Legal

Drake and 21 Savage are no longer stuck in a lawsuit with magazine publisher Condé Nast, the rappers settled the case brought against them over the fake Vogue cover they used to promote their album ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the duo settled out of court and agreed to pay Vogue's publisher, though the settlement amount is unclear. Condé Nast was seeking at least $4 million in damages.

TMZ broke the story ... back in November, the magazine giant slapped Drake and 21 Savage with a lawsuit over the phony Vogue promos they plastered online and around several cities. The fake Vogue featured the rappers on the cover and it was used to hype their new album, "Her Loss."

The suit said the fake mags were a direct replica of Vogue ... with a doctored pic of editor-in-chief Anna Wintour next to Drake and a fake story.

Drake also used the fake Vogue to promote the album on his social media ... with Drizzy claiming he and 21 Savage would be on newsstands before the Nov. 4 album release. Champagne Papi even shouted out Anna.

As we reported ... after the lawsuit was filed, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order shutting down all current and future displays of the mocked-up mag for the time being.

Kanye West is choosing a different, and more peaceful, way to deal with photographers ... instead of grabbing and throwing their cameras, he's taking his beef straight to law enforcement.

TMZ obtained these photos of Ye strolling into the L.A. County Sheriff's West Hollywood Station Tuesday afternoon ... and our law enforcement sources tell us he was there informing deputies he'd gotten into an argument with paparazzi.

We're told his story is ... he'd asked paps to stop recording him and his family at some point on Tuesday ... and the interaction almost turned physical, but he says it did not escalate to violence.

Ye left the station after filing the report, and we're told the Sheriff's Dept. is now looking into the matter to see if there's anything more to the alleged argument.

Meghan Markle's legal team went to court Wednesday, gunning to convince a judge to toss a defamation lawsuit filed by her sister Samantha, and the arguments left the judge scratching her head but leaning in Meghan's favor.

Samantha Markle claimed Meghan was peddling lies about her in both the Oprah interview and a 2020 bio, "Finding Freedom." Specifically, Samantha claims her half-sis lied when she allegedly said she was an only child, causing her humiliation and shame. Meghan's lawyers fired back ... their client never said she was an only child. She told Oprah she grew up as an only child.

Samantha claimed Meghan lied about her upbringing, and when she got caught in lies, she turned Samantha into a sacrificial lamb and attacked her to cover up her own alleged misdeeds.

As for the alleged lies ... Samantha points to what she says is Meghan's rags-to-riches narrative, growing up in poverty when she had a middle-class background. She says their dad, Thomas, paid for all sorts of things for Meghan, including elite private schools, tuition at Northwestern as well as dance and acting classes.

MM's lawyers asked the judge to boot the case, calling the claims "offensive" and "inappropriate." Her lawyers say Meghan merely stated her impressions about her life growing up.

Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell said she was "struggling" to see how Meghan's statements were defamatory. The judge took the case under advisement.

Prosecutors said Wednesday afternoon they are dropping the domestic violence case against former Univ. of Texas men's basketball head coach Chris Beard.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza made the announcement in a statement ... saying that after reviewing all of the facts of the case and speaking with the alleged victim, "our office has determined that the felony offense cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

A motion to dismiss the case was formally filed earlier Wednesday, Garza said.

Beard was initially hit with a charge of assault by strangulation/suffocation -- family violence ... over his alleged role in a heated confrontation with his fiancée, Randi Trew.

According to court docs, Trew said Beard hit, strangled, and bit her during a Dec. 12 argument in Austin, Texas. Police said they saw visible teeth marks and redness on her arm and an abrasion on her face and leg. They also said she had a cut on one of her thumbs.

Trew ultimately walked back the allegations in a public statement .... saying, "Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that."

She also added, "I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way. It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted."

Despite the retraction, UT fired Beard on Jan. 5.

Beard, who was 29-13 with the Longhorns after coming over from Texas Tech in 2021, was "crushed" by the decision, according to his attorney.

Bam Margera's wife has tried for years to make things work with her estranged husband, but has apparently decided there's nothing more she can do ... filing for legal separation.

Nicole Boyd filed separation papers Wednesday in L.A. citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for the breakdown in her marriage with Bam.

The two have a 5-year-old son, Phoenix, together -- Nicole's asking for both legal and physical custody -- but will allow for Bam to get supervised visitation as long as he foots the bill and it happens in L.A. County.

Nicole is also asking the court to award her spousal support.

