Money

Soccer icon Michelle Akers says it's absurd to compare the U.S. Women's National Team to the men for 3 reasons: the women make less, have less marketing money ... and still win wayyy more!

The two-time World Cup champ joined us on "TMZ Live" and says the U.S. Women should be paid at least as much as the men, if not MORE, because they've been dominating the sport on a global scale for decades, while the men's team is in a different universe ... just struggling to get into the World Cup tournament most years.  

As you know ... the U.S. Women beat the Netherlands 2-0 Sunday to bring home their fourth World Cup title, sparking a huge debate about equal pay. The women will reportedly bank $260k per player for their big win, while the men would have raked in $1.1 million each if they'd won the whole thing.

Check out the clip ... Michelle not only rails against the huge pay gap, but adds the U.S. Soccer Federation should pour more cash into promoting the women. It's just a smarter investment than the men's team. 

No offense guys, but it's hard to argue with her today. 

Bizarre situation involving Serena Williams -- who damaged a Wimbledon tennis court during a pre-tourney practice session ... and now she's been ordered to cough up $10,000 in fines. 

Unclear exactly what Serena did to warrant the fine -- though some reports say she used her racket to inflict the damage during a Sunday workout. 

The All England Club -- the organization which hosts Wimbledon -- has meted out a $10,000 fine for Serena which is chump change for her considering she's already made $367,000 for making the quarterfinals. 

So far, Serena hasn't commented on the fine ... but she's never been shy to speak her mind if she feels she's been wronged. 

She's set to play Alison Riske on Tuesday -- and there's no doubt she'll be asked about the incident by the media either before or after the match.  

Is this the greatest piece of World Series memorabilia EVER?!?!

The gloves worn by Chicago Cubs stars' Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo when they combined to get to the final out of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series are hitting the auction block ... and they can be all yours, if you've got the cash.

The play is iconic ... Bryant fielded a soft ground ball at third base, hurled it to Rizzo at first --  and just like that, the Cubs beat the Indians to win their first title since 1908!!!!

Now, Goldin Auctions has obtained the gloves Rizzo and Byrant used ... which are now both SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by the Cubs superstars.

Online bidding begins today ... and closes August 1st (there's also a live auction on the 1st at National Sports Collectors Convention in Chi-Town).

TMZ Sports has learned the 2 pieces (which are being sold together as a package) are expected to fetch $750,000 by the time the auction closes!!!

As for why Rizzo and Bryant let the gloves go ... we're told the two were contractually obligated to give up the pieces after the series ended.

Sucks for them ... but could be great news for you!!!

PETA's celebrating a legal W that it hopes will be a big step in putting an end to using live animals in movies ... and it got some cash to boot.

The animal rights org will receive a "substantial payment" from Paws for Effect, the company that trained the puppy, Shelby, for her starring role in "A Dog's Way Home" ... which came out in January.

We broke the story ... Shelby's owners sued PETA for defamation in February, claiming the organization went on a smear campaign against Paws alleging it had racked up citations under the Animal Welfare Act.

Paws claimed PETA was wrong and was lying, but now the company's officially walked it back and has asked the court to dismiss the case.

According to the legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Paws now says what PETA accused it of was "substantially true" and admits it has "on several occasions over a period of several years been cited by the United States Department of Agriculture for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act."

Paws offered to pay for PETA's legal fees and then some, and PETA accepted. PETA says Paws has also pledged to not exhibit or broker wild animals as part of its business in the future.

PETA's Senior VP, Lisa Lange, adds that the org is "pleased to have one less player involved in such exploitation" and vows to "keep exposing exhibitors' behind-the-scenes conduct until Hollywood ends the use of live animals and embraces the many types of realistic and humane alternatives."

Julio Jones will NOT be holding out of Falcons practices this year ... the star WR says owner Arthur Blank has promised him a new deal -- and Jones is confident it'll all get done soon.

"Mr. Blank gave us his word," Julio says ... "That's golden."

30-year-old Jones still has 2 years left on a $71 MILLION deal he inked back in 2015 ... but he's been angling for a new contract for a while now.

