Music

Meg Thee Stallion's new music video ridicules, harasses and runs over a politician -- and it also has GOP politician DeAnna Lorraine feeling like there's a target on her back.

Lorraine, a former California candidate for the U.S. House, tells TMZ ... she thinks MTS is potentially referring to her in the new "Thot S**t" music video, which Meg dropped last week.

Lorraine says she feels that way given their past beef -- and because the video is all about Meg getting revenge on a conservative politician who trashes her and her music.

That sounds really familiar to Lorraine, who you'll recall slammed MTS and Cardi B by tweeting they had "set the entire female gender back by 100 years with their disgusting & vile ‘WAP’ song."

Lorraine says MTS fans came after her, flooding her phone with thousands of texts, calls, emails and IG messages ... some even threatening to kill her.

She provided some of the messages, which include alleged threats to roll up to her house, and reference the "Thot S**t" video taking aim at a politician. Other messages call out Lorraine's hypocrisy for saying zilch when white artists -- like Miley Cyrus -- sexualize their songs ... without any conservative backlash.

Lorraine -- who praised the Kenosha shooter last September and was indefinitely suspended from Twitter for continually spreading misinformation -- says it's a shame MTS fans are blowing her up because she's just "trying to help these people see that they can be more than just their 'WAP.'"

John Legend did more than put on a brave face to support his wife, Chrissy Teigen ... he smiled and claimed she's doing better than her lengthy apology for bullying made it seem.

The singer was out in WeHo Tuesday and seemed to be in great spirits. You can see him sporting a wide grin as he walked up to his car and was incredibly polite when a photog walked up to ask him about Chrissy's attempts to recover from the trolling scandal.

After exchanging some very quick pleasantries the pap got right to the point ... how's Chrissy doing? John had zero hesitation and answered with a smile ... she's doing great.

As we reported ... CT has apologized for her old ways of internet trolling. Chrissy insisted she's a changed woman ... and is trying to own up to her mistakes and become a better version of herself.

She issued a long apology and added she was reaching out privately to other people she insulted. She didn't name names but some have pointed out that Lindsay Lohan and Farrah Abraham were past targets of Teigen's trolling ... as was Courtney Stodden.

One of the peeps she may have to reach out to could be "Project Runway" star Michael Costello. As we reported ... Costello accused Teigen of getting him blacklisted after she mistakenly thought he posted something racist back in 2014.

Turns out Jay-Z CAN knock the hustle ... or at least he's trying to 'cause he claims in a new lawsuit the photographer who shot his debut album cover is making tons of dough off the rapper's back.

The music mogul is suing Jonathan Mannion and his company, Jonathan Mannion Photography LLC, claiming Mannion's exploiting Jay-Z's name and image without the rapper's consent. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Jay says Mannion has Hova's name and likeness plastered all over his website and sells photos of Jay-Z for thousands of dollars.

Problem is ... Jay-Z says he never gave Mannion permission to do so -- and he claims when he asked Mannion to quit using his image, the photog demanded tens of millions of dollars. Jay claims Mannion is making an "arrogant assumption that because he took those photographs, he can do with them as he pleases.”

Jay hired Mannion in 1996 to shoot the cover for "Reasonable Doubt." Jay says Mannion took hundreds of pics and Roc-A-Fella Records used some of the photographs for his album covers and paid Mannion handsomely for those uses.

Jay-Z claims Mannion continues to prominently display Jay's image on the landing page of his website, where he sells Jay-Z pics and merch.

Jay says he has strict control over whether and how his name, likeness, identity and persona are used ... and Mannion never got the green light to continue hawking the pictures.

Jay claims it's "ironic that a photographer would treat the image of a formerly-unknown Black teenager, now wildly successful, as a piece of property to be squeezed for every dollar it can produce. It stops today.”

The rapper's suing to put a stop to Mannion selling the pics, stat, and wants him to fork over any of the profits he's made off his likeness. We've reached out to Mannion, so far no word back.

Gunna's gonna need a neck brace and darker shades after his star-studded birthday bash ... 'cause that's a lot of shiny bling around his neck and wrists.

The Georgia rapper turned 28 on Monday and went all out for his birthday event, which kicked off with dinner at an Aston Martin dealership -- his guests dined inside a freakin' vault!

That makes sense ... since there were stacks on stacks on stacks of cash sitting right on the dinner table. Gotta eat your greens.

The crew later hit up the Highlight Room in Hollywood where some heavy hitmakers rolled through ... including Drake, Future and Young Thug. Doja Cat, Tristan Thompson, Wale and Nav also showed face at the bash.

