Celebrity Feuds

Jermaine Dupri is admitting he dropped the ball getting Yung Joc's 2006 No. 1 smash hit "It's Goin Down" for his So So Def empire ... all because he decided to go to bed!!!

The platinum producer revealed he had signed the song's producer Nitti to his label, and was expecting Joc to follow suit once he heard the song ... but the very next day the pair went over to Diddy's Bad Boy.

As they say, the rest is history ... the song topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for 8 weeks straight.

JD's "For Motivational Use Only" collaborator Curren$y quipped on "The Breakfast Club" ... JD should've "stayed up" -- which the platinum producer agreed, but also said he didn't actually sign Joc to lock him and the 3x platinum track.

The first version of "It's Goin Down" kicked off with the So So Def audio tag so JD thought the song was in the bag ... a costly mistake as far as Joc was concerned.

The Atlanta rapper recently ranked Diddy over JD in terms of marketing savvy on an episode of "My Expert Opinion" ... and also felt JD stretched his focus too thin for his liking.

JD still has the opp to get revenge against Diddy in their still pending Verzuz battle, which he insists is still happening -- but the 2 superproducers are plotting a bigger event than what fans are used to seeing.

Selena Gomez is finally speaking out amid the fan-fueled drama with Hailey Bieber ... coming to HB's defense and condemning the hate coming her way.

Selena took to IG Friday with a message to her fans ... "Hailey Bieber reached out to me and let me know that she has been receiving death threats and such hateful negativity."

She continued, "This isn't what I stand for. No one should have to experience hate or bullying. I've always advocated for kindness and really want this all to stop.❤️"

What's more ... Selena follows Hailey on IG ... another sign she wants to douse the flames that have erupted on social media.

ICYMI, the rumored beef between Selena and Hailey surfaced after SG posted a video about her eyebrows ... fans took Kylie Jenner's posts with Hailey as a diss against Selena. It takes too long to explain what the alleged dispute was over [in a word, eyebrows] but it was silly.

Fans speculated there was been tension between the two ladies for years, since Hailey got engaged to Justin a couple months after ending his long-term relationship with Selena.

Selena has clearly moved on and wants everyone else to do the same.

We covered it all in the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast.

Originally Published -- 7:01 AM PT

Floyd Mayweather's jeweler tells TMZ Sports Jake Paul is fibbin' about the way things went down in Miami earlier this month ... saying there were nowhere near 50 guys in TBE's entourage during their altercation outside of a Heat game.

Shuki International had a front-row view of the two fighters' tiff in the South Florida street back on March 8 -- as he attended the NBA game with the legendary boxer -- and he says there were only about eight guys with Floyd at the time of the ruckus.

He also tells us Mayweather didn't seek out Jake -- saying their encounter was strictly coincidental.

"Jake is exaggerating," Shuki said. "We just finished the game, pulled out, and Jake was there. Floyd was with his eight bodyguards."

"And [Jake] just run like a rabbit."

Of course, Jake's side of the story is a little different ... he said Floyd waited outside the arena for him in order to confront him with several dozen other people -- and he took off because he didn't want to get jumped.

"I'm tough," Paul said at the time, "I don't need to prove my toughness, but I'm not f****** dumb. I'm not gonna sit there and try to fight 50 dudes."

Shuki, though, seemed to imply run-ins like these might become commonplace between the two if Paul doesn't issue an apology soon.

The jeweler tells us Floyd's still got beef over the way Jake took his hat during the Logan Paul pre-fight press conference in 2021.

"He's gotta do the right thing," Shuki says. "He's gotta respect the world champion."

As for a potential fight between Mayweather and Paul -- Shuki tells us he doesn't think it'd even be a contest ... expecting a Floyd KO in a matter of seconds.

Travis Scott's skills as a fashion innovator are coming under fire by Dennis Rodman ... who's accusing the superstar rapper of copying the look of his signature sneakers.

Dennis went after Travis at Got Sole's recent sneaker convention in Chicago as the NBA champ pointed out his high-top kicks originated the reverse Nike Swoosh logo before Travis' model hit the market.

The Worm's Nike Air Darwin shoe dropped in 1994, shortly before his days of playing with Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Travis and Jordan Brand connected for his popular mocha-colored AJ1 Retro High OG sneakers in 2019.

Dennis didn't seem to be a fan of Travis' shoe, and said he just wants his credit for putting out the design first.

D.L. Hughley is pushing back against folks who say Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith for making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith ... he finds the narrative extremely ironic.

