Music

George Floyd's brother isn't moving forward with legal action against Kanye West -- at least for now -- but that doesn't mean Ye's out of the woods just yet.

Lee Merritt -- who's repping Philonise Floyd -- tells TMZ ... Philonise is temporarily standing down on his original threat to bring a lawsuit against Ye, Candace Owens and others for pushing the narrative George died from fentanyl, as opposed to the actions of Derek Chauvin.

Remember, George's brother, and other family members, were incensed after those remarks were made on a "Drink Champs" episode ... and Philonise instructed Lee to research a possible lawsuit.

As for why he's standing down ... we're told Philonise is hitting pause, specifically pertaining to Kanye, because he just wanted Kanye to stop repeating that false narrative about his brother's death -- and that's exactly what's happened over the last week and change since the "Drink Champs" episode aired.

Lee points out the controversial episode in question has been yanked and the podcast host, N.O.R.E., has gone on an apology tour for letting Ye speak freely without pushback.

We're told that Philonise feels like Ye has complied with the demands made in the cease and desist letter sent on behalf of George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, last week -- although, he clarified that Philonise wasn't really part of that potential legal action in the first place, but supported it from the sidelines.

As for whether Gianna's lawyers might still move forward with a lawsuit -- one in which they said could seek more than $250 million in damages -- no word on that front at this time.

Now, when it comes to Candace ... Lee says that's a more difficult case to bring, because her role as a journalist presenting opinions in a documentary about BLM and the conviction of Derek Chauvin is very different from Ye spouting what Lee and Philonise see as lies about the Floyd case.

Antonio Brown is standing firm in his support for Kanye West ... releasing a lengthy statement explaining his decision to remain as president of Donda Sports -- citing his "dedication to freedom of speech, thought, and opinion."

The NFL receiver -- who joined the Donda staff earlier this year -- addressed the massive controversy surrounding Kanye following several antisemitic statements ... saying, "the world's reactionary and selective outrage at comments in the media made by my brother, Ye, have inflamed and sparked rampant conversation and reflection."

As companies like Adidas and Balenciaga cut ties with West, AB says the timing is not a coincidence.

"The people and brands that have relentlessly profited from Black ideas and Black culture chose to distance themselves at a very specific time: a time that demonstrated their prioritization of certain groups over others."

He added ... "None of us in this world are free of judgment, yet we live in a time where scrutiny and pessimism have driven our dialogues on cultural issues toward diatribes."

"Sensationalism and groupthink have forced people to not speak their minds and act out in fear rather than love. For these reasons, I stand by my dedication to freedom of speech, thought, and opinion."

Brown says he decided to speak out because he is against discrimination of any kind ... but makes it clear he's standing by Kanye's side.

"I remain true to the mission of Donda and our amazing staff and community," he says ... adding he believes Kanye's comments were taken "out of proportion" by the media.

"I remain committed to bringing new ideas, experiences, and designs to our world I remain in support of the humanity that is Ye."

The statement comes on the heels of sports superstars Aaron Donald and Jaylen Brown voicing their issues with Ye's comments ... which led them to leave Donda Sports.

Kanye West’s empire is dwindling by the day, and although he still has Candace Owens on his side -- one of Ye’s closest advisors says that's not a good thing.

Ye’s longtime collaborator Consequence called out Candace Tuesday … labeling her association with the team “an experiment,” and posting a short clip of Ye greeting a crowd while wearing his infamous 'White Lives Matter' shirt.

Cons slammed the 'WLM' shirts, calling them a bad idea from the jump.

Fact is that tarnished Yeezy gear did begin the spiral that saw Ye on the outs with the likes of CAA, Vogue, Balenciaga and now Adidas ... which cost him his billionaire status, according to Forbes.

The German shoe giant kicked Ye to the curb Tuesday due to his repeated antisemitic remarks -- but Candace has unflinchingly defended him, demanding Adidas cash him out what he's owed.

If you remember, it was also Candace who helped Ye tout the 'WLM' tees earlier this month, much to the disbelief of many of his supporters.

Cons is the first from the old G.O.O.D Music camp to speak out against the disastrous trail blazed by Ye … but his thoughts do align with Kareem “Biggs” Burke, who helped manage Ye’s career during the early days with Roc-A-Fella Records.

Biggs recently told TMZ Hip Hop ... Ye’s 'WLM' movement was harming the Black community in spite of any beef with the actual Black Lives Matter organization.

Here's the first look at Jacob Elordi playing Elvis Presley on the set of a new movie about Priscilla ... sparking debate about who is the better Elvis, Jacob or Austin Butler.

Jacob was in full hair and makeup Monday as the King of Rock & Roll on a movie set in Toronto for Sofia Coppola's upcoming biopic about Priscilla Presley's life ... which comes on the heels of Austin playing EP in the 2022 film, "Elvis."

