CELEBRITY JUSTICE ™

Scarlett Johansson's agent is joining in on the war with Disney ... blasting the Mouse House for "shamelessly" attacking her over her "Black Widow" lawsuit.

Bryan Lourd, one of the head honchos at the powerhouse agency CAA, just went to bat for his client and said Disney "shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic, in an attempt to make her appear to be someone they and I know she isn't."

ScarJo's rep also took a huge issue with Disney spilling the tea on her salary in their response to her lawsuit. Lourd said, "The company included her salary in their press statement in an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of."

The "Black Widow" star has done nine Disney movies ... but the relationship's reached a boiling point after she claimed in a lawsuit Disney violated her deal when it simultaneously released "Black Widow" in theaters and on Disney+ ... which cut into her backend because her salary was tied to how well the film performed at the box office.

Lourd added, "The suit was filed as a result of Disney's decision to knowingly violate Scarlett's contract. They have very deliberately moved the revenue stream and profits to the Disney+ side of the company, leaving artistic and financial partners out of their new equation. That's it, pure and simple."

Scarlett Johansson is going after the Mouse House ... she's suing Disney, claiming the simultaneous release of "Black Widow" in theaters and on Disney+ violated her deal, and cost her serious money.

In legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the "Black Widow" star claims her contract with Disney stated the movie would be exclusively released in theaters. Problem is ... Disney broke that deal, she says, when the movie was made available in theaters and on its streaming service.

Scarlett says her salary was tied to how well the film performed at the box office. But, the actress claims, releasing the film on Disney+ meant fewer butts in movie theaters ... which cut into her backend.

Other studios have dealt with similar issues and given their stars additional compensation to make up for their backend loss, and you gotta imagine Scarlett's lawyers and Disney's lawyers tried settling this before she filed her lawsuit. She says she tried settling, but she was pretty much ignored.

Her argument is pretty clear ... the contract says the movie would be released exclusively in theaters, so Disney violated it by putting it on its streaming service. What's more ... Disney presumably benefited financially by getting additional subscribers, while Scarlett was aced out of what she would have made had theaters been the only game in town.

"Black Widow" grossed $80 million in domestic box office opening weekend. It grossed another $78 million overseas and $60 million from home purchases on the streaming platform.

We've reached out to Disney, so far no word back.

The battle royale between Britney Spears' father and her conservator, Jodi Montgomery, is boiling over ... Jodi wants Jamie out of the conservatorship and says Britney's doctors agree.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Jodi is officially joining Britney's bid to remove Jamie as the conservator of the singer's estate.

In the docs, Jodi says it's in Britney's best interests for Jamie to be sent packing ... and JM claims Britney's medical team wants Jamie out too. This is a huge development and could spell the end of Jamie's role in the conservatorship. If her medical doctors and therapists think Jamie's presence is tormenting Britney, that is probably enough for the judge to boot him from the conservatorship.

Jodi makes it clear in the docs ... she wants Jason Rubin to be appointed conservator of her estate in place of Jamie.

As we first told you ... Rubin is Britney's choice to replace her father. He's a CPA with credentials who Britney's lawyer, Mat Rosengart, presumably believes makes Rubin a good choice to handle the Britney's business affairs.

Bottom line ... Britney and Jodi seem to have forged a united front and they're going full steam ahead to oust Jamie.

Ben Crump is suing Johnson & Johnson for allegedly targeting Black women with a product he says has been linked to cancer -- and it sounds like they're going class action with this.

The civil rights attorney put on his personal injury lawyer hat Tuesday with a major announcement -- saying he and fellow attorney Paul Napoli are taking the pharmaceutical and packaged goods giant to court on behalf of the National Council of Negro Women.

Ben says it's all over an alleged decades-long campaign at J&J he says was angling to get African-American women to buy its famed powder products over the years with tailored advertising and marketing ... namely, talcum powder, (found mostly in their popular baby powder) which he says has been the subject of research and studies, with ties to ovarian cancer.

