TMZ.com Home

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is tearing Jeff Bezos a new one after he thanked Amazon employees and customers for footing the bill for his trip to space.

We got the Congresswoman Tuesday on Capitol Hill, and asked what she made of the richest man in the world giving major props to workers and online consumers for literally paying for his roughly 10-minute rocket voyage this morning.

ICYMI ... it was an awkward moment, and one Jeff didn't seem to realize came off as tone-deaf. There wasn't much context to his comment, but AOC thinks she has a good idea of what he meant -- as she says that's right up Amazon's alley (AKA, free rides on the backs of others).

You gotta watch her go off here ... it's beyond scathing, this is downright brutal -- calling Bezos out for allegedly overworking employees, busting unions and, of course, avoiding paying taxes via loopholes in the law.

We asked her if there was a silver lining in the fact that Bezos made a $100 million donation to Van Jones and organizations/causes he sees fit -- but it sounds like she thinks it's mostly an empty gesture.

One of Donald Trump's allies -- who also happened to scoop up Neverland Ranch after Michael Jackson lost it -- is facing federal charges for acting as an agent of a foreign government.

Thomas Barrack was busted Tuesday in L.A. after the feds accused him of acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the United Arab Emirates between April 2016 and April 2018. The 7-count indictment also charges Barrack with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 2019 interview with the FBI.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of NY Jacquelyn Kasulis says Barrack, who chaired Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, "abused his access to government officials to illegally advance the interests of foreign governments."

There are 2 other defendants whom the feds claim capitalized on Barrack’s friendships and access to Trump and other high-ranking officials to advance their goals without disclosing their true allegiances.

According to court docs, Barrack informally advised senior U.S. government officials on issues related to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as early as January 2017. Prosecutors also say Barrack sought appointment to a senior role in the U.S. government, including the role of Special Envoy to the Middle East.

Barrack, who founded Colony Capital, is the former owner of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. He purchased it for $22.5 million a year before MJ's death. Barrack ultimately sold the property in December 2020 for $20 million to the billionaire Ron Burkle.

The luxury vessel that Kevin O'Leary's wife crashed her boat into suffered significant damage ... and TMZ's obtained photos showing the impact's brutal aftermath.

You can see the Super Air Nautique -- which had 12 passengers on the night of the crash -- sustained damage on its nose, along with extensive cracks and chipped paint ... there's also a haunting image of blood on one of the boat's seats.

The pics from the criminal case make it clear where the vessels made contact -- and the Cobalt boat, driven by the "Shark Tank" star's wife, Linda O'Leary, was also severely banged up.

In fact, some parts of the O'Leary's boat were later found on the Nautique. That being said ... a marine mechanic testified in court that while the Nautique had a "fair amount of damage" he expected more considering what he had initially heard about the accident.

The trial wraps up later this week ... and Kevin is expected to testify Wednesday via Zoom from Los Angeles. Linda's pled not guilty to carless operation of a vessel ... in other words, driving too fast. The driver of the other boat was cited for operating his boat at night without navigation lights.

As we reported ... Linda reportedly had booze on her breath following the fatal boat crash. But according to legal docs and obtained by CBC News, cops say Kevin's wife told them she drank vodka AFTER the crash and BEFORE cops administered an alcohol screening test.

Cops, however, believe she consumed the alcohol before the crash. In any event, the family of one of the two people killed in the crash on a Canadian lake filed a civil suit against the O'Leary's.

Attorney Lee Merritt believes his battle to become attorney general of Texas is not as uphill as people think ... because he's confident he can work with law enforcement to give his campaign the boost needed to win.

The renowned civil rights lawyer -- who's represented the families of Botham Jean, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd among many others -- joined "TMZ Live" Tuesday to discuss his chances in the AG race ... and give his take on Matthew McConaughey running for Texas governor.

Merritt acknowledges he's facing a major challenge as a Democrat running in a traditionally red state, but insists police are on his side ... especially good cops who are already working to improve the system.

