Money

Someone's trophy case just got a whole lot cooler -- Roberto Clemente's Silver Bat award from 1964 just sold at auction ... and it came with a hefty price tag!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the awesome trophy given to the Pirates legend for having the highest batting average in the National League during his tenth season has a new owner after being made available at SCP Auctions this month.

Bidding closed over the weekend ... and the final number came out to be $307,500.

It was quite the popular item, as the bids skyrocketed over the final days of the auction.

As we previously reported, the Silver Bat -- inscribed with "BATTING CHAMPION 1964 NATIONAL LEAGUE B.A. .339" -- was modeled after Clemente's 34-inch Louisville Slugger bat ... and is made of 55.6 Troy ounces of silver.

Even though the award is more than half a century old, it's in great condition and only has a few blemishes.

A guy suing Future for copyright infringement just had his lawsuit kicked to the curb by a judge -- who apparently knows her hip hop ... 'cause her opinion is full of classic references.

Judge Martha Pacold dismissed a suit filed by a man named DaQuan Robinson -- who sued Future 2 years ago for what he claimed was a lot of lifted elements from the guy's song "When I Think About It" ... which he says mirrored his own track, "When U Think About It."

Robinson alleged he'd emailed a draft of the song to Future's team before the official version came out -- and claims Future's track ended up being eerily similar to his original tune.

Specifically, Robinson claimed Future's song touched on a lot of the same content his track did -- namely, guns, money and jewelry -- but Judge Pacold cut him off there ... saying those general themes are not protected by copyright -- and are omnipresent throughout rap.

To make her point, she cites countless examples where these topics are addressed ... such as Biggie's 'Machine Gun Funk,' 'Wu-Tang Clan's 'C.R.E.A.M.' and even Kanye's 'Diamonds from Sierra Leone.' In all of those, she says, these references exist ... and therefore, they're part of the larger hip hop well of content that no one person can claim copyright to in a given song.

The judge didn't even get to the point about Robinson claiming he sent his tune to Future beforehand because the court found the two songs weren't substantially similar enough for it to matter anyway.

There's more musical shout-outs beyond this, too -- including a nod to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Neil Young, that is). Specifically, the judge mentions their song "Our House" to dispute Robinson's claim about Future's alleged misuse of a "core lyric" that he thought was the same as his.

Basically, she says core lyrics are yet another basic element of songwriting ... and not subject to copyright protection in and of itself.

Bottom line ... there isn't enough there to claim copyright infringement -- and the judge ruled in Future's favor -- tossing Robinson's claim with prejudice. He can appeal if he wants to.

Sam Asghari has his sights set on his acting career in the midst of his divorce from Britney Spears ... and we're told his family's been a pretty big priority, too, in recent weeks.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Sam, who's a SAG-AFTRA member, is planning on continuing with acting gigs when the actors' strike comes to an end. In addition to playing characters, we're told he's interested in hosting gigs.

We're told he wasn't in the middle of any projects before the strike, and obviously has nothing in the pipeline as Hollywood remains shut down, but that's where his head's at.

BTW, Sam's got no plans to get back into the personal training game -- something he'd been doing at L.A.'s Royal Personal Training when he and Britney started dating.

Apart from work, sources say Sam's been focused on spending time with his family ... mainly taking care of his mom in L.A. She came home from the hospital a few weeks ago and needs the help. She was injured in an accident but is on the mend.

Sam filed for divorce from Brit last week after getting into a massive fight over claims she cheated on him.

There's been a lot going on since the relationship was called off -- they've cut off communications, and agreed on custody of their 5 dogs ... but the big, unsettled issue is whether Sam will challenge their prenup.

For more Britney news be sure to check out our new podcast, "Fake Or Fact: Britney Spears," available on all podcast platforms!

'Barbie' has been beaten out for the second weekend in a row -- but not by much ... if anything, her competitors are barely squeaking by -- which says a lot about this juggernaut.

