Legal

The court is finally hearing opening arguments in the Tory Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion case  ... and both sides are laying out what happened the night Meg was allegedly shot in the foot by Tory.

Prosecutors kicked things off on Monday -- claiming that Tory fired 5 shots on the evening of July 12, 2020, striking Megan in both feet -- claiming Tory was set off after Megan insulted his skills by sarcastically calling him a "beautiful artist."

According to the prosecution, Tory's text messages after the fact admitting to being too drunk and apologizing profusely are pretty damning evidence.

You'll recall ... after leaving Kylie Jenner's pool party, Megan, Tory and Kelsey were said to have gotten into a black SUV with a man named Jauquan Smith, who prosecutors say drove Tory to the party and brought a 9mm handgun.

According to prosecutors, following Megan's alleged diss, Jauquan pulled the truck over and Megan and Kelsey got out of the car ... when Tory is said to have fired the gun at Megan, instructing her to "dance bitch."

As for Tory's side ... they claim the pair was at Kylie's home for a pool party when things went south and Meg was asked to leave. It appears the defense is trying to make the jury believe Tory was not the trigger man.

Tory's attorney, George Mgdesyan, also argued Tory's DNA wasn't on the gun and that he was wearing a swimsuit during the alleged incident, asking the jury, "Where did he pull the gun from?"

Kelly Clarkson's home is apparently becoming a magnet for unwanted visitors ... she's asking a judge for court-ordered protection from a man she claims recently showed up multiple times at her place ... even pulling up in a semi-truck.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the "American Idol" winner is requesting a temporary restraining order against a man named Victor Fernandez ... and Kelly also wants her family, nanny and house manager protected.

The singer's head of security, Michael Lopez, says Fernandez first showed up at Kelly's home on Thanksgiving, pulling up in a semi-truck and peering over her privacy gate and into her yard. Lopez claims Fernandez returned two more times on Thanksgiving, once in the semi-truck and later on foot, ringing the doorbell and claiming he was there to see Kelly.

In the docs, filed by Kelly's attorney, Ed McPherson, Lopez claims Fernandez came to the house on foot again on Dec. 3, speaking to house staff and telling them Kelly told him to meet her there, even though she says she doesn't have a clue who he is.

Another member of Kelly's security team, Ludwin Munoz, claims he spoke with Fernandez through the home's camera system during the December visit. Munoz claims Fernandez appeared irritated and confused when denied entry, allegedly saying, "This is the second time she has done this ... unless I am speaking to a scammer or something."

Kelly's security also claims Fernandez snapped photos of the family SUV when her nanny pulled up with her children in tow ... and the docs say police were ultimately called and took a report.

The singer's asking a judge to keep Fernandez at least 100 yards away from her home, job, car and her children's school and child care ... and Kelly says she's afraid of what Fernandez might do and fears he may cause harm to her or her family.

TMZ broke the story ... Kelly recently got a different TRO against a woman she claimed made at least 18 unwanted visits to her home.

21 Savage couldn't fully enjoy the moment he and Drake had performing during Lil Baby's friends and fam concert inside State Farm Arena over the weekend.

The "Her Loss" co-star surprised his hometown audience during Drake's performance of their song "Rich Flex" -- and nailed his cameo but after the show, he admitted he was lamenting the absence of several ATL superstars.

Despite Future, Chris Brown, Lil Yachty and several other high-profile rappers turning out for Lil Baby's extended birthday bash ...  21 said the event didn't feel the same without the incarcerated YSL members Young Thug and Gunna and added an extra heartbreak for Lil Keed and Takeoff ... who both died this year.

Takeoff's Migos brother Offset has also been coping with the pain ... recently dedicating The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye" to the slain star while performing at the SteppinOut Music Festival in Bengaluru, India on Sunday.

DaBaby's famous song "Rockstar" is a total ripoff, according to a new lawsuit ... because a music producer claims the rapper straight-up jacked his rhythm.

DaBaby is being sued by a music producer with the stage name JuJu Beatz, who claims DaBaby stole the entire beat for his No. 1 song.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, JuJu claims he sent DaBaby's camp a musical composition back in 2019, which was then sampled for "Rockstar" without his permission.

In the suit, JuJu claims he sent the beat in a digital file to DaBaby's team ... and he says DaBaby's camp accessed the file more than 40 times between late 2019 and early 2020. "Rockstar" came out in April 2020.

