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Michael Jackson's estate is asking the court for permission to pay its various lawyers over $9 million for services rendered over the course of six years ... as they battle Paris Jackson's request for legal fees for a much shorter time frame.

The estate says the payday is earned ... noting that when MJ died in 2009, he had more than $500 million in debt accruing interest, which has since been paid off and then some.

Now ... the executor says the estate has been transformed into a $2 billion conglomerate ... and claims the lawyers and other professionals did this by betting on their ability to turn things around. The bill is for six years of work ... which includes everything from tax planning, trademarks, business deals, legal matters, and various other issues the estate deals with.

'Fast & Furious' is drifting past Griffith Observatory and straight onto the Hollywood Hills ... with scenes from the new Universal Studios ride lighting up the Hollywood Sign!

That's right ... Universal Studios Hollywood transformed the sign Thursday night into a tribute to the beloved action franchise to celebrate the opening of "Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift."

Check it out ... the basic white lettering is covered in the zooming lights of cars screaming by ... with "Fast & Furious" written in big letters across the "W."

Bobb'e J. Thompson -- a former child star known for playing Stanley on "That's So Raven" -- has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to a gun charge.

A judge in Iowa handed down the sentence on Thursday ... almost one year after cops say they pulled him over going 104 MPH in a 70 MPH zone.

Cops say they searched Thompson's bag during the stop and found packages of marijuana purchased at a dispensary and a loaded .40-caliber handgun ... which was allegedly stolen from a car in Kansas City, MO.

Thompson pled guilty to the charge back in April. He has been ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison ... and will be on 3 years of supervised release once he gets out.

Happy Thursday! Can you guess which actress started bustin' out of her dress at a Hollywood movie premiere?!?

This babe helped take down a couple of Ghostfaces for the new generation of "Scream" movies ... and recently you saw her on the Broadway adaptation of "Titanic."

Casey Boonstra and Maurissa Gunn are ridin' dirty on some ATVs, but which one's taking the wheel and who's giving you the bigger thrill?!

The question here is: Who'd You Rather?!

Guitar Center is speaking out after fake submissions swamped its contest to pick an opener for Ed Sheeran ... and the company says those folks won't be considered.

Here's the deal ... Guitar Center's "Open for Legends" contest -- which offers one artist a spot opening for Ed in Mexico City -- was flooded with submissions about Palestine among other topics after going live.

The entries were initially visible on the contest page before disappearing ... and Guitar Center tells TMZ the people responsible don't have a shot at taking the stage with Ed.

The company tells us ... "As with any open submission process, we received entries that were not legitimate applications to participate in the program."

Judge Judy says there could be real danger in letting Lindsay Clancy's murder case end with a hung jury ... and she thinks Lindsay should be back before a judge.

We got the famous TV judge out in NYC and asked what she made of Clancy's mistrial and whether she thinks the Massachusetts mom is guilty of murder.

Judy had a pretty simple take ... there's no question Clancy killed her three children, but whether there's an excuse for it is another matter.

Samuel Monroe Jr. -- famous for his work in "Menace II Society" -- died of respiratory failure and meningitis ... with pneumonia also playing a role.

TMZ obtained the actor's death certificate ... and it states Samuel's cause of death was respiratory failure and a coccidioidal meningitis infection.

Sepsis pneumonia is listed as a contributing factor ... and the doc states he's been buried at a Los Angeles cemetery.

Two women are suing Jeffrey Epstein's estate ... because they say their photos were found in his collection of child pornography.

A Jane Doe and a woman only identified as "Amy" filed the lawsuit in federal court earlier this week ... claiming they found out Epstein had half-naked photos of them in his collection after federal prosecutors seized them.

They're seeking class-action status for their lawsuit ... and calling on the feds to create a system of notifying the women in the photographs.

Tay Keith died from the toxic effects of drugs ... including ketamine and an active ingredient in kratom, TMZ has learned.

According to the Nashville Medical Examiner's Office ... Keith had ketamine and mitragynine in his system when he died. Mitragynine is a chemical compound found in kratom -- a tree from Southeast Asia that affects the brain's opioid receptors.

It's unclear if he was using kratom -- a federally legal substance -- at the time or if he somehow came into contact with the drug another way.

Mel B scored a legal victory earlier this month ... because her ex-husband's defamation case against her has been dismissed -- for now, at least.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, a Florida judge dismissed the case last week ... finding Mel doesn't have enough ties to the Sunshine State to justify litigating the case there.

Basically, the judge ruled that just because people in Florida might've read the claims in Mel's book -- which Stephen Belafonte claimed caused him to lose business deals and otherwise harmed his reputation in the state -- it wasn't sufficient for Florida to handle the proceedings.

A Florida mom allegedly confessed to having sex with her adult son about 100 times after a domestic violence call blew the lid off their disturbing relationship ... and now they're both facing incest charges.

Check out the new YouTube collab between TMZ and the New York Post, "The Low Down," where we bring you stories that are gripping, outrageous, and sometimes scandalous.

Dave Portnoy is firmly backing Robert Kraft in his feud with Macklemore ... calling the rapper antisemitic and praising the Patriots owner for standing up to Macklemore and stopping Macklemore from spitting in his face in his own stadium.

A judge has granted Haley Kalil's request to throw out her ex-husband Matt Kalil's lawsuit ... after she claimed his huge penis ended their marriage.

Haley tells TMZ ... "I am so relieved this is over. I never wanted to be in a courtroom discussing matters of my own life. I think this ruling is important and I hope it encourages women everywhere to speak openly about what they've been through. Your story belongs to you and you shouldn’t fear sharing it."

Haley's attorney, Matthew Bialick, tells TMZ ... "We are very pleased that the Court dismissed every count against Haley."

A.I. researchers are having a "Jurassic Park" moment ... watching rogue agents get smarter, bolder, and harder to contain ... and this analogy compares robots to fictional velociraptors.

Jeffrey Ladish, a former Anthropic security engineer and now executive director of Palisade Research, joined "TMZ Live" Thursday and said people inside A.I. companies are getting seriously freaked out.

Ladish compared it to "Jurassic Park" ... saying researchers are having that "clever girl" moment as bots figure out how to get around the fences.

Ms. Rachel is joining Macklemore's initiative to help raise money for Palestinians ... she committed to matching his $1 million donation and says "every wealthy white celebrity" should join the cause.

The popular children's creator revealed Thursday that she'd be donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund -- which totally makes sense ... she's one of their ambassadors!

Ms. Rachel wrote ... "I will match Macklemore's donation and I invite every wealthy white celebrity to match it and speak out against the genocide in Gaza."

Mike Sweetney, the Georgetown big who was an NY Knicks lottery pick in 2003, has died.

He was 43 years old.

Sweetney's wife, India, announced the tragic news on social media on Thursday, writing her family was “deeply saddened” over the loss of her best friend of 30 years and hubby of 20.

“His children were the light of his life,” India said.