Bam and Nicole got hitched in October 2013, and she lists the date of their separation as September 2021.

TMZ broke the story, Nicole filed legal docs back in September 2021 asking the court to award her custody of Phoenix, however, at the time, she didn't file divorce documents.

An already emotional scene was ramped up after a man inside the courtroom lunged at Buffalo mass shooter Payton Gendron during the monster's sentencing hearing.

Barbara Massey, who lost her sister, Katherine, during the attack in May 2022 which left 10 dead, addressed the shooter directly Wednesday inside an Erie County Courthouse. Massey exclaimed, "My sister Katherine Massey was a great person, Kat didn't hurt anybody ... You don't know a damn thing about Black people, we're human, we like our kids to go to good schools, we love our kids. We never go in neighborhoods and take people out."

At that point, a man dressed in grey who was standing next to Barbara pushed her aside and lunged at Gendron, only to be restrained by several officers protecting the murderer.

As the incident happened, you can hear several people in the crowd become emotional ... and both Gendron and the man who lunged at him were escorted out.

Gendron, who is white, killed 10 Black people and wounded several others during a mass shooting at a Buffalo-area grocery store.

Gendron live streamed his brutal attack, carrying out the killings with an automatic weapon inscribed with racist words and phrases -- including the N-word and "Here's your reparations."

He's expected to be sentenced to life in prison -- pleading guilty to charges including domestic terrorism motivated by hate and murder.

The hearing resumed after a brief pause to settle the courtroom.

A woman accused of murdering her lover and dismembering his corpse attacked her attorney in a Wisconsin courtroom ... and it was all caught on video.

Taylor Schabusiness was calmly sitting in shackles alongside her attorney Quinn Jolly during a competency hearing in Green Bay on Tuesday when things quickly took a turn for the worse.

It started with Jolly asking the court for an extension to give an expert witness time to assess Schabusiness' competency to stand trial. The judge agreed, and then pushed her trial back to May 15 from its original date of March 6.

Schabusiness clearly wasn't feeling the decision and took all of her rage out on Jolly.

Check out this wild footage showing Schabusiness lunging at Jolly and elbowing him in the head as he tried to fend her off. A sheriff deputy sprang into action, tackling Schabusiness and wrestling with her on the ground.

The deputy, along with two other cops, finally restrained Schabusiness and propped her up against a door. After making sure Schabusiness wasn't injured, the deputies led her out of the courtroom.

Schabusiness was charged with murdering Shad Thyrion during sex while she was high on meth in 2022. She allegedly strangled Thyrion with a chain and sliced off his head and penis with a serrated knife. She also reportedly told cops that she had fun looking for his organs scattered about the crime scene.

According to her lawyer, Schabusiness has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated for mental health issues since the 7th grade.

Snoop Dogg's lockout of Death Row Records' catalog on streaming services is finally over -- Tha Doggfather's linked with TikTok's new music arm, SoundOn.

The exclusive welcome party will extend throughout the week on TikTok ... before the legendary rap tunes return to traditional digital streaming platforms.

Snoop removed the Death Row catalog from streaming in March 2022 ... and at the time, outlined a plan to have the music live on in its own metaverse within a full-functioning app.

Those plans appeared to have since fizzled. Dr. Dre recently threw a party to celebrate his own debut album, "The Chronic," returning to streaming and its original label home of Interscope.

To compensate for the lulls, Snoop and TikTok went halfsies on a custom Death Row playlist ... because not a day goes by without someone asking him to restore the catalog online.

"As the Super Bowl rolled around, I knew fans would be looking for the music from our iconic performance in 2022, so I wanted to reintroduce the most historic catalog to the people. I reached out to the folks at TikTok to make more history ... enjoy ya'll."

Drake's wish is officially granted -- he will not be grilled by a defense attorney about XXXTentacion's murder ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

Judge Michael A. Usan signed off on Drake's motion to avoid the deposition ... tossing the court's previous order calling for him to sit down later this month and answer questions.

Defense attorney Mauricio Padilla, who reps suspect Dedrick Williams, previously argued Drake needed to be present for questioning due to an old beef between XXX and him.

Drake's attorney, Bradford Cohen, though, told the court Drizzy has no relevant information to add to the case -- and the judge agreed.

It is possible Padilla could convince the judge there's some other cause for Drake to be deposed, and get a new subpoena -- but with the trial already underway, the clock's ticking.

Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde's former nanny -- who allegedly blabbed to the media about them -- is now taking the ex-couple to court ... claiming they drove her to her wit's end and then some.