JuJu claims "Rockstar" has earned millions of dollars since it dropped ... but he says he hasn't been compensated for his beat, which he says was sampled illegally.

The music producer says he's tried to resolve the matter without going to court, but DaBaby has been unwilling to "cooperate or accept responsibility for blatant and willful copyright infringement" ... so now he's suing for damages.

Elon Musk is sick of all the leaks plaguing Twitter lately -- so he's threatening to enforce the company's NDAs with his workforce ... at the risk of potential litigation.

The Chief Twit reportedly fired off an email to employees that detailed ramifications if they were found to be leaking sensitive insider info to the media ... this according to Platformer's Zoë Schiffer, who says she obtained a copy of the correspondence and quoted from it.

Schiffer says the email from EM begins ... "As evidenced by the many detailed leaks of confidential Twitter information, a few people at our company continue to act in a manner contrary to the company's interests and in violation of their NDA."

Elon reportedly goes on to say this, "This will be said only once: If you clearly and deliberately violate the NDA that you signed when you joined, you accept liability to the full extent of the law & Twitter will immediately seek damages."

There is a little wiggle room, it seems ... as Elon apparently told his fellow birds that an accidental or occasional slipup was understandable -- but also made a distinction between that and what he says has been happening en masse ... outright squealing to the press.

There has, in fact, been a lot of news about how Twitter's operating under Elon's regime -- with word of one of the HQs being turned into a motel of sorts, the mass firings/attempted rehires ... and, of course, the scarecrow moderation council he plans to install.

Some have called out EM as a hypocrite for trying to silence his own staff, while continuing to explicitly leak internal Twitter files to journos like Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.

Nick Carter is still front and center with the Backstreet Boys, and based on their live performance Friday night ... fans are backing him after a woman sued him for sexual battery.

BSB took the stage at MSG for Jingle Ball -- singing the Wham! classic, "Last Christmas" -- and the crowd went wild, particularly when Nick solo'd on the first verse. It was the group's first performance since Nick was accused of the 2001 assault.

TMZ broke the story ... Shannon Ruth, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, filed suit Thursday, claiming Carter forced her to perform a sexual act on him while on his tour bus. She was 17 at the time.

Nick denies the alleged incident ever happened, but as we reported ... ABC canceled a Backstreet Boys primetime holiday special that was set to air this coming week.

Several Nick Carter hashtags, including #IStandWithNickCarter, were trending Friday, in response to ABC's move and the lawsuit.

Other performers Friday night included Dua Lipa, Lizzo and The Kid LAROI.

The all-star lineup drew plenty of NYC celebs in the audience too ... such as Bethenny Frankel.

Joe Exotic feels he ought to be next in line after President Biden struck a deal with Russia to free WNBA star Brittney Griner, and he's stating his case for freedom ... from behind bars.

In audio obtained by TMZ ... The "Tiger King" star says, "The whole Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed prisoner swap is a slap in every American's face that is wrongfully detained in the American Federal Prison System, including myself."

He goes on to plead his case to the Prez, saying he's innocent of any crimes and calling out his ex-costar Carole Baskin in the process.

Quite frankly, Joe's drawing a ridiculous parallel here, between Brittney and himself. While she was imprisoned as Vladimir Putin's political pawn, Joe was tried and convicted for hiring a hitman, and various crimes tied to the treatment of animals at his infamous wildlife park.

After she spent nearly 10 months incarcerated, U.S. officials finally struck a deal this week -- Russia agreed to free Brittney in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout ... AKA the "Merchant of Death."

You'll recall, BG was accused of bringing hashish oil in her luggage to a Moscow airport, back in February, and was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Joe is serving a 21-year sentence, but insists he's innocent -- jury be damned -- and totally deserving of freedom ... something he's been pushing for since Donald Trump was in the White House.

R. Kelly isn't admitting a damn thing when it comes to the "I Admit It" album that dropped Friday -- speaking from jail, he calls the recording a plot to screw him over in court.

TMZ obtained this audio Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, says he recorded Friday shortly after they'd met. The disgraced singer immediately shuts down the notion he'd put out any music right now, much less something with the lyrics, "I Admit It," because he's trying to appeal his latest federal conviction.

Even more mysterious ... Kelly seems to insinuate the album recordings aren't even his voice. He says, "I hope people recognized my voice and know that" he wouldn't be recording in the middle of a legal battle.

As we reported, it certainly looked and sounded like he'd release a 13-track album, with the title track addressing many of the allegations leveled against him.

