Legal

Olivia Rodrigo is clearing up some perceived bad blood between herself and Taylor Swift -- but only kinda putting out a fire here ... not nearly as much as one would hope.

The young singer did a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian -- where she addressed a lot of stuff, but perhaps most importantly ... the would-be beef some have speculated exists with TS. In a somewhat wishy-washy answer -- she appears to say, that's not the case.

When asked if her single, "vampire," was aimed at Taylor, she says ... "I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about. I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t. I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing."

Olivia adds, "I was very surprised when people thought that." So ... sorta a denial?

The reason some jumped to that conclusion is 'cause the track's lyrics go after somebody Olivia labels as a "blood sucker" -- but in which way, exactly, was up for interpretation.

The chorus goes ... "'Cause I've made some real big mistakes / But you make the worst one look fine / I should've known it was strange / You only come out at night / I used to think I was smart / But you made me look so naive / The way you sold me for parts / As you sunk your teeth into me, oh / Bloodsucker, famef***er/ Bleedin' me dry, like a goddamn vampire."

Many took these lines to be referencing the plagiarism scandal Olivia found herself in after her first album, 'Sour,' got released. As you know, she ended up having to pay both Taylor and Paramore royalties after they flagged similarities in a couple of her songs to her team.

As it turns out ... the amount she had to shell out for those two songs amounted to 50%, according to The Guardian. Many felt Olivia was done dirty in that whole saga, and those same people believed she was expressing her frustration to TayTay in that new single.

Like we said, it certainly seems like Olivia is distancing herself from that characterization -- but the fact she doesn't firmly stamp it out in clear terms is ... interesting, to say the least.

Olivia reflected on that chapter, saying ... "I was so green as to how the music industry worked, the litigious side … I feel like now I know so much more about the industry and I just feel … better equipped in that regard. It wasn’t something I thought about too much."

Kevin Costner just found out how big of a check he has to cut to his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner each month for child support ... and he's going to be happy.

The judge in Kevin and Christine's divorce ruled Friday that Kevin's going to be forking over $63,209 -- that's exactly what he said was appropriate. $63k is less than half of what she was getting in temporary support -- $129k. And remember, she originally asked for $248k a month.

It's an end to a bitter back and forth between Kevin and Christine over how much he should be ponying up.

During Friday's hearing, Kevin took the stand and answered some questions from his lawyer, Disso Queen Laura Wasser, saying ... "Somehow in this unusual world we didn't make it and I'm sorry."

Kevin said his biggest concern going into the relationship with Christine was having kids and getting divorced ... because he had 3 kids with his first wife and got divorced. Kevin and Christine ended up having 3 kids and getting divorced too.

Remember ... Christine originally asked for $248,000 a month in child support, but Kevin claimed she was padding the bill simply because he could afford it ... with Costner claiming the actual amount she needs for their kids is around $51k a month.

In the end, the judge went closer to Kevin's figure.

Kevin Costner says he didn't return to his hit show "Yellowstone" more so because of scheduling issues and money rather than any rumored beef with creator Taylor Sheridan.

The actor testified during Friday's divorce hearing in Santa Barbara and got into his ugly "Yellowstone" exit, saying he left a ton of money on the table.

Kevin was being grilled on the stand by lawyers for his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner ... they kept asking about his finances and how much money he made for "Yellowstone."

Kevin's testimony included juicy nuggets on his falling out with the show ... saying negotiations for a potential sixth season broke down over scheduling issues, creative differences, and money.

The way Kevin explains things, there were issues with the creative process and he "tried to break the log jam" but Paramount "walked away," after he asked for $12M to film the season.

Kevin says he had scheduling conflicts with his new movie "Horizon" because "Yellowstone" wanted to shoot a two-part season in the same year which would require him to shoot the first half, go do his movie, then return for the second half.

He claims he moved things around with his film to accommodate the show but "Yellowstone" wasn't ready to shoot the second half on time.

Kevin's testimony is super enlightening ... at the time, there were rumors his exit was mired in an alleged beef with Sheridan, the show's creator, and they were rumored to hate each other.

And, get this ... Kevin said he "will probably go to court" over his "Yellowstone" ending.

Paul Staehle's family is worried sick about him ... because he's a world away over in the Amazon and now appears to be lost in Brazil.

The "90 Day Fiancé" star's mom, Edna, tells TMZ ... Paul has been traveling in Brazil since the end of July, but on Thursday morning he sent his family some alarming texts.