The box office numbers are in, and the latest big movie to hit theaters this weekend was "Gran Turismo" -- the film based on the video game, which chronicles the true story about how a gamer turned into a professional race car driver ... all from picking up a controller.

The movie -- starring Archie Madekwe, David Harbour and Orlando Bloom -- took first place, raking in only $17.3 million domestically ... this just ahead of 'Barbie's' $17.1 mil.

What that tells you ... people are still flocking to see Margot Robbie and co., even 5 weeks later. In other words, 'Barbie' has a lot of staying power -- and it continues to dominate.

Last week, WB's other release -- the superhero flick 'Blue Beetle' -- was the first to dethrone 'Barbie' from the top spot ... but, again, it did so by a hair. 'BB' made just $25 million or so during its debut weekend, only $4M-$5M more than 'Barbie' did that same weekend.

So, even then ... 'Barbie' still performed quite well, and that's likely to be the case for these next few weeks.

The immediate upcoming blockbusters that'll have a shot at 'Barbie' include ... Denzel in 'The Equalizer 3' (Sep. 1), 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' and 'The Nun II (Sep. 8) and finally ... 'A Haunting in Venice' (Sep. 15). After that, there'll be a lot more heavyweights heading into October ... which will almost certainly knock 'Barbie' down a few pegs in the rankings.

Bottom line here is pretty simple ... 'Barbie' has proven to be the smash hit of the year (thus far), and it's rolling in the dough and then some as it continues to attract ticket sales. No word when it'll be on streaming services -- at this rate, Warner shouldn't be in a rush.

Diddy opened up his wallet this weekend to bolster Black entrepreneurs and creatives while in the Atlanta area -- and he did it with a 7-figure amount that's sure to have a huge impact.

The media mogul was in town this weekend, first stopping off at an event called Invest Fest -- hosted by the Earn Your Leisure network, which offers a platform to up-and-coming Black creators and venture capitalists -- where Diddy was front and center fielding questions.

While there, he made a big announcement ... Diddy's launching an investment fund with EYL brass -- founders Rashad Bilal/Troy Millings -- to kick-start financial strategies immediately ... which will undoubtedly help their growing user base and sprawling roster of talent.

Diddy says, "I'm thrilled to join forces with Earn Your Leisure. We're going beyond discussing finances and taking action to demystify the world of investing for our community." He also said any profits from this will go toward his 3 charter schools on the East Coast.

Like we said, the fund is going to pay for educational tools and resources that teach young Black investors how to properly diversify their portfolios, and how to get their businesses off the ground ... so, a great cause. Diddy didn't stop there, though ... he donated another mil.

He also stopped off at the Cricket MEAC-SWAC Challenge Kickoff in the ATL, and followed through on a pledge he made last year ... donating a million bucks to Jackson State University Football, which will be doled out over the years in regular installments.

Royalty and Reality converged Saturday night when Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, and Meghan Markle's Mom, Doria Ragland, rubbed elbows!

The three hit up a splashy annual charity event -- This is About Humanity, which raises awareness and helps separated families at the border.

There were lots of others who hit up the event, including Eva Longoria, Jeff Bezos, and Lauren Sanchez.

The event was hosted by Henry Winkler and his daughter, Zoe Winkler Reinis, who co-founded the org back in 2018.

Taylor Swift's international popularity was pretty obvious Saturday night in Mexico ... not only did she fill the venue, there were hundreds of fans who sat outside on bleachers ... just to get an earful.

Taylor performed in Mexico City Saturday night -- she's had 4 shows in the country -- and it seems there wasn't a venue big enough to satisfy all the Swifties.

The next best thing to seeing Taylor is hearing her, and that they did. Hundreds of fans plopped down to hear the Eras concert. The bleachers were actually filled to capacity and people were turned away.

During the show, Taylor began the show with "Hola!" ... and encouraged her dancers to speak Spanish during the show.