Sounds like he thinks his campaign's focus on new ideas -- involving voter rights, fixing the state's power grid and ending mass incarceration -- can energize enough new voters to lead him to victory.

Speaking of energy ... Merritt says McConaughey can be the gubernatorial candidate who brings a lot of it to the state elections, and he's hopeful the actor will throw his hat in the ring soon.

The big mystery, of course, is if the actor does launch a campaign on the heels of his uniting message to Americans ... will he run as a Dem, Republican or Independent???

Gwen Stefani had some trusty witnesses sign off on her marriage to Blake Shelton ... her own kids were the ones to make the ceremony official and sign off on the couple's certificate.

Gwen and Blake's marriage certificate, obtained by TMZ, shows some of what we already knew, the nuptials went down Saturday, July 3, at a little place called "Gwen's Chapel" on Blake's ranch in in Mill Creek, OK ... which is the special sanctuary he built for the big day, and where they said "I do."

The witnesses who signed the doc ... Gwen's two oldest, 15-year-old Kingston Rossdale and 12-year-old Zuma. Her youngest, 7-year-old Apollo, also took part in the ceremony ... but doesn't show up on the paperwork.

There's also this ... fellow 'Voice' star Carson Daly's name is on the cert, because he officiated the whole thing. The document says he's an ordained minister for Universal Life Church in Johnston County, OK

TMZ got the first photos of Gwen in her dress that day -- with a furry photobomb to boot -- as well as video of what appeared to be the couple's first dance as man and wife. Gwen confirmed they'd gotten hitched a couple days after the fact ... with a sweet photo dump.

Tiger Woods showed absolutely no signs of personal strife just 1 day before his February car crash ... laughing and joking with Jada Pinkett Smith out on a golf course.

New footage from Golf Digest shows Tiger was in great spirits less than 24 hours before he badly broke his leg in the roll-over accident ... playing golf and enjoying life.

Tiger was helping the actress with her swing ... and at one point, he even got her to make a birdie -- and celebrated with her with a fist bump and a giant smile.

The two had long conversations about life during the lesson ... ones in which Tiger opened up about his son, Charlie, and his daughter, Sam.

Tiger, at one point, even revealed to Pinkett Smith that he loves to freedive in his time away from golf ... explaining he very much enjoys being in the water.

What's interesting ... 45-year-old Tiger also complained to Pinkett Smith about getting older -- saying his body just isn't holding up the way it used to.

"The body," Tiger told Pinkett Smith, while stretching out his surgically repaired back. "I've had 10 operations."

Golf Digest posted the video Tuesday with officials noting, "This series was filmed on February 22, 2021, the day before Tiger Woods' car accident."

"We're sharing this content with the blessing of Tiger and his guests. We thank everyone for their involvement and wish Tiger a continued speedy recovery."

As we previously reported, Tiger crashed in L.A. county on Feb. 23 ... and suffered severe injuries to his right leg.

He needed a rod, screws and pins to repair the damage ... and he's since called the rehab process "more painful than anything I have ever experienced."

While Tiger has been spotted recently moving around fairly well on crutches ... it's unclear if he has plans to ever play competitive golf again.

Tarek El Moussa flipped out on his "Flip or Flop" costar and ex-wife, Christina Haack, for letting him know it was time to film ... sources close to the show tell TMZ.

According to our production sources ... Tarek's eruption went down on the set of the popular HGTV series last Wednesday, after he apparently didn't like the way she signaled to him that she and the crew were ready to begin shooting.

We're told Tarek immediately lost his cool and went on a verbal tirade directed toward Christina ... which allegedly included him comparing her to his fiancee, Heather Rae Young, and saying Heather is hotter and richer than Christina.

Our sources say Tarek boasted that he "made" Christina and called her a "washed-up loser," and exclaimed that he enjoys watching her fail.

We're told he also yelled "Look at me, look at me, look at me. It’s called winning" and capped off his rant by screaming at her ... "The world knows you're crazy!"