In fact, Jones held out of Atlanta practices LAST summer ... before he ultimately settled for a small raise before the season began.

But, Jones says he doesn't anticipate any of that happening again this summer ... saying the Falcons have already told him a new contract is on the way.

"[Blank's] word is that it's going to get done," Julio says ... "There's no stress on my end. I'm not thinking about it."

"[Blank] makes it easy for me to go out and just work every day and not have one of those situations where there's a holdout or anything like that."

Jones says he hopes his new contract makes him a Falcon for life ... saying it's his goal to finish out his career in Atlanta.

As for the eventual end to that stellar career ... Jones says he doesn't see retirement coming any time soon -- but he did say he's evaluating his future on a season-to-season basis.

Michael Blackson's got a pretty flip response to a black music and art festival charging white people twice as much to attend -- he says this is how it should be for everything.

The comedian's just joking, of course, when we got him leaving Penthouse Nightclub in WeHo Sunday night, but his roast of Detroit's AfroFuture Fest didn't stop there. He tells us it's obviously not right for the festival to make ticket prices higher for white people, but he uses another word for white people -- the "C" word. But, not THAT one. Watch.

In case you missed it ... Blackson's making light of a situation many people didn't find funny at all over the weekend -- the fest hosted by AfroFuture Youth was offering an early bird ticket price of $10 for people of color, but $20 for "NONPOC."

It was met with serious backlash, and rapper Tiny Jag pulled out of the music festival saying the race-based ticket pricing does not reflect her views.

AfroFuture has since decided to make ticket prices equal, claiming it was "For the safety of our community, family, elders who received threats from white supremacists, & youth who were subjected to seeing racist comments on our IG pg."

Snoop Dogg says it's about damn time Team USA women's soccer team got paid like the "sorry ass f*cking men" ... saying our champions are getting the shaft. 

After Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and the rest of the U.S. Women's National Team beat up the Netherlands to win our 4th World Cup, Snoop Dogg fired up his IG to go off on the pay disparity. 

In his video, Snoop is referencing a report that said the U.S. women's soccer players only made $90,000 per player in bonus money for reaching the quarterfinals ... while the men would have made $500k for reaching the same stage. 

After winning the whole thing, the U.S. women's team will reportedly walk away with $260k per player ... while the men would have banked $1.1 mil each. 

Snoop is furious with the pay gap -- noting they're the BEST in the world at what they do ... while the U.S. men didn't even qualify for the World Cup in 2018. 

"The sorry ass f*cking men from the U.S. soccer team, they ain't ever won sh*t, ain't gonna ever win sh*t, can't get out the f*cking first round," Snoop said. 

"Man, PAY THEM LADIES!"

Snoop added, "The women should be getting $500k per athlete. Snoop Dogg says so."

Obviously, his numbers are a little off ... but you get the point. 

Ex-UCLA basketball star Tyler Honeycutt's suicide after a standoff with police officers last year caused nearly $200k in property damage ... so says an insurance company that is now suing Honeycutt's estate for the cash.

As we previously reported, cops were called to a place Honeycutt was renting in Sherman Oaks, Calif. back on July 6, 2018 to respond to a call about a man with a gun in the residence.

When they arrived, Tyler -- who had played for the Sacramento Kings from 2011 to 2013 -- fired shots at the officers ... and an hours-long standoff ensued.

Eventually, SWAT was able to break into the home -- but they found Honeycutt on the scene unresponsive.

Officials later declared Honeycutt dead ... and said he appeared to have shot himself at some point during the altercation.

Now, Amco Insurance Company is going after Tyler's estate for the incident, saying all the damages caused during the standoff totaled up to $178,476.56.

The insurance company claims in the lawsuit Tyler's actions created "severe" damage to the property, contents, fixtures and furnishings ... and now they want his estate to pay up.

Taylor Swift losing out on the rights to her old tunes is a learning lesson for up-and-coming artists, so say two people who know that game all too well ... Ricky Bell and Sheila E. 

The musicians were asked about Taylor's feud with Scooter Braun Saturday at LAX, and they each had interesting insights on the biz. Short story long ... don't hate the player. 