Ben insists he's got inside info -- including internal memos from the company -- that prove their efforts to get Black women to buy talcum ... which he says has caused irreparable harm to so many for too long. Ben claims to have data to support the suggestion that Black women were the focus of these talcum sales efforts -- and that, by and large, they worked.

More than just that ... Ben and co. are claiming J&J knew its product was poison for the body -- saying they betrayed that trust with their consumers ... and with the African-American community at large.

Now, he's inviting anyone who might've been affected to hop on ... presumably to get in on the suit, potential damages and/or any settlement that may come of this. Ben will be holding a press conference later in the day to get into the nitty-gritty of the lawsuit.

Stay tuned ...

R. Kelly is facing new allegations in his criminal case out of Chicago -- which is about to go to trial next month -- including claims that he sexually abused a male minor ... whom he's said to have met at a McDonald's.

Prosecutors in Kelly's federal sex trafficking case filed the bombshell Friday, seeking to enter new evidence they say supports their accusations of a slew of new crimes they insist Kelly committed ... including alleged abuse of a male under the age of 18 in the 2000s.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Kelly met a 17-year-old boy in 2006 at a McDonald's ... whom they say Kelly then invited to a party at his Chicago residence. The kid went with his parents, but the feds say Kelly told him to swing by next time by himself ... and, apparently, the 17-year-old did -- at which point, things allegedly turned sexual.

The feds say that upon returning visits to Kelly's place -- and under the guise of trying to help jumpstart the boy's singing career -- Kelly began a sexual relationship with him. Soon after that, prosecutors claim the 17-year-old intro'd Kelly to yet another minor male -- who was either 16 or 17 at the time -- and they say Kelly sought to sexually abuse him too.

It wasn't until years later, it seems, that something materialized between the second John Doe and Kelly, so say the feds. They say Kelly did, in fact, begin a sexual relationship with him as well -- but that he allegedly would command the guy to have sex with women in his orbit ... and allegedly filmed a lot of those encounters. There are new Jane Does sprinkled in the filing as well, BTW ... on top of the ones he's already alleged to have trafficked.

The McDonald's thing is interesting ... we know he's a fan of the Golden Arches. He went there for after posting bail and (temporarily) being sprung from jail more than 2 years ago.

Anyway, there are even more accusations the federal government wants permission to support with new evidence it says it's obtained ... including the claim that someone on R. Kelly's team successfully bribed a Cook County official for inside info on the case back in 2019.

Allegedly, that CC official took $2,500 from this Kelly team member ... as well as a burner phone so they could communicate. The official is said to be a clerk ... but is unnamed.

A judge has yet to rule on what Uncle Sam wants -- namely, to submit this new evidence they say they have, to have it looked over, which they hope leads to even further charges filed against the singer. This trial is supposed to get underway in about 4 weeks.

R. Kelly has other legal trouble in other states ... but the federal case seems to be the one that'll get started first. He's been given more time to secure and confer with new attorneys in the wake of much of his old legal team jumping ship in the past several months.

Rodney Alcala (AKA, "The Dating Game Killer") -- who killed several women in Orange County, as well as a child -- has died.

The California Dept. of Corrections made the announcement Saturday, saying Alcala passed away of natural causes Friday while hospitalized in a hospital near the city of Corcoran, where he was on death row after being tied to, tried and convicted over the murders of multiple women in and around the Orange County area during the 1970s.

His case is one of the more famous ones among CA's serial killers -- as the guy actually appeared on (and won) an episode of the famous 'Dating Game' in '78 ... after which his would-be date, Cheryl Bradshaw, reportedly canceled their plans after actually meeting him.

Supposedly, she found him to be "creepy" ... and in hindsight, good on her for following her intuition -- because a jury, years later, found that he had, in fact, been on a killing spree even before his TV debut. Who knows what would've happened if she went out with him.

Alcala was initially charged and tried in the 1979 kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old girl, Robin Samsoe, in 1980 ... for which he was convicted and sentenced to death row. That judgment was reversed, however, in '84 by and Alcala was given a new trial.

