MTV

More trouble for MTV and its new 'Jersey Shore' project, as things have already come to a halt less than a week after production started ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to "Jersey Shore 2.0" tell us the new cast of housemates was ready to let loose in Atlantic City -- a house was already fitted with cameras, lighting and a security guard -- when everything suddenly came to a stop.

We've spoken with multiple people connected to the show who say one of the only explanations to pull the plug so suddenly would be an issue with the cast, either they just don't vibe or there was a behavioral issue. We are being told by one source production details are being worked out.

What's more, we got photos outside of the home from Friday showing black SUVs and the production equipment, but over the weekend, our sources say it was all packed up and taken away. So, whatever went wrong, it was sudden.

MTV will only confirm production has been "paused."

What's interesting ... MTV still hasn't announced who was going to be on "Jersey Shore 2.0" -- which is supposed to feature a younger crew than the OGs of Snooki, Pauly D, The Situation, JWoww, Vinny, Deena and Angelina.

Speaking of the OGs, they're probably pretty thrilled '2.0' has hit the skids ... they've made it VERY clear, they hate the concept.

When MTV announced the new venture, the 'Jersey Shore' stars bashed the network, saying, "... we are not in support of a version that will exploit our original show, our hard work and authenticity to gain viewers."

Xzibit is ready to bury the hatchet with MTV parent company Viacom over his "Pimp My Ride" legacy -- but says they first need to acknowledge he got screwed in the first place.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the West Coast vet after he unloaded on Viacom, claiming it's essentially erasing him from the show's history, and in the process, digging into his pockets!!!

X to the Z claims Viacom gave him the shaft by cutting his "image and likeness" from the show in order to get around paying him royalties over the years since the show was in production.

He says episodes cut for DVDs and streaming were also re-edited to remove his music, and DVD covers removed his image and likeness. We checked, and that tidbit appears to be true.

Xzibit was in his prime as a rapper when the show was shooting ... laying platinum albums with Dr. Dre and hitting sold-out shows with Eminem and Snoop Dogg, and he says his celebrity boosted the show's visibility.

In the suit, X calls Viacom's actions "petty," but he told us he's willing to move forward and still hopes to conduct business with them down the line.

American socialite and fashion influencer Olivia Palermo was just 22 years old when she was cast as one of MTV's chosen stars for 'The City' -- 'The Hills' spinoff series, which followed a young crowd as they journeyed their way through the fashion industry in New York City.

Joining Olivia in the dramatic experience was of course fellow Hills star Whitney Port as she ventured off to the Big Apple from Los Angeles, 'Brothers and Sisters' cast member and actress Roxy Olin and actor from VH1's 'Hit The Floor,' Adam Senn.

The cast of the new MTV series, "Buckhead Shore" is already getting too buck wild ... at least according to the cops who shut down their premiere party.

Sources close tell TMZ ... the cast threw a viewing party Thursday night in Buckhead, so they could watch the premiere with all their friends. That all came to a screeching halt once police got a bunch of noise complaints about the event.

Officers responded around 11:30 PM, and we're told they found a loud party in full swing ... with cars lining both sides of the street and blocking traffic.

Once police told the folks inside about the pissed-off neighbors and parking problems, they shut down the party -- and no one from the cast played the ol' "don't you know who I am" card. Sure sign it's a new show.

The guests removed their vehicles, without incident, and cops didn't have to ticket anyone.

"Selling Sunset" Star Chrishell Stause has some new gold, and used her MTV victory moment to thank fans for overwhelming support after going public about dating G Flip.

Chrishell was awarded best reality star at the "MTV Movie and TV Awards: Unscripted" ceremony Sunday night, and admitted she was worried her fans wouldn't be cool with her true self after announcing it to the world.

She says she was nominated before she opened up about her sexuality, and didn't know if that would impact her chances -- but she's clearly taking the win as a show of support from fans.

G Flip was at the award show and planted a big kiss on Chrishell to celebrate her taking home the trophy. Interestingly, her costar, and ex-bf, Jason Oppenheim was in the crowd too ... along with the rest of her castmates.

Travis Barker did NOT hurl a homophobic slur when he was getting pranked on Ashton Kutcher's old MTV show ... so says the actor from a resurfaced clip that's stirring up controversy.

Here's the deal ... Kourtney Kardashian's husband is getting slammed online by folks who claim he used the f-word in an old clip from "Punk'd."

In the resurfaced clip, Travis is having dinner with Shanna Moakler when an actor posing as a waiter comes to the table and starts flirting with her, pretending they used to date.

