Gossip / Rumors

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are still separated -- as far as the world knows -- but the exes definitely hit the polls as if they're still a thing.

Paps got Ben and Jen out in Brentwood Tuesday casting their votes, and leaving the polling station in lockstep.

As we've reported ... they've gone above and beyond to continue co-parenting on the same turf ... and clearly same goes for exercising their Constitutional rights.

Donald Trump's gripe that the election is riddled with voter fraud might bear some truth in SoCal -- more than 1,100 dead people are still registered to vote ... according to a report.

KCBS-LA Investigative Reporter David Goldstein ran a story Monday night revealing 265 corpses voted in Ventura, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and L.A. counties over the last 8 years -- most recently, in June's primary.

According to the report, SoCal voting records also show more than 900 other dead people are still registered to vote this Election Day, but it appears no one's voted on their behalf.

L.A. County Registrar's Dean Logan insists no dead people have voted on his watch.

A story is circulating Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have settled their custody dispute ... total BS.

Multiple sources familiar with the situation are scoffing at the report that the divorcing couple struck a settlement giving Angelina primary physical custody while Brad got visitation.

TMZ broke the story ... Brad filed legal docs Friday sharply contesting Angelina's request for primary physical custody. Instead, Brad wants a judge to award joint physical and legal custody to both.

The report published by Associated Press cites an Angelina source who says the couple reached the mutual agreement which includes family therapy. In fact, the couple agreed to extend the temporary arrangement ONLY until the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services closes its investigation.

As TMZ and other outlets reported, Brad and Angelina agreed she would have physical custody during the DCFS investigation and Brad would have visitation monitored by a therapist. That agreement was extended last week, but it is NOT a settlement. That will be handled by the family court judge.

Again, Brad just filed docs Friday asking for joint custody, and the AP report says the couple reached a settlement last week, so the story makes no sense on its face.

They're not officially in negotiations, but Manny Pacquiao's promoter tells TMZ Sports there's a 75% chance of a rematch with Floyd Mayweather.

We spoke with Bob Arum -- who says the two camps are on great terms. In fact, when Floyd sat ringside at Manny's fight this weekend, it was all thanks to Team Pacquiao.

"Floyd called us and asked for tickets," Arum says, "It's a great sign. I'd love for the fight to happen. I'd make it 75% that it happens."

Arum -- who's been in the fight game for decades -- says he simply doesn't believe Mayweather's fighting days are over.

"Based on my experience, I feel like [Floyd's] getting the itch to come back."

Joe Jonas got pretty handsy with Sophie Turner over the weekend.

The Jonas brother and "Game of Thrones" star looked pretty couple-y checking out the Kings of Leon warm up at the Old Luxor Theater in the Netherlands ... ahead of the MTV European Music Awards.

Good catch.

Casper Van Dien isn't very good at keeping secrets, or ... he's playing a really cruel joke on "Starship Troopers" fans who are going crazy about the recently-announced reboot.

We asked the original Johnny Rico at LAX what he thought about his 1997 cult classic being reprieved ... and his answer could trigger an epic nerd freak-out.

Miesha Tate says the Ronda Rousey farewell fighting tour might be pretty short ... like, one fight short ... telling TMZ Sports Rousey will retire immediately if she loses to Amanda Nunes at 207.

Little backstory ... Tate and Rousey hate each other ... and pretty much always have.

So, when we got Miesha out in L.A. we wanted to know how she felt about the news Ronda's career is winding down ... did she shed a tear, or pop some champagne when she heard?

Apparently she did neither ... and that's because she saw the whole thing coming. In fact, Tate says if Ronda loses her next fight, she'll quit right there.

There's obviously no love lost between the two ladies ... but still, if you've heard Ronda talk lately you kinda get the feeling Tate is onto something here.

Reggie Bush is living in a world of uncertainty, because a woman claims he's the father of her unborn baby ... sources tell TMZ Sports.

The woman -- Monique -- is a nightclub waitress who lives in Miami. Our sources say early on in her pregnancy, she contacted Reggie and there were discussions about terminating the pregnancy in return for a large payment. We're told ultimately the discussions went nowhere.

Our sources say Monique, who is now 6 months pregnant, hired Florida attorney Marwan Porter, but this time around it's about child support.

We're told there has NOT been a DNA test, but Reggie will own up to his obligations if the tests show he's the father.

As for Reggie, there appeared to be issues back in August, around the time Monique first contacted him, because he left Buffalo Bills training camp to fly to California to work things out with his wife, Lilit, with whom he has 2 kids.

A rep for Reggie tells TMZ, "He's aware of the rumors and remains happily married."

Drake and Taylor Swift are giving up music and going into soap opera writing, or they should ... based on the way they're pumping up the rumors about them banging.

Drake teased fans early Friday morning by posting a pic of himself and Taylor from behind, both dressed to the nines. At first glance it looks like they were a coupled up on the town last night.

Truth is the pic is from nearly 2 weeks ago at his 30th birthday bash. T-Swift also posted a pic of herself in the same outfit last week ... as the buzz was building that they hooked up at his party.

Our sources say all this is really just about them making music, but both of 'em are clearly playing this for all it's worth.

Sign 'em up, Shonda Rhimes.

2:45 PM PT -- The CMAs have started repopulating its social media with images of Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks. The images were only posted AFTER they became aware we were working on the story.

