TMZ.com Home

Akon is turning his dreams into reality -- building a futuristic city in Senegal, which he says will resemble Wakanda from "Black Panther" ... in more ways than just its futuristic appearance.

The singer, who hails from Senegal, joined us on "TMZ Live" Tuesday for an update on "Akon City," the $6 BILLION cryptocurrency-run city which recently broke ground in his West African home country.

Akon told us why the city's centerpiece will be a 5,000-bed state of the art hospital, which he says will cost about $1 BILLION alone to build. The hospital is part of the first phase of construction, which Akon says will also include residences, hotels, schools, police and fire stations, an airstrip, a mall and all the other hallmarks of modern-day cities.

Looking at renderings for Akon City, it's easy to see why some folks think Akon's building a real-life Wakanda ... and he tells us how "Black Panther" actually helped him sell the project to investors and partners.

Akon is expecting phase 1 to be completed by 2023, and when the city's completed in 2029 it will run entirely on, you guessed it -- akoin cryptocurrency.

Big blow to college football ... the BIG 10 has reportedly voted to CANCEL the 2020 season.

The Detroit Free Press is citing multiple sources who confirm BIG 10 presidents voted 12-2 in favor of canceling the season.

Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Purdue were among the programs that voted to cancel.

Meanwhile, the only 2 votes for playing came from Nebraska and Iowa, according to the Dan Patrick Show.

The conference will reportedly go public with the announcement on Tuesday.

As we previously reported, the leaders of college football's Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) held an emergency meeting over the weekend to discuss their options.

But, as ESPN reports, the takeaway from the meeting was that a college football season in 2020 was unlikely pending some sort of miracle.

Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are looking to live large -- as in a much larger house as their first baby's about to arrive.

The couple's been making the rounds in the exclusive, celebrity-enclave of Montecito where they spent the weekend looking at a variety of massive homes. Based on the 3 they toured, it'll be a huge upsize from their current digs ... a 3,000 square ft. pad in nearby Santa Barbara.

The new homes are really massive estates, all of which are at least 10,000 square feet on multiple acres of land.

Property #1:
It's listed at $10 million ... featuring 6 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms on 5 acres. There's also a tennis court, bocce ball court, swimming pool, spa and cabana. There's also some room for their fancy wheels with a 4-car garage.

Property #2:
It's listed at $11 million and features 5 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms on 3.5 acres. The Mediterranean estate includes sweeping ocean views and a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom guest house. It's got all the bells and whistles ... gym, climbing wall, pool, theater and wine cellar.

Property #3:
The most expensive property the couple toured is listed at $14 million. It's got 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms on 2.5 acres. The architectural gem also includes a 2 bedroom guest house. The entire property's surrounded by lush lawns. There's also an outdoor kitchen, fire pit and pool.

Hard to go wrong if they go with any of the above -- they've all got plenty of space, and then some, for their new addition.

Brian Austin Green might look like he's getting cozy with a new female in his life -- but turns out, she's not all that new ... and this is far from romantic, 'cause they're hatching a plan.

Here's BAG meeting Jennifer Flynn this week for a lunch date, where they were deep in conversation about a business they've been working on for 3 years. There's no PDA -- although you might think there is -- we've learned they're not dating.

Jennifer and Brian met 3 years ago at a July 4th party thrown by her mom, actress Jane Seymour. Jennifer and Brian started a company together called InteliQore, which helps people combat cyber-crimes as they happen in real-time. Sources close to the pair tell us they booted this up a few years back after both experienced online bullying and harassment in their respective fields.

They've developed products and services related to cybersecurity, and they're about to release their first product on the market, called TRIPP.

It's peanut butter jelly time for this brave/reckless family, that decided it would be a good idea to start feeding a wild black bear peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!

Ya gotta see this video ... a huge black bear approaches a family on a picnic bench in the woods, and they start snapping selfies with the animal before whipping up some PB&Js for the hungry beast.

The bear has some pretty good manners, calmly waiting while an incredibly dumb human spreads a thick glob of peanut butter all over a piece of bread and lets the bear eat it right outta his hand.

Another guy thinks it's a bright idea and feeds the bear another sando.

The woman filming the feeding from afar is getting a kick out of it, and everyone seems to be having a great time, despite the fact they're tempting fate. Naturally, there's a 30 rack of cold beers on the picnic table too.

Choosy den mothers choose Jif.

The family of Elijah McClain is going after the city of Aurora and 13 of its police officers, claiming they're all to blame for his 2019 death.