Travis gets pissed and tells the server, "Yeah, she usually dates (bleep)" ... and it sets off a heated confrontation, with the waiter saying he didn't appreciate the term.

There's online speculation the MTV show bleeped out a slur ... but the actor playing the waiter in the episode, Ahmed Ahmed, tells us that's not the case. Instead, he says Travis exclaimed, "f***ing a**holes."

Ahmed says the Blink-182 drummer was totally cool once Ashton came out and let him know he was being pranked.

For those who might not buy Ahmed's story ... he doubts Travis would have signed the release forms allowing the clip to air on TV if he had actually said what people are accusing him of saying.

The cast of "Jersey Shore" has done a lot for MTV -- but now, they've pissed the network off ... with a statement denouncing a new, younger version of the popular reality show.

If you didn't know, MTV announced earlier this week it would be adding a revamped version of the classic, with an all-new cast, to the network's upcoming programming -- a cast in the age range of the OG "Jersey Shore" stars when they started out way back in the day.

Clearly, that didn't sit well with The Situation, Snooki, JWoww, DJ Pauly D, Vinny, Deena or Angelina ... who all posted the same statement slamming the new show, saying, "... we are not in support of a version that will exploit our original show, our hard work and authenticity to gain viewers."

We've spoken to high-level sources at MTV who say show and network honchos were not only blindsided ... they're PISSED, calling the cast "ungrateful" and saying, "It's disgusting they'd take a swipe at the network."

Not only that ... they say the cast's claim MTV was struggling before airing "JS" just isn't true, and was an uncalled-for low blow.

We should mention ... the OG cast isn't going anywhere, at least not yet, and their "Jersey Shore Family Vacation" still has a home on the network.

Can't say the cast never had a shortage of drama ... and here's more proof.

Selena Gomez has teamed up with President Biden and his administration to put a spotlight on mental health ... with the help of youth who are also speaking up on the issue.

The singer was on hand Wednesday at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to deliver remarks and help lead a conversation with the newly formed Mental Health Youth Action Forum ... which was put together courtesy of MTV and Rare Beauty's Rare Impact Fund.

Selena was intro'd by Dr. Jill Biden, and then outlined why she was doing this ... and why it was important to empower people to discuss mental health more openly.

The whole idea of this is to end the stigma surrounding mental health, while also propping up young leaders who work in the field ... via advocacy, entrepreneurship or both. It appears some of those folks were actually sitting around as SG spoke -- it was a packed house.

Some of the things Selena and co. are hoping to achieve with this new forum include changing labor laws to be more sensitive to mental health needs -- including getting extra PTO specifically for mental health, which would be treated almost like sick days.

London native and singer Natasha Bedingfield was just 23 years old when she took over 2004 with her debut album "Unwritten" which included the hit tracks "Unwritten," "I Bruise Easily" and "These Words."

The popular songs topped the Billboard Hot 100 and "Unwritten" became the opening theme song for MTV's "The Hills" starring Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari. Natasha continued to make top hits including "Pocketful of Sunshine" and "Love Like This."

The talented musician got married in 2009 and welcomed her son in 2017.

"Today is where your book begins ... the rest is still unwritten."

Former MTV 'Making The Band' star Chopper has been busted for sex trafficking ... with law enforcement accusing him of being a pimp.

Chopper was arrested earlier this month in Maryland and he's being extradited to Las Vegas to face sex trafficking charges in Sin City.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, an undercover vice detective in Nevada posing as a sex worker says Chopper direct messaged them on Instagram with an apparent offer to make money through prostitution.

The undercover cop says they searched Chopper's IG account and noticed several posts related to prostitution and pimping, including posts where Chopper flaunted wealth and made references to being a pimp ... including one image of him inside a plane with a phone alongside the caption, "Sending em," with a money bag and crown emoji.

In the docs, the undercover cop says they launched an investigation into Chopper after seeing social media evidence of a potential sex trafficking operation.

The undercover says Chopper called them and bragged about frequent travel and having 7 homes across the country, including one in Las Vegas, while also telling the undercover Sin City was not a safe place to do business because law enforcement was cracking down.

What's more, the undercover says they had a phone interview with Chopper and after passing the test, Chopper told them he would make them part of his "team" and "stable."

The undercover says Chopper then became aggressive with them over the phone, ordering them around like he might do to a sex worker, telling them to pack their belongings, get to the airport and meet him in Charlotte, N.C. to join his "stable."

From there, the undercover says they stalled by telling Chopper they were scared to leave home ... with Chopper trying to verbally force them to make the trip, getting angry and demanding a $2,000 fee.