According to our sources ... this isn't the first time Tarek went on a tirade against Christina on set. We're told after the latest incident, production stopped filming them together for the rest of the day ... and simply shot their scenes separately.

A source close to Tarek tells us his anger toward Christina stems from her recent admission she smoked toad venom -- before meeting her new boyfriend -- and his main concern is for the safety of their two children. At the end of the day, both Tarek and Christina are show execs, and our source says there's going to be tension from time to time, this was one of those incidents.

We reached out to reps for Tarek, Christina and HGTV ... so far, no word back.

As you may know ... Christina's made headlines as of late for following up her divorce from Ant Anstead by revealing she's in a new relationship with Joshua Hall -- something that came about after she says she smoked toad venom.

Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson seem to be keeping their word to co-parent without issue, taking their daughter to dance class as a family unit.

The two exes were spotted walking 3-year-old daughter, True, into her class in Calabasas Tuesday. Tristan did the heavy lifting, while Khloe trailed closely behind.

We're told they were in separate cars. Still, the outing proves what we've already reported ... that they're dedicated to co-parenting True, despite not being romantically involved anymore.

You'll recall ... Khloe pulled the plug on their relationship not too long ago -- this after even more rumors of cheating had been swirling in recent months ... not to mention allegations of paternity against Tristan. For now, they're just playing mom and dad to True -- and are clearly civil with one another.

It's interesting to see them in this type of setting ... because it almost gives a bit more context to the hostility Tristan showed toward Lamar Odom when he commented on a photo of Khloe.

The G.O.A.T. is finally back at POTUS' pad ... Tom Brady has officially made the trip to the White House for the Buccaneers' Super Bowl party!!

Of course, this is an extremely rare sight ... 'cause the QB barely ever goes to these events -- you'll recall, the last time he attended a D.C. Super Bowl celly was way back in 2005!!

Brady skipped out on a trip to Barack Obama's White House in 2015, and he also ditched a visit to Donald Trump's White House in 2017.

When Brady's Patriots won it all again in 2018 ... the team as a whole never went -- meaning Brady has only capped off 3 of his previous 6 championships with 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. visit.

Unclear what made Brady want to go this time around -- particularly 'cause it's Gisele's birthday Tuesday -- but he's there nonetheless, and looking dapper as hell!!

Tom wore a dark suit with a tie and sunglasses for the occasion ... and he was front and center for a team pic with the Lombardi Trophy out on the South Lawn before the ceremony began.

His teammate, Donovan Smith, even got in a little joking with Tom about the event ... asking the QB, "You got residency here?"

Tom's response? "It's been a long time since I've been here. A long time."

The Bucs' trip marks the first time a Super Bowl winner has gone to the White House for a celebration since 2017 ... and we're sure there's going to be a lot of laughs at the event.

The official ceremony gets underway in just a few minutes ... stay tuned!!

Jeff Bezos is putting his money and his ass, quite literally, on the line for his Blue Origin aerospace company's first crewed mission into space at 6 AM PT ... and TMZ will be live streaming.

The richest man in the world and 3 others are hopping into the autonomous New Shepard capsule for the highly-anticipated journey into sub-orbital space. His fellow astronauts-to-be are Jeff's brother, Mark Bezos, test pilot Wally Funk and recent HS grad Oliver Daemen.

The entire thing -- from takeoff to landing -- is expected to last around 11 minutes. The capsule will take off from a remote area near Van Horn, Texas ... about 2 hours southeast of El Paso. It'll land in the Texas desert, after being slowed by parachutes.

When they reach the edge of space -- an altitude of around 65 miles -- Bezos & Co. will experience several minutes of weightlessness. For comparison ... Richard Branson's V.S.S. Unity only got up to about 53 miles. FYI, the FAA and Air Force recognize space at an altitude of 50 miles.

While Branson went up first -- winning the so-called billionaire space race -- Bezos' flight will make history in several other ways.

If successful, Jeff's space voyage will be the first to be unpiloted with a civilian crew. Wally and Oliver would also set records as the oldest and youngest to reach space at 82 and 18, respectively.

