CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

The Dave Chappelle fan who caught a beating, allegedly at the hands of Donnell Rawlings, will not get the justice he initially sought ... and it's his own fault.

Sources familiar with the case tell us ... prosecutors were trying to build a prosecutable case against Donnell for the incident that went down last August after Chappelle's show. The fan -- Thurston Greer -- claims all he did was ask Dave for a selfie and the comedian said no, so Greer went outside and began going off on Facebook Live when Donnell beat his ass.

Dave and Donnell say the guy tried to take pics in the bathroom and persisted outside the hotel. Donnell says he didn't touch the guy. Watch the video and judge for yourself.

We're told law enforcement was collecting evidence, but the case has now hit a brick wall ... Greer has gone MIA and is no longer returning calls from the police and seems unwilling to cooperate.

Under these circumstances -- especially since there are multiple witnesses who tell a different story than Greer -- it's all, but case closed.

It's over for Donovan McNabb at ESPN ... the network has officially cut ties with the ex-QB after an investigation into sexual harassment claims during his time at the NFL Network.

As we previously reported, McNabb was named in a lawsuit filed by a former NFL Network wardrobe stylist who claims several famous employees harassed her ... including Marshall Faulk, Ike Taylor, Eric Davis and Warren Sapp.

With regard to McNabb, the woman claimed he sent her text messages asking if "she was a squirter" and telling her she "looked like the kind of girl that squirted when getting f*cked."

McNabb and Davis had left NFL Network and got new jobs with ESPN -- but they were suspended by ESPN when they learned of the allegations against the 2 men.

Rapper Kevin Gates is just days away from tasting freedom ... but then again, he's been down this road before.

Little background -- the rapper served 5 months behind bars after he was sentenced for that infamous 2015 kick to a woman's chest. The day he was getting out, an outstanding weapons-related warrant popped up, and he landed back in prison with a 30-month sentence.

Fast forward to present-day -- Lindsey Hess at the Illinois Department of Correction tells TMZ ... Kevin's scheduled to be released on Wednesday, after serving 9 months. Hess says Gates is getting out on parole, and his release conditions include mandatory supervision and no possession of firearms.

Rascal Flatts has allegedly violated the law on the most hallowed ground in Hollywood ... the site of the Oscars!!!

An owner of retail space at the Hollywood and Highland complex -- which includes the Dolby Theatre where the movie shindig has been thrown -- is suing the band's restaurant company for double-crossing him.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, R.F. signed the lease for 7,960 square feet of empty space and the owner of the space agreed to give R.F. $1 million to build it out. The owner says he gave R.F. a $102k advance, but believes none of the money was spent on improvements.

It looks like the whole deal went to hell ... the owner also says R.F. is behind around $300k in rent.

Designer Michael Costello ripped off a makeup artist's face mask and tried slithering away with his own version on the runway ... this according to a new lawsuit.

The "Project Runway" darling from season 8 has been sued by special effects makeup artist Lauren Mountain, who says Costello hijacked her "Under the Skin Human Mask and Snake" face mask concept and used it in a fashion show without her permission.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Lauren says Michael's relative, Stephanie, reached out to her to license Lauren's human skin mask design for a 2015 show she and Mike had planned for NYC Fashion Week.

But instead of paying her for the work, Lauren claims the Costellos recreated her mask on their own and strutted a model across the catwalk. She says they did credit her as the inspiration, but Lauren still isn't satisfied.

She's asking a judge for damages of at least $150,000. Michael's team tells TMZ "LOL," adding the validity of the lawsuit is ridiculous, and that the masks were, in fact, inspired by the '80s TV show "V."

11:20 AM PT -- The judge denied Suge's request to throw out the court orders.

Suge Knight's blasting prosecutors and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department for playing dirty ... and now says he wants a judge to right the wrong.

