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Cardi B just got some good news to kick off her weekend ... she says she's won a 5-year-long legal battle over the cover art for one of her mixtapes.

A federal jury in Santa Ana, CA found in favor of Cardi B Friday on all counts, and she walked out of court smiling about the victory, although she admits she was not super confident.

She gave props to her attorneys, but also those for the plaintiff ... saying both legal teams were amazing.

As we reported ... Cardi was sued back in 2017 over the cover art for her "Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1" mixtape ... which shows a guy with a ton of back tattoos performing oral sex on her. Kevin Brophy claimed the art used his image and his back tattoos without permission.

After a 4-day trial, the jury ruled Cardi's album cover did not cast Brophy in a false light or constitute a misappropriation of his likeness.

He had been seeking $5 million from Cardi, but with the verdict he's come up empty-handed.

Cardi sounds like she feels a weight lifted from her shoulders, tweeting about her emotional victory -- she says she is beyond grateful and wants to kiss God's feet.

CB says she was planning to cuss out Brophy if she won, but now that she has ... she says she doesn't have the heart to do it, and instead she's wishing him the best.

Brad Pitt's got a need for speed lately ... only this time he's trading in his bullet train for a super fast race car.

The "Bullet Train" star was in Austin, TX on Friday for the start of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

Brad is set to star in a new movie about F1, which is skyrocketing in popularity across the country ... with legendary driver Lewis Hamilton among the producers.

The upcoming film is said to have Brad playing a former racer turned team owner who comes out of retirement to coach up the next generation of drivers.

Brad's already looking the part ... slipping on a pair of bright orange ear muffs to protect from the sound of those powerful F1 engines.

The season finale for HBO's "House of the Dragon" has leaked online ahead of Sunday's airing ... and the streaming giant is pointing fingers at its distribution partner as the reason.

The final episode for the "Game of Thrones" prequel popped up illegally on torrent sites Friday, giving patiently-waiting fans a chance to see how the climactic season ends before the official air date.

HBO thinks it pin-pointed the problem, though -- in addition to yanking the episode from the web, a spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, "It appears to have originated from a distribution partner in the EMEA region,” which is located in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The company adds, “HBO is aggressively monitoring and pulling these copies from the internet" ... noting how disappointing it is for the show to leak early.

Kanye West has taken a lot of L's lately ... so he's hoping one person, who recently scored Johnny Depp a big W, can come to his rescue.

Sources close to Ye tell us he's recently hired Camille Vasquez and the Brown Rudnick firm. Vasquez should be a very familiar name ... she's the same attorney who gained global attention for her legal skills in the Amber Heard Trial.

We're told Camille will be among a group of attorneys representing Kanye's business interests -- contracts, deals, the works.

As we reported, Kanye's already lost one major partner in Balenciaga in the fallout from his continued antisemitic attacks, claims surrounding the death of George Floyd and when he wore a 'White Lives Matter' shirt to his Yeezy fashion show.

TMZ broke the story, Ye recently hired Melinda Gates' former divorce attorney, Bob Cohen, to represent him in his ongoing divorce with Kim Kardashian. We're told Camille and team will not be involved in the divorce.

If Kim and Kanye can't come to an agreement by December, the divorce will go to trial ... and given Kanye's actions of late, Kim will likely get much of what she asks for from the judge.

San Jose State football player Camdan McWright, a freshman running back, was killed on Friday morning ... in a horrifying scooter accident just feet from the SJSU campus.

He was 18 years old.

According to law enforcement, McWright was riding on an electric scooter at around 6:53 AM when he steered into an intersection and was struck by a school bus that was carrying 14 local high school students.

Authorities say McWright suffered significant injuries in the collision ... and died at the scene.

Cops said they do not believe alcohol or drugs factored into the crash. They added that an investigation is ongoing.

SJSU officials said Friday following the accident that they were devastated over it all.

