Money

Deion Sanders' beef with Nick Saban is over ... well, at least that's the way it appears -- as the two coaches were spotted laughing together in a new commercial.

"Prime Time" posted a snippet alongside Saban in an Aflac commercial ... and judging from the looks of it, their issues over NIL deals in college football seem to be a thing of the past.

"We're in Los Angeles, California back on the Aflac set with the G.O.A.T.," Sanders said in reference to Saban.

"And the duck," Saban joked while smiling. Sanders responded with a playful jab of his own, saying, "I was talking about you. So, you calling me a duck?"

The war of words between the two Hall of Famers started after Saban accused Deion and Jackson State University of paying Travis Hunter -- a highly-recruited Division 1 prospect -- $1 million to play for JSU.

"I mean Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division 1 player to come to school -- it was in the paper, and then bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it," Saban said at the time.

The former Cowboys legend promptly clapped back at arguably the greatest coach in college football history, saying, "We as a PEOPLE don't have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE."

Hunter seemed to deny that Coach Prime paid him a million dollars to play for the JSU Tigers ... essentially refuting the claims made by Saban.

Of course, Deion and Nick have shot commercials together in the past ... but there was reasonable concern about how their next shoot would go, given their seemingly contentious relationship as of late.

"Love is Blind" contestant Jeremy Hartwell says the producers behind the Netflix reality show plied contestants with booze, deprived them of food and water, and paid them less than minimum wage ... and now he's suing.

Jeremy, who appeared on season two of the popular reality dating show, is going after Netflix, production company Kinetic Content and casting company Delirium TV with a class action lawsuit.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, the show manufactured drama by forcing the contestants to film while they were drunk, starved, sleep-deprived and underpaid.

Jeremy claims the only drinks regularly provided to the cast were alcoholic beverages, energy drinks, soft drinks and mixers ... he says water was strictly limited during long days on set.

He claims producers would sometimes even withhold hotel room keys so contestants couldn't get sleep, while directing hotel staff not to provide the cast with food.

Jeremy says the combination of sleep deprivation, isolation, lack of food, and an excess of alcohol contributed to inhumane working conditions on the show ... and says it made cast members hungry for social connections, altering their emotions and decision-making.

In the show, contestants go to separate pods to meet their dates, flirting and conversing through speakers while unable to see the other person. In order to meet in person, two contestants have to first get engaged.

Jeremy says he left the show feeling like a zombie and realized he was open to emotional manipulation during production.

As for the pay scale ... Jeremy says producers paid the cast a flat rate of $1,000 per week and forced them to work up to 20 hours a day, 7 days a week, working out to as little as $7.14 an hour ... well below L.A. County's $15 minimum wage.

Jeremy, who wants more contestants from 'Love Is Blind' and other reality shows to join his class action suit, is going after Netflix, Kinetic and Delirium for money, and he wants them hit with civil penalties for labor code violations.

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello are selling their old digs in Beverly Hills for something bigger and better in the same area ... but first, they're looking to sell their current spectacular estate for close to $20 million.

The "America's Got Talent" judge and her hubby just put their 7-bedroom home, complete with a brand-spankin' new chef's kitchen on the market for $19.6 million ... a nice possible profit for the pair considering Sofia bought the place for $10.6 million in 2014.

Our real estate sources tell us Joe and Sofia put a bunch of money into renovating the home, which features over 11,000 sq ft of living space, and has soaring ceilings and hardwood floors throughout.

Not to mention, it's got a full-sized gym, pool with a spa, movie theater and even a wine room to store plenty of bottles.

As for their plan moving forward ... we're told the couple's been renovating a bigger home in the area for a couple years now that's almost at completion, so that'll be where they call home next.

Mickey Rourke stands in strong defense of his pal Johnny Depp after his legal war ... saying he's been in the same position as him, and he thinks Amber Heard is nothing but a gold digger.

Mickey joined Piers Morgan for an interview on Britain's Talk TV Tuesday, admitting he knows what it feels like to go through what Johnny did, claiming he's also been blamed for something he didn't do.

