Money

The late Stan Lee -- who co-created 'Spider-Man' -- would've been happy over the news that Sony pumped the brakes on giving Disney control of his character ... so says his daughter.

Sony's move to limit control over 'Spider-Man' -- and potentially remove the superhero entirely from Disney's Marvel Comic Universe -- is one that was necessary and something Stan would have appreciated ... so says his daughter, Joan Celia (JC) Lee.

ICYMI ... reports surfaced Tuesday that Sony and Disney reached a standstill in negotiating Spidey's future under Disney's umbrella, including any 'Avengers' spin-offs/sequels. Insiders told Deadline it was all about money ... Disney wanted a 50/50 stake in 'Spider-Man'-related revenue, and also wanted Marvel honcho Kevin Feige to be the guiding hand.

Welp, Sony was reportedly not too down with that -- they own the rights to 'Spider-Man,' and until now had partnered with Disney to crank out these last few films. That's all over now.

As for how the Lees feel about it, JC tells us ... "Marvel and Disney seeking total control of my father's creations must be checked and balanced by others who, while still seeking to profit, have genuine respect for Stan Lee and his legacy." AKA ... cameos don't cut it.

She goes on ... "Whether it's Sony or someone else's, the continued evolution of Stan's characters and his legacy deserves multiple points of view."

“When my father died, no one from Marvel or Disney reached out to me. From day one, they have commoditized my father’s work and never shown him or his legacy any respect or decency.”

JC's parting words ... "In the end, no one could have treated my father worse than Marvel and Disney's executives."

Ouch!!!

Drake and Big Freedia have a New Orleans musician in his feelings ... according to a new lawsuit, he says the rappers straight-up jacked his beats and passed them off as their own.

Samuel Nicholas III -- who goes by Sam Skully -- is suing the rappers claiming they used his beat for their hit collab, "In My Feelings." He also claims Drake stole another one of his beats for his wildly successful track, "Nice For What"

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Sam Skully claims Drake and Big Freedia sampled a portion of his 2000 track, "Roll Call," but they never asked for permission and never forked over any dough.

In the docs, Sam Skully claims he published the beat on a CD he released in New Orleans way back in 2000, but says he didn't know his work had been stolen until years later ... when Drake and Big Freedia released songs that started climbing the charts.

Sam Skully is also going after a ton of huge record companies -- Asylum Records, Cash Money Records and Republic Records -- and he's suing for damages.

Taylor Swift's cooked up a plan to get back at Scooter Braun for buying the rights to her early music -- so SHE will own the new masters -- but she's got some legal hurdles to overcome first.

The singer told "CBS News Sunday Morning" -- in an interview airing this weekend -- she will rerecord her past songs she'd originally done while signed to Big Machine ... the label Scooter bought a few months back.

As you know ... Taylor was PISSED and went on a rant against Scooter for snapping up her early catalog -- but her plan to cover her own songs won't exactly hurt Scooter the way she thinks it will. Industry experts tell TMZ ... every label, including Big Machine, has a rerecord clause in its contracts with artists. The clause prevents the artist from rerecording on another label, or on their own, and marketing those rerecordings.

Now, we're told that clause usually has an expiration date. We don't know when Big Machine's clause expires, but even when it does ... there's another roadblock. Experts tell us it's called an original production clause -- and it prevents the artist from copying the OG version. So, when and if Taylor remakes her Big Machine tunes ... she will have to deviate from the first versions.

Taylor's revenge scheme has been pulled off before ... most notably by Prince during his battles with Warner Bros. Records. However, in his case, the rerecordings ended up making the originals more valuable. In other words ... Taylor could unwittingly end up putting more cash in Scooter's pockets.

From what music industry experts are telling us, though, Scooter can't be too concerned with Taylor's plan because his $300 million investment in Big Machine has already been a boon. We're told the company's full catalog -- not only Taylor's songs -- is now valued at close to $1 BILLION!!

So, Taylor WILL get something -- she'll own her new master recordings -- but if she's just doing it for revenge ... it might not be a great play.