Even the Dixie Chicks, who rarely say anything in the media these days, are reacting to the controversy on Twitter.

Those reposted images of Bey on Instagram and Twitter are already getting blasted with comments -- some racist and some in support of Beyonce. We'll say this ... the Beyhive is woke.

The folks at the Country Music Awards don't have the stomach for 4 strong women, 1 of whom is black, because they have scrubbed all references and images of Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks from their website.

The performance of Beyonce's hit, "Daddy Lessons," with the Dixie Chicks was by all rights the highlight of the show. Thursday morning Bey and the Chicks had a prominent presence on CMAWorld.com. But check it out now ... it's gone ... completely.

Sources directly connected with the CMAs tell TMZ, the honchos folded to fans who posted racist and other harsh comments. We're told the honchos were especially concerned about the reaction to Beyonce's support and the support of the Dixie Chicks for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Some of the comments included, "That's right folks. Beyonce performed at the CMAs last night & is on a mission to take country music away from us, hardworking white people!" And, "Beyonce overrated racist n***er bitch."

The comments go on ... "@Beyonce the cop hater? No thanks," and, "What place does @Beyonce who vilifies police officers who keep us safe have to do with #CMAawards50?"

In addition to its website, the CMAs have scrubbed the women from all social media platforms. They did not delete the women from Snapchat ... they only deleted the ladies from CMA accounts where users can place comments.

We're told the CMA people "just want this to go away" and feel it was probably a mistake to invite the 4 women in the first place.

The Chicago Cubs are hours away from Game 7 of the World Series ... and Hall of Famer Andre Dawson is confident the Cubs will come away with the win ... despite facing Indians star Corey Kluber.

TMZ Sports spoke with the Hawk about the big game in Cleveland ... and he says the Cubs can take advantage of seeing the ace pitcher for a third time.

"They've seen Kluber twice now, so they'll have an idea of what adjustments they'll need to make." Dawson says. "He's a great pitcher and he's gonna be on top of his game."

"This team was built to win games like this and they've had a tremendous year. This would be a great way to cap off the season."

As for what a championship would mean to Cubs fans, Dawson says it's "indescribable."

Val Kilmer says he's healthy, happy and cancer free ... despite what his friend, Michael Douglas, is telling people.

Kilmer responded to recent rumors he's battling oral cancer reportedly started by his "The Ghost and the Darkness" co-star ... saying he loves Michael, but he's "misinformed."

Kilmer says he last spoke to Douglas almost 2 years ago to get a referral for a medical specialist to examine a lump in his throat, but that's it. He says he ended up with a diagnosis that did NOT include cancer.

Val continues in his Facebook post ... he doesn't know what led Douglas to speculate about his health, but he's sure it wasn't malicious.

Kilmer was spotted in February looking good, and he challenged any skeptics out there who think he's lying about his health now ... come see him in person in his play about Mark Twain.

There's a new dude in Mariah Carey's driver seat, and James Packer's gonna be pissed.

MC hit the road with her choreographer/dancer, Bryan Tanaka, on Halloween -- he was behind the wheel of her golf cart, sporting a king's crown -- when she took 5-year-old Monroe trick or treating in their Calabasas 'hood.

TMZ broke the story ... Tanaka is the dude Packer went toe-to-toe with when he thought Mariah was getting too close to him. Our Mariah sources say she and Bryan definitely were NOT banging -- but Mimi's gotta know hanging out with him so much will get under Packer's skin.

The scene with Tanaka should look familiar. Mariah's usually riding with Nick Cannon for Halloween, but he was in NYC this year.

Nick Cannon's answer to questions about Mariah Carey, divorce and/or James Packer ... is Ike Turner.

We got Nick outside the Halloween party at Vandal in NYC, and of course, he got a heavy dose of Mariah. Makes sense ... as we reported, their divorce was just finalized, and now she's in the middle of cutting all ties with Packer.

Luckily for Nick, he was in character as the late Ike ... which allowed him to throw out the perfect response to the questions.

Rob Kardashian's text messages that triggered a criminal threat investigation are strewn with disparaging references to gays, Mexicans and African-Americans.

TMZ broke the story ... LAPD's Threat Management Unit is on the case after Rob sent some ominous messages to Pilot Jones, the guy who sold pics showing him making out with Blac Chyna and insinuating he might be the father of her unborn baby.

The pics set Rob off. We've obtained the text messages that Jones gave to LAPD. They include:

-- "And u fa***t ass bitch this is ROB and u did the most DISRESPECTFUL s**t ever by releasing pics and a story to a pregnant Woman who is 17 days from having a baby!"

-- "This is my Wife and you about to get your ass beat by every Mexican in LA including me."

-- "U f***ed with the wrong Woman and the wrong dude."

-- "I hope you religious cuz after I beat your ass with about 30 Mexicans u better hope God lets u into heaven."

-- "Its a wrap for u and after we beat your ass we will all be good and never contact Chyna ... u pu**y ass n***a."

-- "Don't ever come for me and my wife ever U corny ass n***a" ... and that's followed by a bunch of black fist emojis.

The LAPD continues to investigate, although we're told law enforcement views the texts as a little "murky and general."

Hollywood movie star Idris Elba is now a REAL LIFE kickboxer after his debut match in the U.K. this weekend -- and his first groupie is none other than Madonna.