Money

The Reign Man ... is now the Strain Man -- because ex-NBA star Shawn Kemp is officially in the marijuana business.

The 50-year-old Seattle SuperSonics legend is opening Shawn Kemp's Cannabis in Seattle on Oct. 30 -- a shop poised to become the first Black-owned dispensary in the city.

In fact, Kemp's even hosting former Sonics teammate, Gary Payton, at next week's grand opening.

"I'm looking forward to welcoming Sonics fans on a regular basis, starting with opening day," Kemp said in a statement.

"I hope that Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis will be an inspiration for people to get involved with the legal cannabis industry, especially people of color."

Oh, and if you have trouble finding the store ... it's the one with the giant mural of Shawn Kemp on the side!

Kemp isn't going at this alone ... he's got 2 partners who have already had weed success co-founding a business called Main Street Marijuana, one of the top pot shops in the area since 2014.

Kemp -- a 6-time NBA All-Star -- played for Seattle from '89 to '97 and was known for being one of the exciting players in the league.

"My name is on this company and I have worked hard to bring Shawn Kemp’s Cannabis to fruition," Kemp said. "I want to provide nothing short of the best selection, customer experience and prices in Seattle."

Gene Simmons is ready to get the hell outta Beverly Hills after nearly 4 decades ... and he's looking to unload his mansion, which is primed for the rock star lifestyle.

The KISS frontman just listed his two-acre estate in beautiful Benedict Canyon for a cool $22 million ... which gets ya 7 bedrooms and 16,000-square-feet of pure luxury.

Gene's pad comes tricked out with a 60-foot water slide, parking for 35 cars, and a professional size tennis court. Yeah, rock star status. He's also got an incredible collection of KISS memorabilia ... but he's taking that with him.

The inside of Gene's custom mansion is super lavish too, complete with chandeliers, coffered ceilings and several balconies and decks overlooking the manicured grounds.

No money, Mo problems ...

Boris Becker appeared in a London courtroom Thursday to plead not guilty to allegations he's been hiding several tennis trophies from debt collectors.

... another bizarre twist in one of the weirdest falls from grace ever.

Remember, Becker -- a former tennis superstar who made more than $25 mil in his career -- was declared bankrupt in 2017 after racking up what court officials called a "historic debt."

52-year-old Becker was later ordered to surrender any possessions of value to a trustee -- who could in turn sell the items to help satisfy the debt. It's common practice in bankruptcy cases.

Among the items, Becker was ordered to hand over ... his Wimbledon trophies from 1985 and 1989 and his Australian Open trophies from 1991 and 1996.

FYI, Becker was only 17 when he won Wimbledon in '85 -- making him the youngest men's singles champ ever.

In other words, the trophy is probably super valuable to collectors.

But, Becker allegedly failed to hand over the trophies -- along with roughly $1.3 million in cash ... so prosecutors have pushed forward with criminal charges in a new 28-count indictment.

If convicted, Becker reportedly faces several years behind bars. This is a big deal.

Becker's attorney, Jonathan Caplan, says the tennis star is "determined to face and contest these charges and restore his reputation in relation to the allegations made against him."

Yeah, good luck with that.

By the way, Becker has allegedly tried to run from his debt in the past -- back in 2018, he claimed to have a diplomatic passport from the Central African Republic that would give him immunity in his bankruptcy case in the UK.

The insane mansion Wayne Gretzky sold to Lenny Dykstra back in the day -- only to buy back years later -- is back on the market ... with the NHL legend asking a cool $23 mil!

The property is legendary ... Wayne built the 13,300-square-foot estate in Thousand Oaks, CA back in 2002 and sold it to Dykstra in 2007 for $18.5 million.

Remember, at the time Dykstra was being hailed as some sort of financial genius ... when in reality, he wasn't.

The ex-MLB star filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and the bank foreclosed on the home soon after.

The home was bought at a foreclosure auction in 2010 -- only to hit the market again years later. Gretzky swooped in and picked it up in 2018 for $13.5 mil.

Now, Gretzky is selling it again -- asking $22.9 ... which (if he gets full asking) would put a cool $9.4 mil in his pocket.

NO WONDER THEY CALL HIM THE GREAT ONE!!

As for the house ... it's pretty rad. 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms -- plus 2 guest houses.