Lil Nas X just topped his Billy Ray Cyrus collab by pairing with Jeff Bezos for a huge Amazon office party ... in a freakin' football stadium!! So, yeah ... you could say it was a Prime pairing.

Proving how awesome it is to be the richest man in the world ... Bezos hired Lil Nas AND Katy Perry to perform Tuesday night at Amazon's post-Prime Day concert. No biggie, just a a small get together for more than 45,000 employees at Seattle's CenturyLink Stadium -- and you can tell the boss man was turning up.

Bezos ended up rocking X's graffiti-tagged leather coat, and he posed with Katy and her little dog, Nugget. Lil Nas posted a pic with the caption, "I am now the new owner of amazon and i stole katy perry's dog."

Katy also treated the crowd with her first-ever live performance of "Never Really Over."

Throwing extravagant parties is now Bezos' MO -- just last month he had Taylor Swift headline an Amazon Prime Day concert in NYC. Some critics have bashed him for the lavish events ... saying he should pay employees better instead of staging concerts for them.

'Dukes of Hazzard' star John Schneider was NOT a good ole boy when it came to dealing with his ex-wife, and the judge in their divorce is making him pay hundreds of thousands to make amends.

Yes, the divorce that's been nearly 5 years in the making is finally done ... and the judge said John screwed over Elvira Schneider by selling off one of their properties in Louisiana without splitting the cash. According to docs, obtained by TMZ, he also drained one of their IRA accounts.

As a result, Elvira's getting sole ownership of their California property worth $600,000, and she's also been awarded another IRA worth $60k.

One more big ticket penalty for John -- the judge ordered him to cover Elvira's legal fees in the divorce, and that's gonna cost him another $279k.

John also has to pay Elvira $25k per month in spousal support, and she gets a cut of his Screen Actors Guild pension.

TMZ broke the story, Elvira filed for divorce way back in December 2014. Since then, John was sentenced to 3 days in L.A. County jail for failing to pay temporary spousal support.

There's taking a loss in the real estate market, and then there's this -- the mountaintop property once considered the most expensive in the history of L.A. just sold for 10,000% less than asking price ... WTF?!

Here's the deal ... the Beverly Hills lot -- fittingly dubbed The Mountain -- went for a meager $100,000 at a foreclosure auction Tuesday despite once being listed at $1 BILLION, but it actually cost the buyer a lot more than that.

That's because back in 2004, it was purchased by an investor from the estate of Mark Hughes -- the late Herbalife founder -- but only after he borrowed $45 million from the Hughes estate.

Long story short -- the investor didn't pay much back on the $45 million loan, so it ballooned to $200 MILLION with interest and fees. The Hughes estate foreclosed on the delinquent loan and auctioned off the property this week.

Here's the thing ... only around 20 people showed up at the auction, and no one made a serious bid. So, in the end, the estate bought it back for $100,000, which sounds crazy. But, the thing is ... they also swallowed the $200,000,000 delinquent loan, which none of the other 20 people were willing to do. Still, sounds like a great deal.

The Mountain is a massive 157-acre plot of land in Beverly Hills sitting atop ... well, a mountain. As you can see, the estate looks down on all of L.A. ... all that's missing is a godlike mansion.

Young Thug's got a fascinating obsession with slithery creatures ... especially if they're shiny, 2-headed and cost more than your average house in the heartland.

The 'Slime' rapper is flossin' some new bling worth a whopping $250,000!!! It's a 2-headed snake chain made of 18k rose gold and features over 90cts of diamonds. The whole piece weighs more than 2 pounds!!!

Thugger better hit the weights.

Celebrity jeweler Eliantte is the artist who created the masterpiece and the detail is pretty incredible. It's got lifelike scales and both heads look ready to strike any haters.

We're told YT had the chain delivered to him last week while he celebrated 2 huge milestones ... his 28th birthday and the release of his new album, "So Much Fun."

BTW ... Thug's snake fascination goes back a minute.

In 2017, the rapper used a snake crawling out of a skull for his and Future's "Super Slimey" mixtape cover art. The following year, he sent live snakes in glass tanks to media outlets as a promotion for his "Slime Language" record -- and don't forget he has a snake eating a live mouse in the opening scene of his "Scoliosis" music vid.