There, too, though he was found guilty again ... only to have a federal court of appeals overturn the sentence yet again years later in 2003 -- and a new trial was granted once more. Finally, he got nailed ... and it was all due to the advent of technology.

In addition to Samsoe's murder, OC prosecutors say they found DNA evidence linking him to the murders of four other women in Orange County between '77 and '79. Later, he was indicted for two more murders in NY -- dating back to '71 -- to which he pled guilty.

He was charged with yet another murder out of Wyoming as recently as 2016 -- allegedly killing a woman named Christine Thornton in '78, who was 6 months pregnant. It doesn't appear as though that case was resolved though. BTW, several other jurisdictions across the U.S. either suspected or linked Alcala to murders in their states as well, including WA, AZ, NY and NH. His true victim count is unknown.

Harvey Weinstein's back on the West Coast, and just faced the judge in his L.A. sexual assault case -- he's now been formally indicted, and denied wrongdoing ... with an official plea.

The one-time movie producer appeared in person for a hearing Wednesday in an L.A. County courthouse where the 11 charges he's facing were read to him, one by one.

The charges are for alleged sexual assaults over several years, involving 5 different women. In response, Weinstein entered a not guilty plea -- something he was expected to do based on how he'd pled in the recent past.

Now, we're told Weinstein will remain in the custody of L.A. authorities while the case is pending. If it ends up going to trial -- which it appears it will at this point -- that could mean he'll be here for a long time.

As we reported ... Weinstein was extradited from NY to L.A. Tuesday. TMZ posted the first shots of HW getting off the plane, and he appeared to be in civilian clothes ... not a prison jumpsuit. Remember, he's already doing hard time in a NY state prison for sexual assault.

Ben Crump says the huge stash of cash Jeff Bezos just donated to Van Jones could go a long way for a cause they both care about deeply -- helping Black people learn the law.

The civil rights attorney tells TMZ ... he plans to talk to his good friend Van about using some of that $100 million Bezos donation to help partially fund something Ben's been working on for a while ... namely, a one-stop-shop law facility in Florida.

It's called The Ben Crump Social Justice Law Center -- nestled in St. Thomas University College of Law in Miami Gardens -- and the aim is to bring underserved and underprivileged African-Americans the opportunity to study to become lawyers.

We're told the initiative is specifically targeting 1st-generation Black college and law students.

The startup is already underway, as Ben says they've been accepting donations for some time, but he adds Van's assistance could help put a bow on the work being done.

During Van's acceptance speech of Bezos' Courage and Civility Award he alluded to making sure the $100 mil got into the hands of grassroots activists.

Ron Bultongez -- a former 'American Idol' contestant who made it pretty far during his 2018 season -- is facing multiple counts of sex with a minor in his home state.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the singer and one-time 'Idol' sensation was arrested in Grapevine, TX when he turned himself in on July 15.

We're still gathering details of the allegations, but according to the Tarrant County D.A.'s charging documents, Bultongez is charged with 4 counts of sexual penetration of a minor under the age of 17 on 4 occasions.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors say the alleged incidents occurred between December 2020 and February 2021.

Bultongez was released from custody a couple days after his arrest ... once he posted a $50,000 bond. We're told he has not made his initial court appearance yet to face the charges.

The woman who sued Diplo claiming he forced her to perform oral sex has withdrawn her lawsuit ... and she tells TMZ she regrets filing it in the first place.

According to court records ... the woman has voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit. She tells TMZ ... "In light of the evidence and after consultation with my attorneys, I have decided to withdraw my lawsuit."

She added, "No payment was offered or requested. I regret filing the lawsuit."

Diplo's attorney, Bryan Freedman, tells TMZ ... they are glad the lawsuit was dropped adding that, in light of her public statement, "we will not be pursuing charges of malicious prosecution against them at this time."

