Legal

Conor McGregor has broken his silence about the multi-million dollar lawsuit filed against him by a woman in Ireland ... claiming he's already been "cleared of all wrongdoing."

The UFC fighter is being sued over an alleged incident that took place on Dec. 9, 2018. The New York Times reports the woman is the same person who accused McGregor of rape.

In fact, the NYT says the woman's allegations involve claims she was roughed up and raped by the UFC star at a hotel penthouse in Dublin.

According to the NYT, the woman claims she rejected McGregor's sexual advances -- but he continued to kiss her and remove her clothes. The woman claims she bit and hit Conor in an attempt to fight him off -- but he grabbed her around the neck and lifted her up 3 times until she stopped resisting.

The next morning, McGregor's friend told her the UFC star had sex with her, the accuser claims. She was later examined in a sexual assault treatment at a hospital and went to the police the following month.

News of the suit being filed broke just days before McGregor's January 23 return to the Octagon to take on Dustin Poirier on Fight Island at UFC 257.

McGregor was asked about the allegations during the UFC pre-fight press conference on Thursday morning --  and defended himself vigorously.

"It's old news," McGregor said of the allegations ... "It was investigated thoroughly over the course of 2 long years and I was cleared of all wrongdoing."

McGregor then changed the subject and focused on his fight against Poirier.

As we previously reported, Conor's rep issued a statement denying the allegations ... explaining, "After an exhaustive investigation conducted by the Garda which, in addition to interviews of the plaintiff, included: interviewing numerous sources, obtaining witnesses' statements, examining closed-circuit footage and the cooperation of Conor McGregor, these allegations were categorically rejected."

"The plaintiff knows the facts contradict the assertions in this lawsuit. Mr. McGregor will dispute any claims and is confident that justice will prevail."

As for the rest of the UFC 257 presser, Conor and Dustin were respectful -- and praised each other a lot. The fought back in 2014 and Conor won in just under 2 minutes into the 1st round.

Christina Ricci says quarantine's been a dangerous time in her household, because her husband's allegedly beaten her multiple times, and now she fears for her life and their son's.

The actress filed Wednesday to get a restraining order against James Heerdegen, who she claims started abusing her in December 2019. In her court filing, Christina claims he beat her, spit at her and made pig noises in her face. She says that incident, during which she suffered multiple bruises, convinced her she needed to leave him.

Christina says she told James she wanted a divorce, but that was derailed when the COVID-19 quarantine began in March, and she "found herself trapped in a house with a violent abuser."

In docs, she claims Heerdegen attacked her twice in June, while still in lockdown ... chasing her around the house, trying to prevent her from calling 911 after an argument. He allegedly dragged her by her wrists into their yard and threw her into a fire pit ... leaving her cut and bruised.

During the second attack, she claims he spit on her and threw coffee and a chair at her -- all while their 6-year-old son was watching.

Christina filed several photos with the court, showing injuries she claims to have suffered at Heerdegen's hands.

Christina filed to divorce him after those alleged incidents, and her attorney, Samantha Spector, was in court Wednesday to file the restraining order.

According to those docs, obtained by TMZ, Christina also fears Heerdegen's abuse could turn deadly. During a car ride in late 2019, she claims James "said something that made me think that [he] could kill me. He said the only way he could feel sorry for me is if I were dismembered into small pieces."

Christina says she immediately hid all the knives in the cabin where they were vacationing.

Late Wednesday, the judge granted a domestic violence restraining order ... which requires Heerdegen to stay 100 yards away from Christina and their son, and have no contact with them.

Christina claims Heerdegen leaves the dog leashed to his living room coffee table when he has visitation with their son -- and under the terms of the restraining order he has to stay away from the dog too.

Although he's already moved out, Christina wants a formal court order blocking James from returning.

And, there's this ... Christina is afraid her estranged husband -- who she married in 2013 -- will release private audio and video of her to "humiliate and embarrass" her, or use it to extort her. She wants the court to block him from releasing it, and force him to turn it over.