The comedian ripped into The Root's Candace McDuffie, who went on CNN and claimed Chris had it coming after years of targeting Black women with his jokes, saying she's got it all twisted.

D.L. says Chris isn't punching down on marginalized women, as Candace believes, but rather making fun of celebs who put their business out in the streets ... he says it's all fair game.

The irony for D.L. ... Candace thinking the violent slap was justified while a comedic response goes too far, and everyone's allowed an opinion except for the man who actually got smacked in the face on live TV.

Jimmy Kimmel's hosting the Oscars again tonight, and a year out from the infamous slap ... the dude has been talking a lot about it, kinda turning the moment into a punchline.

The late night funny man has been doing a ton of press in the weeks leading up to the big gig -- his third such time handling MC duties for Hollywood's biggest show -- and yes ... he's been asked repeatedly about Will Smith smacking Chris Rock, and how he'll address it.

Here's a few quotes of JK's from the past couple weeks or so. When asked by THR what he would do if someone tries to pull a copycat and slap him, Kimmel said ... "If I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s*** out of them on television. And if it’s The Rock, I run."

A few days ago, as preparations were underway, Kimmel made another joke about carnage ...  with reference to the color of this year's walkup. He said, "People have been asking, 'Is there going to be any trouble this year? Is there going to be any violence this year?'"

He adds, "We certainly hope not. But if there is, I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet over a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed."

In other words, he's been swearing off the brutality by teasing the possibility of more, albeit in jest. On the issue of actually talking about it in his monologue, Jimmy says he'll do it.

He's said in interviews that he's going to "squeeze just a couple more drops out of it" and give a take that he thinks no one has heard yet. Kimmel did note he doesn't plan on talking about it at length but says it's the elephant in the room and that it must be addressed.

As for the whole crisis team thing -- namely, AMPAS hiring a bunch of people to "deal" with any craziness that might go on -- JK says he isn't privy to it ... and knows nothing of the logistics of what they have planned or how they would implement him if things go south.

It's interesting that Jimmy's been making light of the slap as much as he has, and will presumably do so again come 5 PM. Ya gotta figure ABC and the Academy have signed off on it all ... they're the producers and showrunners of this thing, and they call the shots.

Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh seem to have moved past their rumored movie set beef a year later -- 'cause they went to the same party this weekend ... but weren't together, per se.

The two actresses were among many celebs who attended CAA's pre-Oscars party Friday night in L.A. ... and while it's interesting to see them in the same space -- this after they reportedly squabbled while making "Don't Worry Darling" -- it's possible things are still icy.

Fact is, there isn't a photo of them posing together or even hanging around the same group of people at any given time during the shindig -- which was star-studded and packed. That kinda jibes with what they were doing at Venice last year ... namely, keeping distance.

It could mean nothing, of course. However, by the same token, it could also mean they're still not that cool with each other ... and choose not to fraternize, even now.

Not to kick up the Team Flo/Team Wilde camps again, but it was quite clear there was friction at the time.

In any case ... they seem to be able to play nice in the same building, which is all you can really ask for, we suppose. BTW, they were far from the only famous faces on the scene.

Other stars in attendance ... Pedro Pascal, Zoe Kravitz, Cate Blanchett, Allison Janney, Andrew Garfield, Halle Bailey, Rita Ora, Taika Waititi, Miles Teller, Chloe Grace Moretz, KiKi Layne, Elton John and husband David Furnish, Sandra Bullock and Brian Tyree Henry.

All the others ... Demi Moore, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Maria Sharapova, Amy Adams, Vin Diesel, Hailee Steinfeld, James Corden, Richard Madden, Trevor Noah, Lily James, Paul Mescal, Jon Hamm, Zooey Deschanel, B.J. Novak, Danny DeVito, Simone Ashley, HAIM, Ana de Armas, DeWanda Wise, Eiza Gonzalez, Ariana DeBose and lots more.

Just when you thought you knew all of the secretive Scheananigans of "Vanderpump Rules", these Bravolebs have recently stunned the world! Yes, their bods are smokin' hot, but some of their latest sexcapades are not! Take a much-needed time-out from the recent Scandoval and guess The 'VPR' star in the racy pic!

Just raise your glasses high, and you'll see Lala Kent, Ariana Madix, James Kennedy and more of the 'Vanderpump' gang wearing a whole lot of NOTHIN' leaving not much to your imagination ... except for maybe some goat cheese balls 😜.

These smokin' shots are SUR to get your minds goin' and the Pumptinis flowin'! Put your Bravolebrity knowledge to the test and guess the 'VPR' cast member in the sexy snap!

