Sesame Place $25 Million Class Action Suit Claiming Racism
You could see this one coming ... Sesame Place Philadelphia has been hit with a $25 million class action lawsuit ... claiming the park and its employees have insulted and damaged black patrons, especially the youngsters.
The lawsuit lists a man named Quinton Burns, who says he and his family visited Sesame Place on June 18, 2022. Burns says he purchased tickets to the park for himself and his young daughter with the expectation they'd experience "Meet and Greets" with Sesame Street characters.
However, according to the docs, Burns says when he and his kid attended a "Meet and Greet" with costumed performers of Elmo, Ernie, Telly Monster and Abby Cadabby -- the characters refused to engage with them and other black guests as well.
Burns says the performers were more than happy to engage with white customers at the same event.
JULY 2022
Of course, the lawsuit comes directly on the heels of the video that surfaced from the park showing character Rosita, not only refusing to hug, but shaking her head "no" at two young black girls who wanted to interact with her at a parade.
We've spoken with the mother of the girls and the family attorney, who says they've been in talks with Sesame Place to make their situation right, and have even floated the possibility of legal action.
Now, there's a full-blown class action lawsuit. A rep for Sesame Place tells us, "We will review the lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Burns. We look forward to addressing that claim through the established legal process. We are committed to deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience for all our guests."
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Jeff Bezos Parents Buy $34M Mega Mansion in FL
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It pays to be in the Jeff Bezos’ inner circle of trust — especially if you’re his parents … and pay they did for a palace of epic proportions out in the Sunshine State.
Sources tell TMZ that Jackie and Mike Bezos -- Jeff’s mother and stepfather -- recently snapped up a massive 12,000+ square foot home within a gated community in Coral Gables, FL.
The closing price tag … $34 million! Indeed, it’s an expensive buy -- but when your son’s one of the richest people in the world, you can probably afford it. The Real Deal reports they've also purchased a home next door for $40 million.
As for the actual property itself, it’s an absolute beaut -- and worth every penny of the many millions that the Bezoses dropped for this thing. The house is multi-level, with 6 bedrooms and 7 baths. The kitchen is absolutely insanely big … it has two different islands, one for cooking and one for seating.
The rest of the home is gorgeous too -- in addition to all the usual stuff, it features an outdoor kitchen/dining area, a built-in BBQ grill, a pool, a private gym, an indoor rock climbing wall, a wine cellar and a 9-car garage … just to name a few of the perks.
This probably covers Jeff for Mother’s and Father’s Day combined for a little while -- assuming he bought it for them, which is likely. Of course, they can probably afford this place on their own too … Mike worked in the oil industry for years, and both he and Jackie have been running the Bezos Family Foundation for over 2 decades now.
Plus, reports say Jeff actually got his folks here to invest about $250k in Amazon stock way back in the '90s -- which, if true, they might have some billions of their own. So, yeah ... they’re kinda rolling in it as well, it seems.
Lourdes Alatriste of Douglas Elliman brokered the sale, but declined to comment.
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Ja'Marr Chase I Got Mom A Car, Paid Off Her House ... With My First Million!!!
Ja'Marr Chase might be the son of the decade ... 'cause the Bengals star just revealed he got his mom a new car and paid off her house with the first million dollars of his rookie contract.
The wide receiver got into details on how he spent a milli from his $19.8 million signing bonus on GQ Sports ... saying his first purchase was a $65k black Maserati for his mom, Toeleah, to replace her Audi that was in bad shape.
"The air stopped working in it, so she's not about to try to ride around in no hot car. So, gotta get her a car ASAP," the 22-year-old said.
"She was crying like tears of joy so that was good to see. She made me start crying."
But, that's not all -- the Pro Bowler also paid off the mortgage to her house that they've been living in for years.
"That's officially her house," Chase said. "We own it. That was about 100K."
"Making sure the house is paid for and the bills are straight so we can have somewhere and have the family crib."
Mama wasn't the only family member getting some out of Chase's NFL salary ... he says his brothers and sisters also got $15k each to spend on whatever they want.
When it comes to the rest of the $1M ... Chase says he spent it on jewelry, clothes, tattoos, and a $300k Rolls Royce -- and after all that, he was still able to save $400k!!!
Chase signed a $30.8M contract shortly after the Bengals drafted the former LSU Tiger as the 5th overall pick ... and became the NFL's Offensive Rookie Of The Year after 1,455 receiving yards and 13 TDs.
Safe to say the guy's got a lot more coming his way ... so stay tuned to see how he spends it!!
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Kanye West Gifts A$AP Bari New Maybach… Days After He Wrecked His Old One!!!