McClain's parents just filed the lawsuit in Colorado claiming the city, the cops, a paramedic, and a doctor should be held responsible for the August 24, 2019 fatal incident based on their "needless use of excessive force and torture."

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the family says Elijah was listening to music on a short walk home from the corner store "when Aurora police officers grabbed, tackled, and assaulted him."

In the lawsuit, they claim officers "continued to brutalize Elijah for nearly eighteen minutes—approximately fifteen minutes of which he was handcuffed." They also allege the force the officers used against Elijah included "compressing his neck and the blood flow to his brain with two consecutive carotid holds, cranking his left shoulder with an armbar hammerlock that caused it to repeatedly pop."

Describing the arrest even further ... the family claims Elijah vomited after they slammed him to the ground. According to the docs, another officer allegedly "jammed his knee into Elijah's arm for minutes on end" with the sole purpose of inflicting pain and eventually separating Elijah's biceps and triceps muscles.

Then the paramedics arrived, but the family claims things only got worse. In the suit, they claim an EMT "involuntarily injected him with a massive dose of ketamine" even though he was not experiencing any medical condition that would have required ketamine ... a powerful sedative.

Minutes after they injected him with the sedative, Elijah stopped breathing, had no pulse and never regained consciousness before dying a few days later.

As we reported ... Aurora PD officers stopped Elijah while responding to a call about a suspicious person walking the streets wearing a ski mask and waving his arms. His family had previously said he commonly wore the mask to keep warm.

Body-camera footage of the incident shows Elijah telling the cops, "Let go of me. I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking." His final words -- documented at the beginning of the lawsuit from start to finish -- popped up on social media posts demanding justice.

Beyonce's channeling her love of the great outdoors -- and doing it in style ... on a boat ... in the Hamptons.

Bey and much of her family hit up The Hamptons Monday and enjoyed a relaxing boat ride. Her mom, Tina Knowles, and daughter Blue Ivy Carter were seen tagging along as they cruised on a VanDutch speedboat. No sign of Jay-Z, though.

Check out the pics ... everyone looked totally relaxed as they chilled out ... including Blue Ivy who struck a comfy pose at the stern of the boat.

Tina had a blast for sure. She posted video of herself jamming to "Black Parade." She captioned it, "Dancing from joy of family and feeling of gratitude and love of God, Family and life on The Water! Best feeling in the world!!"

No word if Beyonce was celebrating after receiving a BET Humanitarian Award back in June -- or maybe the enormous success of her visual album, "Black is King" ... which is making beaucoup bucks for Disney+.

Viola Davis is coming full circle for her birthday by buying the house (and property) where she was born -- a place that was formerly inhabited by slaves.

The actress celebrated her 55th Tuesday by posting a photo of what she calls her birthplace -- an old rundown house on what's been said to be a former plantation in South Carolina. She said she not only snapped up the home, but the land surrounding it as well.

Viola captioned her pic with a moving tribute, writing ... "The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life....I own it....all of it." She's previously described the property -- saying it's about 160 acres all in all.

Viola followed up with a Cherokee birth blessing, "May you live long enough to know why you were born." In light of all the success she's found, it seems she's done that too.

A bit more history on the former plantation ... Viola described it in an interview back in 2016, and said her grandmother used to live there, and that her house -- presumably the one depicted here -- was a one-room shack, without a bathroom, running water or much else.

Despite sparse conditions ... she recalls her mother telling her that on the day she was born, a bunch of relatives packed in here to honor the occasion, and enjoyed themselves. Viola says she didn't live there long, but came back to visit over the years as she grew up.

Amazing visual of just how far Viola's come from her humble beginnings.

The parent of the 8-year-old kid who was arrested in Key West two years ago is now going after the school and the city, claiming the boy -- who already had serious psychological issues -- was all but destroyed by the incident.

Bianca Digennaro just filed a suit on behalf of her child -- who's only identified by his initials, HMM -- claiming her son was subjected to humiliation, embarrassment and psychological damage that manifested itself physically ... which she says could scar him permanently.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Digennaro says school officials should never have called the police, because school officials knew HMM had serious issues, including Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Adjustment Disorder and ADHD.

What happened to cause police to come did not justify trying to cuff the boy and arrest him. The mom says HMM refused to sit on a bench the way the teacher wanted. The teacher grabbed the boy and he implored her to take her hands off him. When she didn't, he punched her once in the chest. She was not injured, and HMM became remorseful and upset.