It's got a screening room, gym, game room, office, championship tennis court, outdoor entertainment area, wood-burning pizza oven, wood and gas barbecue, and formal gardens, according to the listing from Arvin Haddadzadeh of The Agency.

Rick Ross seems to be following Kanye West's Wyoming blueprint, because he just scooped up a huge chunk of property ... to expand his Promise Land in Georgia.

The rapper dropped $1 million to become the proud new owner of 87 acres in Fayetteville, GA ... not far from the multi-million dollar mansion he calls home.

Da Boss's large plot of land -- located about 20 miles outside of Atlanta -- comes with 2 houses on the property that could be renovated for Rick to live in, or could be used as rentals.

Mitt Conerly of Metro West Realty brokered the sale. We're told Ross made the purchase as a property investment ... it's adjacent to his estate.

Rick's 87-acre purchase is a BIG deal, and reminiscent of Kayne's Wyoming land grab just over a year ago -- although Ye's plot covered several thousand acres.

And, if you're wondering ... yes, the compound Ross owns nearby is what you'd expect from the "Hustlin'" hip hop artist. That compound features an astonishing 109 rooms, including 12 bedrooms and 21 bathrooms.

It used to belong to Evander Holyfield, but Rick scored it in 2014 for $5.8 mil after a bank had foreclosed on it.

Eddie Van Halen's sadly gone, but this one-of-a-kind piece of rock 'n' roll history helps his legend live on ... and it's going up for grabs soon.

The iconic guitarist had the red, white and black Charvel guitar -- similar to his famed Frankenstrat, AKA "Frankenstein," he played for decades -- custom-built for Van Halen's 2007-2008 North American Tour.

The tour's known for reuniting original lead singer, David Lee Roth, with the band -- along with the debut of Eddie's son, Wolfgang, on the bass -- and for being their most profitable tour ever.

We're told this particular guitar was the only one personally crafted by EVH for the tour, making it truly unique, and was played by the rocker during Van Halen's concert at Seattle's KeyArena on December 3, 2007.

After the show, Eddie signed and dated the body of the guitar with a thick silver marker, so a protective clear strip's been added to protect his John Hancock and inscription.

The piece comes with a custom EVH case, a signed certificate of authenticity and a great photo of the legend doing what he did best ... shredding on stage.

According to Heritage Auctions, it's expected to go for more than $20,000, but we're thinking it could go a lot higher given he was one of the greatest guitarists in music history. Bidding opens next week for its Nov. 14-15 Entertainment Auction, so if you want it ... might as well jump.

Joe Exotic's still managing to piss off Carole Baskin even from behind bars ... she's got beef over her old nemesis' new underwear line.

Here's the deal ... Joe's selling limited-edition "Casket Baskin Briefs" as part of the men's underwear line of his "REVENGE" fashion collection with Odaingerous streetwear ... but Carole's not feeling it.

Carole's legal team fired off a cease and desist letter to Joe and the folks at Odaingerous, obtained by TMZ, claiming Joe and the brand have no right to make money off her name.

She's threatening legal action if Odaingerous doesn't pull the merch. Carole is also demanding a full accounting of any sales they've made off merch featuring or referring to her name or likeness.

As we first told you ... Joe's underwear line is selling like hotcakes, and the top seller is the 'Casket Baskin' boxer briefs, which are going for $29 a pop. So, there could be a lot of money at stake here.

Terrence Howard claims he's getting hustled because 20th Century Fox is using his likeness from "Hustle & Flow" to promote "Empire" ... so now he's suing the studio.

Terrence -- who played Lucious Lyon on all 6 seasons of "Empire" -- just filed a lawsuit claiming 20th Century Fox gave him the runaround when asked how it came up with the "Empire" logo ... since he never sat down for a photoshoot.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Terrence says he ultimately determined the image was taken from the "Hustle & Flow" scene where "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" is being recorded in a studio.

According to the docs ... Terrence says "the still frame was selected, reversed (face looking left, not right), and subjected to CGI that simply distilled the cinematographer’s skilled capture of the head with vibrant light and shadow” to make the 'Empire' logo.

Terrence is upset because he says he would have gotten paid by Paramount -- the studio behind "Hustle & Flow" -- if 20th Century Fox got a proper license to use his image from the movie. He's suing for damages and wants an accounting of all the Empire merch using the logo.

