Celebrity Feuds

Stephen Belafonte has broken his silence, telling TMZ ... Mel B's domestic violence allegations are "outrageous and unfounded."

Belafonte's lawyers tell us, "It's a shame that Ms. Brown elected not to proceed in a respectful and amicable fashion in this very private matter. In due course, Mr. Belafonte will be filing his response to the outrageous and unfounded allegations made by Ms. Brown, which allegations he vehemently denies."

The statement goes on, "When the Court determines the truth, it will become clear that this entire charade was nothing more than a smear campaign intended to cover up Ms. Brown's own conduct during the marriage in light of her current involvement with a family television show, and in an effort to unfairly gain leverage both financially and with respect to custody of the children."

The lawyers go on ... "When the degree to which Ms. Brown has gone to create a false depiction of her marriage to Mr. Belafonte is uncovered, real victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse will be understandably offended, angry and upset."

Mel B beelined it for her attorney Wednesday, possibly with new evidence in her nasty divorce from Stephen Belafonte.

She seemed determined heading into the office building after making a quick stop at her Bev Hills home ... where assistants removed a computer for her. Stephen's been banned from the house by the restraining order ... so it's unclear why she'd take the computer.

It is clear Mel will be spending a lot of time with her lawyers in the months ahead.

Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather will SUCK ... so says Lennox Lewis who says the hypothetical match is more of a spectacle than a real fight.

The former heavyweight champion of the world says he respects both guys in their respective sports -- but putting them both in the same ring is a disaster waiting to happen.

Seconds after Nia Long insisted she has NO beef with Taraji P. Henson, some fresh beef was served up ... on the windshield of her Porsche.

Nia was out in Bev Hills Tuesday with a throng of paps, including our guy who asked her how she and Taraji left things. She has a much different memory of the situation from others on the "Empire" set.

You gotta see the funny part of this though -- Nia escaping a jaywalking ticket, only to get nailed by the parking meter man. She tries to talk her way out of it.

Mel B convinced close friends and family members not to tell police she was being beaten by Stephen Belafonte because she was afraid he would think she was behind it and kill her.

Multiple sources close to Mel B tell us ... a close circle of friends and family didn't believe her when she explained away various injuries, and when they confronted her, she had trouble hiding what she now says is the truth ... that she was being viciously attacked by Belafonte.

We're told some of the people who confronted her said they were going to call the cops and report him, but she became emotional and begged them to stand down, and not just because she was in fear for her life. She believed anyone who blew the whistle on Belafonte would become his target as well.

As we reported, people who were on various TV shows with Mel B were aware of a slew of injuries she suffered and they also saw Belafonte on the set and witnessed what some called his abusive and threatening behavior. Yet, as far as we can tell -- and this is consistent with her declaration -- no one from any show ever called the cops to report alleged domestic violence.

Mel B says she has been the victim of horrific brutality at the hands of husband Stephen Belafonte for nearly a decade, and lots of people around her saw her injuries but it appears most of them bought her stories that made no sense.

TMZ broke the story, Mel B got a restraining order Monday against Belafonte, claiming he beat her, choked her and threw her to the ground on multiple occasions. According to the documents, after an alleged beating in 2012 over Belafonte's jealousy of Usher, producers of 'X Factor' (Australia) noticed swelling on her face and asked for a physician. She claimed it was an allergic reaction to shellfish and according to the document, the doctor on set bought her story.

She was also forced to miss a filming of 'X Factor' (UK) in late 2014 because her injuries were so bad they could not be covered by theatrical makeup. When she finally returned, she still had visible facial and body wounds yet no one sounded the alarm.

Around the same time, things got so bad, Mel B tried to take her own life by swallowing an entire bottle of Aspirin. She had a change of heart, tried calling 999, but she says Belafonte prevented her from doing so. At some point she says her friend, Randy, came over but Belafonte forced him to leave. Randy called an ambulance but Belafonte turned it away. Authorities were not alerted.

The next day, her driver showed up to take her to work and saw such extensive injuries he took her to the hospital, where she spent 2 days with security standing guard outside her room to keep Belafonte away. Yet authorities again were not alerted.

She returned again to 'X Factor' (UK) with visible facial and body wounds, which producers attempted to cover up. Again, authorities not called.

When she was back in L.A. she told 'X Factor' "employers" she had attempted suicide to escape from the abuse at the hands of Belafonte. She says they offered assistance to get her away from Belafonte, but it appears authorities were not contacted and she went back to living with him.

Mel B says throughout the years, Belafonte would harass and intimidate her agents, producers and co-stars, and they complained to her he was "abusive and demanding," and he was adversely affecting her business ... but again, it appears authorities were not contacted.

Belafonte tells TMZ he questions the motives of her accusations.

Floyd Mayweather exploded on the judges at a youth cheerleading competition this weekend ... claiming they cheated his daughter's team out of the title and he was PISSED.

Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian are not getting married, which is our takeaway after learning her bid to use the Kardashian name to hawk merch has been officially rejected.

We've learned Kim, Khloe and Kourtney were successful in blocking Blac's petition to own the rights to the name Angela Renee Kardashian.