We're told Paul told his mom he needed her help and was lost in the South American country ... telling her needed a boat and giving her contact info for a few folks he said might be able to help him get out of his situation.

It's pretty alarming on its face, and Edna says Paul has since gone radio silent ... she can't get in contact with him and it appears his phone is off, lost signal or is out of battery.

Paul's mom says she reached out to the folks Paul said could help him ... but she hasn't heard squat from them either.

Meanwhile, Paul's wife Karine is alerting her family in Brazil that her famous husband might need assistance ... we're told she's in the United States and doesn't know if Brazilian authorities are actively searching for Paul.

Karine is also clouding the picture with some cryptic posts about him ... seemingly adding to his mother's angst.

TMZ broke the story ... Paul and his son were named in a missing persons police bulletin in 2022 in Kentucky, but they eventually turned up.

Paris Jackson claims a guy who allegedly stalked her for years climbed a fence at her property and peeped in her windows ... and now she says she's terrified and wants help.

The singer took steps to protect herself two days after police were called to her Los Angeles area home after she claimed an intruder was spotted hanging around her backyard ... beelining it to court to get a restraining order against the guy.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Paris claims the guy showed up at her home Aug 23 scaling the fence before peering through her windows ... but she says she doesn't know him and he's actually appeared at her place before and was once arrested there.

TMZ broke the story ... Paris' friend confronted the alleged intruder in the backyard but the guy took off before cops arrived.

Paris says he's been sending her unwanted messages since December 2019 and she's afraid he's becoming more brazen and she's feeling stressed and is terrified to be alone in her home.

Our law enforcement sources tells us they took another report of a man showing up to her home two days after she filed for a restraining order ... this time she said the guy walked up to her front door, but she wasn't home.

We're told LAPD Threat Management is now on the case.

"Foodgod" Jonathan Cheban's $20 million lawsuit against a Korean BBQ sauce company isn't about getting cash -- according to him, it's about keeping others from ending up in the same scary situation.

We got Jonathan in Beverly Hills, and he detailed the frightening incident that went down nearly 3 years ago ... a glass bottle he'd purchased just a few hours earlier shattered in his hand, leaving with a very serious cut.

Jonathan echoes a big point from his lawsuit, telling us the slice was incredibly close to a major artery in his wrist, which could've killed him.

He says he's still dealing with physical problems to this day, and fills us in on why the suit is so important.

BTW, we ask him his thoughts about folks saying the $20M for which he's suing is a super steep number for a rich dude like him -- but Jonathan tells us why money isn't his goal here.

Trinidad James is sticking to his guns that Gunna is the hottest thing out ... at least as far as male rappers go!!!

We caught Mr. All Gold Everything in Bev Hills this week, and he doubled down on his recent comments that Gunna's the hip hop king of the summer.

Plenty of people accuse Gunna of leaving Young Thug high and dry amid the YSL RICO case ... but not Trinidad, and he's not letting emotion cloud his judgment.

Trinidad says Gunna's recent album, "A Gift & a Curse" displays all the top qualities you'd want in a rapper, and has the numbers to prove it.

He's also frowning on the street politics that have Gunna on the outs with his peers ... and thinks some of Gunna's success is owed to his public haters streaming his music in private.

Gunna’s single "Fukumean" is now his biggest solo hit ... earning him his first No. 1 on Billboard's Hip Hop Songs Chart and going Platinum earlier this month.

A man in Wisconsin says his ankle is now home to an infection and horrific wound brought on by a botched surgery -- and now that he's suing over it, we've obtained some super gross pics.

Nestor Vega is the patient behind the lawsuit, and he claims during a procedure to treat a car accident injury, he heard a loud noise and feared a fragment from a device used to drain his wound had broken off under his skin.

Vega claims one doc told him his fears were unlikely and reassured him by saying ... "Even if it did, it should be sterile, and it's small enough of a fragment, so it shouldn't cause any issues like an infection or anything."

But as Vega claims, there was indeed a fragment of a medical device left behind in his ankle and it caused a painful and debilitating infection.

Vega's lawyer, B'Ivory LaMarr, shared images with TMZ that he says show the aftermath of infection ... and it's extremely graphic. Think rotting pork chop.

In his suit, Vega claims he kept complaining to doctors about a pain in his ankle but they brushed him off until a follow-up visit revealed the fragment lodged in his body.

Vega claims the fragment caused the infection that turned his ankle into a disgusting mess ... and he's going after the surgeons, Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, and the Medical College of Wisconsin for damages.