Heerdegen's attorney, Larry Bakman, tells TMZ they will file for their own restraining order against Christina "detailing her abusive conduct fueled by alcohol and substance abuse. His papers will also include documentation that Ms. Ricci advised law enforcement in December 2019 that there had been no prior incidents of domestic violence between the couple, thereby calling into question her credibility."

The Tiger King is not free to run wild again ... President Trump snubbed Joe Exotic's request to be pardoned, and he and his team aren't taking it well.

What seemingly started as a pipe dream way back in April 2020 -- when Trump said he'd "take a look" at pardoning Joe -- turned out to be exactly that. Joe's team tells TMZ ... "140 million Joe Exotic fans had a hard time getting out of bed this morning."

Yeah, that 'Tiger King' viewers stat might be inflated -- and assumes all of them were rooting for Joe's release -- but you get the point ... they're bummed.

His team added, "We are as disappointed that the President did not sign Joe’s pardon, as we were confident yesterday that he would." Joe's team adds ... it's only because of his fans that the pardon was even a possibility.

As we reported ... shortly after Trump's comment, Team Tiger -- led by P.I. Eric Love -- produced a video asking to free Joe and hopped in a customized tour bus to head to D.C. in hopes of pitching Trump for a pardon.

Those early efforts didn't yield success, but Love and the team were persistent ... and he returned to D.C. in September to hand-deliver Joe's pardon request. As we reported ... the 257-page case to Trump included Joe's claims that he'd been sexually assaulted in prison.

Again, there was silence from Trump about a possible pardon, but Joe continued to publicly plead for one as recently as 2 weeks ago ... when he asked to be pardoned in time to attend his father's funeral.

It didn't happen, and Joe's patience and persistence was all for naught ... because he didn't make the cut for Trump's list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations. In other news -- Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne, Kodak Black and the co-founder of Death Row Records all did.

As you know ... Exotic's been doing hard time for the murder-for-hire plot, and though he's maintained his innocence, he'll remain behind bars.

Team Tiger says they're not giving up though ... and spent 2 hours on the phone with Joe this morning listening to his Direct Appeal Oral Arguments. Love says they "will never leave Joe’s side and will continue to work until his freedom is gained."

Donald Trump's final use of "YMCA" during a public political event did NOT go unnoticed by the guys who originally sang it -- and while they're still pissed ... they're also thankful that, for now, this is the end of his tradition.

The Village People tell TMZ ... "We asked him to cease and desist long ago. However, since he's a bully, our request was ignored." It's true -- TVP have repeatedly made clear they're not down with DT constantly using their most famous tune ... but he's persisted.

The group adds, "Thankfully he's now out of office, so it would seem his abusive use of our music has finally ended. We hope to spearhead a change in copyright law that will give artists and publishers more control over who can and cannot use our music in the public space. Currently there is no limit to blanket licensing."

That's interesting ... because that's not something that many people know or something that artists vow to change. Basically, the reason Trump has been able to, for the most part, get away with playing music from so many artists who don't sign off is because ... it's legal.

The Village People's comments here touch on copyright law -- which we won't dig into too deeply -- but essentially ... it's usually fine to play copyrighted songs in places like stadiums that have public performance licenses -- which is where Trump often played these songs.

The Village People -- and probably several other musicians, like Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, and countless others -- might be happy he won't have reason to do this anymore with their music, but in light of Trump promising to come back, they may have to revisit this issue again ... one day.

The winner of season 20 of "Worst Cooks in America" has been arrested for allegedly killing a toddler.

Ariel Robinson and her husband, Jerry Robinson, have been charged with homicide by child abuse in South Carolina, according to police, and are being held at the Greenville County Detention Center without bond.

They're accused of inflicting multiple blunt force injuries on a 3-year-old girl named Victoria Rose Smith, resulting in her death.

Police say they responded to a call about an unresponsive juvenile victim last Thursday, and the child was pronounced dead after being transferred to the hospital.

Cops arrested the couple based on their investigation, which is ongoing.