The party was presented by Noir Blanc Champaign, owned by Cash of XO Records, so the bottles were flowing. You can see Gunna's friends showered him with even more cash ... including music producer Wheezy, who shelled out a cool $20k "for the years we didn't know each other."

Then there's the bling. So. Much. Bling. Gunna's pretty stoked about his massive diamond-encrusted pinky ring. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

One thing is crystal clear ... it pays to be Gunna 'cause he's an incredibly well-liked dude. As we reported ... Lil Baby gifted Gunna $100k for his bday. Hell, even strangers love Gunna.

Pooh Shiesty might not have shot the club security guard in Miami after all -- at least that's what the alleged victim's saying now ... claiming he doesn’t remember giving his original statement to cops.

PS's attorneys, Bradford Cohen and Saam Zangeneh, filed a new motion this week with what they say is sworn testimony from the guard in question ... who now claims he was on a powerful painkiller and unaware of what he was saying to the police when they first spoke.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Frivin Dor's transcribed interview with Pooh's legal team is documented ... and he's on record saying he was given Dilaudid -- a powerful opioid painkiller -- when he first arrived at the hospital that night, which he now claims knocked him on his ass as he spoke to a detective about the matter, 'cause he doesn't remember a thing.

In this new account, Dor suggests the commotion in the club might have been caused by a fan (the spinning type, not a person) that fell in a parking garage nearby. He also says he doesn't recall Pooh aiming at him or even shooting at him.

According to the docs, he also said he doesn't want to press charges, and doesn't want officials in FL to contact him about this matter either ... which Pooh's lawyers say is enough for prosecutors to at least reconsider the decision not to release Pooh on bond.

Nashville country icons Kix Brooks (left) and Ronnie Dunn (right) -- better known as Brooks & Dunn -- swept through the south and across the country in 1991 with their debut album Brand New Man ... which included some serious stand-out singles including "Neon Moon," "Brand New Man" ... and of course "Boot Scootin' Boogie."

Before they decided to retire in 2009, the iconic cowboys went on to release over ten albums and headline tours across the US with other big-name musicians like Reba McEntire, Big & Rich and many more.

Brooks & Dunn are now immortalized in the Country Music Hall Of Fame.

It's rare when a conversation about how to spend half a million bucks gets highjacked, but that's exactly what happened to Gunna when a hyped-up fan hilariously rolled by ... armed with compliments and a megaphone.

We got the "Dollaz On My Head" rapper leaving Dior in Bev Hills on Monday celebrating his 28th birthday. Dude did a ton of shopping ... as one might expect after Lil Baby gifted him a cool $100k.

Gunna was telling us how he was going to top Lil Baby's gift when it comes time to return the favor -- and just as Gunna was dishing deets on how much he was going to drop for his own bday weekend a car rolls up and steals the show.

Watch the clip ... the dude in the car paid Gunna tons of compliments. And, when our photog told the fan it was Gunna's bday -- well, ya gotta see how the fan leveled up.

ICYMI ... Gunna said Lil Baby, who he refers to as his twin, gifted him $100k for his birthday.

Polo G was arrested in Miami for what cops claim was a brutal beatdown of an officer -- but his mom/manager is calling BS ... saying he was profiled and arrested for no reason.

The Chicago-based rapper got busted early Saturday morning following what his team says was an album release party in town -- after which the vehicle he was riding in got stopped for some reason ... which allegedly escalated into a full-blown fight between him and a cop.

The guy got booked for several different charges, including battery on a police officer, resisting with and without violence, criminal mischief and making threats. His bond had been set at over $15,000 -- and he posed for this mugshot once inside.

Law enforcement sources tell us that the police report directly linked to Polo's arrest cites the alleged victim, one of the Miami cops on the scene, as having been pummeled by Polo with his elbows ... and allegedly suffering lacerations to his face from the struggle.

The one thing that we can't seem to figure out from the police at this point, though, is why Polo was pulled over in the first place, and what led up to the alleged altercation. Welp, his mom, Stacia Mac, has been pretty vocal on that front ... claiming Polo (and his younger brother, who's apparently just 16 years old) got hauled away for something their driver did.

She alleges that the driver of their ride, whom we're told was white, swerved in the road and cut off a police cruiser ... which then initiated a stop. For whatever reason, Stacia says Polo and others were yanked from the backseat and got dealt with, instead of the actual driver.