As you can see, Jacob was in a couple different outfits for filming ... wearing a suit and then changing into a button-down shirt with shorts.

Lots of folks thought Austin was a dead ringer for Elvis when he played the King alongside Tom Hanks ... so it will be interesting to see how Elvis fans react to Jacob's version.

The Priscilla biopic has a working title of "Domino" ... and it's based on Priscilla's memoir, "Elvis and Me." Priscilla wasn't a focal point of the "Elvis" biopic, but now she's getting her due.

Remember, the real Priscilla herself told us Austin did a fantastic job depicting her late ex-husband ... so Jacob's got some pretty big shoes to fill.

Leslie Jordan was coping with discomfort in the weeks leading up to his death -- a health issue that was concerning enough for him to make an appointment with a cardiologist ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the late actor tell TMZ ... for the last 3 weeks, he was experiencing shortness of breath. We're told Leslie was scheduled to see a cardiologist within the next week to check out his heart, and see if there were any underlying health issues.

Other than that, we're told Leslie was generally healthy ... but did have COVID last year.

We've spoken to law enforcement sources who tell us they believe Leslie suffered a heart attack prior to crashing his BMW Monday into a building in Hollywood.

Tributes have poured in for the 67-year-old since TMZ broke the news of his death, including from Dolly Parton who said, "Leslie and I had a special bond, I think the world felt they had a special bond with him. I know people always say, 'Oh, they will be missed' but in this case that could not be more true."

On the heels of Adidas dropping Kanye West for making antisemitic remarks, Jewish former NFL star Julian Edelman is addressing the rapper's use of hurtful language ... saying mental health is important but doesn't justify speaking hatefully.

"Mental health is a serious issue and needs to be at the forefront of the American dialogue," Edelman wrote on social media.

"It's also not an excuse for hate. Hate is a disease just like every other, except that words can spread it. Speak up, not down."

Edelman is arguably the highest-profile Jewish American athlete to speak out.

Of course, Ye has repeatedly used antisemitic and bigoted language at seemingly every turn over the last few weeks. He said he was going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” on Twitter. He also perpetuated offensive tropes, produced "White Lives Matter" shirts and made inflammatory comments about George Floyd.

People of all races and religions have been offended by Kanye's comments ... including basketball Hall of Famer, Ray Allen.

"I see all the Kanye BS, like, he's an idiot," the NBA legend said on social media before issuing a warning about what we consume.

"I try my best to just kind of push positivity and encouragement to people in the world so we just have to be careful. Every time we pick up our phones, a lot of times we wanna feel good, laugh and joke but a lot of times, we're seeing negative stories in our media. So, we gotta be careful who we're letting into our atmosphere because it can become depressing with everything that's going on around the world."

Even his ex, Kim Kardashian, has condemned Kanye's antisemitism, writing earlier this week ... "Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end."

But, not everyone is distancing themselves from Ye.

As we reported, Celtics star Jaylen Brown announced Monday he was sticking with Ye's marketing group, Donda Sports ... however, he did seemingly condemn West's remarks, saying, "I don’t condone any hurt, harm, or danger toward any group of people or individuals whatsoever."

Kanye West is no longer a member of the ten-digit club -- he's lost a fortune as a result of Adidas pulling the plug ... not to mention the other partnerships that have dissolved.

Forbes made it official Tuesday ... saying Ye had lost his billionaire status in the wake of Adidas ending their partnership with the guy. While Adidas on its own might not have technically torpedoed his billions -- they say it's a combination of several deals, including Gap, falling apart of late -- Forbes does note it was a HUGE part of his wealth, and the final nail in the coffin.

Now -- after all this fallout -- Forbes claims KW is worth somewhere in the ballpark of $400 million. This is a huge dip from where he was a couple years ago, when his net worth was valued at around $1.3 billion with a majority of his public assets in consideration.

The majority of Kanye's riches are now coming from a select few sources, Forbes says, including real estate, liquid cash, his music catalog and a less than 5% stake in Kim Kardashian's Skims brand.

Unclear how much of his money was wiped out by just Adidas, but ya gotta imagine it was a pretty penny's worth ... considering the company says they're losing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in net profits by cutting him/his shoes off, just in this fourth quarter alone.

He knows it might be wrong, but Bailey Zappe's in love with "Stacy's Mom" ... 'cause the Patriots quarterback couldn't resist rocking to the Fountains of Wayne song in the middle of Monday Night Football!!

The hilarious moment was captured by the TV broadcast right after the backup came in and led the Pats on two touchdown drives ... showing Zappe mouth the words to the 2003 one-hit wonder while chilling on the sidelines.

Zappe was clearly feeling himself at the time -- he came in for a struggling Mac Jones (who Bill Belichick says was NOT benched) -- and had a hot start before eventually fizzling out in the 33-14 loss to the Chicago Bears.