He says he went through a costly battle, giving him a bad reputation, and it wasn't until he'd lost tons of work that the "truth came out" ... allowing him to land roles once again.

Unclear exactly what Mickey feels he was blamed for -- he didn't get specific -- but it is true he seemed to be blacklisted in Hollywood in the '90s.

As for Amber Heard, MR says he sees right through her -- he refers to her as "some gold digger" ... Piers asks if he truly believes that, to which he responds, "Abso- f***ing-lutely."

As we reported, Amber filed legal docs last week claiming one of the jurors in the defamation trial was fraudulently empaneled -- saying a man was summoned to be a juror for the trial, but his son appeared instead. She believes that's grounds to throw out the verdict and have a new trial.

Lil Wayne's hometown concert event, Lil WeezyAna Fest, is ramping up again for its 6th run in New Orleans.

For this year’s fest, Weezy's recruited Moneybagg Yo, Coi Leray, Babyface Ray and Rob 49 to light up the stage with their performances.

The Live Nation Urban-sponsored event will take place at Champions Square on August 27, and Wayne shared his excitement by getting on IG to plug all the performers.

One key part of the event for Wayne is the fact 50 cents of every ticket sold will be donated to NOLA students' educational opportunities within the culture.

Young Money Records President Mack Maine added ... “As always, we will be honoring the many lives lost in Hurricane Katrina as this year marks the 17th year anniversary.”

The Philadelphia Flyers are making a nice gesture in cancer survivor Oskar Lindblom's name after waiving the forward this week ... by donating $100k to a local charity.

The Flyers broke the news on Tuesday ... saying they will buy out the rest of the 25-year-old's $3 million contract to free up cap space.

President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chuck Fletcher said it was a "very difficult decision to make" ... especially after all Lindblom has gone through while with the organization.

As we previously reported, Oskar was diagnosed with a form of bone cancer in 2019 ... and made his return to the ice in August 2020. He later announced he was officially cancer-free.

"No one can question the desire, will and strength to overcome all that Oskar has been through off the ice in order to return to the game he loves," Fletcher added.

"He is truly an inspiration to us all, and he will always remain a special part of the Philadelphia Flyers family."

The Flyers added they will donate $100k in Oskar's name to a local charity that supports families impacted by cancer.

Twitter's delivering on its promise to sue Elon Musk for backing out of what they say was his promise to buy the platform -- and they want a judge to force him to follow through.

In the lawsuit, Twitter says it's clear that Elon's only backing out because the stock market tanked right after he signed the deal in April to purchase for $44 billion. The company says that dip reduced Musk's wealth by $100 billion, and Twitter's value also slumped ... making his offer even more over the company's market value.

Translation: His offer suddenly looked ridiculous, and that's the only reason he wanted out.

According to the suit, Twitter's not buying his excuse about the platform being riddled with bot accounts ... calling that a "model of hypocrisy." As Twitter puts it ... Elon had very publicly said one of the reasons he wanted to buy Twitter was to "defeat the spam bots."

Prosecutors in New York say they discovered a scheme to sell stolen handwritten lyrics from some of the Eagles' most famous songs ... and now 3 men have been indicted as a result of the investigation.

Here's the deal ... prosecutors say the men were in possession of about 100 pages of Don Henley's handwritten notes and lyrics for the band's "Hotel California" album, with the men allegedly trying to fool auction houses into buying the memorabilia despite them knowing it was stolen.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says the men fabricated stories about the origin of the documents, and their right to possess them, so they could turn a profit ... even allegedly engaging in a years-long campaign to stop Don from recovering the stolen manuscripts, which are valued at over $1 million.

Prosecutors say the manuscripts were originally stolen back in the 1970s by an author hired to write a biography of the band and then sold to rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, who in turn sold them to Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski.

The D.A. says when Don learned Inciardi and Kosinski were allegedly trying to sell portions of the manuscripts, he filed police reports and told the men the materials were stolen, demanding their return.

Prosecutors say Inciardi and Kosinski then worked to fabricate ownership records to try and coerce Don into buying back the stolen property. At the same time, the D.A. says the men were trying to sell the manuscripts through Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses.

