Developing Stories

On TMZ TV -- the day Simon announced he was leaving -- we floated Elton John as the guy who should take Simon's seat. After all, he knows music, he's certainly got the bitchy attitude, and he's British.

Now an "American Idol" spy tells us the talk on the set is ... Elton John!

Elton was a guest judge in season three of 'Idol.'

Jay said the situation at the network was more "dynfunctional" than the Gosselins, while Coco said you can achieve "anything you want in life ... unless Jay Leno wants it too."

So the question is ...

Gene Simmons is lashing out at the couple accusing him of being a violent, choke artist -- claiming he was the one who was accosted by a "tall, thin, tattooed" aggressor.

It's all over an incident outside of a movie theater in L.A. back in December -- in which Simmons claims he was walking with his family, when Nathaniel Marlowe and Cynthia Manzo "jumped at them and started yelling in their faces."

Simmons' attorney, Barry Mallen, tells TMZ Gene saw Marlowe point a "small electronic device" at his family, so he ripped away the device and "moved Marlowe aside" so the family could safely get to their car.

Days after the incident, the couple filed a lawsuit against Simmons, claiming assault, battery, emotional distress and more.

But Team Simmons claims the accusers are simply "opportunistic" and "riddled with distortions and false accusations."

The two sides are set to do battle in court sometime soon -- stay tuned.

A felony warrant has been issued for the arrest of Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch suspect Rachel Lee ... sources tell TMZ.

Our sources say the L.A. County District Attorney issued the warrant today -- which contains three counts of felony residential burglary and two felony counts of receiving stolen property.

Lee was arrested in Nevada back in October for possession of stolen property -- but was never charged for the burglary of any of the celebrity victims' homes.

Five of the other alleged members of the Bunch -- Nick Prugo, Alexis Neiers, Diana Tamayo, Courtney Ames and Roy Lopez, Jr. -- face a total of 12 counts of felony first degree residential burglary.

The Bunch allegedly burglarized the homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson, Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge, Brian Austin Green, Megan Fox and an L.A. business man.

We're now told Conan's contract never specified a guaranteed time period. If NBC wanted to run the show at 3:00 AM, Conan would have no recourse. We're told Conan's reps never even asked for a guaranteed time period when they negotiated his contract -- shocking, but true.

By contrast, we're told Jay Leno's deal specifically guarantees his 10:00 PM time period, so the network must negotiate a new deal with him before he moves back to 11:35 PM.

NBC did guarantee that Conan would host "The Tonight Show," and the network has been willing to make good on that promise.

As for Conan's legal position, his claim is a lot more tenuous than first reported to us. We're told Conan is arguing -- given the history of "The Tonight Show" -- there is an "implied" guarantee the show would begin at 11:35. Our sources say Conan's people met with NBC execs yesterday afternoon ... presumably to negotiate a settlement and an out.

Some of the high level people who oversee "The Tonight Show" are saying Conan has himself to blame -- at least in part -- for his failure. They say he refused to take notes from his bosses, saying "I do what I do."

Turns out Vanessa Lopez -- who is reportedly filing suit today against Shaq -- went to police after a bitter breakup with Redick back in 2007.

filed in Lake Mary, Florida, Lopez claimed she was being harassed by Redick's brother, David. According to the report, one of the alleged incidents occurred at the infamous Blue Martini bar in Orlando -- where Tiger Woods used to hang out.

According to the police report, while the cops were at Lopez's house taking a report, David called her and said he would leave her alone "when she leaves J.J. alone."

As TMZ first reported, Lopez also had problems with two other NBA players -- Delonte West and Kenyon Martin.

Lopez is expected to appear at a news conference with Gloria Allred later today to address the Shaq lawsuit.

We found out Octomom fell behind on her membership fees at least three times at 24 Hour Fitness. Looks like the gym has a 3 strikes rule, because our sources say Octomom's membership was yanked January 4.

As for what led up to the termination ... Octo apparently used at least two credit or debit cards that were declined.

Suggestion -- if Octo needs a workout, she can lift her 14 kids.

The guy who punched Snooki in the face on "Jersey Shore" won't even be punching the clock anymore -- TMZ has learned he's being fired from his job as a gym teacher at a high school in New York.

NY City Department of Education says they are drafting Brad Ferro's termination letter right now -- and once he gets it, he'll have 30 days to pack up his stuff and split from North Queens Community High School.

Dude had already been banished to a teacher reassignment center in the wake of the punch -- but now, because he was found guilty of simple assault for the Snooki attack -- school officials tell us, "the termination process is underway."

Talk about a black eye on your permanent record ...

We've learned Cowell and Fox had been negotiating the terms of the move for weeks. We're told the deal was basically done and the plan was for Cowell to make the announcement at the Television Critics Association.

