TMZ.com Home

Blac Chyna is denying allegations of kidnapping and sex trafficking Ava Louise ... she says the claims are just a desperate attempt to boost the TikTok star's following.

BC had her lawyers fire off a cease and desist letter to Ava after the social media star recently uploaded a series of TikTok posts where she accused Chyna of holding her hostage and trying to pimp her out.

In the legal letter, obtained by TMZ, Chyna says everything Ava's alleging is "false, extreme and outrageous" ... and her lawyers are demanding that she immediately cease and desist ... or face the legal consequences.

Blac Chyna's legal team is also taking aim at Ava's credibility ... they say it's part of a pattern of "menacing and outrageous conduct" to increase Ava's social media platform, saying Ava previously admitted to making up false rumors about Kanye West hooking up with YouTube beauty guru Jeffree Star.

It's worth noting ... Kris Jenner threatened Ava with a lawsuit last year after Ava claimed she received a cease and desist letter from Kris' company threatening legal action if she didn't stop making allegations about Kim and Kanye.

Kris' camp says they never sent Ava such a letter and her story was all made up.

This cease and desist letter, however, is legit.

Russell Wilson turned into William Wordsworth for Ciara's birthday -- gushing over his wife in an emotional post on Tuesday ... and praising her as the perfect mother, businesswoman and partner.

"God blessed the world on this day with you," the Denver Broncos quarterback said on Instagram. "I love you so much. You inspire the world!"

"Every morning your mission is to make the world a better place and you have a perfect score."

Seriously ... dude poured his heart out for Ciara's 37th birthday, sharing some special moments of them together as well.

He continued ... "But most importantly, you are God's beautiful child and HE is wildly obsessed with you. Keep Shining my Love. Thank you everyday for loving me, encouraging me, and joining forces with me everyday to do what God called us to do! That’s to LOVE & SERVE."

"May this year bless you with all of your heart's desires! Happy Birthday my Queen."

While it was a really touching post, some trolls decided to take to the comments to rip the QB for his rough 2-5 start to the 2022 season ... telling him to focus on throwing touchdowns.

Leslie Jordan was coping with discomfort in the weeks leading up to his death -- a health issue that was concerning enough for him to make an appointment with a cardiologist ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the late actor tell TMZ ... for the last 3 weeks, he was experiencing shortness of breath. We're told Leslie was scheduled to see a cardiologist within the next week to check out his heart, and see if there were any underlying health issues.

Other than that, we're told Leslie was generally healthy ... but did have COVID last year.

We've spoken to law enforcement sources who tell us they believe Leslie suffered a heart attack prior to crashing his BMW Monday into a building in Hollywood.

Tributes have poured in for the 67-year-old since TMZ broke the news of his death, including from Dolly Parton who said, "Leslie and I had a special bond, I think the world felt they had a special bond with him. I know people always say, 'Oh, they will be missed' but in this case that could not be more true."

The 17-year-old teen shot by a cop in a McDonald's parking lot must now face another health battle, he's fighting pneumonia in the hospital.

Erik Cantu's family spoke out for the first time Tuesday, revealing he's got a ton of staples and tubes in his body. There's also a delicate balancing act between Cantu's medication and a breathing machine to keep him alive.

To make things worse, Cantu's dad, Erik Sr., says the teen is waking up with flashbacks -- raising his hands in the air and moving his foot like he's pushing a car pedal.

Erik's mom, Victoria, says there was a bullet by his heart -- and he was also shot in the stomach, diaphragm, lungs, liver, bicep and forearm.

As we've reported, Cantu was shot multiple times by police officer James Brennand while he was eating a burger in the parking lot of a McDonald's. Brennand was responding to the restaurant on an unrelated call.

Brennand was fired by the police department and is facing two felony charges of aggravated assault by a public official.

Kanye West is no longer a member of the ten-digit club -- he's lost a fortune as a result of Adidas pulling the plug ... not to mention the other partnerships that have dissolved.

Forbes made it official Tuesday ... saying Ye had lost his billionaire status in the wake of Adidas ending their partnership with the guy. While Adidas on its own might not have technically torpedoed his billions -- they say it's a combination of several deals, including Gap, falling apart of late -- Forbes does note it was a HUGE part of his wealth, and the final nail in the coffin.