The D.A. says their office executed search warrants to recover Don's stolen manuscripts from Kosinski's home and Sotheby's ... and a short while later, prosecutors say Horowitz tried to use the death of Eagles founding member Glenn Frey to prevent criminal prosecution by claiming he got the manuscripts from Frey.

The men are each charged with one count of fourth-degree conspiracy. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with first-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Horowitz is also charged with first-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property, plus two counts of second-degree hindering prosecution.

Don's manager, Irving Azoff, tells TMZ ... "This action exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a façade of legitimacy. No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history."

Q'orianka Kilcher has been charged with insurance fraud over what officials claim was improper collection of disability benefits over 2 years ... amounting to tens of thousands.

The actress -- who's appeared on 'Yellowstone' lately -- was slapped with 2 felony counts of workers' comp insurance fraud after an investigation by the California Department of Insurance.

The agency says Kilcher started making claims back in 2019, and allegedly raked in north of $90,000 in disability benefits.

According to CDOI -- Kilcher had reported a work-related neck and shoulder injury she allegedly suffered in October 2018 while filming 'Dora and the Lost City of Gold,' for which they say she sought treatment a few times that year ... only to stop and start back up again a year later, when she apparently told her doctor the pain had returned and she wasn't able to work due to the neck pain.

That turned out to be BS, at least according to the Dept., because it claims she actually had been working right before she told the doctor the pain was too severe to do her job -- filming 'Yellowstone' between July and October of 2019. According to records, she started getting benefits just 5 days after last working on the show.

An ice cream truck is hitting the road and giving people a dish best served cold ... by selling popsicles modeled after everyone's favorite -- or least favorite -- billionaires.

We spoke with an employee for MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based art collective, Tuesday in Santa Monica -- they've got their truck parked near the beach and selling their "Eat The Rich" billionaire popsicles.

As the name suggests, they've created some frozen pops that bear a resemblance to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Jack Ma and Mark Zuckerberg -- the truck is plastered with sayings like "Gobble Gates" and "Suck Zuck."

We're told Elon's been their #1 seller recently -- and it's been a mix of haters and true fans wanting to take a bite out of the guy.

The art collective, owned by Gabriel Whaley, is all about creating commentary for various things in our culture, and that $10 price tag for a single popsicle is just 1 of the many ways they're making a statement about their frozen billionaires.

Tiger Woods is teeing off on LIV Golf ... making it clear on Tuesday that he ain't a fan of the new org., or the golfers who have defected to it.

The 46-year-old railed against the new, Saudi-backed league for several minutes during a meeting with media members ahead of this week's The Open tourney ... explaining he just doesn't understand how guys have ditched the PGA Tour for it.

"I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position," Woods said of the LIV golfers.

Woods, who reportedly turned down a massive offer to play in LIV Golf earlier this year, explained he believes the Tour has given athletes the chance to "earn what we get" and establish a legacy -- something he clearly thinks is lacking in the new golf league.

In fact, Woods questioned how anyone taking the guaranteed payday from the new org. could find a desire to try to get better going forward.

"What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice?" the golf legend said. "What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt? You’re just getting paid a lot of money upfront and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They’re playing blaring music and have all these atmospheres that are different."

Woods also said he agreed with The Open's decision to ban LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman from some of this week's most meaningful events.

"Greg has done some things that I don’t think is in the best interest of our game," Woods said, "and we’re coming back to probably the most historic and traditional place in our sport."

LIV Golf officially kicked off its first event last month in England. More than a dozen of the top players in the world -- including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau -- have elected to play in it.

The PGA Tour, meanwhile, has suspended all of the defectors indefinitely, saying in a statement in June that anyone who follows suit will face similar punishments.

It's unclear yet what the four major championship events will do with the LIV golfers going forward -- though Tiger said even the slightest possibility of a ban from those tourneys would have turned him off to the idea immediately.

The Department of Justice is investigating whether the PGA Tour -- who punished players for signing with wealthy Saudi golf startup, LIV Golf -- engaged in anticompetitive practices, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Agents of players have been contacted by the antitrust division of the DOJ in recent months, and asked about the Tour's rules preventing players from playing in other golf events, and the punishment of players who signed with LIV, according to the report.

