backing down. Cardi says she finds that "f***** up," seeing how Star paid out of pocket.
Not to mention the fact she was genuinely out to help the kids of this neighborhood.
Then, Cardi goes IN on the NYPD, saying ... "F*** you and motherf***ing suck a fart and suffocate on it. F*** you!!!" ending with a middle finger to the camera for good measure.
If there's one thing we know about Cardi, it's that she loves the kids -- she went out and surprised some from her old neighborhood last year -- and doesn't dig cops. As you know, she's currently in the middle of fighting charges in her strip club beatdown case.
Our law enforcement sources in the area tell TMZ that the department is aware of Cardi's gripe, and they're trying to clear up what's been dubbed internally as a "miscommunication."
In the meantime ... suck it, NYPD!!! Farts, that is ... if that's even possible.