Ricky -- who started with New Edition, and then went on to form Bell Biv DeVoe -- kicks things off by actually defending Scooter, saying he isn't really the bad guy here ... just a business man making a smart business move by snatching up Taylor's catalog. 

When presented with the idea of selling the songs back to Taylor, Ricky scoffs ... but offers up a compromise if she's truly interested in getting them back. 

You'll recall ... Scooter's purchase -- through his company, Ithaca Holdings -- caused quite a stir last week, invoking Taylor herself to lash out and call him a bully. The beef has somewhat divided the music industry ... some siding with Taylor, and others with SB.

Ricky and Sheila don't necessarily take sides here -- but they do both seem to acknowledge that signing away your music tends to be the nature of the beast for young artists. 

While Ricky says he doesn't know who owns NE or BBD's music, Sheila reveals she actually holds the rights to most of her catalog -- which is pretty amazing, prolific as it is.

It's interesting too ... Ricky and some of the other OG New Edition guys were in a trademark beef over the band name just a year ago, and Sheila famously collab'd with Prince ... who fought with Warner Bros. over ownership of his own music while he was alive.

Tom Hanks doesn't play the bad guy in movies, and the wife of "Colonel Tom" Parker hopes it stays that way in the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic.

Loanne Parker tells TMZ ... Hanks is the perfect actor to play her late husband -- who was Elvis' longtime manager and helped him rise to superstardom -- in the Baz Luhrmann film, and she trusts him to portray the Colonel fairly.

She says she'd like to talk to Tom about the relationship between the famed singer and manager, because she feels many have the wrong perception -- that Elvis was the hero and the Colonel was the villain.

If you aren't familiar ... Parker was criticized for being very controlling of Presley's life -- both professionally and personally -- and was accused of ripping him off by taking way more than his deserved cut. He also notoriously didn't allow Elvis to perform overseas, where he could have made a fortune ... allegedly because the Colonel wasn't in the U.S. legally and was fearful he would be deported if he traveled with Elvis.

Loanne says in reality, they were both heroes and had a trusting and fair partnership ... and her husband never took advantage of "The King" as has been reported in the past.

She even breaks down some aspects of the duo's business dealings as proof, but the gist of it is ... she has faith in Hanks' integrity and believes he'll do her husband right.

However, Loanne also made a point to tell us she owns the rights to the Colonel's name and likeness, and politely suggested if Luhrmann's Elvis movie doesn't get the narrative correct about her husband ... she might look into legal options.

German soccer superstar Jerome Boateng is on a mission to be the most iced out player in the game ... going on a $350k watch and chain jewelry spree!!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the 30-year-old Bayern Munich defender wanted to treat himself with some shiny new gifts ... hitting up Gabriel the Jeweler for the job.

We're told Boateng copped an Audemars Piguet watch with a custom VVS diamond bezel decked out with 30 carat stones ... and a 1 kilo Cuban link choker with 120 carat VVS diamonds.

FYI -- Gabriel is the go-to guy for guys who play the other football as well -- like Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham and Amari Cooper.

The heat Nike is taking over the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick and the Betsy Ross Flag Shoe is having another effect ... enhancing the brand's appeal to investors. 

Nike shares are surging in the wake of the company's decision to recall its special Betsy Ross Flag Air Max 1 USA sneakers after Kaepernick complained the 13-star flag design was offensive because it's been co-opted by several white nationalist groups. 

Since Nike pulled the plug on the sneakers following Kaepernick's objections earlier this week, Nike shares have seen a 2 percent increase since Tuesday, adding nearly $3 BILLION to the shoe giant's market value. 

Friday afternoon, trading Nike shares were up slightly to $86.62 and the company's market value is now $136.38 billion.

The stock surge looks a lot like what Kevin O'Leary predicted a few days ago ... the "Shark Tank" investor told us Nike is taking advantage of the controversy with a firestorm of free marketing. 

Jenelle Evans is out of the reality TV biz -- and also the raising kids biz, temporarily -- but that doesn't mean her cosmetics biz wasn't thriving amid all of her family drama.