Wally, BTW, was one of the original Mercury 13 women who took part in training back in the 1960s to show women could meet NASA's standards to become astronauts.

The launch comes 9 days after Branson's successful launch and perfect landing in New Mexico.

Harvey Weinstein is currently aboard an airplane for the first time in over a year -- but it's not for any type of vacay ... the guy's on his way to L.A. to face even more charges.

The disgraced movie producer's attorney, Mark Werksman, tells TMZ ... Weinstein's legal team was notified their client is being extradited Tuesday, and is said to be on a flight right now from New York to Los Angeles for a possible hearing in court Wednesday.

Another attorney of Weinstein's, Norman Effman, adds that he believes Weinstein is on a federal aircraft medically equipped to handle his many ailments. We haven't confirmed that just yet, though. In any case, it sounds like HW is California-bound for the first time in a while.

Remember, he's been on the East Coast since at least 2019 ... fighting a rape case that he was ultimately convicted in just last year, and sentenced to 23 years behind bars. That was just a New York matter, though ... he's still got Los Angeles charges to face, which is why he's being brought out here.

As we've reported ... Weinstein was indicted on 11 counts of sexual assault involving 5 different women, following an investigation on the heels of scores of women coming forward to accuse him of either sexual misconduct, or full-blown assault ... coast-to-coast.

As for how exactly this transfer is supposed to go down ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ that the FBI is assisting in transporting Weinstein from NY to LA, and will turn him over to the authorities when they touch down.

Weinstein's rep, Juda Engelmayer, tells TMZ ... despite trying to negotiate an agreement to waive Weinstein's extradition, he knew this would probably be coming eventually. Engelmayer also says he's disappointed in the L.A. County District Attorney for not waiting for a judge's ruling.

Engelmayer says the team will be fighting for Weinstein to receive the medical care he needs, while also adding he has a right to due process ... and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Biz Markie had a partner in rhyme pulling for him and his family up to the very end -- it was none other than Fat Joe, who provided emotional support like you wouldn't believe ... TMZ has learned.

The recently deceased MC's wife, Tara Hall, tells us that out of all the scores of people who reached out while Biz was ill ... Joe was the one who was always there, from the moment Biz entered the hospital last June due to complications from diabetes.

Tara says as soon as Joe heard the news, he was on the phone every single week with her -- checking in on Biz, on Tara and the rest of their loved ones to see if they needed anything, and to let them know he was there for them ... financially or otherwise.

She tells us Joe was literally willing to open his own wallet to whatever Biz's family needed during his hospital stay -- one which was fairly isolated due to COVID-19 regulations that really only allowed Tara to be by her husband's side, day in and day out.

Even now, after his death, Tara says Joe has offered to cover memorial or funeral costs -- however, she's politely turned him down each time, saying they don't need the dough ... but that she appreciates the gesture.

Joe's admiration for and dedication to Biz and his family are a sign of how beloved and respected he was in NYC's hip-hop community -- and while he's one of the few who went above and beyond, we're told several others were keeping tabs on the sitch.

Tara says other icons like Doug E. Fresh, Big Daddy Kane and Treach similarly checked in on their friend.

Paris Hilton wants Britney Spears' father to start listening to the chorus of voices demanding he let her out of the conservatorship pronto ... and she's sending her friend lotsa love.

Paris was heading into Fia Restaurant Monday night in Santa Monica with her sister, Nicky -- who was hosting the French Sole summer dinner party -- when a photog asked about Britney's battle.

Clearly, nothing's changed for Paris -- she's still very much on board with the "Free Britney" movement. You'll recall she publicly declared her position during her DJ set in Las Vegas ... days after Brit's testimony.

But, Paris' support for Britney dates back to last year when she told Andy Cohen, "I just love her so much. I feel like if you are an adult, you should be able to live your life and not be controlled."