Kanye West is proving he's a good friend — just ask A$AP Bari, who’s currently riding around in a new Mercedes Maybach SUV … just days after he says he crashed his old one.
The A$AP Mob co-founder was Christmas-morning-level excited when showing off his new wheels on Instagram -- revealing he recently totaled his own car.
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Kanye apparently heard about the wreck and sprung into action, surprising Bari on the spot.
If there's anyone who knows how to bounce back after a car wreck, it's Ye … his infamous 2002 crash helped to spawn the “jeen-yuhs."
Bari’s new whip is decked out ... which shouldn't come as a shock, considering Ye's Mercedes connects. If you remember, he doled out over $400,000 earlier this year for his custom Mercedes minivan that’s essentially a mansion on wheels.
Bari didn’t disclose what caused the accident but judging from the rain in the video, weather might've played a factor.
Might want to take Ye’s advice and “drive slow, homie!” 👍
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Elon Musk Alleged Mistress' Attorney ... That Story is a Lie!!!
Elon Musk's alleged mistress's attorney is calling bull on the affair story ... and kinda seems like he might be threatening legal action as well.
Bryan Freedman, who reps Nicole Shanahan, tells TMZ ... "Make no mistake, any suggestion that Nicole had an affair with Elon Musk is not only an outright lie but also defamatory." Freedman first spoke to DailyMail.
There's no further elaboration, but his statement says enough -- and that final line certainly suggests she might be considering her options right now ... attorneys don't use legal terms like "defamatory" unless they're mulling over a lawsuit.
As you know, Elon also denied the story outright after it was published this weekend by the Wall Street Journal -- taking to his favorite platform to bat it down in a variety of ways ... including suggesting it couldn't have been true, because he hadn't had sex "in ages."
He also said he'd just seen Nicole's husband, Sergey Brin, at a party recently ... and posted a photo of the two of them looking cool together. Until now, both Sergey and Nicole have been silent ... which wasn't helping Elon with his case.
Now, though, Nicole's officially weighing in -- and she, too, is claiming the whole thing is made up. It'll be interesting to see if anything more comes of this from either the subjects of the report or WSJ itself.
Ya gotta imagine if Nicole's attorney does, in fact, feel it's defamatory -- and no correction or retraction is issued -- he'd feel more than comfortable taking further steps to rectify this.
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Buzz Aldrin Apollo 11 Jacket Sells For $2.7 Mil ... Space Artifact Record!!!
Buzz Aldrin's jacket from the historic Apollo 11 mission to the moon just sold at auction ... and it set a record for American space-flown memorabilia.
The history-making piece of flight gear, which Buzz wore on NASA's 1969 mission to the moon and back, sold to an unidentified buyer for $2,772,500.
Sotheby's, which auctioned off the jacket and a bunch of other Aldrin space memorabilia, says Buzz's Teflon-coated jacket is the most valuable American artifact flown in outer space.
Buzz didn't wear the jacket when he was walking around on the moon's surface, he was in his spacesuit for that part of the mission, but he actually spent more time in the jacket than anything else during the Apollo 11 mission.
Aldrin says he wore the jacket in the NASA spacecraft for 3 days on the way to the moon, plus another 3 days on the way back to Earth.
As you can see, the white jacket features Buzz's name tag -- his first name is Edwin, hence the "E" -- above the Apollo 11 mission emblem ... and there's an American flag on the left shoulder.
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Jim Harbaugh I'm Willing To Raise My Players' Baby ... If Pregnancy Unplanned
Jim Harbaugh -- fiercely against abortion -- says he'd be willing to raise the baby of any of his Univ. of Michigan football players, if they had an unplanned pregnancy, and the couple decided to have the baby.
"I've told [them] the same thing I tell my kids, boys, the girls, same thing I tell our players, our staff members," Harbaugh said on Saturday, "I encourage them if they have a pregnancy that wasn't planned, to go through with it, go through with it," Harbaugh told ESPN's Gene Wojchiechowski.
"Let that unborn child be born, and if at that time, you don't feel like you can care for it, you don't have the means or the wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby."
The Wolverines head coach -- who signed a $36.7 million extension in February -- was the keynote speaker at a recent "Right To Life" event.
During the anti-abortion speech, 58-year-old Harbaugh spoke about having the "courage to let the unborn be born."
As for why he chose to speak out about the controversial topic, Jim says while it may be difficult, it's an incredibly important issue for America.
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"I just think this issue of life, save a life, the abortion issue is one that is so big that it needs to be talked about," Harbaugh said.