Kevin Costner has come out swinging in his divorce from Christine Baumgartner, claiming she has become so unreasonable she has engaged in a "relentless jihad" against him ... and he threw in that her "boyfriend" gave her thousands in cash.

Costner is in court right now, along with Christine, fighting it out over how much child support he must pay her.

The actor claims Christine is bubbling over with animosity, accusing him of being a cheapskate when in fact he has shelled out way more than a million dollars since she filed for divorce.

The most interesting nugget in the docs ... Kevin says Christine has been deceptive in terms of how much money she has, referencing $20,000 "her boyfriend recently gave her." The docs don't identify the boyfriend, but sources familiar with the case say Kevin believes the man is Josh Connor, one of Kevin's good friends who recently took a trip to Hawaii with Christine.

Sources connected to both Christine and Josh have denied the 2 are in a romantic relationship.

Kevin claims Christine has secretly taken $105,000 from him to pay her lawyers. He's also re-alleged she has padded her child support bills by including hundreds of thousands of dollars for her plastic surgery, private trainers and "unallocated credit card expenses" which were for her, not their kids. In fact, Kevin claims her plastic surgery bills alone total $188,500 a year.

Costner says Christine -- who originally asked for $248,000 a month in child support -- has padded the bill simply because Kevin can afford it, and it has no relationship to their kids' needs.

Kevin has claimed the actual amount she needs is around $63,000 a month.

Costner, who says Christine has been engaged in "baseless character attacks" on him, says she's more than capable of getting a job, saying, "She has no plans to seek employment or engage in any income-generating activity." He accuses his 49-year-old estranged wife of demanding enough child support so she doesn't have to work again.

Kevin Costner ha salido a la palestra por su divorcio con Christine Baumgartner, alegando que su ex esposa se ha vuelto tan poco razonable que se ha comprometido en una "yihad implacable" contra él. Y añadió que su "novio" le dio miles de dólares en efectivo.

Costner se encuentra ahora mismo peleando en los tribunales con Christine por la pensión alimenticia que debe pagarle.

El actor afirma que ella está llena de rencor y lo acusa de ser un tacaño, cuando en realidad ha desembolsado más de un millón de dólares desde que esta solicitó el divorcio.

La primicia más interesante en los documentos es que Kevin dice que Christine ha sido insidiosa en términos de cuánto dinero tiene, haciendo referencia a unos 20.000 dólares que "su novio le dio recientemente". Los documentos no identifican al novio, pero fuentes familiarizadas con el caso dicen que Kevin piensa que el hombre detrás es Josh Connor, uno de los buenos amigos del actor que recientemente hizo un viaje a Hawai con Christine.

Fuentes relacionadas tanto con Christine como con Josh han negado que ambos mantengan una relación sentimental.

Kevin asegura que Christine le ha quitado 105.000 dólares en secreto para pagar a sus abogados. También ha vuelto a alegar que entre las facturas de manutención incluyó cientos de miles de dólares para cirugías plásticas, entrenadores privados y "gastos de tarjetas de crédito no asignados" para ella y no para sus hijos. De hecho, Kevin afirma que sólo las facturas de cirugía plástica ascienden a 188.500 dólares al año.

Costner dice que Christine, que originalmente pidió $248.000 al mes para sus hijos, ha aumentado la factura simplemente porque Kevin puede permitírselo, y no tiene ninguna relación con las necesidades de sus hijos.

Según el actor, el monto real que necesita debiese ser de unos 63.000 dólares al mes.

Costner, quien piensa que Christine se ha embarcado en una serie de "ataques sin fundamentos hacia su persona", dice que ella está más que capacitada para encontrar un trabajo. Su alegato: "Ella no tiene planes de buscar empleo o participar en cualquier actividad que genere ingresos". Acusa a su esposa, de 49 años y separada de él, de exigir una pensión alimenticia suficiente para no tener que volver a trabajar.

50 Cent went all Cardi B during his concert in Los Angeles, throwing his broken microphone in frustration into the crowd ... hitting a fan smack dab on the head.

The rapper hit the stage at Crypto.com Arena Wednesday night as part of his "Final Lap" tour 2023 ... and, during the performance, he was handed several mics that didn't work, which was clearly triggering.

Check out the video ... Fitty struts out onstage with a mic in hand to join YG, who is belting out a song. Suddenly, Fitty turns to one side of the stage and hurls the mic, striking a woman in the head.