The rookie finished the game 14 of 22 for 186 yards ... with one passing touchdown and two interceptions.

As for the decision to switch to Zappe, Belichick says it was always the plan to get the former Western Kentucky star some reps as Jones works back from a high ankle sprain.

Don't be surprised if the Gillette Stadium sound folks run with it and play the banger every time Zappe scores moving forward.

Drake celebrated his 36th birthday in true Drake fashion ... bringin' a bunch of big names to the club to party -- and even raffling off some HUGE prizes to the crowd!

Drizzy's big shindig went down Monday night at Sexy Fish in Miami ... and the rapper was giving partygoers the chance at $5k gift cards, $10k in cash, Chanel bags, and even a Rolex!!!

Of course, some people in attendance weren't really in dire need of freebies -- DJ Khaled, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, and Chaney Jones were just a few of the celebs partying with Champagne Papi. "Love Island" stars Emily Salch and Genevieve Shawcross were hangin' too.

Drake ripped a page outta Usher's big money playbook for his big night -- Drake bucks, featuring his face on $500 bills -- were circulating around the venue throughout the night.

The place even changed its name to Sexy Gyal for the night, just for Drake.

Adidas said they did a "thorough review" of their Yeezy partnership and are expecting to lose $246 million in net income this year by ending the deal.

Kanye West's biggest corporate partnership is over -- Adidas says it's cutting off all business with him, due to his recent antisemitic and bigoted actions.

The German shoe company says, "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

As result, Adidas says it "will terminate the partnership with Ye, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies."

The announcement comes amid worldwide pressure for Adidas to, at the very least, condemn Kanye for repeating antisemitic tropes every time a microphone's been in his face for the last few weeks. During this erratic and disturbing phase he's also unveiled "White Lives Matter" T-shirts at Paris Fashion Week, and claimed George Floyd didn't die from Derek Chauvin's knee, but from fentanyl.

The hashtag #boycottadidas had been trending on Twitter over the weekend, especially as the company announced the sale of new Yeezy shoes. While other companies, like Balenciaga and Vogue had already cut off their relationships with the billionaire rapper and designer ... Adidas had been silent, except to say their partnership was "under review."

That review actually had nothing to do with Ye's recent rants -- for months, he'd publicly accused the company of ripping off his designs for non-Yeezy branded merchandise, so the relationship was already on ice.

Ye knew his incredibly profitable deal with Adidas was hanging in the balance -- he said so on Friday night ... even as he railed that any backlash against him was only proving his initial antisemitic remark that the Jews were controlling Hollywood and the banks.

Adidas was especially under pressure to react -- not only as Ye's biggest partner, but due to its founder supporting the Nazi party.

Adidas and Kanye started their partnership in 2013, and his Yeezy brand is widely credited with reinvigorating Adidas in the shoe game. While the company has some huge athletes as brand ambassadors -- James Harden, Lionel Messi and Damian Lillard to name just a few -- Ye's designs were key to the company's recent success, and Adidas' backing allowed him to expand Yeezy well beyond sneakers.

Adidas was the distributor and manufacturer of Yeezy shoes and athletic gear ... so, Kanye currently has no outlet for his creations.

Steve Lacy is a relatively new artist, but he's making one thing clear early ... he won't tolerate things being thrown on his stage -- and made an example out of one fan, and their phone, in particular.

Steve was in New Orleans on Monday night for his Give You The World Tour ... performing "Bad Habit" when a phone tossed from the crowd hits him square in the torso.

Steve was politely profane at first ... stopping the song to instruct the audience not to throw "sh** on his f****** stage" -- even with a please attached.

Then without warning, Steve asks for a fan in the front row's cell phone -- seemingly at random -- only to smash it on the stage, and then storm off.

The crowd was understandably confused and pissed ... as there was still plenty of show left, and some felt they didn't get their money's worth.

A fan in the stands hopped on TikTok following to show ... claiming Steve had grown fed up with the crowd for not really knowing his music, but blamed rowdy NOLA fans in general for typically ruining an artist's experience when they come to town.

"Entourage" creator Doug Ellin says Adidas staying silent about Kanye West has everything to do with money, and therefore, he sees a boycott as the best way to apply pressure.

We got Doug Monday in WeHo, where he told us the German shoe company's silence -- as other brands cut ties with Kanye -- speaks volumes about whose side it's backing. He adds we should all be on the same page when hate's in play.

He sees money as the sole reason Adidas has kept quiet -- so, if people stop buying their gear ... the hope is that will make the honchos understand the harmful impact of Ye's antisemitic remarks.

As we reported, Kanye's been losing brand deals left and right ... including Johnny Depp's attorney, Camille Vasquez, who was brought on board last week to handle his business matters. After he doubled and tripled down on his bigotry, she told her firm she'd no longer work with the rapper.