Offset got pulled over by a cop who had trouble spelling his name, and it was all downhill from there ... except for a very small bone thrown his way at the end.

The traffic stop went down in late March in Sandy Springs, GA outside Atlanta, and according to the cop's body cam footage -- obtained by TMZ -- the rapper very much sounds like a guy who knows he's about to rack up a few tickets.

Things start off on the wrong foot when Offset asks the cop to turn his flashlight off and gets a stern "no" ... and Offset responds in kind when he's asked for his name.

It gets a bit more contentious when Offset asks why he got pulled over and isn't satisfied with the answer. Both parties then make it known they're recording each other -- pretty standard 2019 stuff.

When the cop finally reveals he's writing Offset THREE citations, Cardi B's hubby accuses him of being mad he's in a nice car ... and suggests the officers kids would be disappointed in him.

Offset also vows to beat the tickets in court, but turns out he wasn't up for the challenge. According to legal docs ... he paid the $470 in fines for speeding and failure to maintain his lane, along with $100 for missing a hearing in the case.

The good news -- Offset's citation for not having a license was dismissed, and of course ... he only got a warning from the cop to avoid a 4th ticket.

A fish head left in the freezer is the reason Antonio Brown is allegedly stiffing a guy out of $38,000 ... so says the celeb chef who put it in there.

The story is wild ...

Stefano Tedeschi -- who filed a lawsuit against AB just last month -- tells TMZ Sports after cooking for the NFL superstar at the Pro Bowl in 2018, he left a salmon head in the freezer with the intentions of making some soup the next day.

The problem? Apparently, AB and his crew thought it was a threat -- and straight-up kicked him out of their mansion!!!

"The salmon head I thought was a joke," Tedeschi says ... "But, apparently, it was real."

Tedeschi says he had agreed to cook for Brown and all of his friends for 3 days in Florida during Pro Bowl weekend last year.

He says the first day went off swimmingly ... he cooked breakfast and lunch for Antonio and his guys -- and then came back later in the evening to do a big cooking show dinner.

Part of that meal included filleting a salmon -- one Tedeschi had bought with his son earlier in the day. But, when Tedeschi stored the head of the fish in the freezer after the show ... that's when he says all the trouble began.

"Apparently they misunderstood the fish head," Stefano said.

"I said, 'Who could have possibly misunderstood a fish head in the freezer? Tell me, what person with intelligence could have misplaced a fish head for some mob, horse head?!'"

Stefano says when he came back to cook the next day, he was booted from the property and wasn't allowed to retrieve any of his cooking gear that he had left on the premises.

Antonio also didn't allow him to cook the following day ... and, according to Stefano, the receiver never paid him a dime for the weekend.

As we previously reported, Stefano is now suing Brown for $38,521.20 for the weekend, and he tells us all signs are pointing toward an ugly legal battle in court to get the cash.

"AB's team is acting like we're going to go to court ... he's going to drag this thing out, he's got more money than me, blah, blah, blah."

We reached out to Brown's attorney, Darren Heitner, for comment on the fish head story ... and Heitner tells us, "There is no comment on the 'fish head' claim nor any other claim the plaintiff wants to make with the media."

A guy cops say claimed to be Genie Bouchard's brother charged more than $40,000 to the tennis star's personal account at a fancy Miami Beach hotel ... only problem is, HE'S NOT HER BRO!

The Miami Beach PD arrested 24-year-old Solomon Shlomo Azari at the 1 Hotel South Beach on Sunday -- where the tennis star lives when she's in Miami.

Cops say Azari went to the hotel regularly over a 2 month period and would run up tabs at the restaurant and bar ... and charge it all to Bouchard's account.

In total, cops say Azari made nearly $42,000 in charges, according to WSVN's Sheldon Fox.

Oh, and when cops arrested Azari ... they claim he had cocaine in his pocket!

Officials say Azari is now facing charges of coke possession, organized scheme to defraud, identity fraud and grand theft.

Two days before he died, Jeffrey Epstein made sure his affairs were in order -- signing a will that lays out where he's putting $577 million, and who's calling the shots.