Now -- after all this fallout -- Forbes claims KW is worth somewhere in the ballpark of $400 million. This is a huge dip from where he was a couple years ago, when his net worth was valued at around $1.3 billion with a majority of his public assets in consideration.

The majority of Kanye's riches are now coming from a select few sources, Forbes says, including real estate, liquid cash, his music catalog and a less than 5% stake in Kim Kardashian's Skims brand.

Unclear how much of his money was wiped out by just Adidas, but ya gotta imagine it was a pretty penny's worth ... considering the company says they're losing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in net profits by cutting him/his shoes off, just in this fourth quarter alone.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker have a new place to call home ... and it just so happens to be the same beach house Conan O'Brien sold earlier this month.

The keys to Conan's former Carpinteria home are now in the hands of Kourtney and Travis ... as we reported, the comedian got an offer for the place a couple of weeks ago -- turns out the rockin' couple was the ones behind the sale.

We're told they bought the pad -- which was listed for $16.5 million -- for $14.5 mil, so yeah ... they got a sweet deal!

For those unaware, Conan was on the hunt for a buyer since July ... the 2,142-square-foot property is just steps from the sand, and he originally bought it back in 2015 for $7.9M.

The home has panoramic ocean, Channel Island and coastline views. There's also a spacious deck to take in those Pacific sunsets.

For the salt lifers ... there's an outdoor shower and storage area for surf and paddle boards ... essentials for life at the beach.

For those of you not in SoCal, Carpinteria is just south of Santa Barbara ... which is, obviously, a sentimental spot for Kourtney and Travis because they got engaged there.

Brittney Griner's 9-year prison sentence in Russia has been upheld ... a court just denied the WNBA star's appeal at a lengthy hearing on Tuesday morning.

The 32-year-old did not appear in person for the proceedings -- but was present via a videoconferencing feed from inside of a cell. She looked downtrodden throughout the process as cameras caught her both sitting and standing behind bars.

Griner and her team of attorneys had hoped officials would overturn a previous ruling in the case, or at the very least, reduce the sentence. They argued the punishment did not fit the crime.

Griner's team, however, had anticipated this outcome. On Monday, her attorneys admitted in a statement that they did not "expect any miracles to happen."

It's unclear if Griner now has any further avenues to appeal the decision.

As we reported, the basketball player has been in custody in Russia since February -- after she was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport.

At her trial, she pleaded guilty to the charges -- but insisted she did not intend to break the law.

She was initially sentenced in August.

The United States has called Griner wrongfully detained ... and multiple U.S. officials have said they've offered Russia a significant deal involving a prisoner swap to get her home.

Drake celebrated his 36th birthday in true Drake fashion ... bringin' a bunch of big names to the club to party -- and even raffling off some HUGE prizes to the crowd!

Drizzy's big shindig went down Monday night at Sexy Fish in Miami ... and the rapper was giving partygoers the chance at $5k gift cards, $10k in cash, Chanel bags, and even a Rolex!!!

Of course, some people in attendance weren't really in dire need of freebies -- DJ Khaled, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, and Chaney Jones were just a few of the celebs partying with Champagne Papi. "Love Island" stars Emily Salch and Genevieve Shawcross were hangin' too.

Drake ripped a page outta Usher's big money playbook for his big night -- Drake bucks, featuring his face on $500 bills -- were circulating around the venue throughout the night.

The place even changed its name to Sexy Gyal for the night, just for Drake.

Kanye West's biggest corporate partnership is over -- Adidas says it's cutting off all business with him, due to his recent antisemitic and bigoted actions.

The German shoe company says, "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

As result, Adidas says it "will terminate the partnership with Ye, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies."

The announcement comes amid worldwide pressure for Adidas to, at the very least, condemn Kanye for repeating antisemitic tropes every time a microphone's been in his face for the last few weeks. During this erratic and disturbing phase he's also unveiled "White Lives Matter" T-shirts at Paris Fashion Week, and claimed George Floyd didn't die from Derek Chauvin's knee, but from fentanyl.

The hashtag #boycottadidas had been trending on Twitter over the weekend, especially as the company announced the sale of new Yeezy shoes. While other companies, like Balenciaga and Vogue had already cut off their relationships with the billionaire rapper and designer ... Adidas had been silent, except to say their partnership was "under review."