The attorney added, "There was absolutely irrefutable evidence that proved that the allegations it contained were false. As soon as we shared that plethora of evidence with the plaintiff's lawyers, they recognized that they needed to withdraw their suit immediately."

Britney Spears is hoping it's "out with the old and in with the new" in her conservatorship -- a new hearing in the case is going down, and her new hand-picked attorney will have the spotlight.

The judge in Brit's conservatorship will hear arguments Wednesday in downtown L.A. on several issues -- the most important one to Britney -- is who will be her attorney going forward.

Like we first told you ... Britney's longtime lawyer, Sam Ingham, filed paperwork seeking to get out of the case, and she's already decided she wants former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart to be her new attorney.

TMZ broke the story ... Britney wants to hire Rosengart, of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and he's expected to make an appearance before the judge to make his pitch for getting the job. We're told he'll argue she has a right to choose her own attorney on her own accord, without her father, Jamie, getting in the way as conservator of her estate.

Keep in mind, Jamie's probably a bit conflicted because Rosengart will likely seek to remove Jamie as conservator of Britney's estate.

We're told his plan is to explain how Britney has a constitutional right to Due Process ... which includes being able to select counsel of her choice. That certainly exists in a criminal case, and it’s likely Rosengart will argue that the conservatorship is similar to a criminal case because it deprives Britney of her personal liberty.

Remember ... the last hearing had all kinds of fireworks ... as Britney testified before the judge -- accusing her family of using her and controlling her life via the conservatorship, including allegedly forcing her to tour.

She claims she hasn't been able to get married or have any further kids -- which she apparently wants with Sam Asghari -- and made it clear ... she wants to be done with the conservatorship..

We're monitoring the proceedings as they go on, plus the commotion outside -- as there are #FreeBritney protestors who've gathered, like they have done for months now. There are also protestors gathered in D.C.

Stay tuned ...

Britney Spears has decided who she wants as her lawyer to end the conservatorship, and the attorney has now agreed and will appear in court Wednesday -- arguing she has a right to the lawyer of her choice ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Britney signed a legal doc stating her desire to hire the mega law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP to represent her in her effort to boot Jamie Spears from the conservatorship -- the first step in attempting to end the conservatorship altogether.

As we reported, Britney had her sights set on hiring a partner in the firm -- former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, who reps a slew of celebrity clients, including Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck, Jimmy Butler and Sean Penn.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Rosengart has now agreed and will appear remotely during a court hearing Wednesday, asking the judge to appoint him.

The catch 22 is that Britney cannot sign contracts of any substance without the approval of her conservator, Jamie Spears, the man she wants out.

We're told Rosengart will make the argument Britney has a Constitutional right to the lawyer of her choice. Defendants in criminal cases have a Constitutional right to an attorney, but a conservatorship is not a criminal case. Thing is ... it's not a civil case either. It's a hybrid ... somewhere in between.

We're told Rosengart's argument goes like this ... Britney is entitled to due process, which includes the right to a competent lawyer, and a judge would be hard-pressed to conclude Rosengart doesn't have the legal chops to rep her. What's more ... he'll argue it's absurd for Jamie Spears to have the power to disapprove Britney's choice, because the very purpose of the representation is to get him out of the conservatorship.

As we reported ... getting Jamie out is the first step in ending the conservatorship, which has been in place for more than 13 years.

The real battle will come if and when there's a motion to end the conservatorship. Britney said in court last month she wanted that done without further medical evaluation, but that's a tough sell to the judge because several dozen medical professionals have weighed in regularly over the years she has a mental illness that makes a conservatorship necessary.

Drake Bell won't be doing any time behind bars in his child endangerment case -- a judge just announced his fate, and the actor ended up getting probation instead.

The former Nickelodeon star was sentenced Monday in an Ohio court ... receiving 2 years of probation -- to be supervised in California, where he lives -- plus 200 hours of community service. If he doesn't keep his nose clean, he could face up to one year in prison on the felony charge of attempted endangering children -- to which he's pled guilty.