She told the crowd ... "Welcome to the acoustic section! Can I say that, to everyone in the back, you are absolutely incredible. I've been watching you all night. You've been so into it."

Her surprise song last night -- "Cornelia Street."  That was a big deal, and Taylor knew it, telling the crowd, “You guys have been beyond patient and supportive, and it’s taken us this long to come here and play for you, So I wanted to give you a song tonight that a lot of fans have been requesting the whole tour.”

Beyoncé's most loyal fans are in full panic mode after she asked them to wear chrome to her upcoming concerts ... and we've learned that's prompted a mad scramble online for silver clothing.

We spoke with several businesses on Etsy, and they tell us concertgoers have been messaging online shops, desperately trying to find the perfect outfit to please their queen, and one of the biggest challenges is getting it shipped, STAT!

We're told chrome outfits are sellin' like hotcakes, with items as expensive as a $112 shirt already low in stock.

Sequin Fans, one of the hot-selling companies -- says it's seen a 200% sales increase in silver apparel and a 400% bump in overall traffic.

Radiancy Designs saw more than 4 times its usual traffic after Bey posted her request, with 80% of that coming from folks searching "Renaissance Tour"-related keywords.

In case ya missed it, Beyoncé raved about her concerts thus far, and asked fans to celebrate her upcoming birthday by wearing "your most fabulous silver fashions" as her world tour nears the end.

"Kid, you have no idea how much money you're gonna make."

That's what UFC president Dana White told "Suga" Sean O'Malley as the newly crowned champion stood in the Octagon with the UFC honcho after defeating the great Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292.

28-year-old O'Malley joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show on Friday ... and chopped it up about all things Aljo, how life's changed since becoming champ, reaching Conor McGregor levels of fame, his offer to train Henry Cejudo in wrestling, and what he wants next!

"Chito was acting like he earned a title shot. I think he even tweeted he was the most exciting bantamweight which is just bonkers. I don't know how he sees that. He needs to settle down a little bit, cause I do have options.

"Henry, I pretend like is an option, realistically it's not. He lost his last fight. Alexandre Pantoja, the 125 lb. champ, throwing my name out there a little bit. That's an option. Merab's an option. I might just wait for Cory [Sandhagen] if Chito's gonna act like he earned a title shot."

FYI, Sean and Chito have history. The men fought in 2020, and Vera won. It's O'Malley's lone career loss.

(We also talked to Chito about his win over Pedro, and a possible fight with Suga.)

Sean says there's a way for Vera to lock down the fight, but it'll involve eating a little crow first and saying something along the lines of ... "Ya know what Suga, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it, but I appreciate you.

"If he came at it like that I would think about it more. But the fact that he's tweeting, 'I earned that' and stuff, it's throwing me off a bit. I got options. I'm not too worried about it."

Of course, Sean dropped Aljamain with a perfectly placed straight right about 30 seconds into the second round, and after some effective ground and pound, the fight was stopped by ref Marc Goddard ... and just like that, O'Malley was Bantamweight champion.

As for how life has changed ... Sean says while he was a star before winning the title, he's now more than just a big deal amongst MMA fans.

"I kind of had everything-ish before 'champ status,' but definitely getting recognized way more in public by random people you wouldn't think were fight fans. The casuals that don't watch the fight, watched that fight," Suga said.

Speaking of fame and making money ... we also talked to Sean about acting (he's received movie offers) and whether he believes he will ever fight Aljo again.

Courtney Stodden says folks shouldn't be spending money on Chrissy Teigen's new child wagon ... and she'd never support someone who told kids like her to take a "dirt nap."

We got Courtney in L.A. and asked what she thought about folks bagging on Chrissy's new stroller wagon, given the toxic history ... and while she claims to have moved on, she had some stern words for anyone looking to buy.

Courtney tells us she's gone through hell over the years, thanks to Chrissy -- and the irony is blinding ... selling a children's product when she was an online bully to kids.