Between the alleged social media posts, direct messages, phone calls and fee demand ... the undercover says there was then enough evidence to arrest and charge Chopper with felony sex trafficking.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro said he's going to return to 'Jersey Shore' for the upcoming season ... but he was nowhere to be found when his reality TV family recently started filming.

TMZ obtained these photos of some 'Jersey Shore' stars shooting scenes Easter Sunday at a winery in Southern California ... and there's no sign of Ronnie.

Here's who was at the Cordiano Winery in Escondido for filming ... Vinny, Snooki, Deena, JWoww and Mike The Situation ... plus some wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends. The other main cast member who wasn't there was Pauly D.

We're told the 'Jersey Shore' cast took over the winery ... shutting the place down for filming, including the tasting room, and forcing everyone else to order food and wine from a separate bar.

It's interesting Ronnie is still missing from the action ... remember, he told us back in August he was sober and planning to return to the MTV show for the second half of the 5th season.

Bam Margera has settled his wrongful termination lawsuit against Johnny Knoxville, Spike Jonze, Jeffrey Tremaine along with Paramount Pictures, MTV, Dickhouse Entertainment and Gorilla Flicks.

Bam had sued because he claimed he was forced to sign an agreement he called psychological torture, with so many conditions it was impossible to comply. As a result, he claims, he was fired.

According to a new court doc, obtained by TMZ, Bam is asking to dismiss the lawsuit ... and all signs point to a settlement. The terms of the settlement remain private.

Bam claimed in the lawsuit he was pressured into signing a "wellness agreement" while he was in rehab in 2019 ... this was a condition to his participation in the "Jackass Forever" flick. Bam says because of the circumstances he didn't have an opportunity to run it by a lawyer.

The agreement required Bam to submit to regular drug and alcohol tests and he was also forced to take various Rx drugs ... drugs he claims left him depressed and drained.

Bam did not comply -- he tested positive for Adderall -- and was booted from the production. He says what made it particularly unfair was that doctors had prescribed the drug for him for a decade.

The OG of the OC Stephen Colletti brought the best out of high school surfing, girls, reality (well that's questionable) and straight-up DRAMA from his days on MTV's "Laguna Beach."

Known as the beach town's hot surfer boy, he was the instigator of one of the most iconic high school love triangles which obvi included himself, the sassy hot junior Kristin Cavallari and the quiet wholesome senior girl, 'LC' aka Lauren Conrad.

Stephen would later go on to act in shows like "One Tree Hill," "Hit the Floor," and was Taylor Swift's love interest in her music video "White Horse."

Australian actress and model Ruby Rose intrigued us all when she was locked up on the crazy popular prison show as the side-shaved Stella Carlin for season 3 of Netflix's hit show "Orange Is the New Black" back in 2015.

She shared the screen with lead actress Taylor Schilling who played the poorly adjusting inmate, Piper Chapman and Laverne Cox as the salon boss, Sophia Burset.

Rose was also an MTV Australia presenter and co-hosted "Australia's Next Top Model" in 2009 as well as "The Project" until 2011.

Today Ruby enjoys lounging around and hanging with her fur-babies.

Under this smooshed celeb face lies a tanned man from the East Coast, and now it's up to your discretion to guess who the diamond-studded star is.

The reality star has been on television for over a decade and has been making his special 'juice' for even longer. His fresh, crisp white T-shirt just came out of the wash, as laundry is one of his favorite pastimes. Need one more clue on who this may be ... just think of 'beating up the beat.'

Bill Maher bent minds Friday night ... with the premise companies and organizations have hidden behind old images of who they once were ... changing everything but their name.

The "Real Time" host ticked off some pretty undeniable examples ... TLC used to be about learning ... now, "My Teen Is Pregnant and So Am I." Yet it's still called TLC.

A&E used to be about arts -- now, "Psychic Kids."

The History Channel offers nothing historic anymore, and MTV has nothing to do with music.

As Bill says, "You can have a petting zoo and turn it into a bondage dungeon, but you gotta change the sign!"

And, then there's Playboy, and Bill harkens back to the 'ol days when it was a "whack-off mag" for straight guys. Now, the woman are gone and the mags gone in every which direction.

And, then there's the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue ... and here he drops a line you'll just have to listen to yourselves.

Two more. Weight Watchers, which he says used to be a club for people to lose weight. Now, he says, despite the fact obesity is linked to a slew of serious diseases, it's recast as body positivity. The company's now ashamed of its name, he says, so it's now just WW and people who talk about weight loss are slammed.