That review actually had nothing to do with Ye's recent rants -- for months, he'd publicly accused the company of ripping off his designs for non-Yeezy branded merchandise, so the relationship was already on ice.

Ye knew his incredibly profitable deal with Adidas was hanging in the balance -- he said so on Friday night ... even as he railed that any backlash against him was only proving his initial antisemitic remark that the Jews were controlling Hollywood and the banks.

Adidas was especially under pressure to react -- not only as Ye's biggest partner, but due to its founder supporting the Nazi party.

Adidas and Kanye started their partnership in 2013, and his Yeezy brand is widely credited with reinvigorating Adidas in the shoe game. While the company has some huge athletes as brand ambassadors -- James Harden, Lionel Messi and Damian Lillard to name just a few -- Ye's designs were key to the company's recent success, and Adidas' backing allowed him to expand Yeezy well beyond sneakers.

Adidas was the distributor and manufacturer of Yeezy shoes and athletic gear ... so, Kanye currently has no outlet for his creations.

Steve Lacy is a relatively new artist, but he's making one thing clear early ... he won't tolerate things being thrown on his stage -- and made an example out of one fan, and their phone, in particular.

Steve was in New Orleans on Monday night for his Give You The World Tour ... performing "Bad Habit" when a phone tossed from the crowd hits him square in the torso.

Steve was politely profane at first ... stopping the song to instruct the audience not to throw "sh** on his f****** stage" -- even with a please attached.

Then without warning, Steve asks for a fan in the front row's cell phone -- seemingly at random -- only to smash it on the stage, and then storm off.

The crowd was understandably confused and pissed ... as there was still plenty of show left, and some felt they didn't get their money's worth.

A fan in the stands hopped on TikTok following to show ... claiming Steve had grown fed up with the crowd for not really knowing his music, but blamed rowdy NOLA fans in general for typically ruining an artist's experience when they come to town.

Eight months ago TMZ Sports asked Eli Manning who his "dream guest" was for the MNF's Manningcast ... and the 2x Super Bowl-winning quarterback told us it was Barack Obama.

Tonight, 44 joined Easy E and Peyton Manning during the 1st quarter of Monday Night Football ... proving, dreams do come true!

"Mr. President, Eli was approached by TMZ last year. They asked him "who is your dream guest on the show, and he said it was you. I assume you were watching TMZ and felt pressure to come on the show, right?" Peyton joked with B.O.

"I have to confess, TMZ is not on my remote really," President Obama responded, fibbing (we kid) ... “but, I was flattered when I heard about this, Eli."

"Thank you very much. But the main reason I’m on, I think is actually Cooper, he called me up, and after seeing him on those Caesar's ads I thought, how could I turn him down?”

And, it only took the Manning's about 250 days to lock down one of the most famous people in the world.

We talked to Eli in mid-February at a Super Bowl party in Los Angeles, when we asked about his pick for top guests.

“Maybe a President. Barack Obama would be pretty good," Manning told us, saying, "I think we can get him.”

An Amazon driver is dead after an apparent dog attack in Missouri -- with the guy's body being laid out on the owner's property for hours.

Sheriff's deputies were called out to a residential home near Excelsior Springs Monday night, where neighbors reported an Amazon van had been parked in front of a house for quite a long time, with no sign of movement or change.

When they arrived, they found the driver dead on the front lawn, with 2 aggressive dogs also roaming about the grounds near the victim's body ... according to FOX 4 Kansas City.

Officers reportedly shot one of the dogs outside, but then they both scurried inside through the home's front door. First responders later killed both animals. We don't know what breed they were, or where their owners were at the time.

James Corden took his father's advice and formally apologized on-air for his obnoxious behavior at an NYC restaurant, putting the issue to rest ... hopefully!!

The TV host kicked off his 'Late Late Show' Monday by pointing out that his dad -- who was in the audience -- instructed him to own up to his mistakes after he retracted an earlier apology to Balthazar owner Keith McNally.

And, like a dutiful son, that's exactly what Corden did. "Whenever these sorts of moments come my way, I like to adopt quite a British attitude. Never complain, never explain. But, as my dad pointed out to me on Saturday, he said, 'Son, you did complain. So you might need to explain.' Look, when you make a mistake, you have to take responsibility."