BTW, we ask Court if folks need to move on, or if Chrissy's review-bomb is fair game ... check out her response.

As we reported, Chrissy's collab with Wonderfold has been flooded with 1-star reviews ... and many of the reviews are all about the celeb attached to the product.

One wrote, "To sell a product with its purpose to be used with CHILDREN, you chose a "woman" who told a CHILD (Courtney Stodden) to kill herself?!"

You'll recall, Chrissy had a bit of a mean streak in the past, especially with Courtney, who was a teenager at the time. Chrissy tweeted, "Go. to sleep. forever," and "I hate you."

The barbs came at the time Courtney was married to actor Doug Hutchison, tying the knot when she was 16 and he was 51.

R. Kelly's former victims have been awarded millions for threats leveled against some of his victims who appeared in the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, 6 of the disgraced singer's victims are getting a total of about $10.5 million from Kelly and his former manager, Donnell Russell. The women had sued Kelly and Russell for their successful effort to shut down a December 2018 NYC screening of 'Surviving.'

They alleged the defendants waged a campaign, starting back in May 2018, to intimidate the women, A&E/Lifetime and the producers to stop screening the docuseries. When those efforts, including legal threats, failed ... they claimed Kelly's camp called producers on the night of the NYC screening and said someone was "going to shoot up the place."

The fake mass shooting threat worked, as the event was shut down -- and according to the victims, it all opened up past trauma and resulted in them suffering PTSD and panic attacks.

The judgment against Kelly and Russell means each of the 6 women should get anywhere between $1.1 million and $2.25 million. The question is will they ever get a dime of that?

The good news for them is R. Kelly's music is still generating revenue. As we reported, just over $500k of his royalties from Universal Music Group are going to pay restitution he owed victims from one of his federal sex crimes cases.

Foodgod, AKA Jonathan Cheban, is taking a Korean BBQ sauce company to court ... claiming one of the glass bottles burst into shards, slicing his hand clean open.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jonathan says he bought a glass bottle of San-J’s Korean barbeque sauce from a grocery store in Florida in October 2020 -- putting it in his fridge at home -- and taking it out a few hours later while making dinner.

However, Jonathan, repped by attorney Levi McCathern, claims the bottle "inexplicably exploded" in his hand when he took it out of the fridge, with one of the big shards causing quite the gash on his hand ... allegedly causing "significant blood loss."

Jonathan says he has the pictures included in the lawsuit showing he never even opened the bottle before it burst -- insisting the twist cap's seal was still intact after his hand got sliced open.

He also says he had to get numerous stitches and suffered nerve damage and ongoing pain in his hand ... and he claims the cut was just inches from "major arteries in his wrist."

Jonathan claims he's suffered losses like the "ability to use his hand in his social media posts, in his advertisements, and in his ability to sponsor various food items."

He's now suing the manufacturer of both the sauce and the bottle, as well as the distributor and the store he bought it from ... and is asking for a whopping $20 million for the big slice.

For what it's worth, pics from what would've been days after the alleged incident showed him in pretty great spirits ... dressing up as Joe Exotic with Kim Kardashian and her kiddos.

Oliver Anthony -- the singer whose "Rich Men North of Richmond" currently sits at the top of the charts -- says his message has been clouded, and despite what many may want to think, he's not a political pawn to be used by conservatives.

The Virginia native got candid in a self-taped video just a couple days after the GOP played his song during the first debate for Presidential hopefuls.

Anthony says it's funny because he wrote his hit song about the very people on stage and how they've lost their care and consideration for the common, working man.

The country-folk singer notes his message is bigger than one political party, noting, "It's aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I'm one of them."

Anthony's song seems to take aim at politicians as a whole, not a specific side of the aisle, he notes, "That song has nothing to do with Joe Biden, it's a lot bigger than Joe Biden."

He says, "I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me. I guess in retaliation. That s***'s gotta stop."