Hit-Boy isn't backing down from claiming the rap producer throne after calling out a few of the other top guys in the game.

On Friday, HB and The Alchemist unveiled their new collaboration "Slipping Into Darkness," with HB expanding on his previous shots aimed at Hitmaka, Metro Boomin, Southside and Mustard with acidic bars,

"I'm like Deebo on his cruiser, how you got no credits without co-producers?/Time to give these n***** the royal flush, no Roto-Rooter/It's Hit-Boy buckin', just so you n***** know the shooter."

The Third Eye Raz-directed visual cleverly features HB rapping on Alchemist's beat and vice versa and ends with HB telling The Game via FaceTme the trend of having multiple high-profile producers loaded onto just one track ... is simply wack.

In his defense, it was Hitmaka who drew first blood when he was disrespectfully adamant on Hot 97 there's no comparison between HB and him ... in any statistical category.

And, the typically reserved Metro Boomin sent a subliminal shot using Kendrick Lamar's "Rich Spirit" lyrics, threatening HB to chill ... or suffer embarrassing consequences.

N.O.R.E.'s attempt to squash the beef between Fat Joe and ex-Terror Squad rapper Cuban Link resulted in Remy Ma laughing so hard, they had to scrub the entire scene from a "Drink Champs" episode!!!

The DC crew huddled up on a recent interview to discuss their decisions not to interview Cuban, Jae Hood and Reek Da Villain due to their long-running conflicts with Joe, The LOX and Busta Rhymes, respectively ... and Remy, being the 1st Lady of TS herself, confirmed that the beef was forever up!!!

In 2021, Cuban Link falsely accused Joe of snitching, which reignited their beef that's been festering since the mid-'00s, causing N.O.R.E. to speak out and admit he had no intentions of interviewing any artist who's against his friends.

N.O.R.E. also addressed his former Def Jam labelmate Keith Murray's recent claims that he was snubbed in person at the last Rock The Bells Festival.

According to N.O.R.E.'s recollection, he was running about 30 deep (thanks to Capone and Tragedy Khadafi's entourages) and didn't want to add to any confusion.

Logic's recent cover of Ice Cube's iconic track, "It Was A Good Day," was universally panned, and Joe Budden feels it's a sign 'o the times ... for Logic to officially join him in permanent rap retirement!!!

Budden went in on the Maryland-born rapper on a recent episode of his podcast "The Joe Budden Podcast" ... urging him to never promise his fans another record because his music is now "really, really bad!!!"

JB admitted he enjoyed ribbing Logic from time to time in the past, but admits he's soured on him since his 2017 suicide awareness track "1-800-273-8255" -- but, he says turning Cube's classic into a folk song is an unforgivable hip hop infraction.

Budden also accused Logic of pandering to the Black community for years due to his own identity crisis. That being said, it can all be forgotten ... as long as Logic tosses his mic!!! 😭

Tony Yayo isn't vibing with Lil Uzi Vert's recent performance where he chanted he "made a City Girl" believe in Satan -- in fact, Tony doesn't even wanna touch the topic with a 10-foot pole!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught the G-Unit rap star Tuesday in NYC, and he thinks Uzi took things too far during his Rolling Loud California set ... and really didn't have advice for Uzi's girlfriend, JT of City Girls, about whether she should run for the hills.

Yayo tells us he grew up in the church, so he's allergic to all things Satanic ... a stark contrast to the strong critique R&B superstar Summer Walker leveled at Uzi.

Summer questioned whether he's actually the devil's advocate, or just following the trend in rap that pumps up "demons" at every turn.

Donnell Rawlings says there are no winners in the Chris Rock and Will Smith beef ... and he's hoping Chris' recent response will finally put an end to the saga.

We got Donnell at Gelson's Tuesday and asked him about Chris finally addressing the Oscars slap in his Netflix special, which Donnell says should even the score.

Donnell, who is super close with Chris, is slamming the folks who didn't like the way Chris joked about the incident ... claiming it was old news by now. He says no one has the right to put a timeline or restrictions on how comedians can respond.

Of course, some folks are pissed at Chris ... like The Root senior writer Candace McDuffie, who feels Chris had the slap coming to him following years of jokes she feels targeted Black women like Jada Pinkett Smith.

Donnell thinks anyone who has a problem with Chris' jokes is insane, because as they say ... they're just jokes. He's also not buying the theory jokes incite violence on any particular group.

As for Will, DR says he should be able to take a joke because Chris was able to take the slap.