"We lost an amazing young man tragically this morning," football head coach Brent Brennan said. "Camdan had a bright future ahead of him and everyone in this community that had the opportunity to spend time with him knew that."

"We are still trying to deal with the news of this tragedy, and appreciate everyone's support during these difficult times. Our thoughts and prayers are with the McWright family and I want them to know we are all here for them. Camdan will always be in our hearts and he will be profoundly missed."

McWright just joined the SJSU roster this season after starring at St. Genevieve H.S. in Los Angeles. He had played in one game for the Spartans this season, rushing for six yards on three carries against UNLV on Oct. 7.

He would have turned 19 years old in December.

Turns out the day care workers facing felonies in Mississippi for terrorizing little kids in a horror mask weren't the first to do so ... but their penalty is certainly much more severe.

Check out this resurfaced clip from Shirley's Victorious Learning Center in Florida from 2016 when someone dressed as Freddy Krueger torments a group of youngins. The kids scatter, screaming and crying ... as someone else, presumably an employee films the whole thing.

While the old clip might deliver the same scare as the clip out of Mississippi, the owner of Shirley's told WJAX-TV parents knew it was going to happen, and no complaints were filed.

As we reported, the 5 day care workers in Mississippi weren't so lucky after a clip of one of them in a Halloween horror mask scaring kids went viral.

The Bay Area just became Bae Area thanks to the Christian McCaffrey trade ... 'cause not only are the San Francisco 49ers a better team -- they got even hotter, too.

The Niners roster features plenty of hunky jocks on their 53-man roster ... and it's no secret sexy 30-year-old quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is a fan favorite for more than his football skills.

But Jimmy G might have some competition for the "hottest guy on the team" crown now that McCaffrey, 26, is headin' to town ... so naturally, we have to do a sophisticated study to find out who's REALLY worthy of the title.

While they're certainly both perfect 10s (or should we say 49s), don't start hitting Christian's DMs just yet -- the All-Pro has been with model girlfriend, Olivia Culpo for years ... so he's not on the market.

There might be hope with Jimmy G, though ... 'cause he currently doesn't appear to be boo'd up at the moment.

Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck are firing back at the author who claimed they jacked lyrics to one of their songs from an old poem ... calling the whole thing a cash grab.

Johnny and Jeff just filed a lawsuit against folklorist Bruce Jackson, who accused the duo of stealing the lyrics to their song "Sad Motherf*****g Parade" from an old toast performed by an inmate and shared in one of Jackson's books.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Johnny and Jeff say the toast, known as "Hobo Ben," doesn't have clear origins, and they claim Jackson even admitted the person who shared the poem with him admitted it was passed down over time like an old folktale.

In other words, they say it belongs to no one.

The "Hobo Ben" toast goes ... "Ladies of culture and beauty so refined, is there one among you that would grant me wine? I'm raggedy I know, but I have no stink, and God bless the lady that'll buy me a drink. Heavy-hipted Hattie turned to Nadine with a laugh, and said, 'What that funky motherf***** really need, child, is a bath.'"

The song lyrics on Johnny and Jeff's new album feature similar lines to the "Hobo Ben" poem ... "I'm raggedy, I know, but I have no stink. God bless a lady that'll buy me a drink" ... and "What that funky motherf***** really need, child, is a bath."

In their suit, Johnny and Jeff claim Jackson fired off legal letters asserting he was the rightful owner of the "the only known authorized transcription and recording of 'Hobo Ben"' ... but the pair claims Jackson tellingly never said he owned the rights to the toast itself because he knew he couldn't own a copyright to an old folktale.

Jackson's also blasted Johnny and Jeff in the media, telling Rolling Stone ... "I've been publishing stuff for 50 years, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped something off and put his own name on it."

Kanye West has just had one of his most important relationships in the fashion world ended ... Balenciaga has reportedly cut ties with Ye.

According to Women's Wear Daily, Kering, the French fashion house parent company to Balenciaga has released a statement saying, "Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist."