What's more, a rally in L.A. Saturday supported the rapper's comments, with members of the group throwing up Nazi salutes at passing drivers.

The home where Elvis and Priscilla Presley honeymooned looks like it's about to get a new owner ... someone willing to pay a pretty penny to live like the King of Rock and Roll.

Our real estate sources tell us an offer's been accepted for the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway in Palm Springs.

The crib hit the market earlier this month with a $5.65 million listing price, and we're told the seller accepted an offer Thursday, though the sale is not yet complete.

The 4-bedroom home is famous because Elvis leased it in 1966 for a whole year, which set him back $21,000 -- ridiculously cheap for 2022, but in '66 that was a small fortune.

Elvis and Priscilla were supposed to tie the knot at the property on May 1, 1967 ... but after the press got wind of the wedding plan, Elvis and Priscilla changed course and went to Sin City for a classic Vegas wedding.

The house has a ton of history -- Elvis and Priscilla were, umm ... busy in Palm Springs because exactly 9 months after their wedding, Lisa Marie Presley was born. That's some honeymoon!

The 4,695 square foot home features rock walls, a floating fireplace and terrazzo flooring ... and like any good desert home, there's a huge backyard pool with a view of the mountains.

Famously dubbed the "House of Tomorrow," the property is a PS landmark ... it's known to draw Elvis fanatics, tourists and architecture aficionados.

B.o.B is finally responding to the 2016 flat-earth controversy that threw his career out of orbit ... and he's still, rather defiantly, dropping a diss-fueled track titled "Ted Talk."

B.o.B. tells TMZ Hip Hop the 6+ years since he released his viral song "Flatline" has rattled his perspective a bit, leading to more confusion.

Naturally, we asked if he still believes the Earth is flat, and he said ... "I've heard so many theories at this point from all the people that have come my way I don't know what to believe anymore.

"Neil Tyson said it’s an oval, let’s just go with that for now"

The new song-video mashup finds B.o.B's alter-ego Bobby Ray giving himself a tongue-lashing as they tackle the flat-earth fallout ... which mirrors the wackiness of a sci-fi thriller with twists and turns.

Bobby Ray questions throwing away their career to prove a point and should have left all the conspiracies to YouTuber Eric Dubay ... something everyone can probably agree on in hindsight.

The track includes B.o.B's admission he fumbled the bag turning down 2 offers from CBS -- one to appear on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" to explain his antics and another to have his own series.

Let B.o.B tell it, the whole plot was created by the media to take him down ... calling out Comedy Central and Complex after they allowed scientists Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye to slice and dice him online.

He even says NASA started attending his concerts to pass out pamphlets containing accurate information -- and he really pissed off The Root when he stated he'd never seen a slave ship in his lifetime.

He also still has bitter bars for Charlamagne Tha God and Lil Duval for their viral reactions to his flat-earth comments, and unlike Kanye West, laments being called an anti-Semite after saying he identified with the rants of Holocaust conspiracy theorist David Irving.

Jaylen Brown says he's sticking with Donda Sports, despite repeated antisemitic remarks made by founder Kanye West ... comments the Celtics star says he adamantly condemns.

On Monday, Jaylen was asked about his business relationship with Ye's company, telling the Boston Globe he won't be jumping ship.

"First, I don’t condone any hurt, harm, or danger toward any group of people or individuals whatsoever," said Brown, who joined Donda Sports in May shortly after Rams star Aaron Donald.

Brown said despite the criticism embroiling West, he's more focused on the agency's mission and positive impact.

"The reason why I signed with Donda Sports, it represented education, it represented activism, disruption, it represented single-parent households, and a lot more people are involved in something like that."

Of course, Kanye has repeatedly made antisemitic comments ... 'cause lucrative business partners like Balenciaga dropped him. Adidas, his biggest partner, has faced tremendous pressure to part ways with Ye.

Brown defined his current relationship with West as a "sensitive subject," adding that it's hard to comment on it because it's being "evaluated."

"He’s someone who's obviously dealing with a lot of adversity that’s in front of him right now, and everybody can see it, and it’s public," 26-year-old Brown said.

Kanye West is not being scrubbed from Netflix in the wake of his antisemitic rants ... the streaming giant says the biopic on his life is staying put.

While tons of companies are distancing themselves from Ye, including Balenciaga and talent agency CAA, a rep for Netflix tells us there are no plans to take down its 'Jeen-Yuhs' documentary trilogy on Kanye's life.

Netflix's position is they are not in business with Kanye because he was the subject of the doc, and he wasn't involved in creating or promoting the movies.

The streaming service also says there is nothing antisemitic in the documentary ... and Netflix points out they don't remove content about or by people who later spark controversy.

When the documentary debuted earlier this year, Kanye showed up to the Los Angeles screening with Chaney Jones ... and a ton of celebs were there too.