After just a few hours, though, the project was pulled from Spotify and Apple Music -- as Kelly's label, Sony Music, denied any involvement in the recording or in distributing it to the streamers.

His legal team later told us, they were investigating to figure out who may have released the music. BTW, we know it was uploaded by Ingrooves, a distributor owned by Universal Music Group ... with no ties to Sony Music.

Also, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed R. Kelly didn't produce any songs using equipment in prison.

During this voice recording, he seemed to want to prove it's not his voice on "I Admit It" -- so, he broke into a few bars of his song, “When A Woman's Fed Up."

He thinks there's a clear difference, but listen for yourself.

R. Kelly's legal team is digging deep into the mystery of who dropped an unauthorized album using his name and recordings, and his attorney says they've already got their sights set on a few possible suspects.

R. Kelly's criminal defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, tells TMZ the disgraced singer's lawyers, entertainment attorneys and trusted friends are all trying to get to the bottom of who currently has access to his music catalog. She says they have a small group of people who they've ID'd as culprits ... but notes a potential problem could be his material changing hands.

Bonjean says she spoke with R. Kelly Friday afternoon -- he was surprised and upset about the music's release without his permission.

Bonjean tells us stuff like this has been a reoccurring issue for R. Kelly ... claiming a bunch of studio equipment, computers and masters were taken shortly after his 2019 arrest. She says there's also been an issue with his calls and emails being stolen from prison.

As we reported, an album called "I Admit It," featuring a bunch of R. Kelly's SoundCloud tracks, silently made its way to major streaming platforms Friday but was quickly removed. A source at Sony Music told us it appeared to be a bootleg version.

Johnny Knoxville is known for his elaborate pranks, but his latest may have gone too far ... resulting in a lawsuit from a guy who says it caused him emotional distress.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the 'Jackass' star is being sued by Khalil Khan over a home prank. Khan says he was hired to do a routine repair job through TaskRabbit but ended up getting way more than he bargained for.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Khan says was hired to a home to repair an electric dimmer switch. He claims the owner of the house was an actor in on the prank.

Khan claims within moments of starting the work, a lamp went out and a girl about the age of 10 -- who was also apparently an actor -- accused him of killing her pony because it was on life support and died when the electricity went out.

At one point, Khan says he was led into a room where there appeared to be an actual pony. He says things got worse when he saw his car getting towed. Khan claims when he started to call the cops, one of the men who'd taken his car said he'd get in trouble for having cocaine in it ... and he says the guy even pulled out a bag of white powder. Khan says he was horrified and denied knowing anything about it.

He says Johnny, who is known for pulling stunts, eventually let Khalil in on the prank ... expressing that it was all done in good fun, offering him money for his participation.

Kelly Clarkson is looking for some serious protection from a woman she claims made multiple unwanted visits to her home ... asking a judge for a restraining order.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kelly's requesting a TRO against 56-year-old Huguette Nicole Young ... and the singer also wants her family, her nanny, and her house manager protected from the alleged trespasser.

The docs, filed by her attorney Ed McPherson, say the alleged harassment started at the end of October -- and Michael Lopez, who says he's been running Kelly's security for the past 5 years, claims Young has shown up to her home at least 18 times, often leaving gifts and notes for Kelly.

Lopez claims Young left an assortment of items on Kelly's porch -- including things like dog toys, stickers, plants, and seeds.

The legal docs claim another security guard once told Young she was on camera and is trespassing, and they say she apologized but kept returning to the home after the warning.

Kelly's asking a judge to keep Young at least a football field away from her home, job, and children's school.

As we reported, police got involved after Kelly's security finally called LAPD to file a report ... and law enforcement sources told us the department's Threat Management is investigating.

Jesse James' pregnant wife is persona non grata at the couple's former home ... at least according to Jesse, who wants a judge to block her from being allowed inside the residence.

Jesse filed his response to Bonnie Rotten's divorce petition, asking the judge permission to stay in his Austin, TX home and prevent Bonnie from entering ... at least while the divorce proceedings are ongoing.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jesse is also seeking the exclusive use and possession of any cars and motor vehicles that he owns.

As we've reported, Bonnie filed for divorce from Jesse earlier this week, but called things off just a day later, telling her followers she jumped the gun by putting Jesse on blast for allegedly cheating on her.

R. Kelly just dropped the biggest surprise album of 2022 ... a project called "I Admit It" with lyrics that address the years of allegations leveled against the disgraced singer.