Sources tell TMZ ... Jenelle's beauty line, JE Cosmetics, has been movin' and shakin' behind-the-scenes despite all the chaos going on in her life. Specifically, we're told she's been in talks with several different cosmetic suppliers for over a year to relaunch and rebrand the line she first started in 2017. The new line is set to take off on Sept. 7.

Jenelle's been teasing her cosmetics comeback on social media, and it looks like she's expanding her products beyond lipsticks and eyelashes. 

There's more ... aside from the deals Jenelle has already inked with various vendors and suppliers, we're told she continues to pique interest from big wigs in the beauty game.

Our sources say one major fashion company has already partnered with her to do a joint collaboration/release -- which we're told will coincide with the JE rollout. 

As for why Jenelle is still drawing so much attention -- especially after losing custody of her kids, and David Eason killing the family dog -- we're told her suitors think she's still marketable in a business capacity. 

TV legend Jimmie Walker is sick and tired of NBA stars complaining about life -- telling icons like LeBron James, KD and Kyrie Irving to keep quiet and just be happy to be making so much money. 

"The thing that upsets me the most about NBA players is they're so upset, they're so angry," the former "Good Times" star told TMZ Sports. 

"Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant ... what are you upset about? I'm happy if I'm making that kind of money! They're always complaining."

72-year-old Walker says NBA stars have lost touch with reality -- "They don't understand what it's like to be in real life. Real life is getting your own bags off the [luggage carousel]. No charters, no limos waiting for you ... that's what real life is about."

Walker also went off on NBA stars for getting too political -- saying, "I think that when you're making $150 million a year, people don't want to hear your political views." 

He added, "They should have NO political views. They should be very happy to say, 'I'm doing good.' Donate to charity, do your basketball charity benefits or whatever, but don't put people down."

"Just say, 'I'm very fortunate to be here. I'm lucky and I'm very happy.'"

Ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach is chiming in on Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun's beef and he's got some advice for her ... grow up, then you'll realize you didn't get screwed. 

We got Sebastian and his wife, Hawaiian Tropic model Suzanne Le, out at LAX and got his take on Taylor blasting Scooter for scooping up her early music catalog at Big Machine Records.

Sebastian says Taylor's NOT being bullied, she's just too young to understand this is how the music biz works. The 51-year-old rocker adds the very contract she claims screwed her over is the the same one that helped her become a household name. 

SB says very few artists own their early music, and admits he's gone through the same thing. One thing's helped him come out the other end, though, and he thinks it'll work for T-Swift too.

Donald Trump's grand plan for a show of force in D.C. on the 4th may be costing taxpayers a fortune, and not just because the tanks are expensive, but because of his grandiose and possibly unrealistic vision of a record-breaking crowd.

TMZ's got the receipts, and although no one will give us a straight answer as to why certain costs have swelled from prior years, it appears the cost jump is related to Trump's hopes for a massive crowd. 

For instance, according to federal procurement docs ... 2 separate payments of $31,764.24 and  $9,534 were made to a Maryland company for portable toilet rentals. This is roughly 4 times as much as what was spent last year for the Independence Day celebration's sanitation services.

Why so expensive? No one from The White House is talking, but it seems there will be more toilets to accommodate the estimated crowd. If the estimate turns out to be unrealistic, there will be a lot of empty toilets ... except for the taxpayer money that will be flushed down the hole.

We've also uncovered purchase orders of $19,282 to rent golf carts. There weren't any golf carts last year. 

As for the main attraction -- the fireworks -- the USA's forking over $320,549.26 to Garden State Fireworks. That figure swelled from last year's cost -- $270k. 

These amounts are relative peanuts in the world of government, but it's a sign this ain't gonna be a cheap celebration. 

The Prez has promised to showcase "the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World" with "Incredible Flyovers" and has poo-pooed the cost ... suggesting fuel is the only expense.

However, this doesn't take into account the cost to operate the planes and military weapons used throughout the event, and it's been reported the National Park Service is diverting $2.5 MILLION in funds to pay for the July 4 extravaganza.