DB took the punishment in stride, saying he accepted it ... while also apologizing, explaining that it wasn't his intention to do harm, but that he's sorry to the girl and anyone else he hurt over this matter.

The woman, however, said he'd done irreparable harm -- issuing a victim impact statement via Zoom, and detailing what exactly this is all about. She claims they began exchanging messages online in 2017 (when she was 15), which she says eventually turned sexual in nature and included photos. She says this all happened over IG and Snap.

She went on to allege that she attended a concert of his back then, and that afterward ... he took her backstage to be alone -- where she claims she performed oral sex on him. Drake was seen shaking his head a few times during her remarks.

You'll recall, Drake was officially charged over this just earlier this year -- even though she filed a police report back in 2018. Up until now, it wasn't quite clear what sort of messages Drake was alleged to have sent to the minor -- but she shed a bit more light on it in her appearance.

Zoe McLellan -- an actress most famous from 'NCIS' -- has up and vanished with her and her ex's kid ... so claims the father ... who got a court involved, which has branded her as wanted.

Court records obtained by TMZ show an arrest warrant out of L.A. County was issued for Zoe a few months ago in May ... with outstanding charges of kidnapping, child custody deprivation and child stealing alleged against her for an issue dating back to 2017.

We covered the drama back then -- McLellan's ex-husband, J.P. Gillian, was in a custody war with her over their then 4-year-old, Sebastian ... whom Gillian claimed McLellan was taking to Toronto while she filmed "Designated Survivor" without his permission or consent.

It appears that ended up happening ... except, now, Gillian says he hasn't seen or heard from McLellan OR his boy since at least April 2019. His attorney, Lawrence Markey, tells us ... the child is still missing, and that Gillian and co. believe the kid is still with Zoe.

It doesn't appear she's been hauled in yet -- there's no record of her arrest within the L.A. County Sheriff's Office. Sources familiar with the case say last Gillian heard ... McLellan was said to be somewhere near NOLA. But again, we're told Gillian doesn't know their whereabouts now -- or their status for that matter. We're told they're virtually off the grid.

It's a pretty wild story ... made even more eyebrow raising by the fact that McLellan doesn't appear to have acted in anything major since 2019. So, there too she's kinda vanished.

Tristan Thompson's pockets could get a little more swollen soon ... he's just been awarded a nice chunk of change in the libel case against his paternity accuser.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the court has entered a default judgment in favor of Tristan against Kimberly Alexander for the amount of $50k ... plus 10% interest per year until it's paid off. She's also gotta fork over $2,901.75 in court costs.

TMZ broke the story ... Tristan was headed to a victory after the court said it was leaning towards awarding Khloe's ex more than $50k. He sued Alexander for libel last year and wanted $100k in damages after claiming her allegation he fathered her child hurt his reputation, and cost him endorsement deals because companies saw him as a brand hazard.

The judge ultimately slashed the damages in half because Tristan didn't specifically lay out which endorsements he lost due to Alexander's allegations.

Kim Kardashian now has legal protection against the man who allegedly showed up to her home on multiple occasions and sent a package containing Plan B and a diamond ring ... thanks to a restraining order.

KK filed docs Wednesday against Nicholas Costanza, whom she claims is the person who disturbingly shipped Plan B pills and an engagement ring to her home earlier this month ... a package that was intercepted by Kim's security team.

In her filing -- from attorney Shawn Holley -- Kim says Costanza has shown up to her property a handful of times this year ... including once in February, and then again in late May. She claims he sprung up at her gated community, telling guards he was there to pick her up for dinner on one occasion.

On top of the alleged behavior ... Kim says Costanza's been obsessing over her online as well -- posting a bogus marriage cert and other bizarre messages, alluding to her waiting for her "knight in shining armor" (which he clarified as himself).

A judge agreed with Kim's concerns and granted the temporary order ... Costanza will have to stay at least 100 yards away and refrain from contact.

This ain't the first alleged stalker who's been trying to get at her either -- remember, she filed for and received a separate restraining order against another man who said he was just dying to get into her pad.