Celebrity Feuds

Matt Groening is literally living a Joni Mitchell song ... his neighbor paved paradise and put up a parking lot, and he's pissed.

Matt is enraged one of his neighbors is taking an ax to four 100-year-old pine trees, which he says are on protected property.

The "Simpsons" co-creator says the neighbor wants to pave over the area to accommodate her cars.

The Santa Monica neighborhood is up in arms. Bobby Shriver, the former Santa Monica mayor and member of the Kennedy clan, along with his wife, Malissa, tried to stop the chainsaw massacre by protesting to the City of L.A. Turns out, the trees are on the border between Santa Monica and L.A. and the stumps rest on the L.A. side.

One neighbor, Jerry Rubin, actually chained himself to one of the trees in protest.

Matt and company won a temporary reprieve ... the City of L.A. ordered the tree hackers to stop until they determine conclusively whether she has a right to chop the pines down.

As they say ... you don't know what you got till it's gone ...

Nick Prugo -- the guy who masterminded the Hollywood "Bling Ring" -- got busted for another nefarious plot ... this time he allegedly tried to hire someone to rape his longtime nemesis.

Prugo was arrested and charged with solicitation to commit sexual assault, as well as 3 counts of stalking. Prugo's friend, Edward Feinstein, was also taken into custody and charged with the same crimes.

The D.A. says Prugo and Feinstein posted an online ad in January 2014 ... looking to hire men to go to Dawn Daluise's home and rape her. Prugo has a sordid history with Daluise.

She's an esthetician who was also arrested for trying to hire someone to murder a rival skin care shop owner last year. When she got busted she told cops Prugo violated his parole by going out of state ... and he ended up going back to jail briefly.

Sean Penn has sued Lee Daniels for $10 million, claiming the "Empire" creator dragged him through the mud and accused him of hitting women, just to make Terrence Howard look better.

Daniels did an interview in which he said, "[Terrence] ain't done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of a sudden he's some f***in' demon.... That's a sign of the time, of race, of where we are right now in America."

Penn claims in his lawsuit Daniels' comments were "reckless and malicious" and Sean has falsely "for years been the subject of scandalous, scurrilous, and baseless attacks."

Penn has been caught on video attacking paparazzi and prosecuted for it. As for women, there have been numerous reports that he allegedly brutalized Madonna in the late '80s, and numerous publications reported he was charged and convicted. We did some checking, and it appears the story about being charged and convicted is incorrect ... he was never charged.

Penn says in the lawsuit, "Daniels' defense of Howard (and his improper invocation of two of the greatest actors and humanitarians of our time, Brando and Penn, in doing so) is apparently part of a misguided campaign to profit and further bolster and brand his show 'Empire.'"

Penn is suing Daniels for $10 million.

UFC icon Tank Abbott says there's NO WOMAN on Earth who could beat him in a fight -- Ronda Rousey included -- because at the end of the day ... "She's a girl."

Ronda Rousey says Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s finally getting what he deserves -- fans turning their backs on him in droves because he's just too damn boring in the ring.

Waka Flocka Flame says people who change from men to women and vice versa are "evil."

The rapper was on Charlamagne Tha God's Breakfast Club Friday when he was asked about Caitlyn Jenner. Waka says what Caitlyn and others like her have done is "rebuking God," and they've given in to "the devil playing tricks on" their minds.

He's upset that Jenner and others send messages on TV to impressionable kids ... and adults need to be more responsible.

Mickey Rourke does not mince words ... he detests Donald Trump, or as he calls him, a "bitch bully."

Mickey showed up at Mr. Chow Wednesday night when he revealed his choice for Prez.

T.I. isn't fessing up about his breakup with Iggy Azalea ... because the plug was pulled long, long ago, and it was mutual ... so say sources connected with Iggy.

Iggy had been signed to Tip's Grand Hustle label and released her 2012 album "Glory" on it ... but the real question is when the relationship ended. Based on our interactions with T.I. it seemed he ended it with her sometime in 2015.

According to our Iggy sources, they had a mutual parting of the ways in 2013, when she signed with Island Def Jam.

As one source put it ... T.I. hasn't had any involvement in the last 10 songs she's put out ... many of which have climbed the charts, like "Trouble" and "Pretty Girls."

We're told the two are still on amicable terms, and there's some sort of deal where T.I. gets a percentage for discovering her.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had to be cringing when Donald Trump got the crowd howling at Wednesday night's Republican debate -- because he tells TMZ Sports there's no way they're ever settling their beef.

Donald Trump says he could have bought Jeb Bush if he wanted.

Trump woke up a pretty sleepy round 2 after Bush claimed Donald offered him money in return for supporting gambling in Florida.