LSU has banned Odell Beckham from its facilities for the next 2 years for his antics at the 2019 National Championship game ... when the NFL star handed out $2,000 in $100 bills to LSU players.

You remember the video ... Odell -- who played at LSU back in the day -- was going crazy on the field after LSU beat Clemson on Jan. 13, 2020 ... throwing around money like he didn't care.

Guess what ... LSU cared and so does the NCAA -- since it's against the rules to just hand out money to college players like that.

LSU believes the Odell money incident constitutes a Level III violation, according to SI.com.

Remember, LSU initially told the media Odell was handing out fake money that night -- but it turned out to be real.

In fact, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow later confirmed it was real cash during an episode of the Barstool Sports podcast, "Pardon My Take."

LSU says Odell is now banned from all LSU facilities for the next 2 years.

LSU has bigger problems ... they're also accused of several other NCAA violations, which could cost them scholarships and more.

The University has self-imposed penalties -- including the loss of 8 scholarships over the next 2 years -- in the hopes of getting a lighter punishment from the NCAA. We'll see if the strategy works.

The school released a statement Wednesday saying, "LSU has worked proactively and in cooperation with the NCAA to identify and self-report any violations that occurred within our football program."

It's rewarding to be funny as hell ... Russell Peters just unloaded his Hidden Hills crib for a boatload of money.

Russell's 8-bedroom, 9-bathroom crib in an exclusive guard-gated neighborhood in Hidden Hills just sold for $7.8 million. The 11,638-square-foot crib sits on 1.4 acres. Russell must be a huge car guy ... cause the property also features parking for 20+ vehicles!

The pics of the place are insane ... dual curved staircases in the grand entry, a 14-seat movie theater to screen his next standup special, plus a wet bar, billiard room, gym and sauna.

Basically, everything someone needs to throw ridiculous parties.

Dr. Dre's wife wants the rap mogul to put up or shut up about his so-called "ironclad prenup" as their divorce war rages on.

Nicole Young filed legal docs demanding Dre turn over the original version of the "ironclad prenup" upon which he's basing his whole divorce case. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, she says Dre's failed to produce the prenup even though the law is clear he must turn over all relevant financial, business and personal documents.

She says because Dre hasn't produced it ... she doesn't know which version of the alleged prenup he's referring to, and calls his refusal to share the info an "intentional abuse" of the divorce process.

Nicole says they got married long before they amassed the billion-dollar fortune that's now at stake -- and claims they stayed together for more than 24 years, despite Dre's "rampant and repeated marital misconduct." She doesn't offer any detail about the alleged "misconduct."

As we reported ... Nicole's already claimed she was pressured into signing the prenup back in 1996. Not to mention, she claims he tore up the prenup 2 years into the marriage, and said "he felt ashamed he had pressured me into signing." Nicole insists they've both said it was "null and void" ever since then.

Her new filing seems to be a challenge of sorts to Dre. Basically, since you acted like you tore it up 22 years ago, let me see what you're talking about now. For the record, Dre denies ever tearing it up.

Still, her request for the prenup does seem like a bit of gamesmanship ... because whoever her lawyer was when she signed the prenup should have copies.

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje is tracking to be the biggest fight in UFC history ... bigger than any Conor McGregor fight ... so says Dana White.

We just spoke with the UFC honcho who tells us the data he's looked at shows massive interest in UFC 254 -- and he's expecting to break the 2.4 million PPV buys that Conor vs. Khabib did in 2018.

"Yeah, it's trending bigger than that right now," Dana says.

White says the data doesn't always hold up -- but right now, he's pretty confident.

For the record, 2.4 million buys at $65 a pop is $156 MILLION in PPV money alone ... so yeah, this is a big deal.

We also asked Dana about Khabib's comments to ESPN on Tuesday morning -- when the Dagestani said he's very interested in a fight with UFC legend Georges St-Pierre after he gets through Justin.

White says he's interested in exploring a possible deal -- but he's not making any promises.

"I'd be interested in talking about it. Just because that's what Khabib wants doesn't mean that fight can be made. I mean there's just so many things that have to come into play for that fight to happen."

As for Conor McGregor ... Dana tells us the contract to fight Dustin Poirier in January is NOT officially done at this point, but he's expecting it to happen soon.