Epstein signed his will on August 8 -- 2 days before his body was discovered at Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center -- and the doc was filed last week in the U.S. Virgin Islands ... where the ex-hedge fund manager owned 2 islands worth tens of millions.

The eerie timing aside ... Epstein's will lays out the total amount he's dumping into a trust ... a whopping $577,672,654. Keep in mind, the trust might already have even more cash in there -- we just don't know as the trust docs aren't public.

As for who stands to inherit that massive fortune -- there are no beneficiaries listed. Although, he does list "next of kin" as his brother, Mark Epstein ... but that doesn't guarantee he's inheriting anything. Again, the trust would spell that out.

The docs, first posted by the New York Post, say his executors are Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn ... each of whom will get $250k for carrying out Epstein's final wishes.

Here's a quick breakdown of Epstein's assets, per the will. $56 million-plus in cash, a little over $14 mil in fixed income, nearly $113 mil in equities, about $195 mil in hedge funds and private equity ... not to mention 6 properties/estates worth well over $178 million.

The actress who paid for a billboard to catch Tyler Perry's attention can now say it was worth every penny ... because she scored a gig on his new TV project.

We broke the story ... Racquel Bailey told TMZ, despite receiving a light scolding from Perry for going the billboard route, the stunt landed her an audition. Of course, it was a happy coincidence that Tyler was already familiar with her work.

The story has an even happier ending now -- sources close to Racquel tell us she officially got cast 2 weeks ago in TP's new show for BET called "Sistas." We're told she shot with Perry last week in Atlanta and will appear in the finale of season 1, and possibly in season 2.

Our sources say Bailey plays a police officer who had a past relationship with one of the lead characters. Perry was on set directing the episode in which Bailey will appear ... a dream come true for her.

The success of the billboard doesn't stop there either. We're told after it went viral, Racquel was contacted by several casting directors and got about 20 auditions ... which led to booking 2 roles even before the "Sistas" gig.

She has more major auditions coming up with some big-time directors and we're told she's incredibly grateful to Perry for giving her a boost.

Cristiano Ronaldo is publicly acknowledging he paid $375,000 in hush money to the woman who claims she was raped by the soccer star in 2009 -- but still adamantly denies wrongdoing ... and it's all spelled out in new legal docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

Kathryn Mayorga had claimed she took the money from CR7 back in 2010 as part of a private settlement -- and has previously said she signed a confidentiality agreement vowing to keep her mouth shut about the alleged incident.

As we previously reported, Mayorga claims she met Ronaldo at Rain Nightclub in the Palms hotel in June 2009 and went to party with him in his penthouse suite ... where he raped her.

She went to police, but never identified Ronaldo by name -- only describing him as a huge soccer star.

Back in 2018, she publicly ID'd Ronaldo and cops launched an investigation -- but officials ultimately decided NOT to bring charges against CR7 due to lack of evidence.

Ronaldo has adamantly denied the allegations.

Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit against Ronaldo -- and now, Ronaldo has filed new court docs asking a judge to throw out the case because they have a binding settlement agreement PLUS he claims the statute of limitations has LONG expired.

But, what's interesting ... in the same docs, Ronaldo finally acknowledges the amount paid to settle with Mayorga in 2010.

"Mr. Ronaldo paid Plaintiff the sum of $375,000 and both parties agreed to be bound by explicit confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations," the new court docs filed by Ronaldo state.

Several lines of the new court docs explaining the details of the settlement have been redacted -- but Ronaldo's point is clear.

He also says in the court docs the settlement money is NOT an admission of guilt ... but rather just the cost of keeping a legal dispute out of the media.

Jason Alexander knows media companies are lining up to drop a gold mine for the rights to air "Seinfeld" reruns, but he's not too concerned about the final sale price ... for one very good reason.

We ran into George Costanza at LAX and asked him about the crazy bidding war that's supposed to be going down in 2020 after "Seinfeld" leaves Hulu and hits the open market. Estimates are the streaming rights will go for upwards of half a BILLION bucks!