We broke the story ... the sisters didn't want Blac to profit off the family name -- even if she did marry Rob -- so they filed legal docs to stop it. They claimed it created confusion in the marketplace.

Chyna never responded ... and now she's taking the L. Rob can do whatever he wants so marriage is a possibility, but Kris is still buttering his bread and she's pulling all the strings.

Translation -- Blac Chyna's stuck being just Blac Chyna.

Stephen Belafonte got in the crosshairs of the feds after his brother bragged Belafonte was in possession of a gun ... a gun he is prohibited from owning.

We're told The Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms got wind of his brother's comments and went to a judge last week asking for a warrant because Belafonte was reportedly convicted of domestic violence in 2003. He had allegedly gotten into a drunken fight with the mother of his child. As part of the conviction, he was prohibited from possessing firearms.

TMZ broke the story ... the ATF showed up to Belafonte's Hollywood Hills home Friday and waited for him to show to serve the warrant. We're told no gun was found.

Justin Trudeau wants a rematch with Matthew Perry after getting his ass kicked in grade school and Matt telling the world about it -- FIGHT!!!

The Canadian PM said "I've been giving it some thought, and you know what, who hasn't wanted to punch Chandler? How about a rematch @MatthewPerry?"

You'll recall ... Matt went on Kimmel earlier this month and told the story of how he once beat up a younger Trudeau for "excelling in a sport."

Now, JT tweeted the challenge on April Fool's day, so chances are he's joking. But it would be awesome!

As long as nothing happened to Trudeau's face, that is.

WWE star Baron Corbin would send Conor McGregor's ass to the hospital if the beefing stars actually fought ... according to WWE legend Taz.

Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian have seemingly made up for the umpteenth time.

Chyna posted a few vids of the two Saturday ... and one thing's clear, there doesn't appear to be an ounce of ill will between them.

TMZ broke the story ... Chyna felt she was being tag-teamed by Rob and Tyga -- who she has kids with -- so she lashed out ... calling out Tyga for allegedly skipping child support payments.

"American Idol" will not be coming back in 2018, despite the fact that both NBC and FOX made offers to put it back on the air, because a tug of war between co-owners of the show torpedoed the deals.

TMZ broke the story, both NBC and FOX made dueling offers to bring the show back as early as summer, 2018. We were told NBC wanted to rotate "Idol"with 2 other shows -- "America's Got Talent" and "The Voice."

Our sources say the owners of "Idol" -- Fremantle and Core -- never anted up a counter offer to either network. As for why, Fremantle also owns "AGT" and we're told the company was pushing hard to pressure Core into agreeing to accept the NBC offer.

We're told honchos at Core felt Fremantle had a conflict of interest and was pushing "Idol" to make "AGT" the cornerstone of a year-round talent competition.

The Core execs felt Fremantle was trying to diminish the unique value of Idol and the two companies could not see eye to eye and we're told all the negotiations have been shelved.

They don't call it show business for nothing.

Katherine Jackson has been stashed away from her grandchildren since returning to Los Angeles ... out of fear they'll reprogram grandma and derail her legal battle with Trent Jackson.

Sources connected to the family tell us Michael's children -- Paris, Prince and Blanket -- didn't even know Katherine was coming back and as of Friday, had not seen her. Remember, she flew back from London Wednesday night, and her daughter Rebbie desperately tried to block our camera at LAX.

Other family sources say rather than taking the matriarch to her own home, she was secretly taken to one of her children's homes -- and it has everything to do with the elder abuse lawsuit.

Remember, the main reason Katherine even came back is to testify against her nephew, Trent. He's made it clear he believes Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson are masterminding the whole case in an effort to gain control of Katherine's money.

We're told Trent's camp thinks Katherine's kids are worried Paris and Prince will encourage grandma to drop the lawsuit. You'll recall ... Paris went off on Jermaine and other siblings in 2012 when Katherine was taken to Arizona for nearly 2 weeks. She equated it to a kidnapping.

Our sources point out the fact Katherine still hasn't seen her beloved grandchildren -- after being gone for 2 months -- is a strong sign someone doesn't want a repeat of 2012.

Maybe Chris Weidman knows something we don't ... but the UFC star says the highly anticipated Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight is "100%" going down.

Weidman appeared on "MMA Report with Mike 'Gunz' Gunzelman" and said his information about the fight is "a fact."

Of course, Dana White has disagreed the last few times we've seen him out -- while he's said he wants the fight to happen, the UFC honcho has said the 2 sides are insanely far apart when it comes to money. But maybe something's changed.

Still, Weidman seems very confident and explained why he truly believes Mayweather could be in for a VERY painful night.

Ex-"Dance Moms" host Abby Lee Miller doesn't appreciate getting dissed by the moms on the show ... 'cause she's the one who helped 'em get $20k per episode just for being couch-sitting housewives.

We got Abby outside the Mondrian Hotel Wednesday in West Hollywood where she told us all she ever wanted, and still wants, from producers is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

She announced her departure earlier this week, and almost immediately some of the moms threw shade Abby's way while praising her replacement, Cheryl Burke ... who they say "will show up and not complain."