Kevin Costner's getting off easy paying $129k per month in child support ... according to Christine Baumgartner who wants that number increased to ensure their kids keep living large when they're with her.

Christine filed docs, obtained by TMZ, asking the court to reconsider the amount of child support Kevin pays due to 2 factors -- 1. making sure the kids enjoy the same lifestyle with both parents, and 2. what she's learned about how much money Kevin's been making.

She lays it out in the docs, explaining their 4 children live in a beach compound with their dad that's worth between $65 million and $95 mil ... and they also fly private on luxury vacations with Kevin.

You'll recall, Kevin took the kids to Aspen last month -- right after Christine had them in Hawaii. She says Kevin needs to pay sufficient child support "so that the children can go on comparable vacations when they are with her. This is true even if the child support payments also improve Christine's lifestyle."

Christine says that's simply the standard required by California family code. Based on that alone, she says the $129k/month won't cut it, and she's instead estimating $175,057/month.

And by the way, Christine says that's a deal because that higher amount "will not be sufficient to replicate Kevin's lifestyle, but it will be sufficient to allow her to provide a lifestyle for the children which is relatively comparable."

Now, as for Kevin's income ... she says his average cash flow for the last 2 years was $19,248,467 each year, or more than $1.6 million each month. Based on them having 50/50 custody of the kids, she claims California guidelines require Kevin to pay that $175k/mo. she's requesting.

And, she paints a very green picture of Kevin's career ... claiming he made $11 million for Season 4 of "Yellowstone," and $10 mil for Season 5. Plus, she says he's scheduled to make $12 million for his upcoming "Horizon" film, and another $12 mil for the sequel which has already been greenlit.

By the way, Christine's been house hunting -- she says she's currently living in a vacation rental, but in September she's moving into a month-to-month rental in Montecito for $40k/month.

What to do when you're super hot, rich and famous ... get on a yacht in your favorite bikini with some of your best gal pals, of course!!!

Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Lori Harvey and Justine Skye rented out a beautiful yacht and hit the blue water in Cabo San Lucas Thursday. Plenty of smiles all around as the women got some sun and splashed around in the ocean before some serious girl time onboard.

There was plenty to drink too -- thanks to Kendall's 818 Tequila Brand -- with a few bottles on the yacht, and shots getting passed around.

No sign of any famous boyfriends or husbands in the area, like Justin Bieber or Bad Bunny, but that didn't seem to matter at all ... everyone was having a great time.

Remember, Kendall was recently spotted at the Drake show in Los Angeles with Bad Bunny and sister, Kim Kardashian.

Forget game-worn memorabilia ... how about a leather outfit rocked by an NBA legend?!

Wilt Chamberlain's two-piece disco suit, worn by oner of the coolest athletes of all time, is on the block at SCP Auctions ... and is expected to sell for a pretty penny (bids start at $20k)!

SCP described the suit as one of the "most unique" items from the Big Dipper ... a fit he not only wore on multiple occasions including during a visit to the Playboy Mansion, but he was also photographed in the threads over the years.

The blazer and pants are in "wearable condition" and come with horse hair and feather tassels attached. Instead of buttons, the designer used stones and leather.

"This suit certainly aligns with Chamberlain's larger-than-life attitude," SCP said, "and can be photo-matched to multiple images of Wilt enjoying the nightlife in the 70s."

SCP got its hands on the rare fit from a private owner who obtained it at auction in the early 2000s.

Of course, anything worn by Wilt is gonna cost you ... the Philadelphia-born baller, a 4x league MVP, is considered one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball.

Wilt earned many accolades during his 14-year career. He made 13 All-Star teams, was a 7x scoring champion and 11x rebounding champion. He won 2 NBA titles and was the Rookie of the Year. Chamberlain could do whatever he wanted on the court.

Off the court, Wilt was known for his alleged exploits with the opposite sex ... claiming to have slept with over 20,000 women. With the disco suit, we're inclined to believe him.