Nevertheless ... cops tried to scare the boy straight by telling him he was going to jail. The suit claims there was no justification for even calling the cops, since mental issues were the root cause of the problem, yet they still treated him like a criminal.

The kid's mother goes on to say that the psychological trauma of the incident caused her son to experience loss of breath, hives, stomach and head aches, nightmares, insomnia and inability to sleep alone in the aftermath of his run-in with cops. Her suit claims excessive force, ADA violations and failure to train officers properly.

Perfect antidote for a dad raging like a maniac at grocery store customers who ARE wearing masks -- his own son, who's strong enough to shut down his loudmouth parent!!!

Check out this older man going off inside a grocery store in Tucson, AZ ... spewing anti-mask rhetoric. Typical tirade we've seen lately -- you're all sheep, blah blah blah -- except this guy threw in some offensive machismo.

He drops the r-word repeatedly when describing the workers and shoppers, and even tries to fight at least one person before he had to be held back by a young buck who's said to be his son. It's pretty crazy -- usually this is how responsible parents handle a child throwing a tantrum.

Not only did his son hold him back, but he hoisted up his old man by the waist and carried him out the entrance like a 5-year-old having a meltdown -- with the chaos leaving a crate knocked over on the way out.

Kanye West is reminiscing about the good 'ol days -- when he was tight with Jay-Z and Kris Jenner -- and, for now, he's making moves to make nice.

Ye started putting his feelings out there late Monday night when he tweeted a seemingly heartfelt message about Hova -- "Miss my bro ... real talk." Kanye attached a screengrab of rap's former dynamic duo performing "Otis" at the 2011 VMAs.

He was still feeling those bridge-building good vibes Tuesday morning when he said, "My mother in law Kris Jenner ... makes the best music playlist."

As you know from Ye's Twitter rants over the last few weeks, he's taken direct shots at Kris ... such as referring to her as "Kris Jong-Un" and accusing her of peddling Kim's sex tape.

As we reported ... Kanye said last month he wants Jay-Z as his running mate ... even though he'd already picked Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball as his running mate. No need to worry, if Jay accepts the VP invite -- highly doubtful, though -- Kanye says Tidball told him she'd be down to take another position in his cabinet.

Unclear what's triggered peaceful Ye, but his recent family time with Kim and their 4 kids might be a good indicator. The fam took off from the Dominican Republic over the weekend to go glamping.

The world's last remaining Blockbuster store is getting an extreme makeover ... it's converting into a rental property for an epic end-of-summer sleepover!!!

Here's the deal ... Sandi Harding, the manager of the only surviving Blockbuster in Bend, OR, is converting the store into an Airbnb for 3 nights only ... and the once-in-a-lifetime experience sounds pretty freaking cool.

The 3 lucky folks who snag one of the reservations are in for a sleepover unlike ever before ... they get the keys to the store -- literally -- and can watch movies to their heart's content in a makeshift living room complete with a pull-out couch, bean bags, lamps and pillows.

Movies aren't any fun without snacks ... and this Blockbuster sleepover includes free pizza, Pepsi, candy and popcorn, plus whatever else you wanna bring.

The store's entire movie collection is up for grabs, plus video games too. Oh, and there's a VHS player, as long as you remember how to work it!!!

Reservations are available starting Monday at 1 PM PT, but ya gotta be a resident of Deschutes County to book the Blockbuster for one night only. The overnight sleepovers are set for Sept. 18-20 and the place accommodates up to 4 people.

Sandi says she wants to thank the local community for supporting the world's only surviving Blockbuster, which is why it's only being rented to locals and costs a measly $4.

Russia beat the U.S. into orbit in the '60s, and might have thought they beat us in COVID-safe fun -- but looking at these images of paddleboarders packed together, we gotta say ... nyet.

This stand-up paddleboarding festival went down over the weekend in St. Petersburg, which drew thousands of paddleboarders to the canals of the Fontanka River. Unfortunately, they were all smashed together at the start and finish of the event, and definitely NOT socially distant.

Some folks are standing, others are sitting ... and to be fair, once they got out and about paddling on the water most everyone was exercising at a safe distance. Looks like good, clean virus-free fun.

The one thing we're not seeing a whole lot of ... masks. Win some, lose some, and truth is that would be fine since they're all spaced out.

But, that bottleneck when they're all crowded into a canal is Dr. Fauci's worst nightmare come true.