Jason -- who played Costanza for nearly 10 years before the iconic sitcom went off the air in 1998 -- says he can't believe people are still watching their show about nothing in 2019. Still, he loves the fact folks are discovering it anew, and getting some (little) kicks out of it.

Our photog asks if Jason's gonna see any of that money when the new deal is finally done come next December. You gotta see his response, because he's clearly not the least bit concerned. But, is he disappointed? Just watch.

Jason, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards famously did NOT get a cut of the syndication rights. It's one of the reasons the show came to an end. However, they did negotiate large lump sum payments, and of course, they get mailbox money (Screen Actors Guild royalties) as long as the show keeps airing.

As for where Jason would like to "Seinfeld" stream after a 5-year run on Hulu, he says he doesn't really care ... may the best conglomerate win. Classic apathetic George.

The man who was once tight with Leo DiCaprio and help financially back movies like "Wolf of Wall Street," "Dumb and Dumber To," and "Daddy's Home" is selling his home ... kind of. It's actually being sold by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to recoup some of the billions of dollars the guy allegedly stole.

Jho Low, a Malaysian financier, is a fugitive from justice, charged with money laundering billions of dollars, among other things. He used to be friends with Leo and even took trips and partied with him. Unbeknownst to Leo, the guy was allegedly a hardcore crook, and when Leo found out he severed ties. Leo had to return an Oscar he got from Jho Low as a birthday gift -- a Best Actor Oscar Marlon Brando received in 1955 for "On the Waterfront."

As for the house, it sits above the Sunset Strip and the pics are pretty amazing. Jho Low bought it in 2012 for around $40 mil, but it's now being auctioned for $24,500,000.

The pics don't reflect what the house currently looks like. For some reason, Jho Low dismantled the inside and it's more of a shell now. Nonetheless, we're told there have been 5 offers and it's going into escrow as part of a court-ordered sale.

It's listed by mega-realtor Ernie Carswell.

Ezekiel Elliott says the security guard he pushed in a Las Vegas altercation demanded $500,000 in an attempt to extort him ... this according to police docs obtained by TMZ Sports.

The Dallas Cowboys star's attorneys say they were emailed a complete list of demands from 19-year-old Kyle Johnson and his father, Kelly Johnson, after Zeke shoved Kyle at the Electric Daisy Carnival last May.

Police docs show Kelly emailed Zeke's attorneys just days after the altercation with AT LEAST 14 things he wanted from the running back to stay quiet on the incident ... including $500,000 cash.

The list of demands featured a public apology from Elliott, a press conference with Elliott and Kyle, $25,000 for the junior college football team Kyle played for, and signed jerseys from Zeke, Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott.

The demands list also included -- among several other things -- tickets to Cowboys games (both home and road), Ohio State games and a meet and greet with Jerry Jones and his son.

Police docs show one of Elliott's attorneys responded to Kelly's email with a phone call ... and Kelly claims in that conversation the attorney told him "what [he] was doing was extortion."

According to the docs, Kelly said after that conversation he decided to take Kyle's story to the public ... allowing Kyle to do an interview with a Los Angeles TV station on May 28.

Kelly and Kyle eventually filed a criminal complaint against Elliott over the incident ... but according to the docs, prosecutors felt they could not move forward with charges against 24-year-old Elliott.

There's more ... in the docs, Kyle admits Elliott not only apologized to him after shoving him during the May incident, he gave him a hug and took a picture with him.

In an affidavit from Elliott in the docs, he echoes that story, saying, "I had no intention to push and/or harm or intimidate Kyle Johnson."

"After Kyle Johnson fell and I was finished speaking with the officers nearby, I immediately apologized to Kyle and he indicated to me that he was not hurt."

Elliott added, "We gave each other a hug and he asked me to take a picture with him, which I was happy to do as there was never any intention to harm or hurt Kyle."

We've reached out to Kelly regarding the docs, but so far, no word back yet.

As for Zeke's camp, when reached by phone Friday, they declined to comment on the matter.

Elliott is currently holding out from Cowboys camp seeking a new contract. His team kicks off the season on Sept. 8 against the New York Giants.