After Kim Kardashian West was successful in lobbying President Trump to free Alice Marie Johnson, she went to work on doing the same for many others, including Chris Young ... and Trump delivered.

The Prez used his final day in office to grant pardons and commutations, and among the list of prisoners he commuted is Young ... who Kim began championing in 2018.

As you may recall ... Kim visited The White House in September 2018 -- a few months after Alice's release -- to continue to fight for criminal justice reform, and she lasered in on Young's case.

Much like Alice, Young was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2014 for non-violent drug offenses -- weed and cocaine possession -- as part of Tennessee's 3 strikes law. He was just 22 at the time.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Kim stayed involved with Young's legal team since her WH meeting and continued to bring attention to the case. We're told Alice was also involved helping Chris -- they share the same attorney, Brittany Barnett.

The announcement from The White House says, "Mr. Young's many supporters describe him as an intelligent, positive person who takes full responsibility for his actions ..." While Kim was not mentioned among the several names of criminal justice reform advocates who assisted Young, her amplification of the case on social media certainly brought it much needed attention.

The statement says Young "lacked a meaningful first chance in life due to what another Federal judge called an "undeniably tragic childhood." adding the commutation gives Young a second chance.

Snoop Dogg is trying to sway President Trump to free Death Row Records co-founder Michael 'Harry-O' Harris from an attempted murder conviction ... but the clock's ticking.

During the presidential transition, Snoop's been secretly lobbying Trump to commute Harris' sentence and the rapper even enlisted Alice Marie Johnson to bolster his case ... according to The Daily Beast.

Harris, who started Death Row Records with Suge Knight way back in 1992 and helped sign Snoop and Tupac to the label, is serving time on attempted murder and drug charges at California's FCI Lompoc.

Supposedly a changed man, Harris has been incarcerated for nearly 30 years ... and he's not supposed to get out until at least 2028, unless Trump steps in.

Snoop's reportedly gotten Trump's attention ... Alice Marie says Trump, Ivanka, Jared and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows all know about Harris' case. Remember, Kim Kardashian helped Alice get her life sentence commuted by Trump.

What's remarkable about Snoop's effort here is that back in 2017 ... he made his hatred of Trump perfectly clear in his "Lavender" music video by pulling a fake gun on a Trump lookalike in clown makeup.

So, this could be an uphill battle for Snoop to get Trump to see things his way. There's a long list of candidates for potential pardons with less than 24 hours to go in Trump's presidency ... so stay tuned.

Two women in Ireland are suing Conor McGregor stemming from alleged incidents in 2018 ... but the UFC superstar is ADAMANT he did nothing wrong.

The suits were filed Monday in Dublin, according to Independent.ie, with one woman lodging a "multi-million euro personal injury lawsuit."

The other suit, the report notes, was filed by the woman's mother ... and also appears to be for alleged personal injuries.

Specific allegations against McGregor in the suits are not yet public ... according to the report, details cannot be revealed yet for legal reasons.

But, 32-year-old Conor is calling B.S. on it all nonetheless, with a rep for the fighter telling TMZ Sports the matter has already been investigated and thrown out by law enforcement officials.

"After an exhaustive investigation conducted by the Garda which, in addition to interviews of the plaintiff, included: interviewing numerous sources, obtaining witnesses' statements, examining closed-circuit footage and the cooperation of Conor McGregor, these allegations were categorically rejected," Karen J. Kessler said in a statement.

"The plaintiff knows the facts contradict the assertions in this lawsuit. Mr. McGregor will dispute any claims and is confident that justice will prevail."

It looks like Lil Wayne could be let off the hook in his federal gun case by none other than President Trump ... who's reportedly expected to pardon the rapper before his term ends.

Trump's believed to have a pretty lengthy list of names for his final round of commutations and pardons -- an estimated 50 to 100 people -- and according to Fox News ... he'll announce them in a big reveal Tuesday or, at the latest, Wednesday morning before Joe Biden's inauguration.

When he does, it sounds like people anticipate Lil Wayne to be a notable beneficiary of a presidential pardon ... which ya can't help but think is perhaps a thank you for endorsing Trump in the days leading up to the 2020 election.