Stacia claims the only explanation she can think of is racial profiling -- and not only that, but she says the cops wouldn't do her the courtesy of letting her speak to her boys.

One thing that's clear ... the cavalry got called out for this run-in -- different video has surfaced online showing Stacia on the scene demanding to see her kids, and there's at least five squad cars and even more officers standing guard. Miami PD says it's aware of the situation and will release details accordingly.

A good chunk of Billie Eilish's fandom appears to be disavowing her -- all over what they perceive as queerbaiting ... but, truthfully, it's just A LOT of assumptions and expectations.

If you saw the hashtag "#youlikegirls" trending Sunday evening and dove in ... you probably saw a whole bunch of folks up in arms over Billie's recent social media activity/love life, with many saying they were done with her and her music because they consider her problematic.

Long story short ... Billie has recently been romantically linked to actor Matthew Tyler Vorce, who she's been seen out with on what some took as dates -- including this past week, when they were spotted getting cozy at Disneyland. Some are straight up calling him the BF.

That kinda threw some of her fans for a loop in and of itself, it seems, as there appears to have been some speculation that Billie might've been on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. We can't say why people thought that -- other than good old-fashioned conclusion-jumping.

At any rate ... some of those same fans were even more confused with her latest musical offering, which they say sends mixed signals. It's Billie's music video for her new single, "Lost Cause," which sees her dancing in somewhat suggestive fashion with other women.

The true smoking gun for their queerbaiting case -- as the fandom has insisted -- was a follow-up post Billie threw up after this video, which featured the caption "i love girls."

Some took that as Billie toying with her fans, as well as pre-conceived notions about her sexuality -- which many have called counterproductive/harmfully misleading. Basically, they're suggesting she's doing more hurting than helping in the LGBTQ+ movement ... during Pride months, no less. That, coupled with her apparent interest in men, is causing an uproar.

We're gonna bust out the soapbox here for a minute and just say ... Billie doesn't owe anyone anything when it comes to all this speculation and projecting that's been thrust on her -- not before, not now, and not even in the future (that is, if she doesn't want to).

As many have rightly pointed out, there's nothing inherently sexual about Bilile's dancing in the music vid -- and her caption could've been nothing more than just promoting her single.

Taryn Manning is getting set to walk down the aisle for the first time in her life, because she's engaged ... and we got the moment she was proposed to on camera!

TMZ has obtained video of when the "Orange Is the New Black" actress got popped the question Friday night at a bar and grill in Panama City, FL -- where her singer-songwriter girlfriend, Anne Cline, turned a performance she was putting on into a full-blown proposal.

Check it out for yourself ... you can tell Taryn is completely surprised after Anne takes a pause during her intimate set, hops down from the stage and gets on bended knee.

Of course, Taryn is ecstatic as she faces the ring box ... and she eventually said yes after all the excitement. The crowd around them was loving it too BTW -- even the DJ/MC got on the mic and told everyone to give it up for them, which the audience was happy to do.

We don't know too much about Anne other than the fact that she's a musician who leads the band Cline Street. She seems to do pretty well for herself -- as she tours quite a bit, and seems to be on the come-up.

Another interesting factoid ... she's 11 years younger than Taryn, who's 42. Unclear how long they've been together at this point -- but photos of them walking dogs together surfaced earlier this year.

Taryn's rep tells us the two are thrilled, with TM adding ... "It was the easiest YES I ever said!"

New trouble keeps finding Famous Dex ... even when he's in court dealing with previous legal issues.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the rapper was at a hearing Thursday related to the 19 charges he was hit with in March -- including domestic violence and gun possession, to name just a couple -- and he pled not guilty to those charges.

However, we're told during the hearing it was revealed that Dex had allegedly violated a protective order put in place after one of the alleged domestic violence incidents from last October.

Our sources say the rapper was immediately taken into custody, and is currently being held on $200k bond.

As we've told you ... Dex's string of big-time legal problems began in November when a SWAT team showed up at his home, and he was named a suspect in a domestic violence case.

Gladys Knight is doing something she probably hasn't done a lot of during her career -- and that's taking the backseat on a ditty ... which is exactly what she did for her hubby.

Check out this music video that Gladys helped produce for her husband of 20 years, William McDowell, who's apparently diving into the country music scene ... and making a splash with his first offering called "Country Water" -- which is all about homegrown moonshine!

Watch it for yourself ... it's pretty damn catchy, as Will takes lead singing duties -- and his iconic wife actually backs him up. Sounds like she makes a cameo on the chorus.