Sources who were present tell TMZ ... Fitty wasn't targeting the woman, but still, he beaned her good. A source connected to 50 says the woman wasn't supposed to be in the restricted area ... but unlike the mic, that argument doesn't fly.

Photos of the victim surfaced on Instagram, showing a gash in her forehead and bloody towels wrapped around her neck.

We've reached out to Fitty's camp ... so far, no word back.

You may recall ... Cardi B was involved in a similar incident in which she angrily tossed her mic at a fan, who threw a drink at her during a Las Vegas show. The mic ricocheted off something and hit another person standing nearby. That person filed a police report, but Cardi was cleared.

Originally Published -- 6:18 AM PT

Nick Carter can celebrate winning a legal battle over Melissa Schuman -- the singer who's suing him for allegedly raping her back in 2002 -- but the war is still to come.

The Backstreet Boy singer had filed a countersuit against Schuman for defamation, but in response, she and her father filed a motion to block his legal action. Carter was in a Las Vegas courtroom Wednesday to hear a ruling on the matter.

The judge sided with Carter, denying Melissa's attempt to get the countersuit dismissed. The judge decided Carter presented sufficient evidence to warrant his defamation case moving forward.

As we reported, Schuman -- who sang in the girl group Dream -- claims Carter raped her back in 2002 at a friend's apartment in Santa Monica. She filed a lawsuit against him back in April, and shortly thereafter, Nick filed his countersuit.

Carter's attorney Liane K. Wakayama reacted to Wednesday's ruling, telling us ... “For years, Melissa and Jerome Schuman have been conspiring with anyone they could manipulate to drum up false claims against Nick Carter in a brazen attempt to get rich off of him. Today’s ruling confirms that Nick will be able to pursue that truth to its inevitable conclusion and expose the Schumans’ and their co-conspirators’ deceit and deplorable conduct.”

Burger King's taking a partial 'L' in court ... a judge says they'll have to go to trial over a lawsuit alleging their Whopper ads are misleading -- AKA, size matters here, folks.

This has been cooking for about a year now -- a class action lawsuit was filed in 2022 taking aim at BK's signature hamburger and how it's been portrayed ... specifically its size, which the class action plaintiffs believe amounts to false advertising.

The suit alleges Burger King's been showing off massive Whoppers in just about all of their promotional material -- from TV spots to online pages and other forms of advertisement -- and that they've been duping customers by giving them itty-bitty Whoppers IRL, which pale in comparison to the ads.

As a result of this alleged deception ... the lawsuit claims Burger King has been getting rich off the backs of their patrons for a long time, which they say violates a ton of laws and regulations that food joints have to abide by.

Now, as far as the judge's ruling on how this is gonna shake out ... he signed off on parts of the lawsuit proceeding, but not others. Hizzoner says Burger King will NOT have to answer to the claims pertaining to their online/TV ads -- which the plaintiffs claimed were a big part of their alleged scheme ... nor will BK have to combat the consumer-protection law claims.

Those specific parts of the suit were tossed, at Burger King's request, but other parts of the lawsuit -- which BK also wanted dismissed -- have been given the green light to proceed ... which is bad news for His Royal Fry-ness.

The remaining claims that'll be brought before a jury are big ones ... breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. Now, if you're wondering how that works (since the judge nixed the TV/online ads as part of the equation) ... remember, there's still print ads in the mix -- specifically, Burger King's in-restaurant menu photos of the Whopper, which these folks claim were also super-sized and a major part of BK's campaign.

Nick Carter is pushing back against a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her on his yacht when she was 15 years old ... he says her lawsuit is full of false allegations.

The Backstreet Boys singer is being sued by a woman who says Nick sexually assaulted her multiple times back in 2003, when she was 15 and he was 23 -- she claims Nick forced himself on her aboard a yacht, and on a bus after plying her with alcohol.

But Nick is vehemently denying it happened, claiming the lawsuit is full of BS.

This accuser has filed her lawsuit anonymously, and she's now the third woman suing Carter for sexual assault.

Carter's lawyer, Dale Hayes Jr., tells TMZ ... when the woman made her allegations against Nick 2 decades ago, authorities investigated her claims and found no merit to move forward with charges.

Nick's lawyer says the accuser is simply "repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint" but he says that "doesn’t make them any more true."

As we first reported, Nick is also being sued by a woman named Shannon Ruth, who filed a lawsuit in December claiming he sexually assaulted her after a concert in 2001, when she was underage ... but he says he has witnesses who will testify Ruth is lying.