Suge filed a motion, alleging prosecutors and the Sheriff's Dept. "have secretly listened to every word" he's had with his lawyers since August 22, 2016. He claims they're eavesdropping on his attorney-client privileged conversations while he's in County Jail, awaiting trial for murder.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Suge asks the judge to throw out all court orders -- allowing the eavesdropping and limiting his jail visits -- because they were made by a judge who later recused himself from the case.

The ex-rap mogul's murder trail is slated to begin next week.

A couple fans claim they got jacked up from an alleged stampede at a Future concert last year, and say the rapper and Live Nation are responsible ... so they're suing.

Catrina Washington and Shauntay Harris filed separate lawsuits against Live Nation and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn -- where the show went down last May -- for injuries they say they suffered after getting trampled in a stampede at the concert.

In the docs, Washington and Harris say fireworks were used during the performance, setting off a loud noise and causing a panic -- which allegedly led to them getting stomped all over as people scattered in chaos. Some folks thought gunshots had gone off.

For the record, the NYPD released a statement on this at the time. They said a loud metal-on-metal sound erupted when the stage was lowered too quickly at the end of the show -- insisting that, coupled with the sound of gunshots in one of the outgoing songs, is what caused the scare.

Future isn't named in the suits -- they name a rapper named Rome Fortune. We spoke to sources connected to the case, and we're told the suit will be amended to include Future. We're guessing Rome will be dropped 'cause he was nowhere near the Brooklyn show.

Rich Rodriguez's ex-assistant claimed the University of Arizona football coach terrorized her for years ... making several passes at her, forcing her to cover up his extramarital affair -- and grabbing his penis in front of her.

It's all laid out in the notice of claim she filed with the AZ Attorney General's Office -- the first step before filing a lawsuit.

In the document, both Melissa Wilhelmsen and her husband, Jason -- "a former Marine and DEA agent" -- describe Rodriguez as a monster who used his power to turn their lives into a living hell.

Among the allegations ...

-- Melissa claims U of A football players sent her screenshots of their genitalia and made illicit overtures via text. When she asked Rodriguez to intervene, he ignored her.

-- Melissa claims Rodriguez asked her to get a sideline pass to a 2015 football game against USC for a "friend" who turned out to be his sidepiece. Rich's wife was also on the sideline that day. Melissa claims she had to stand between the women to prevent a confrontation.

-- Melissa claims Rich's wife grew suspicious about his fidelity and grilled her at a private 3-hour lunch in 2016.

-- Melissa claims over the years, Rodriguez made advances on her despite the fact she was married ... and tried to kiss her at least once.

-- Melissa claims Rodriguez pulled her into a closed door meeting and began "grasping his penis beneath his basketball shorts which were pulled all the way up" in Feb. 2017.

-- Perhaps the most disturbing allegation ... Melissa claims Rodriguez ignored a warning from a team staffer about a player, Zach Hemmila, who seemed unwell and needed help.

Rodriguez allegedly "did nothing" about the warning -- and the next day, Hemmila was found dead from a painkiller overdose.

-- Melissa and her husband claim Rodriguez created a hostile work environment that caused dangerous amounts of stress on their marriage ... that led to her being hospitalized for severe migraine headaches.

They're seeking $7.5 million from Rodriguez.

For his part, Rodriguez has admitted to cheating on his wife -- but denies all other allegations.

Christian Siriano is firing back at a retailer that says he pulled the plug early on a licensing deal they had with him, calling a batch of their clothes low quality and unapproved.

The "Project Runway" winner's company filed its own lawsuit against M&A Imports -- which owns the Just Love brand -- saying they're actually the ones who breached their contract ... by selling crappy dresses with his name on it that they allegedly didn't run by him first.

In the docs, Siriano says he only agreed to let M&A use his 'Christian Siriano' brand if they got his approval on pre-production samples of garb they planned to sell -- but says they failed to do so last summer, yet still moved forward with an inferior product.

Christian says the dresses were basically crap -- made of cheap fabric with major stitching, hemming and packaging issues ... which he was embarrassed to endorse with his name.