As you'll recall ... Weezy posed for a photo op with 45 and touted his track record with criminal justice reform, along with the Trump administration's proposed "platinum plan" for helping the Black community.

Trump also praised Lil Wayne as an activist and a "really nice guy." Weezy got a lot of criticism for their pow wow, but it seems he's on track to reap a big reward for it now.

As we reported ... Wayne pled guilty in federal court last month to illegally possessing a loaded weapon while traveling to Miami on a private jet a year earlier.

The rapper's a convicted felon, so he's facing the possibility of up to 10 years in prison at sentencing ... though he's likely to get far less than that for agreeing to the guilty plea.

The Trump supporter who spit on a Black Lives Matter protester on camera during an argument has a big problem ... he's now a criminal defendant.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts charged Scott Marberblatt with assault and battery. An officer on duty at last month's protest said he witnessed Marberblatt spitting and coughing on a BLM protester.

The alleged victim, Marcus Johnson, tells TMZ ... he was with his mom, who was holding a BLM sign, when the guy started arguing with them that "all lives matter" ... then suddenly, he was on the receiving end of the gross discharge.

Aside from the obvious, Marcus had a deeper concern -- coronavirus. He says he couldn't get a COVID test immediately after the incident, so he self-isolated for days. He says he was finally able to get a COVID test, which came back negative.

Steven Spielberg can breathe a sigh of relief ... a judge granted a permanent restraining order against the woman who's been threatening to kill him.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... 48-year-old Sarah Char must stay 100 yards away from Steven, his wife and his daughter for the next 3 years.

Char's also prohibited from harassing, intimidating or threatening Steven, she can't contact or tag him on social media ... and must stay away from his home, job and workplace. And, there's this, which sounds odd, but she's been ordered not to impersonate Spielberg.

TMZ broke the story ... Steven sought protection against Char after claiming law enforcement told him the woman tried to purchase a gun to kill him.

The famous director also said he got a Twitter message from Char telling him ... "If I have to personally MURDER people for stealing my IPs‚ I WILL. Get me?"

An autistic teenager died after being restrained by Sheriff's deputies following a violent episode between the teen and his dad, and now ... his parents are suing the department, claiming they suffocated the kid to death.

Donna Lou and Daren Parsa have filed a lawsuit against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff in Louisiana over an incident last January that left 16-year-old Eric Parsa dead ... which the parents allege happened because deputies on the scene sat on him for 9 minutes.

The lawsuit claims on January 19, 2020 ... Eric and his family were leaving a laser tag facility at a shopping center, when for some reason he started attacking his dad in what his parents describe as a "meltdown" related to his condition.

Cops were called while Daren tried restraining Eric, and eventually, a few deputies arrived and handcuffed him while also shackling his feet ... all the while holding him in a face-down position on the parking lot pavement as he continued to squirm and struggle.

Eric's parents allege one deputy placed all his body weight onto the kid in the face-down position for nearly 10 minutes, and that at one point ... another deputy reportedly put him into a chokehold, and never once moved him on his side so he could breathe properly.

The lawsuit claims it was only when Eric's body went limp and he urinated himself that deputies turned him over, but it was too late. Eric was taken to a hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died. The family says the cops used unreasonable and excessive force that directly caused Eric's death.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office denounced the lawsuit, saying it contained malicious and false claims about the deputies who tried to help that day ... and that they'll fight this in court.

The altercation was captured on surveillance video from afar ... so it's difficult to make out exactly what happens on camera. There was clearly a tussle that went on for several minutes, and it does appear some people -- including a shirtless man -- were on top of Eric, who's in the black shirt.

While the suit doesn't appear to mention training -- or a lack thereof -- the family does seem to imply deputies were ill-equipped to handle this situation ... which has echoes of Patrick Warren, another person with mental health issues who was fatally shot by police last week.

This is a story of life and death -- two 911 calls a day apart to help a man with a mental disability, two different officers respond, and in the first case the man lives and in the second he's shot dead ... and the proof is in the 2 videos below.