Of course, many top players have signed with the new, Saudi Arabia-backed organization ... Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and others have signed incredibly lucrative deals with LIV.

TMZ Sports contacted the PGA Tour which acknowledged the investigation, but didn't seem worried in the least.

"This was not unexpected. We went through this in 1994 and we are confident in a similar outcome," a spokesperson for the Tour told us.

FYI, PGA's referring to a Federal Trade Commission investigation in the mid-90s that looked into the Tour's rules barring players from participating in rival tournaments. The FTC dropped the investigation by 1995.

As for what could happen with this investigation ... the DOJ could pursue punishment of the PGA Tour. Or, players who signed with LIV, and/or the organization itself, could file an antitrust lawsuit against the Tour.

Johnny Depp is scoffing at Amber Heard's move to set aside his jury verdict on grounds it was excessive ... firing back that the $10 million judgment reflects the loss he actually suffered after she defamed him.

Johnny's lawyers say there's clear evidence that after Amber's Op-Ed appeared in the Washington Post back in 2018, he had no work ... he didn't appear in a single studio production until October, 2020. That alone, the lawyers say, supports the $10M verdict.

In fact, Depp's legal docs refer to one of Johnny's reps negotiating a deal for the 6th installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" for $22.5 million. Just prior to the Op-Ed being published, the producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, was all in, saying he really wanted Johnny.

As you know, after the Op-Ed, Johnny was persona non grata on the production.

The lawyers say Johnny proved with experts during the trial his actual loss came to far more than $10M ... it was more than $40 million.

Short story ... Johnny's lawyers say Amber is grasping at straws.

Jen Shah is no longer claiming total innocence in her fraud case ... because she just changed course and took a plea deal.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star filed a change of plea notice Monday with the court.

Jen just went before a judge and pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing ... and as part of her plea deal, federal prosecutors dropped one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The plea deal comes a week before Jen's trial was set to begin ... and it calls for a sentence of up to 14 years behind bars and for Jen to pay back over $9 million to her alleged victims and forfeit another $6 million.

As we reported, Jen's attorney said she was "totally innocent" in the wake of her March 2021 arrest for allegedly targeting and scamming folks out of their money as part of an alleged telemarketing scheme.

The feds accused Jen of "greater culpability" in the scheme ahead of her trial, and Jen initially pled not guilty.

TMZ broke the story ... Jen even tried getting the criminal case against her dismissed, claiming two federal agents were way too chatty about her case on a Hulu documentary, which she claimed tainted the jury pool and destroyed any chance of her getting a fair trial.

We reached out to Jen's legal team ... so far no word back.

Want to live rock star adjacent? Now's your chance ... the home of Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler's daughter just hit the market.

Mia Tyler's Hollywood Hills home is listed at just under $2 million -- and the pad's got plenty of charm -- with 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and plenty of room outside to entertain.

The lucky buyer will enjoy a private outdoor space with a fire pit, secluded hot tub and a guest house.

BTW, the home actually used to be a recording studio! So, ya know, a real rock star lifestyle. Tori Horowitz at Compass is representing Mia in the sale.

Of course, the listing comes as the Tyler family celebrates some other good news. Steven recently completed rehab, after a very successful stay.

Steven and Mia have a special bond, he wrote a song named after her on Aerosmith's album "Night in the Ruts" in 1979.

Armie Hammer is indeed working as a timeshare salesman in the Cayman Islands ... the actor was heard pitching the benefits of owning property in the beautiful vacation spot.

Armie is very much in salesman mode ... you see him sitting with a couple and going over pricing for a unit.

A prospective buyer in the office says Armie was outlining a plan that would cost $2,020 per week ... or, as the "Social Network" star put it, only about $21,000 for 10 years of vacations!

Armie delivered that sales pitch last month. Vacationing couples were enticed to go to the timeshare office through a flyer that promised discounts for excursions on the island.

As we reported, Armie was spotted outside the office in late June after reports he was working there ... Armie's rep told us he had a friend who worked at the resort, but didn't know whether or not Armie was showing or selling timeshares.