Taylor Swift has fired back at 2 songwriters who have sued her for allegedly stealing "Shake It Off" ... she says the reason is simple -- the phrases in question are too short to get legal protection.

Taylor's being sued by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler. The 2 guys wrote a song in 2001 called "Playas Gon' Play," performed by 3LW. The song repeatedly uses 2 phrases ... "Playas, they gonna play" and "Haters, they gonna hate."

Taylor and her legal team say Hall and Butler cannot "monopolize the idea that players will play and haters will hate."

Chief Keef had a pharmacy of drugs in his system when he was busted for DUI ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Keef was arrested in April in Miami, after cops say they saw him doing a weed deal.

Keef submitted to a urine test, and now we know the results, and they're pretty amazing ... Keef had the following drugs in his system:

-- Morphine
-- Codeine
-- Promethazine
-- THC
-- Hydrocodone
-- Norcodeine
-- Dihydrocodeine
-- Hydromorphone

8 drugs (EIGHT) in his system.

The State's attorney actually dropped the DUI Tuesday, but it was a scheduling issue. The DUI was refiled Wednesday.

BTW ... we learned firsthand how out of it Keef can be ... on "TMZ Live"

Brett Ratner is singling out one of his accusers in court in an effort to silence other women from coming forward ... this according to the woman he's suing for claiming he raped her.

Melanie Kohler fired back at Ratner's defamation lawsuit against her -- and is asking a judge to toss it.

She says more famous women than her have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, and she believes he's going after a lesser-known accuser to send a message to other accusers who are thinking of coming forward.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, her lawyers also question what Ratner is disputing about her rape claim ... he doesn't spell it out in the lawsuit. They also insist Kohler had no motivation to lie, as she was living with her family in Hawaii and had nothing to gain.

Sofia Richie got some professional pics of herself and posted them on her Instagram without paying a dime, but the photo agency that took the shots is not cool with it ... according to a new suit.

Celeb photo agency, Backgrid, is going after Sofia for allegedly swiping 7 of their pics and blasting them out to her millions of followers ... without getting permission or paying. The agency claims it fired off a cease and desist letter in October to her lawyer ... but to know avail.

According to the docs, Backgrid eventually spoke with Sofia's lawyer and 4 of the photos in question were taken down ... but 3 of the Richie pics are still on her IG to this day.

Backgrid wants damages and lost profits ... which it says is just over $1 million.

Beverly Hills PD has sent 2 Harvey Weinstein cases to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office ... TMZ has learned.

The D.A's Office tells us it's currently reviewing the results of 2 BHPD investigations. It's a huge step -- no previous Weinstein criminal investigation has gotten this far. The next step would be for the D.A. to decide if there's enough evidence to charge Weinstein.

Of course, dozens of Weinstein's accusers claim their encounters went down at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills. It's unclear which cases the cops sent to the D.A.

Back in October, Bev Hills cops announced they would investigate allegations against Weinstein and director James Toback. We're told police also sent 5 Toback cases to the D.A for review.

Demi Moore has settled a lawsuit filed against her by the family of a man who drowned in her pool ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... 21-year-old Edenilson Valle was found dead in Demi's swimming pool back in 2015 when one of Demi's staffers threw a party for a small group. The man's family ultimately sued Demi in 2017, claiming she was responsible because there were no depth markers and the rocks near the pool created a tripping hazard.

Countess Luann de Lesseps, one of the stars of "The Real Housewives of New York City," has pled not guilty in her allegedly drunken rampage case.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Luann entered her plea in Florida just a few days before New Year's. As we reported ... Luann was charged with 5 crimes, 4 of which are felonies -- battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, and 2 counts of corruption by threat.

Luann, who apologized and later checked into rehab, has also hired Tiger Woods' attorney Doug Duncan to rep her. As you know by now, Doug has some experience in this department.