BTW, Vladimir Putin's claiming to have the first coronavirus vaccine up and running -- despite skepticism from U.S. scientists. If he's right though, these paddle boarders should be first in line!

Raymond G. Allen, Sr., a character actor who played Uncle Woody in "Sanford and Son," has died.

Allen's family tells TMZ, he was in a long-term facility in California when he was found unresponsive early Monday morning. EMT's tried reviving him, to no avail.

The family says Allen died as a result of respiratory issues, but not COVID-related.

Allen was a working character actor, who also played Ned the Wino on "Good Times."

"Good Times" was a huge hit in the '70s, and Allen's character was hilarious. In "Sanford and Son" he played Aunt Esther's husband who never turned down a drink.

Allen also had roles in "Starsky and Hutch," playing a mechanic -- Merle the Earl.

And, there were many guest appearances, including "The Jeffersons," "What's Happening!!" and "The Love Boat,"

Allen had been sick for a while ... he was in a health care facility since 2016 ... where he had bouts with pneumonia.

Raymond Allen is survived by 2 children.

He was 91.

Jake Paul is NOT backing out of his upcoming boxing match with NBA star Nate Robinson despite the mysterious FBI investigation involving him, TMZ Sports has learned.

In fact, our sources say Jake is focusing on the fight to help keep his mind off the ordeal while it all plays out.

Paul vs. Robinson was initially set for Sept. 12 on the undercard of the big Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight on Triller ... though reports say the date is being pushed back until Nov. 28.

We did some digging to find out if Jake's legal situation had anything to do with the new date -- and as one source put it, "As of right now, Jake Paul is still confirmed. Don't expect that to change."

As we previously reported, the FBI raided his Calabasas home on Wednesday -- seizing multiple firearms from the residence.

Officials say the investigation stems from alleged criminal activity that went down at a George Floyd protest at the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall back in May.

Paul was initially charged with a misdemeanor for his alleged role in the incident, but that charge was dropped.

The FBI has now taken over the probe in Paul -- though they have not said specifically what he's accused of doing wrong.

Meanwhile, we're told Jake has been channeling his energy into boxing training ... working out constantly over the past few days.

Our sources also say Jake is trying to limit communication with friends outside of his boxing team.

He's also has been reevaluating his friendships and his team in order to cut out negative influences.

We're told Jake has also cut ties with former friend Armani Izadi -- whose Vegas home was also raided last week.

As for the fight, Jake and Nate have been talking trash to each other for months -- and it seems they're down to brawl whether it's in a ring or in the street.

Ryan Reynolds or Sir Paul McCartney could become the next chief of a First Nation in Canada ... the native community has spoken, and the famous non-natives are up for election.

Ryan and Paul have been nominated as Chief for Walpole Island First Nation, a reservation nestled on an island bordering Michigan and Canada ... according to the indigenous community's director of operations, James Jenkins.

He tells TMZ ... the actor and rock icon were nominated by 2 eligible electors this weekend, which instantly qualifies the celebs as official nominees for Chief.

It's pretty interesting ... we're told Ryan and Paul don't technically have to be part of the native community to be nominated or even rise to the top as Chief. There's a loophole from way back in 1868, when Walpole Island First Nation elected a non-member as chief, forging a precedent allowing nonmembers to run for Chief.

Now, Ryan and Sir Paul just have to get on the ballot. Actually, they're already on, but we're told they have until Thursday to contact the Walpole Island membership office to have their names removed. If the deadline passes without a peep from either, we're told they'll both remain legit candidates for Chief when the election is held Sept. 19.

If one of them wins, the First Nation would contact them, and Chief Ryan or Chief Paul would have to assume office or resign.

The intentions behind the nominations remain unclear, and we're told there are mixed emotions about it. Some members believe either has the stuff to be an effective leader because of their wildly successful entertainment careers.

What else would ya think after seeing 'Van Wilder' ... right? And, that's why others think their nominations are an inappropriate joke.

The Chief, we're told, is similar to being mayor ... they're the head of the council and the voice of the community, tasked with overseeing programs and services run by administrators. Naturally, we're told Chief is the most respected position in Walpole Island First Nation, which has about 5,000 members.

Walpole Island is no stranger to celebs ... we're told Cher and Kid Rock have spent a great deal of time in the area, going fishing and duck hunting.

One last caveat ... we're told Ryan or Paul would likely have to move close to the reservation if elected Chief. Sorry, you can't attend tribe meetings on Zoom.

Ryan's at least Canadian, so that gives him a leg up, but ... Paul's a Beatle.