The 13-song album features tracks with titles like "I Found Love," "Good Ole Days" and "Freaky Sensation."

But his last 3 tracks might be the most revealing -- it's a 3-part piece called "I Admit it (I Did It)," where he unloads a ton of stuff he's done in the past. He put the full 19-minute track on SoundCloud back in 2018, but this marks the first time it's made it to Apple or Spotify.

In it, R. Kelly talks about helping people that ended up turning against him ... before admitting to a laundry list of things -- including "I done f***ed with a couple of fans" and says he even slept with his girlfriend's friend.

He digs even deeper, "How they gon' say I don't respect these women when all I've done is represent" ... and "You mad I've got some girlfriends."

R. Kelly directly addresses the allegations as the tracks go on ... saying, "They're brainwashed, really? Kidnapped, really? Can't eat, really? Real talk, that s*** sound silly."

While it's unclear exactly who he's talking about, he also seems to blame the parents of one of his female flings for introducing them. Saying, "And if you really, really wanna know. Her father dropped her off at my show. And told this boy to put her on the stage. I admit that she was overage."

As we reported, Spotify made the call back in 2018 to stop promoting his music when allegations about running a sex cult continued to pick up steam ... but it sounds like R. Kelly's made it back to the platform with his telling tracks.

ABC is pulling the plug on Christmas with the Backstreet Boys ... a late decision that comes immediately on the heels of Nick Carter being accused of sexual battery.

The band's special, "A Very Backstreet Holiday," was set to air on ABC next week, and featured all 5 singers -- Nick, Brian, Howie, AJ and Kevin -- but the network has canceled the airing ... TMZ has confirmed.

The special was shot last month in L.A., and, at this stage, would be complete and ready to air. ABC isn't offering any explanation for the last-minute cancelation, but with the announcement coming less than 24 hours after the lawsuit against Carter ... it's pretty clear.

TMZ broke the story ... Shannon Ruth sued the singer Thursday for sexual battery, saying she was 17 back in 2001 when was allegedly invited on his tour bus and given alcohol.

According to legal docs, Ruth -- who's autistic with cerebral palsy -- was then sexually assaulted by Carter ... and when she threatened to tell people about what he did, he allegedly called her a "r******* little bitch" who no one would believe. She says she contracted HPV after the incident and is now seeking damages.

Nick's attorney, Michael Holtz, told us the entire claim "is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue" ... saying Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick.

Courtney Clenney, the OnlyFans model accused of murdering her boyfriend, has been denied bond ... mostly because the court doesn't buy her claim that she killed him in self-defense.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, a Florida judge isn't allowing Clenney to be released on bond while she awaits trial -- saying her description of how her BF, Christian Obumseli, got his fatal stab wound "is not supported by the evidence."

Specifically, the judge didn't buy Clenney's claim that she threw a knife at Obumseli from more than 10 feet away ... noting the medical examiner's testimony indicated the wound was too deep and required more pressure than could have been applied from throwing the blade.

The judge also ruled that releasing Clenney was not warranted because there are worries Clenney could leave the country ... noting she's got a ton of cash to do so if she wanted.

Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is being sued for sexual battery, after an alleged incident with a minor back in 2001 ... an incident our Carter sources say is totally false.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Shannon Ruth -- who says she was 17 at the time of the alleged assault -- was invited by Carter to his tour bus after a Backstreet Boys concert in Tacoma, WA while waiting in the autograph line.

The docs say Ruth, who has autism and cerebral palsy, was asked if she wanted a drink ... she asked for apple juice, and Carter allegedly told her he had cranberry -- giving her a "red-colored drink."

Ruth says the drink tasted off, and Carter called it "VIP juice" ... but drank it to not be rude. She now believes it was a mix of alcohol and cranberry juice.

According to the docs, Carter then brought her to the bus' bathroom, and ordered her to perform oral sex on him ... Ruth claims she was crying during the ordeal, but he kept instructing her.

She then says Carter took her to a bed on the bus and continued to sexually assault her ... and after the incident, she allegedly said she'd tell people about what he did, but he threatened to turn others against her -- calling her a "r******* little bitch" that no one would believe.

The docs say Ruth, who claims she was a virgin before the alleged assault, had contracted HPV afterward ... and she's now seeking damages.

A source close to Nick tells us, "This accusation is categorically false, Nick is focusing on his family and mourning the death of his brother."

As we reported, Nick's faced rape allegations in the past, but has never been charged with any crimes.