While Donnell tells us Chris and Will have yet to speak to each other, he's hoping they can both get closure on the matter ... after Chris' verbal "clap back."

Chris Rock can, and should, joke about whoever he wants -- especially after being slapped by Will Smith -- even if some feel it's at Jada Pinkett Smith's expense ... according to 2 fellow comics.

We talked to Bill Bellamy and Jeff Dye Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and both defended CR's right to joke about the sitch, even if he did so somewhat mercilessly during his latest Netflix special ... which is now drawing the ire of some Black women.

Candace McDuffie, a senior writer for The Root, went so far as to suggest Chris actually had the slap coming to him after years of jokes she feels targeted Black women.

That's not how Bill and Jeff feel about it, though ... they're squarely on Chris' side, with BB telling us the dude used his own platform and creativity to address it as best he could, without violence.

Plus, there's the financial benefit -- Netflix paid a boatload for his "Selective Outrage" special.

But, even on the issue of whether Chris has it out for Jada and/or Black women ... Bill says he doesn't believe that to be the case. He says Chris takes shots at everyone, and sometimes certain groups might catch a stray.

It's nothing personal, just the business of being funny ... that's Bill's perspective anyway.

Now, Jeff -- who's hosting our new game show, "Who the Bleep Is That?" -- was a bit more forceful in his repudiation of suggesting Chris deserved what he got ... saying such a notion is insane, and disavowing the idea of anything or anyone being off-limits in comedy.

Chris Rock is set to talk about the Oscars slap tonight in a new comedy special, but some of his material appears to have already leaked ... including a joke about watching Will Smith suffer on film -- which, if the internet is to be believed, he'd be wise in avoiding.

Here's the deal ... we all know Chris' live Netflix show is going down tonight, and everyone's expecting him to discuss the slap at length for the first time, publicly, on his own terms. The problem ... he's been working out his jokes on this topic for months, and one particular bit he recently did about Will was widely reported this week ... and Twitter ain't feeling it.

The Baltimore Sun came out with a story about a comedy show Chris did there in mid-February ... where he reportedly touched on the Oscars and said to the crowd, "The other day, I watched 'Emancipation' just so I could watch him getting whipped."

Of course, he's referring to Will's character from the film -- a runaway slave named "Whipped Peter" who was infamously depicted in a photo from the 1800s with scars on his back.

That quote has made the rounds these past few days, and now ... Chris Rock is trending for all the wrong reasons, because it seems a good majority of folks have turned on him.

Whereas he had sympathy in the wake of the slap -- especially for how he handled it -- a lot of time has passed ... and a lot of people have aired their grievances about Chris since then ... including the notion that he might've had it coming -- harsh, but it's a POV out there.

Now, in light of this new joke that may or may not make the special ... even more people are groaning, especially if he actually works it in. It appears some feel like leaning in the way he seems set to do is overkill -- and not just that, but many feel him exploiting the ugly moment a full year later is cringeworthy. And yet, Chris is powering forward ... as is Netflix.

Time will tell what Chris does onstage. Like we said, this is live -- but if he cares about public opinion (which he usually doesn't) he might wanna peep Twitter right quick.😬

Donald Trump still doesn't have quite the right insult to hurl at his political foe Ron DeSantis -- but according to a new report, he's got a bright idea ... one that's members only.

Bloomberg put out a story detailing what they say is going on behind the scenes at Mar-a-Lago lately -- especially in terms of DT executing his comeback on the campaign trail ... and trying to deal with the Florida Gov.'s growing popularity among conservatives/Republicans.

One of the ways Trump reportedly plans on taking RDS down -- assuming he announces a presidential bid -- is to make fun of him ... and one of the of nicknames he's apparently been kicking around is "Tiny D," among others he and his allies are workshopping.

We already know about "Ron DeSanctimonious" -- not to mention "Meatball Ron," which was also a name Trump reportedly floated of late -- but there are others too!

A couple others that DT and co. are considering ... Ron DisHonest and Ron DeEstablishment. Of course, this follows in Trump's tradition of nicknaming his opponents over the years -- there's Sleepy Joe, Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary, Pocahontas, Crazy Bernie, Low Energy Jeb and lots of others. The "D" shot at DeSantis, though, is quite the low blow.

Here's the thing ... the Ron factor could prove tough for Trump if they go head to head, and Team DT is taking it seriously. Bloomberg says Trump's got his people trying to dig up dirt on DeSantis and are already carving out an attack plan, like labeling him a "RINO," etc.