While the statement did not expand further, you have to imagine the decision was made after Kanye's repeated antisemitic attacks and controversies over the past few months.

Kanye and Balenciaga have a long history, and most recently partnered for a Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection that sold like wildfire.

Kanye also opened Balenciaga's Paris Fashion Week show, walking the runway -- and generating a ton of attention for the brand.

Of course, Kanye still has a multi-billion-dollar deal with Adidas -- a partnership the brand has reportedly said was "under review."

The parents whose children got the crap scared out of them by Mississippi day care workers pushed hard for those adults to get hit with serious crimes, and it ultimately worked ... according to law enforcement.

Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook, who is spearheading the criminal investigation, tells TMZ ... 3 sets of parents ran to the County Courthouse to demand felony child abuse charges. They made it clear they thought the behavior was too egregious for misdemeanor charges.

As we reported ... 4 women are each facing 3 counts of felony child abuse over the video showing at least one worker terrifying kids from behind a scary mask.

Crook says child abuse was the only felony charge under state law that seemed to fit the allegations.

A fifth day care worker is facing 2 misdemeanor charges -- failure to report abuse and simple assault -- and the day care owner has reportedly fired all of the employees involved.

Crook says folks in the community alerted cops to the videos by forwarding links, and after viewing the footage ... he assigned an investigator to begin a criminal probe.

James Corden has retracted the apology he made to an NYC restaurant owner earlier this week ... 'cause he's now saying he did nothing wrong.

'The Late, Late Show' host sat down with the New York Times Thursday and called allegations "silly" ... he acted like a "Cretin" by twice going nuts at Balthazar brasserie in Soho.

"I haven't done anything wrong, on any level. So why would I ever cancel this," Corden told an NYT reporter, referring to their interview after his embarrassing restaurant flap.

Corden goes on ... "I was there. I get it. I feel so Zen about the whole thing. Because I think it's so silly. I just think it's beneath all of us. It's beneath you. It's certainly beneath your publication."

At another point during the interview ... Corden peered over to a customer complaining about her meal in the swanky Mark Restaurant.

"Happens every day," Corden told the reporter. "It's happening in 55,000 restaurants as we speak. It's always about eggs."

Then he got serious ... "Can you imagine now, if we just blasted her on Twitter? Would that be fair? This is my point. It’s insane.”

As we reported ... Corden came under fire Monday after Balthazar owner Keith McNally blasted the funnyman on IG for twice acting like a "tiny Cretin of a man." McNally banned Corden from his restaurant, dubbing the TV host "the most abusive customer" ever. That prompted Corden to call McNally and apologize profusely. As a result, McNally lifted the ban.

Your move, Keith.

Taylor Swift's highly anticipated new album hit a glitch on Spotify Thursday night when the streaming giant literally crashed as her record dropped, causing mass confusion online.

The Grammy-award-winning artist released her 10th album, "Midnights," right at the stroke of midnight and, not coincidentally, that's when Spotify went down.

But, things got right back on track for Taylor ... as Spotify quickly repaired the problem so her millions of "Swifties" could enjoy the music.

During the outage, though, her fans went into panic mode on social media.

“Spotify crashed following the release of Taylor Swift’s new album #TSmidnighTS,” one freaked-out fan wrote, adding, “something went wrong.”

“YALL DONE BROKE SPOTIFY," said another nervous fan.

A third "Swiftie" said, “Spotify literally broke for like a minute!!! I was in panic mode,” before a fourth posted the app’s error message, tweeting, “Really @Spotify? On a night like this? I am fuming #TSmidnightTS.”

But, all's well that ends well. Taylor treated her "Swifties" to a special edition of the album with seven extra tunes that dropped 3 hours later on Spotify.

If there weren't enough proof the world has gone crazy and mental health is a critical issue for our survival ... check out this horrific story of a 23-year-old who allegedly stabbed his mother and dog with a samurai sword before he was Tased by police.