Singer Melissa Schuman is also suing Nick over an alleged 2002 sexual assault. He denies her allegations, as well.

Travis Scott is ready for a nationwide tour performing his new album ... and he's making a couple tour stops in Texas, with one notable exception ... Houston.

The rapper just announced dates and cities for his upcoming "Utopia" tour, and he's got shows in almost every major American market, except for the place where his infamous Astroworld concert left 10 dead and dozens injured.

Travis going with a full tour -- 26 stops in the U.S. plus two in Canada -- makes it seem like he's not sweating Astroworld all that much ... but it's interesting he's skipping Houston in favor of two other shows in Texas, performing in Austin and Dallas instead.

Of course, a grand jury in Houston recently decided against indicting Travis on criminal charges for the deadly November 2021 concert in H-Town.

Travis is still facing some civil lawsuits in Houston over Astroworld, and with that in mind it seems his hometown is not safe territory ... at least for this tour.

Erika's attorney, Evan Borges, tells TMZ, "It seems calculated that Plaintiff timed this lawsuit to coincide with the rave reviews of Erika's Las Vegas residency opening. Plaintiff's claims against Erika are entirely without merit. Independent federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office made the decision to charge plaintiff with crimes, no one else. The notion that Erika controlled the U.S. Government, or for that matter a Fortune 100 company such as American Express, is fantasy."

When reached for comment on the lawsuit, Robert Savage told us, "I am restricted by a non-disclosure when I retired from the U.S. Secret Service to discuss casework during my tenure without their approval, so I would respectfully redirect your questions pertaining to the lawsuit to the USSS Office of Chief Counsel and U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California."

He also pointed us to an interview he gave the L.A. Times months ago -- and provided us with his Q&A -- when he had USSS approval to answer questions. We've included several of those responses.

Erika Jayne used Secret Service agents and American Express to extort money from a Hollywood designer, ruining his life and career in the process ... so says a new lawsuit.

The 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' star and two Secret Service agents are among those being sued by Chris Psaila, who claims Erika corrupted the agents and had them prosecute him over her claims that his costume company fraudulently charged her over $800,000.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Psaila claims Erika gave him and his store, Marco Marco, permission to charge her card for costumes and services he designed, created and provided for her performances ... and he says Erika's estranged husband, Tom Girardi, was the account holder and she was an authorized user.

Psaila claims he started working with Erika in 2014 and everything was kosher until she falsely claimed Psaila had racked up $800k to $900k in fraudulent charges on her credit card from 2015 to 2016.

Psaila insists Erika got every piece of clothing and services from these charges.

In the docs, he claims Erika and Tom weaponized the Secret Service to maliciously prosecute him ... believing the former couple bribed agent Robert Savage, then the head of Secret Service's Los Angeles office, to criminally investigate Psaila and ultimately charge him with crimes.

Psaila also claims AMEX accepted Erika's false statements of unauthorized charges and refunded Erika and Tom over $787k without giving the designer an opportunity to dispute her claims ... and he says AMEX told the Secret Service Erika was a victim of his fraud.

In his suit, Psaila claims Tom and Savage had a cushy relationship ... and he says Savage had his own "history of falsely billing for advance Presidential location scouting trips" that eventually forced him out of the Secret Service.

Psaila claims Tom bribed Savage to investigate him by agreeing to represent Savage in a lawsuit against Volkswagen, while also promising to pay Savage $100k when the investigation in Psaila started.

The designer says Tom and Savage's relationship was not disclosed when he was facing prosecution and says the criminal case against him was ultimately dismissed nearly 5 years after it started ... but he says he suffered extreme emotional distress, financial harm to his business, plus extreme emotional, psychological, and physical injuries as a result of the ordeal.

Psaila is going after Erika, AMEX, Savage and others for at least $18.2 million.

A rep for AMEX tells TMZ ... "In late 2016, federal law enforcement contacted American Express regarding its investigation into fraud by Mr. Psaila. While it is our policy to not comment on the specific activity on an individual Card Member’s accounts, we followed our regular processes and procedures throughout this investigation as we dealt with law enforcement. We did not initiate the investigation, nor did we proactively contact law enforcement, and the information law enforcement requested from us was typical in fraud investigations. We did not play any role in the criminal investigation of Mr. Psaila or his business other than responding to inquiries from law enforcement."

We reached out to Erika ... so far no word back.