But there was an unexpected snag yesterday morning. As Simon drove to the TCA in Pasadena, final negotiations hit a wall. Lawyers for both sides had a serious disagreement over one of the terms. As Simon was pulling up, he was on the phone and on the verge of aborting the announcement and driving away -- the ultimate game of brinkmanship.

Someone blinked ... because lawyers came to terms and Simon rolled out of his Rolls and into TV history.

UPDATE: Simon was just on Ryan Seacrest's morning show and confirmed they "were driving down to do the press conference and we didn't have an agreement."

It all went down in Atlanta on December 14th -- Usher and a friend were in an AT&T store when someone broke into his GMC Yukon and took whatever they could get.

According to the police report, Usher claims the bandit made off with all sorts of Xmas gifts and personal belongings including $50,000 in furs, a computer and more than a million bucks in jewelry that he happened to have in the car at the time.

Usher told police he's worried about some never-before heard voice tracks that were on the computer.

An AT&T employee claims she saw the whole thing go down, but when contacted by MyFOXAtlanta -- she claims she's too afraid to talk about it for fear of retaliation.

The Washington Wizards have told locker room pistolero Gilbert Arenas they believe he is in violation of his contract and they have the right to void the $111 million deal ... sources tell TMZ.

We're told a team official was trading text messages with Arenas after the locker room incident. Sources tell TMZ ... in one of the messages, the official told Arenas the team felt Agent Zero violated the clause in his contract prohibiting him from engaging in conduct detrimental to the team or the NBA ... and they could have the contract voided as a result.

Most NBA contracts contain morality clauses -- but it's difficult to void an NBA contract on those grounds. The Indiana Pacers didn't void Ron Artest's contract after "The Malice at the Palace" in 2004.

Nevertheless, there are strong indications the Wizards want out of the Arenas deal. As one law enforcement source put it, the team has been overly cooperative in the police investigation that targets Arenas.

Paula Abdul has had discussions with Simon Cowell about being a judge on the U.S. version of "The X Factor"... sources tell TMZ.

The irony is stunning -- Simon, the lynchpin of "American Idol," abandoning ship and teaming up with the woman who was unceremoniously dumped from "A.I."

Our sources would not say how far along the discussions have gone between Simon and Paula ... but there were talks as recently as late last week.

Simon Cowell will no longer be crushing terrible singers' dreams on the most popular show on television.

Cowell just announced this will be his last season on "American Idol" -- and that he's leaving the show to be a judge and executive producer on FOX's upcoming American version of "The X Factor" ... the British talent show that launched Leona Lewis' career.

Cowell just made the announcement during the semiannual Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena.

Simon said he was "offered a lot of money" to stay on "American Idol" ... but he "wanted to do something different." BTW, Simon reportedly makes around $36 million a year on "A.I."

For his part, Ryan Seacrest tweeted: "this is simon's last season on idol. He's working on US version of x-factor! He is one of the most brilliant people in our biz! Congrats."

Ironically, Simon and new host Ellen DeGeneres were featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly last week and Ellen addressed the rumor of Simon leaving by saying, "If Simon goes, I go!"

Our sources tell us Arenas has already been called in by the U.S. Attorney but he made it clear he would not testify on grounds of self-incrimination. We're also told Crittenton has lawyered up and took the same position as Arenas.

We're also told head coach Flip Saunders came to the grand jury last week. We don't know if he actually testified in front of the grand jury or just spoke with the U.S. Attorney.

As we first reported, cops are still looking for Javaris' gun -- which witnesses have told cops he tossed into a laundry basket after the confrontation with Arenas. Our sources say someone from the team wheeled the basket out of the locker room. D.C. cops are looking at surveillance video to see if there's a shot of the basket being wheeled out.

Both players could be indicted on felony gun charges.

Attorney Michael Flanagan tells TMZ he has already been in touch with Pat Dixon, the Head Deputy District Attorney in the L.A. County D.A.'s office, and Dixon is not sharing any info about the case against Dr. Murray. According to Flanagan, Dixon said he can't share information in a case that could go to the L.A. County Grand Jury.

A spokesperson for the D.A.'s office tells TMZ Flanagan did speak with Dixon on Friday, but all Dixon said was he could not discuss the case. The spokesperson says Dixon never mentioned a possible grand jury.

White, a former superstar at USC, was leaving MyHouse nightclub in Hollywood this weekend, when he told us he thinks the rumors are true -- that Pete Carroll is bolting from Troy. White also added, "Tell Pete to hire me."

It also appears that White has lost some more weight -- because the dude's pants were so big on him, they were hanging down below his boxer briefs.