It happened Tuesday night in L.A. ... Eric Herrera is seen on video dazed, holding the sword as police implore him to drop it. In short order, a cop Tasers Herrera, and you see him fall to the ground.

Neighbors say the scene looked like it was right out of a horror movie, as they watched it all unfold. One neighbor says it appeared Herrera was in the midst of a mental health crisis.

The woman was pleading for help, screaming, "I'm your mother!"

There are conflicting reports about the fate of the family dog. The most recent report is that the dog seems to have survived the attack, but that's unconfirmed.

The mother's condition has not been released, but KTLA says a relative told the outlet the woman is in stable condition.

Kanye West is catching heat for using the r-word to describe President Biden ... condemned by folks who advocate for folks with Down syndrome and disabilities.

Ye lashed out at Biden in his interview with Piers Morgan, saying POTUS is "f***ing r-word" for not seeking input from Elon Musk, and now the epithet is sparking outrage.

Jordan Kough, Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress, tells TMZ ... the r-word is hateful to all people with disabilities, and it's very disappointing to see Kanye embrace it. Even worse, Kough believes Ye knows it's highly offensive.

The NDSC says the r-word strips humanity from folks with disabilities ... and Kough is encouraging Kanye, and others with big platforms, to consider the power of their words.

Over at the National Disability Rights Network, Kanye's losing tons of support. Executive Director Marlene Sallo says disability advocates appreciated when Kanye once said his bipolar disorder was his superpower, but now those same people are super upset to see Ye use an "outdated and hateful" word.

The NDRN is going a step further ... calling for Kanye to apologize. Good luck with that.

Ye's also being denounced by the National Down Syndrome Society ... a rep there tells us the r-word has no place in public discourse, regardless of whether it's aimed at someone with a disability or not.

As we reported, Kanye's on a tear against lots of groups ... making a slew of antisemitic remarks ... most recently during his chat with Piers, when he stated he only wanted to go "death con 3" on Jews who have screwed him over.

Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis' dog walker is still reeling from the loss of Gordon, and speaking out about it for the first time ... saying there was no warning her time with the pup was ending.

Now, the L.A.-based dog walker's remaining anonymous, but says she was hired by Olivia and Jason in the fall of 2020. She admits being star-struck meeting Jason for the first time -- in a letter to Gawker she hilariously says, "I was suddenly willing to kill for him."

Interestingly she didn't have that reaction to Olivia, and in fact, never actually uses Olivia's name in the letter ... only referring to her as Jason's ex.

Seems she's chosen a side in the split! Anyway, she had an instant bond with Gordon.

She describes their walks together as "my happiest mornings during COVID's most depressing drawn-out flop era" ... but that all ended when she got a text that simply read, "No more Gordon walks."

She was pretty beat up over the news ... adding there was no reason given as to why their time together had to end. She says she only recently found out -- through the ex-nanny's allegations -- Gordon was dumped so OW could spend more time with Harry Styles, and rehomed ... allegedly with her NY dog walker.

As we reported, Olivia and Jason deny those allegations from their former nanny. Sources close to the couple told us their kids were pretty upset when he was given away, but so was everyone else.

Fivio Foreign is blaming arena production staffers for his recent performance woes during the Brooklyn Nets' halftime show ... and says he needs a redo to make the city proud.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Fivio at the scene of the crime -- Barclays Center, the Nets' homecourt -- and his view of the disastrous performance is his production team would've handled things perfectly, unlike the one he worked with that night.

Fivio says everything was fine during soundcheck, but at halftime, his inner earpiece was lower than the crowd noise ... and the sound was delayed in his ear.

ICYMI, Fivio got fried on social media because the Brooklyn rapper seemed to forget his lyrics altogether for a full 3 songs.

Fivio tells us Internet reactions didn't phase him much ... he remembers getting trashed online when his sound went out performing with Kanye West during one of his many Donda events last year.

He's also laughing off haters claiming he was too high to remember the words -- Fivio tells us that chapter of his life is over, and he dropped a few bars about it.