"It's a life or death type of issue and I believe in and I respect people's views but let's discuss it because there's passion on both sides of this issue."
Of course, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade ... which previously provided women the federal right to an abortion.
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'RHONY' Star Sonja Morgan Lists NYC Townhouse ... Let's Try This Again!!!
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Sonja Morgan is not taking no for an answer when it comes to selling her NYC townhouse ... because TMZ has learned she's just put it back on the market!
Real estate sources tell us the 'RHONY' star is listing her Upper East Side townhouse for $8.75 million. Sonja initially listed it way back in 2013 for $9.95 million amid her divorce from J.P. Morgan heir John A. Morgan.
The 4-bedroom home has seen a lot of changes since then because we're told Sonja has given it a complete makeover over the years.
She had an offer in 2017, but turned it down because her daughter needed stability at home amid the divorce -- she would frequently bring friends home from boarding school, so they still needed the space.
As we've reported, she listed the 5-story townhouse for the 7th time in 2017 for around $10 mil ... still, to no avail.
Someone's missing out ... all the bedrooms feature wood-burning fireplaces, and there's also an elevator, sauna, gym, and terrace -- all sitting in the ritzy Madison Ave and Central Park neighborhood.
In January 2020, Sonja had an $11.75 million cash offer, but the buyer ended up dropping out in February when the pandemic began. Then, for a period of time, she couldn't show the home because of COVID.
After the lockdown lifted in the city, she rented the home to a family from Spain, before renting it out to a new tenant, for 32k a month. We're told, the tenant recently moved out.
Now, Sonja is back at it ... determined to get the pad rented again, or sold for the asking price.
Thomas Wexler of Leslie J. Garfield & Co. holds the listing.
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Fivio Foreign Ma$e ‘Fake’ Explained Contract ... No Lawyers, Got Me for Only $5k
Unlike Frank Sinatra, Fivio Foreign's got regrets, and it sounds like he wants to mention this particular one -- about his entry into the rap game -- to a lawyer.
The Brooklyn rapper was on the "Million Dollarz Worth of Game" podcast when he talked about signing his first contract with former Bad Boy Records star Ma$e in the late 2010s. No, Fivio never says the word "tricked" while breaking it down for Gillie Da Kid and Wallo267 -- but it's clear he's pissed about his paltry $5k signing bonus.
Rappers have grown accustomed to big budgets these days and Fivio’s early beginnings sound similar to several other young musicians' come-up stories: naive about the biz, but eager to start their careers.
Fivio claims Ma$e pretended to point out specifics in the fine print of his contract to get him to sign right away. Again, he doesn't use the phrase "snake oil salesman," but there's a strong insinuation.
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He also says the manager who introduced him to Ma$e pressured him to sign on the spot without consulting a lawyer first.
The final hint of Fivio’s regret came when he revealed Ma$e had failed to get him a G Herbo collaboration after all this time, but he finally got one in the works -- off the strength of his own name.
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That MDWG interview wasn’t the only shot Ma$e’s had to eat -- Diddy’s mom recently interrupted a Bad Boy roll call on her son’s live stream to give stern warnings to the Harlem World rapper.
Fivio’s debut album dropped in May and reached No. 8 on Billboard, and while he admits Ma$e knows the business ... he's definitely not giving him any credit for his breakthrough record.
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PetSmart Sued Your Groomers Killed My Dog!!!
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A standard grooming appointment at a PetSmart turned into an emergency crisis -- one that resulted in the death of a pooch ... according to a new lawsuit.
AJ Ross is suing the pet store retailer over the 2020 death of her poodle, Kobe -- which happened after she dropped off her pooch for a nail clipping at a PetSmart in Pittsburgh, PA.
In the lawsuit, she lays blame directly at the feet of the store's employees -- and adds, the store's own surveillance video is the most compelling evidence supporting her case.
The footage is tough to watch. You see Ross drop the dog off with the staff, having already placed a muzzle on its mouth, and then leave. The workers then take it to the back and lift it onto a table.
That's where things get wild ... it appears the employees put 2 different harnesses around Kobe's neck -- one from the top and one from the bottom -- seemingly to keep the dog in place while they try to work on its paws.
Kobe thrashes around, and they eventually tip the poodle over on its side for easier access ... at least that's what Ross claims in her suit.
Soon enough, the dog goes limp and the workers try waking it up, to no avail. Ross says when she returned a mere 10 minutes later, she discovered her dog was dead -- and she believes the way the PetSmart employees harnessed Kobe during the nail clipping caused the dog to lose consciousness and die.