The woman's name is Ericka Genaro, and she just filed suit against both actors -- for whom she previously worked between 2018 and 2021. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Genaro makes even more allegations about the dynamic during this rocky time in the partnership.

According to her ... Olivia abandoned the household, by and large, in 2020 -- around the time she reportedly started her romance with Harry Styles -- and it was because of this that Genaro claims a lot of pressure was put on her to fill in on multiple fronts.

Beyond just being the primary live-in nanny caring for OW and JS's two kids ... Genaro claims she also started to become a shoulder for Jason to lean on -- staying after hours for him to vent and talk about the delicate situation.

While Genaro says she gave Jason her ear, she also says this lopped on an incredible amount of stress and anxiety that she claims became debilitating -- on top of this, she also says her work duties started to be in way more demand, allegedly working round-the-clock.

Genaro says Olivia's absence from the home forced her to fill in on mom duties Olivia would normally undertake -- and she even says she confronted Olivia about this in person while she was filming "Don't Worry Darling" -- claiming Olivia came off as sympathetic and understanding.

However, Genaro says she flipped on a dime ... because she says Jason confronted her about this convo she allegedly had with Olivia, and that increased the tension in the household -- as Genaro says she felt she had to pick sides. Genaro says this anxiety became unbearable and that she was advised by medical professionals that she had to stop working ... essentially, she was given doctor's orders to take a 3-day break from the job.

But Genaro claims Jason wasn't receptive of this ... and allegedly fired her on the spot when she made this known to him.

Genaro claims she was wrongfully terminated, and alleges that Jason and Olivia violated several employment laws in California -- now asking for major damages under FEHA.

We've reached out to reps for Jason and Olivia on the lawsuit ... so far, no word back. But in October, Jason and Olivia told us of the nanny, "As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly."

Danny Trejo is filing for bankruptcy -- but it's not because the dude is broke or anything ... he's just got a nagging bill with the IRS that would best be resolved this way.

The legendary actor tells TMZ ... he's filing Tuesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which mostly has to do with reorganizing his assets to help deal with this debt he owes Uncle Sam -- which he says is about $2 million in taxes.

Part of the reason he fell into this hole ... Danny says he was mistakenly claiming deductions over the years that caught up with him. He even jokingly tells us he now realizes that dog grooming isn't a legit expense you can write off. 😅

A quick note -- while Danny is personally filing for bankruptcy, his many businesses -- including his record label, his coffee/donut shops and, of course, his famed Trejo's Tacos -- are doing just fine ... and aren't affected by this.

Those enterprises are owned by corporations and LLCs he's created to run them, and we've been assured his own financial woes are not a reflection of how those are producing. On the contrary, all indications suggest Danny's doing swimmingly in the free market.

Lil Nas X and Zedd ignored a property owner's demand they not party in his swanky Hollywood Hills mansion, and then left the place trashed after the huge bash ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the "Old Town Road" singer and the famed DJ are among the defendants being sued by landlord Daniel Fitzgerald, who owns a slew of fancy homes in the Hollywood Hills.

In his suit, Fitzgerald says when he leased the property he specifically told the tenants they couldn't have any big parties, but he says that didn't stop the tenants from allowing Lil Nas X to host a bash for 1,000 people where Zedd was paid to spin tunes for the partygoers.

Fitzgerald claims Lil Nas X, Zedd and the party promoters and sponsors knew they weren't supposed to be having a party on the property ... but he says that didn't dissuade them from throwing an epic bash in April 2022.

In addition to allegedly pissing off neighbors and getting him into hot water with local officials, Fitzgerald claims the massive rager resulted in over $25,000 in physical damages to his property ... mainly to chairs, sofas, walls and ceilings.

Fitzgerald claims the home needed extensive repairs after the bash, forcing him to lose out on a month of rent between tenants ... which he says cost him another $40,000.

The landlord claims Lil Nas X and Zedd were each paid at least $250,000 for the party ... while all he got was a huge bill for a messy cleanup.

Fitzgerald is going after LNX, Zedd and the party's sponsors and promoters for money ... and he wants compensatory and punitive damages totaling at least $1 million.

Drake is trying to put the kibosh on getting deposed in the XXXTENTACION murder trial — and he's making some legal moves to try to get out of it.

The rapper filed a motion, through his attorney Bradford Cohen, asking the judge to set aside the subpoena requiring him to sit for a private deposition in late February.