As we've reported ... Britney posted #FreeBritney herself last week after crying in court and reiterating her desire to end the conservatorship. She also made claims that her father, Jamie, and others had threatened her, and said she wants her dad investigated for conservator abuse.

Prince Harry reportedly waited until the last minute to let the Royal Family know he's writing a memoir ... one for which he's getting a big fat 8-figure check.

Penguin Random House -- the publisher Harry's partnered with for this -- made the announcement Monday, saying the Duke of Sussex's book is due out sometime late next year, and which will essentially be the "definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him."

So, essentially ... it's Harry's story in his own words. Well, sorta -- he's rumored to be using a ghostwriter, who's apparently getting a small cut of Harry's reported $20 million advance. Harry's reps say whatever profit the book makes will go to charity.

As for Harry, he put the news about his memoir this way ... "I'm writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become." He adds, "I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I've learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that's accurate and wholly truthful."

PH's rep told British outlets he is not expected to get formal permission from Buckingham Palace or Queen Elizabeth to move forward -- and it's unclear if he's even going to run the final thing by them for accuracy. Word is he's almost completed the first draft.

Of course, there are reports the Royals are kinda pissed, as Harry supposedly didn't loop them in on his plans until very recently -- and, of course, they see it as yet another opportunity for him to bash them -- a la the Oprah interview.

It's interesting ... especially since Harry's had some facetime with his fam since the Oprah sit-down, including earlier this month with his bro, Prince William, at an unveiling of a statue honoring their mother, Princess Diana.

Conor McGregor's got 99 problems, but a ship ain't one -- the UFC superstar finally received his beloved Lambo yacht this week ... and the thing looks incredible!!

As we previously reported, the Notorious purchased a Lamborghini Tecnomar 63 -- referred to as a "Supercar of the Sea" -- for (at least) nearly $4 MILLION back in October.

Worth noting, that number might be even higher ... 'cause there's a chance the boat has even more bells and whistles. After all, this is Conor we're talking about.

The shiny, new toy couldn't have come at a better time for McGregor -- the guy is recovering from a devastating snapped leg at UFC 264 against Dustin Poirier ... and now he has a ton of space to rest up on the water.

Conor's yacht is 63 feet long, weighs 24 tons, can reach up to 60 knots and has a 4,000 horsepower engine.

The yacht is one of just 63 made available to the (superrich) public ... with Conor getting the 12th in honor of his Proper 12 whiskey.

Remember, the dude was the highest-paid athlete in 2020 with $180 million -- due in large part to the booze biz -- so it's only right he pays tribute with the green boat.

Conor previously said it'll take about 6 weeks on crutches to recover from his injury ... and now we know where to find him if we need him.

Normani's "Wild Side" has delighted and surprised fans with its homage to Aaliyah ... and the late singer's uncle says she would have been totally cool with it too.

If ya missed it, Normani released her first new track in a couple years, and along with featuring Cardi B ... many music folks believe it contains a sample of Aaliyah's "One in a Million."

That raised some eyebrows, because Aaliyah's music is rarely sampled and isn't even available on streaming services, but according to a very close member of her family ... it's all good.

Barry Hankerson -- Aaliyah's uncle and manager of her catalog -- tells TMZ ... his niece "always encouraged young women pursuing their musical and entertainment careers, to achieve their dreams."

Hankerson is the founder of Blackground Records and says he owns all of Aaliyah's masters, and he says it's clear Normani has been inspired by her music. He adds ... "I believe that Aaliyah would be very supportive of a young Black woman that chose to emulate her music and style."

Barry did add that it would have been "more honorable" if the singer sought approval to sample "One in a Million" first, but ultimately, he does seem to give his seal of approval.

He says ... "I will not stand in the way of something that brings to light the incredible staying power of Aaliyah. So in that light, wishing Normani well with the song and overall career. God bless. I think Aaliyah would be pleased."

An attorney for Blackground confirmed with us that the Aaliyah sample was never officially cleared for use, HOWEVER ... Normani's team insists that "Wild Side" doesn't actually use a direct sample.