Trump fired back Bush was lying, and if he wanted to buy Bush's vote he could have done it in a heartbeat.

And then Trump shot a zinger at Bush. In case you hadn't heard, Trump previously accused Jeb of a cardinal sin in Presidential politics ... being boring.

Trump lost the crowd when Carly Fiorina suggested his comment about her face was an insult to women.

Jack White's longstanding feud with The Black Keys exploded in a NYC bar Sunday night -- at least according to drummer Patrick Carney, who claims White tried to throw down.

Carney described the incident, saying ... "A 40 year old bully tried to fight the 35 year old nerd."

White had a different take ... telling EW, "Nobody tried to fight you, Patrick. Nobody touched you or ‘bullied’ you. You were asked a question you couldn’t answer so you walked away."

White and the Keys have been enemies for years, which became public in 2013 when White called lead singer Dan Auerbach an "a**hole" in emails.

As for Sunday night, White was pissed Carney tweeted about their run-in -- "Quit whining to the Internet and speak face to face like a human being. End of story."

Beef. It's not just for rappers.

Chris Brown wants the courts to do his dirty work -- as in, force baby mama Nia Guzman to quit bad mouthing him and talking about his fathering skills, or lack thereof, in public.

Chris and Nia are heading into court Friday morning to start hammering out a formal custody agreement for Royalty, but sources connected to the case tell us job 1 will be a gag order. Brown filed docs for an injunction blocking Guzman from bashing him to news media AND on social media.

Royalty's mom and dad have had very public beefs -- most recently when each accused the other of putting Royalty in dangerous situations. Sources close to Guzman say she thinks the gag order is a joke, since she only blasts Chris when he starts with her.

Also on the table today -- custody time (he wants 50/50), and monthly child support (she wants $15k/month instead of $2,500/month). This case won't be quick and easy. As one source put it, "It's gonna get nasty."

We'll be at court when the fireworks begin. Stay tuned ...

6:45 AM PT -- Nia just showed up at the courthouse in Houston. No sign of Chris yet.

Rick Ross and his baby mama are in an all-out war over a luxury sedan -- she claims Rick boosted it from his son, but Rick says that's impossible ... since he footed the bill for the ride!

Tia Kemp went HAM on Rick early Thursday ... saying, "Rick Ross takes the car from his Son Again!!" -- in a post that included a shot of their 9-year-old standing next to the BMW B7, just to tug at the heart strings.

A source close to Rick tells TMZ ... yeah, he took the car, but it's not theft since Rick paid for it. The fact that Tia says it belongs to their son is kind of a stretch -- we're told Rick lets Tia use it to drive the kid to school, but it's always been in Rick's name.

Still, Tia's not having it. She's spent all day posting pics of Rick with just about everyone -- Jay Z, Diddy, LeBron James, T.I., and French Montana -- begging them to convince Rick to give back the whip.

As for why Rick took the car in the first place -- we're told Tia started beefing with him about his new chick, Lira Mercer. Not sure why Tia would have an issue ... seems like a lovely girl.

Conor McGregor is no Ronda Rousey ... he's not even a champ ... and he's got a long way to go before he'll ever be considered the "best" ... so says UFC stud Luke Rockhold.

Luke was at The Palm restaurant in L.A. -- hangin' with fellow UFC superstar Urijah Faber -- when we brought up McGregor ... who's notorious for bragging about how great he thinks he is.

Enter Luke -- who says the guy needs to come back down to Earth.

"He's a lot smaller than he says he is ... literally and figuratively."

Luke says he thinks Conor's talented -- and great for the sport -- but he's unproven and has major holes in his game.

"I'm lying if I'm saying I'm not entertained by him at some points, but other times I wanna slap the sh*t out of him."

As for Urijah, he likes Conor and thinks he's a beast -- but his issue has more to do with McGregor's fiscal irresponsibility.

Check out the clip -- GREAT financial advice from Faber.

Ex-NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas UNLEASHED on his baby mama Laura Govan -- claiming she blows the $20k he gives her every month on clothes for Instagram "for u f*cks to hit the like button."

Wackstar is indignant that Game has accused him of vandalizing his Porsche, telling TMZ he's innocent ... and this is really about bad blood over a Compton hood pass.

The former Chris Brown homie says he did not mastermind the attack. The surveillance video shows the vandal and it's not Wackstar, but Game is convinced he's behind it. Wackstar says, "I wasn't even aware of that incident that took place. I get blamed for everything."

Wackstar also calls BS on Game's claim that he was behind the break-in at Chris Brown's house last July, where $50,000 was stolen.

Game threatened violence if he ever runs into Wackstar, saying, "When I see you I'm gone break yo f***** jaw. So have yo gun on you pu**y."