As we reported, the judge was persuaded by arguments made by defense attorney Mauricio Padilla to call Drake as a witness in the case. Padilla represents Dedrick Williams, one of three defendants charged with killing XXX. The murder trial for the 3 men began last week.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Padilla sent Drake a ZOOM link for the deposition without putting it under seal, which could have compromised Drake's security given that he’s an international star.

Several days later, the docs say Padilla filed a notice with the court but failed to include details on how the ZOOM interview with Drake would be conducted. As a result, Drake says the subpoena was procedurally defective.

Per the motion, Drake also claims his name never appeared in the investigative files and there's nothing to suggest he has any relevant knowledge about the case ... he believes it's unreasonable to ask him to sit for a deposition and says doing so is just an attempt to "add more layers of celebrity and notoriety to a tragic and unfortunate event."

Garth Brooks is joining a growing number of music superstars using their voices to sound off on the prices fans are forced to pay to see their favorite acts.

The country music legend is scheduled to speak on a panel in Los Angeles next week joined by Madison Square Garden Entertainment's James Dolan, former Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ, Makan Delrahim and moderated by music biz mogul, Irving Azoff.

The event will be the 34th annual Pollstar Live! conference discussion panel, which will go down February 22 at 9:45 AM PT at the Beverly Hilton in L.A.

As for what will be discussed, we're told Azoff, Brooks and team will talk ticket scalpers, how to score tickets to events without getting ripped off, the resale market and how outside hands have really soured the market for fans.

The Pollstar Live! conference won't just discuss ticketing though, there's also a convo between Mumford and Son's Ben Lovett, and Brian Teasley as well as a panel to celebrate 50 Years of Live Hip-Hop with Doug E. Fresh, DJ Quik & Big Daddy Kane.

It'll be held from February 21 until February 23.

As we reported, Taylor Swift fans sounded the alarms when tickets went on sale for her Eras Tour ... waiting for hours to score seats to the show and either getting shut out or hammered with crazy prices.

The BTK serial killer is back on police radar ...but this time we're told it's to see if he has any connection to the disappearance of an Oklahoma teenager back in 1976.

BTK (real name: Dennis Rader) tells TMZ…he was interviewed January 20 by Osage County Sheriff, Eddie Virden and three other investigators at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas. That's where BTK is serving 10 life terms for killing 10 people from 1974 to 1991. He was captured in 2005 after sending police taunting letters using the moniker, "Bind, Torture, Kill."

Rader said the Osage County cops wanted to know if he was involved in the disappearance of 16-year-old Cynthia Dawn Kinney in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, on June 23, 1976. Kinney was reportedly last seen leaving Osage Laundromat and getting into a beige 1965 Plymouth Belvedere with two people under suspicious circumstances. No one has been arrested.

BTK said police thought he might have a connection to the Kinney case because he was actively committing murders in Wichita, Kansas, during that time frame. Wichita is only about a 2-hour drive to Pawhuska.

The killer also said cops asked him about his connection to Oklahoma and the Boy Scouts. BTK admitted he was in Oklahoma as a Boy Scout, but several years before and after 1976.

BTK categorically denied any involvement in the Kinney case.

Sheriff Virden confirmed to TMZ…he and the other investigators visited BTK in prison to interview the serial killer in a roundabout way regarding the Kinney case.

Virden said investigators were pursuing leads and doing their due diligence to see if BTK fits into the Kinney case considering his criminal activities around that time.

Virden said, “There’s similarities between the time frames. She disappeared in daytime – most of [BTK's] stuff occurred in daytime hours. Some of the stuff that motivated [BTK] -- there are similarities,” but Virden declined to further elaborate.

During the interview, Virden said he also gathered personal information from BTK about his early life, military service and his murders.

Ben Crump doesn't just have a new law school named after him ... the institution's already getting jaw-dropping financial support from his very famous pals!

Will Smith was right by the famed civil rights attorney's side this week in Miami for the dedication of the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University -- and sources connected to the event tell us this was way more than a photo op.

We're told Will, funk music legend George Clinton and Bishop T.D. Jakes came together to raise a whopping $10 million for Ben's new school. As Will told the crowd ... he was honored to witness the historic event.

As of the naming ceremony, we're told Crump is now the first practicing Black attorney in the U.S. to receive such an honor.

As you know, Ben has become a renowned attorney taking on many high-profile cases -- most recently, he's been representing the family of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by Memphis cops before dying last month.

He's also stood up for Jacob Blake and the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd -- no wonder he's frequently called Black America's Attorney General.