According to documents, Ashley claims PetSmart has allowed this to happen to other pets over the years -- upwards of 47 have allegedly been killed by PetSmart groomers since 2009 -- and now she wants damages.
A rep for PetSmart tells TMZ ... "All of us are heartbroken by and truly sorry for the loss of Kobe. Following this terrible accident in 2020, we immediately launched an internal investigation and cooperated with the authorities involved. In response, we terminated the associates who violated our pet safety policies and did not meet our high standards of care."
"We proudly perform more than 13 million grooming services per year and the actions of these two associates do not represent the standard of care provided by our more than 10,000 salon associates."
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Ukrainian Olympian Sells Silver Medal to Fund War Effort ... Raises Nearly $15K!!!
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One of Ukraine's Olympic heroes is putting on his cape again by sacrificing his gymnastic silver medal in order to help his country fend off the Russian invaders.
Ruslan Mezentsev put his medal -- earned during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney -- on the auction block, and TMZ Sports has learned it's now sold for $14,438.
Bidding just ended on July 21, and as we first reported ... Ruslan had pledged to donate all the money to Ukraine, to help fund his homeland's war efforts against Russia. We're told the auction house even donated the buyer's premium.
The now 41-year-old Olympian was a member of his country's men's team when they competed in the all-around competition back in 2000. Ruslan participated in the floor exercise, pommel horse, and still rings.
Ultimately, he helped his team take home the silver medal by scoring 28.725 and bringing the team's total 230.306. The Ukrainians finished just 1.613 points behind China, which won the gold medal.
Now, that silver medal is in the hands of an anonymous bidder ... and Ruslan, who is originally from a town called Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine, is giving all the coins back to his country as the war continues.
All the judges would give him a 10 for that, right? All, except the Russian one.
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Raising Cane's Owner Buys 50k Lotto Tix ... One For Each Employee!!!
The owner of Raising Cane's is buying a lottery ticket for every employee he's got -- a nice bonus to be split by everyone if one of the tickets turns out to be a winner.
Todd Graves has vowed to spend around $100K on the Mega Millions, a $2 ticket for every single one of his 50,000 employees he's got throughout the company. If you didn't know ... the Mega Millions is at an incredible $810 million, the 4th biggest prize ever.
Of course, once you factor out taxes and everything else, the 50,000 employees would likely walk away with $10K-$20K each ... not too shabby!!!
In an interview with WVUE, Graves said his crew always stands together, which is why he's looking to bring some extra fun into their job -- and hopefully some extra cash.
The MM jackpot prize was $20M way back in April, but has continued to grow without a single winner.
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Charles Barkley I'd Accept $60 Million Offer ... From LIV Golf
Charles Barkley is naming his price in order to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour ... saying he'd hop on board if they offer him a whopping $60 million!!
The NBA legend addressed the org.'s reported interest in bringing him on as a commentator with the "Dan Patrick Show" on Monday ... saying he's more than happy with his current situation with TNT, but a certain number would get him to sign on the dotted line with LIV.
"Well, consider how much money I make now, it would take a really huge number for me to give up my life right now," Barkley told Patrick.
While Barkley didn't want to go into details about his current income, Patrick threw out a number -- $20 milli total between TNT and endorsements -- and Chuck admitted the guess was pretty spot-on.
Charles Barkley discusses what type of offer it would take for the #LIV Tour to get him. pic.twitter.com/RGyj4igK22
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) July 25, 2022 @dpshow
Dan asked Chuck how he'd respond if LIV decided to triple his income ... and it's safe to say Barkley wouldn't be able to decline such a lucrative offer.
"If they triple it, and next time I'm on your show, the first question better be, 'Charles, where we celebrating at tonight?'" Barkley said.
"That should be your first question, that should be your first question if they triple what I'm making now. Your first question should be, 'Hey, Charles, where's the party tonight?'"
Barkley also said despite all the backlash surrounding the tour, he has no issue with guys like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka leaving the PGA tour for LIV ... 'cause at the end of the day, money talks.
"150 million dollars to play golf 15 times a year? I have no problem with those guys taking that money."
While Barkley is already throwing out his number, he says LIV has until after he participates in this week's LIV pro-am at Trump National in New Jersey to get back to him with an offer.
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Ex-Laker Slava Medvedenko Selling 2 NBA Championship Rings Raising Money For Ukraine
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Former Los Angeles Lakers F Slava Medvedenko is selling his two NBA championship rings from '01 and '02 ... and it's all to raise money for his home country, Ukraine, as the war continues to rage on in the country.
The rings, on the block at SCP Auctions through August 5, are expected to sell for at least $100K total, and 100% of the money from the sale will go to Slava's Fly High Foundation.