We're hearing from people close to GK that this video was actually shot on her and Will's property in North Carolina -- and that it was created during the pandemic. We're told Gladys surprised Will by getting it made ... and we gotta say, it looks (and sounds) great.

Will -- who married Gladys in 2001, and is a whopping 14 years younger than her too -- might seriously have a potential recording career on his hands if he wants to pursue this any further. And, who better to guide him than the one and only?!?

David Archuleta -- one of "American Idol's" famous runner-ups throughout its history -- just came out as being part of the LGBTQ+ community ... which he explains is especially difficult considering his religious upbringing.

The 'AI' alum -- who placed second during the 7th season of 'Idol,' losing to David Cook -- just shared his truth online, posting a heartfelt IG that revealed he identifies as both bisexual and asexual ... even though he says he initially thought he might've been gay.

David writes, "I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people which works I guess because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage." He goes on to explain asexual seems to, at times, describe him best ... while adding he's doing this to help others who might be in similar situations.

Namely, DA says he wants folks who are devoted to their religion and who might also be gay, bi or anything else that they are not alone ... as he explains that he comes from a Mormon background himself. Basically, David says you can both be religious and identify as LGBTQ+.

He says, "[P]lease consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate to those who are LGBTQIA+, and those who are a part of that community and trying to find that balance with their faith which also is a huge part of their identity like myself." DA goes on, "I think we can do better as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, to listen more to the wrestle between being LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith."

Ben Affleck was a man on a mission Friday, as he beelined it for his girlfriend's house.

Ben was wrapped up tight in a helmet and leather jacket as he steered his trusty chopper due East to Lopez's L.A. home. As you know by now, Ben and Jen have been inseparable since hooking up after she ended her engagement to A-Rod.

Jen's even looking at schools in L.A. for her kids ... a possible sign she and Ben may take the next step.

TMZ broke the story ... J Lo's home has been a source of angst for the last 6 months. Someone's been incessantly calling 911 with bogus noise complaints against J Lo, and the LAPD is sick of the hoaxes and is trying to get to the bottom of it.

It seems politically motivated since the calls started just after J Lo's appearance during the inauguration. We have a theory ... remember, during her song, J Lo screamed, "Let's get loud!!!" It seems like a good working theory ... that's how the fake noise complaints were hatched.

Lamar Odom is a champion once again -- the ex-NBA superstar just KNOCKED OUT Aaron Carter in their Celebrity Boxing match!!!

Carter came out SWINGING ... hitting Odom with as many punches as his body could handle ... but it was clear from the jump -- Odom was in control.

The 6'10" Odom and 6'0" Carter duked it out for 2 rounds at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City ... but the Lakers champion was gonna have no issue handing the former pop star in the ring.

As we previously reported, UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell told us he was gonna let the dudes fight ... and that's exactly what happened -- LO and AC were throwing punches left and right.

But, ultimately, Carter didn't have the same luck he had against Shaq ... 'cause it was Odom's hand that was raised at the end of the night.

Odom finished Carter in the second round ... but it was all love -- both guys hugged it out after Aaron went down midway through the second round.

The whole event was a party -- boxer Paulie Malignaggi, Ice-T and Coco were all on the mic to provide fun commentary ... and the other fights on the card provided were a bunch of fun, too!!

Odom told us before the fight ... he was planning to put Carter to sleep ... and while he didn't make that happen, he still came through with the dub.

Kodak Black has gone from prison to proclamation ... a proclamation that June 11 is now Kodak Black Day in Broward County, Florida.

Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness presented Kodak with the proclamation, stating June 11 will forever be known as a day honoring the rapper.

Holness bestowed the honor on Kodak Friday at a charity basketball tourney in Coral Springs.

Kodak was clearly moved, saying the proclamation means more to him than any platinum album.  The proclamation lists some of Kodak's charitable work and personal accomplishments over the last few years.

The basketball tournament raised $5k to benefit the Lippman Youth Shelter.

As you know, Kodak scored a commutation from then-President Trump -- at the urging of his lawyer, Bradford Cohen -- in large part because of his charity work.

Among the good work Kodak has done ... donating a years' worth of diapers, underwear and socks to the Jack & Jill Children's Center and donating thousands of dollars so community groups could provide 1,000 turkeys to people in need. He's also forked over $20k for toys and other items for XMAS presents.

The proclamation also cites Kodak's contribution of $100k to families of fallen FBI agents, along with scholarship money for the children of the agents' families.