Corden then went into apology mode, recounting what happened at the French brasserie in 1 of the 2 incidents where he was described as a "Cretin." He said he was having a meal at Balthazar in SoHo a few weeks ago ... and a server three times came to the table with the wrong order for his wife, who has food allergies.

The comic said he made a "rude comment" to the waiter "in the heat of the moment," which he finally acknowledged was WRONG. "I didn't shout or scream. I didn't get up out of my seat. I didn't call anyone names or use derogatory language. I have been walking around thinking that I hadn't done anything wrong, right? But, the truth is I have. I made a rude comment and it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server."

Corden also briefly mentioned the other incident in which he lost his cool after finding a hair in his food. He said he called McNally right away and apologized profusely after the restaurant owner posted to IG that Corden was banned for his bad behavior.

As we reported ... McNally later rescinded the ban, but then Corden retracted his apology during an interview with the New York Times. In response, McNally told TMZ that Corden should "apologize to the young servers he abused," declining to say if the ban would be reintroduced.

Erika Jayne is making a big accusation against Kathy Hilton in the 'RHOBH' reunion finale ... claiming she heard Kathy utter a homophobic slur, but Kathy flat out denies it happened.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... during the reunion finale Erika accuses Kathy of making a homophobic comment back when the cast went to Aspen. We're told Erika claims Kathy used the slur against someone the cast was around earlier this season, but production cameras were NOT rolling when the alleged incident happened.

Our sources say production investigated Erika's claim following the Aspen trip, but found it's basically a case of she said, she said -- Erika's word against Kathy's.

That being said, we're told Erika's allegation was not edited out of the reunion finale -- which airs Wednesday -- and in the episode, Kathy is adamant she never used the epithet and says Erika's a liar.

Kathy has others backing her up ... our sources say after Kathy's strong denial, several other 'RHOBH' stars spoke up in her defense. Interestingly, we're told Kathy's sister, Kyle Richards, is sitting quietly next to Kathy during the back and forth with Erika ... more evidence of their fractured relationship.

"Entourage" creator Doug Ellin says Adidas staying silent about Kanye West has everything to do with money, and therefore, he sees a boycott as the best way to apply pressure.

We got Doug Monday in WeHo, where he told us the German shoe company's silence -- as other brands cut ties with Kanye -- speaks volumes about whose side it's backing. He adds we should all be on the same page when hate's in play.

He sees money as the sole reason Adidas has kept quiet -- so, if people stop buying their gear ... the hope is that will make the honchos understand the harmful impact of Ye's antisemitic remarks.

As we reported, Kanye's been losing brand deals left and right ... including Johnny Depp's attorney, Camille Vasquez, who was brought on board last week to handle his business matters. After he doubled and tripled down on his bigotry, she told her firm she'd no longer work with the rapper.

What's more, a rally in L.A. Saturday supported the rapper's comments, with members of the group throwing up Nazi salutes at passing drivers.

The home where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned looks like it's about to get a new owner ... someone willing to pay a pretty penny to live like the King of Rock and Roll.

Our real estate sources tell us an offer's been accepted for the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway in Palm Springs.

The crib hit the market earlier this month with a $5.65 million listing price, and we're told the seller accepted an offer Thursday, though the sale is not yet complete.

The 4-bedroom home is famous because Elvis leased it in 1966 for a whole year, which set him back $21,000 -- ridiculously cheap for 2022, but in '66 that was a small fortune.

Elvis and Priscilla were supposed to tie the knot at the property on May 1, 1967 ... but after the press got wind of the wedding plan, Elvis and Priscilla changed course and went to Sin City for a classic Vegas wedding.

The house has a ton of history -- Elvis and Priscilla were, umm ... busy in Palm Springs because exactly 9 months after their wedding, Lisa Marie Presley was born. That's some honeymoon!

The 4,695 square foot home features rock walls, a floating fireplace and terrazzo flooring ... and like any good desert home, there's a huge backyard pool with a view of the mountains.

Famously dubbed the "House of Tomorrow," the property is a PS landmark ... it's known to draw Elvis fanatics, tourists and architecture aficionados.