The foundation aims to support Ukrainian children by repairing sports in schools in areas that have been hit the hardest by the war, According to the Associated Press.
Medvedenko says he plans to use the money from the sale of the rings, which he earned playing alongside Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, to repair or rebuild fitness centers destroyed by missiles, bombs, and artillery fired by Vladimir Putin's military.
“We want to restore gyms because the Russian army bombed more than a hundred schools,” Medvedenko told The AP during a phone interview.
“Our country, they need a lot of money to fix the schools. Sports gyms are going to be last in the line to fix it. In Ukraine, we have winter, and kids need to play inside.”
Slava -- who spent 7 seasons in the NBA -- says he felt compelled to help after witnessing firsthand Russian rockets flying through the night sky as the former Laker watched from a Kyiv rooftop.
“In this moment, I just decided, ‘Why do I need these rings if they’re just sitting in my safe?’” Medvedenko said. “I just recognize I can die."
"After that, I just say I have to sell them to show people leadership, to help my Ukrainian people to live better, to help kids."
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Despite having no military background, the 43-year-old, 6'10" ex-hooper -- equipped with his binoculars and AK-47 -- has served in Ukraine's territorial defense during the war.
As Medvedenko continues to help Ukraine during the war with Russia, he's already plotting how he can use sports to restore some normalcy and return prosperity to his war-torn country.
“After the victory, we will definitely return to that question of quality changes in sport,” Slava said. “Ten years in the United States, I saw how it works. I hope I have [the] ideal model in my mind to change Ukrainian sport.”
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Elon Musk Denies Reported Affair ... I Haven't Had Sex in Forever!!!
12:43 PM PT -- Elon's denying WSJ's report, responding to the article with a tweet and photo of himself and Sergey.
Elon Musk is denying a report claiming he had an affair with a fellow techie billionaire's wife -- and claims the truth is ... he hasn't banged anyone in a while.
The Tesla chief responded to a WSJ story from this weekend, which cited sources saying Elon had hooked up with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The paper says they had a fling in December 2021, when Nicole and Sergey were separated.
This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022 @elonmusk
I’ve only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic.
But, Musk's calling BS -- he tweeted Sunday he'd just seen Sergey at a shindig this weekend, and that he'd only encountered Nicole a handful of times in person ... none of which he says were romantic in nature.
Elon also says he's so damn busy lately, working long hours, that he doesn't have time for "shenanigans" -- also noting to some in his Twitter replies that he hasn't had sex "in ages."
We're not so sure about that -- fact is, dude is popping out kids left and right these days.
Yeah, the character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but the articles are all nothing-burgers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2022 @elonmusk
I work crazy hours, so there just isn’t much time for shenanigans.
None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed!
In any case, Elon says the entire rumor is nonsense and chalks up the Journal putting this out as another effort to hurt him and his company, calling it a short-selling ploy.
Nicole and Sergey haven't commented on the story -- another factor Elon says is suspicious ... namely, no one going on the record or being interviewed for the piece.
Originally Published -- 7:56 AM PT
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Xzibit's Estranged Wife He's Lying About Finances ... He Can Afford Spousal Support!!!
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Xzibit is lying to the court about his financial situation simply to avoid writing some big checks to his estranged wife for spousal support ... at least according to her.
The former "Pimp My Ride" star's estranged wife, Krista Joiner, claims in new legal docs Xzibit is making it seem like he's fallen on tough times when in reality he's got millions in cash.
In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Krista claims Xzibit's brother told her he takes home over $1 million a month from cannabis companies and stores the cash in multiple locations using bank-sized vaults. She says the bro also told her he personally stored $20 million for Xzibit in various vaults and brings X cash on demand.
In the docs, she paints a much different financial picture of Xzibit than he has. As we first reported, the rapper claims he isn't making any money from his weed ventures and is struggling to make ends meet.
Xzibit's Wife Files for Divorce
Krista, who filed for divorce in February 2021, also says X is lying about her going behind his back to get a new lease on a 2021 Bentley, dragging her feet on the sale of the family home and living in the mansion with her new boyfriend.
She claims Xzibit is full of baloney ... and she's accusing him of trying to sway the court's opinion so he doesn't have to cut her huge monthly checks.
His estranged wife says she's the one having a tough time financially ... claiming she recently lost her job and has no earnings to support herself or their son.
And, get this ... Krista claims Xzibit has been ignoring her requests for gas money, food and haircuts for their son, and says she had to go through attorneys to beg X to pay for their kid's inhalers.
We reached out to Xzibit's camp ... so far no word back.