Patrick Warren -- the unarmed Black man who was shot and killed in Texas after having an episode that required de-escalation -- was able to get the help he needed just one day prior to his death ... proving that training makes a world of difference in these situations.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9TH -- Patrick was behaving erratically so a family member called 911 for help. A Mental Health Resource officer with de-escalation training responds, greets Patrick and asks if they could sit on the sofa and talk. The officer listened to Patrick unload his feelings and he began calming down. They continued to talk, and then the officer told Patrick he was concerned about him and maybe it was a good idea to get checked out.

TMZ has obtained new Ring doorbell video from Patrick's family home, showing the officer and Patrick walk calmly to the car. The officer took Patrick to the hospital where doctors examined him and then he went home.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10TH Another 911 call, but this time no Mental Health Resource officers were available, so police officers showed up. As you have seen from the video, this went the opposite of de-escalation. Patrick failed to follow orders, so he was tased and ultimately shot dead.

Mind you ... the 2,911 calls were for the identical problem with the same person, yet the techniques could not have been more different -- nor could the result.

BTW ... the Mental Health Resource Unit is part of the Police Department. Maybe one solution would be to increase the number of officers in that unit so they would be available whenever such calls come in.

"Teen Mom" star Jenelle Evans says she's regained custody of her son, Jace, but her mom begs to differ.

Jenelle posted a bunch of TikTok videos Saturday, claiming her eldest son is now in her custody. As you probably know, Jenelle's mom, Barbara, has had custody for years.

Jenelle said, "I have custody of Jace. He lives with me now full-time.  My [3] kids are happy, they're healthy. That's all that f***ing matters."

She went on to talk about how "stupid" she was as a young woman and all the mistakes she made, including with men ... but now, she says, things are very different.

Barbara tells TMZ she still has full custody of Jace. She got custody a decade ago when Jace was just a baby, because of Jenelle's erratic behavior. Jenelle has only had visitation rights ever since.

Barbara says Jace has recently been going back and forth between her house and Jenelle's due to the pandemic ... Jace goes to Jenelle's house for 3-4 days at a time, in part just so he has a change of scenery. He'll go over there to do his schoolwork ... then he comes back to Barbara's.

Barbara tells us she called Jenelle after her daughter announced she regained custody, and Barbara says Jenelle told her she "misspoke" and recognized Barbara still had custody.

2009 Masters winner Angel Cabrera was arrested in Brazil and is facing extradition to Argentina on Thursday ... after the golfer was accused of trying to run over his ex with his car in 2016.

Police in Rio de Janeiro announced a 51-year-old man -- who the Associated Press confirmed to be the PGA star -- was arrested in connection with charges in Argentina ... including assault, theft, illegal intimidation and repeated disrespect to authorities.

Cabrera was on Interpol's red code list, according to the report ... and was considered to be a fugitive in August after failing to make an appearance with prosecutors.

Earlier this month, one of Cabrera's former partners accused the golfer of punching her in the face, making threats and trying to run her over with his car in '16, according to reports in Argentina.

Another different woman, Cabrera's ex-wife, also reportedly filed two charges against the golfer ... including assault and threats.

Cabrera won the U.S. Open over Tiger Woods in 2007 and the Green Jacket in 2009 ... and narrowly lost in a playoff against Adam Scott in the 2013 Masters.

The insurrectionists who breached the U.S. Capitol absolutely had murder on their minds ... according to federal prosecutors who want one of the most notorious rioters to remain in custody.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say there's strong evidence supporting that "the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government."

That disturbing statement refers to the case of Arizona man and so-called "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley -- the bare-chested rioter with animal horns and face paint who stormed into the Capitol.

Prosecutors say an FBI investigation revealed Chansley -- who was photographed standing at Vice President Mike Pence's desk in the Senate chamber -- also left a threatening note for the VP saying, "It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming."

The feds say Chansley's own words support the rioters' intentions were much more nefarious than simply occupying the Capitol Building, and warn that "the insurrection is still in progress."