"No, the deals not signed yet but in the history of dealing with Conor McGregor, Conor McGregor has never come out publicly and said 'I accept this fight' and not fought," White says ... "I expect the fight to go on."

Conor has said he wants the fight to take place at AT&T Stadium in Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones has said he's open to hosting a McGregor fight.

So, we asked Dana if there's a realistic chance that could happen.

White says the UFC has been trying to book a fight there for years but it just hasn't come to fruition -- and it definitely won't until Texas allows full capacity for fans.

Rich the Kid promised to promote Fashion Nova and mention the company in one of his tracks, but the clothing line says he took their money and ran ... according to a lawsuit.

Fashion Nova claims it struck a deal with Rich back in October 2018 for the rapper to exclusively promote the brand on social media, post pictures with its hashtags, and give the brand a shout-out in a song.

But, according to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Rich went ghost after getting a $100k advance. Fashion Nova says RTK was supposed to perform the contracted duties between October 2018 and December 2018, but to this day he's yet to come through ... much less reimburse the company for that fat advance.

As a result ... Fashion Nova claims it's suffered $2.1 million in damages and is suing the rapper for breaching his contract and making false promises.

Some of the big screen's most iconic props from the past 40 years are going up for grabs ... but some will cost as much as a small indie film's budget.

The world-famous Prop Store -- which houses an incredible collection of movie memorabilia -- will hold its annual live auction in early December ... and the props are expected to fetch $5.6 MILLION or more.

Though more than 900 items will be on the block, it's the big-ticket stuff that should really rake in the cash ... like Obi-Wan Kenobi's Hero Lightsaber from 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,' which Ewan McGregor wielded. Prop House expects that to sell for up to $155,000.

Then there's the more eccentric stuff, like the Joker's purple fedora from "Batman" -- worn by Jack Nicholson -- expected to go between $26-38k ... or the mechanical alien from 1979's sci-fi classic "Alien," expected to fetch $52-78k.

Want more? How about Maverick's bomber jacket from "Top Gun" -- worn by Tom Cruise -- or Marty McFly's futuristic jacket from "Back to the Future Part II" donned by Michael J. Fox? Both are expected to sell for $15-21k.

Other notable props include the boots Julia Roberts wore in "Pretty Woman," Brad Pitt's red leather jacket from "Fight Club," and the necktie of another Joker -- Heath Ledger -- from "The Dark Knight."

The NFL is NOT dropping the hammer on the Tennessee Titans for alleged COVID-19 protocol violations that may have led to an outbreak ... but they may have to cough up some cash.

24 members of the Titans organization -- including 13 players -- have tested positive for coronavirus since Sept. 24. Tennessee has been hit harder by the pandemic than any other team in the NFL.

During the outbreak, there were reports that several players met at a local school for an unauthorized workout which allegedly violated the NFL's COVID policy.

The NFL investigated those allegations -- along with other allegations -- and have finally wrapped up their probe, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter and others.

"NFL informed the Titans that their review now has concluded. Team was fully cooperative. Inspected facility and found it be in compliance," Schefter reported.

"There were incidents of people not wearing masks. There was insufficient communication regarding player workouts outside facility."

Aa for NFL punishment, people have speculated the NFL could go hard at the Titans to send a message to the rest of the league ... but Schefter says that's unlikely at this point.

"Individuals will not be disciplined, there is no discussion of forfeiture of draft picks. Titans’ organization will face a potential fine."

So, that's it -- ownership will likely cut a check ... and the team will continue the season as if nothing happened.

Michael Blackson's bummed the "Coming To America" sequel won't premiere on the big screen this holiday season ... but he thinks Amazon is making a savvy business move.

We got the comedian outside Catch in WeHo and our camera guy asked about Amazon Studios cutting a $125 million deal to stream "Coming 2 America."

Michael, who stars in the sequel, tells us he would prefer a big-screen premiere ... but he knows it just couldn't happen in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The movie's slated for its streaming debut the week before Christmas, and Michael says that's perfect timing ... theaters will likely remain shuttered, and folks will be home for the holidays and ready to watch something new.

Michael thinks Jeff Bezos' company just put Netflix on notice with this massive deal ... he says it's definitely going to bring extra eyeballs Amazon's way and it's all part of a bigger showdown with Netflix.