Music

Britney Spears says her dad is trying to extort her on his way out of the conservatorship and she's not having it.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Britney points out her father's already admitted it's in her best interests for him to step down as her conservator, and she says he's trying to hold her up for more money from her as a condition to leave.

Britney's legal team claims Jamie is asking for around $2 million -- some of which will go to pay his lawyers and her former business manager Tri Star. Britney's lawyer, Matt Rosengart, fired this warning shot in the docs ... "The status quo is no longer tolerable, and Britney Spears will not be extorted."

Britney says Jamie should just resign now instead of slow-playing his exit ... and if he doesn't step down from his post, she says the court should suspend him from the conservatorship on September 29.

TMZ broke the story ... Jamie agreed earlier this month to step down as Britney's conservator, but only after working with the court to ensure an orderly transition.

Britney's saying Jamie's right about the need to leave the conservatorship, but she wants it to happen sooner rather than later.

Bottom line from Britney's lawyers in the docs ... "The world heard Ms. Spears’s courageous and compelling testimony. Britney Spears’s life matters. Her well-being matters. Every day matters. There is no basis to wait."

Britney's attorney, Mathew Rosengart, tells us, "Britney Spears will not be bullied or extorted by her father. Nor does Mr. Spears have the right to try to hold his daughter hostage by setting the terms of his removal. This is not about him, it is about the best interests of his daughter, which as a matter of law, mandate his removal."

He continues, "Even putting aside the legal issues requiring his prompt removal, if he loves his daughter, Mr. Spears should resign now, today, before he is suspended. It would be the correct and decent thing to do."

Gene Simmons is the latest KISS member to come down with COVID-19 -- and with both its frontmen coping with the virus -- the band's been forced to cancel several upcoming tour dates.

KISS announced Tuesday it'll postpone its next 4 tour dates as Gene recovers. The band and crew will remain at home and isolate for the next 10 days. The band also said on its website, "doctors have indicated the tour should be able to resume on September 9th at FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, CA."

Furthermore ... all previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates once announced. The news comes just days after Paul Stanley also tested positive for COVID.

TMZ broke the story ... Paul's diagnosis meant the band couldn't take the stage for a scheduled concert in Pennsylvania. Our sources had said Paul is fully vaccinated and feeling fine despite the positive test.

We found video of the band wishing Gene a happy birthday on stage the night before Paul tested positive, and you see them both come face-to-face at one point.

Gene was on "TMZ Live" last week -- following Paul's positive test -- and he told us everyone was quarantining to be safe, and continued to be tested regularly. Turns out, that caution was for good reason.

Forget about where Justin Bieber gets his peaches -- the better question is where he shaves his legs ... at least based on this hilarious billboard swap that has him slipping into Kim Kardashian's underwear line.

Check out this giant tower-sized Balenciaga ad on a Sunset Strip building with Bieber as its leather-jacketed star -- but as you can see, he's lost his lower half somewhere along the way.

Instead of JB's lower abdomen and legs, you see a different set of body parts ... seemingly belonging to a woman rocking SKIMS, Kim's shapewear company.

It's pretty hilarious -- it looks almost intentional due to how seamlessly JB's top mixes with the SKIMS bottom. Even the SKIMS model's arms appear to line up almost perfectly with the Biebs'.

Of course, this had to have been a massive mistake. We can't see a crew working on it in the pic ... but we're guessing they were in the middle of swapping from one ad to the other.

DaBaby's answered the call of a number of HIV organizations for him to become educated on HIV following his homophobic comments ... so he did, and then delivered an apology.

According to the U.S. HIV awareness orgs ... DaBaby met with 9 groups to discuss HIV and share personal stories of folks who are living with the virus. The orgs had sent him a letter earlier this month "to call him in instead of calling him out" and have a thoughtful conversation about his recent comments at the Rolling Loud festival.

DaBaby made gross, homophobic remarks on stage about gay people and people living with HIV, and his subsequent attempts at saying sorry seemed half-hearted and misguided at best.

According to the orgs ... he was much different in the meeting -- "genuinely engaged" they say. The rapper apologized for what he called his inaccurate and hurtful comments about HIV and the impact it had on black and LGBTQ+ communities.

Marnina Miller of the Southern AIDS Coalition says DaBaby's willingness to attend the meeting and learn and grow from his experience could set a positive example.

Other orgs at the meeting included the Black AIDS Institute, GLAAD, Positive Women's Network and Transinclusive Group.

In the wake of his Rolling Loud controversy, DaBaby had several performances canceled -- including headlining Lollapalooza -- but he did make a surprise appearance at Kanye West's latest "Donda" listening party ... which sparked more outrage.

Soulja Boy is ready to settle his beef with Kanye West the ol' fashioned way -- by throwing hands -- telling TMZ Sports he wants to come face-to-face with Ye for a celeb boxing match for the ages.

Draco recently threatened to beat up West on social media, saying he'd "knock out" the Donda artist ... so when we ran into the hip hop star in L.A. on Monday, we asked about the warning.

"That's just me having some fun, you know what I'm saying? We ain't trippin', man," Soulja says ... "Unless Kanye wants to get in the boxing ring, know what I'm saying? I think we could make $100 to $200 million."

Of course, the beef started when West cut Soulja Boy's "Remote Control" verse out of Donda ... and that really pissed him off.

Soulja's got his hands full ... Aaron Carter recently challenged him to a fight (Celebrity Boxing is trying to lock down the match).

But, a scrap between West and Soulja Boy could be one of the biggest celeb fights of all time.

Bottom line, Soulja's message to Ye is this ... "Kanye, lets get in the boxing ring."

Luciane Piane -- a former producer and judge on "RuPaul's Drag Race" -- was arrested this week for making what cops describe as drunken phone calls ... TMZ has learned.

Oceanside PD tells us Piane was booked Monday for public intoxication, but they were first alerted because of bogus 911 calls. Cops say he made a series of the calls -- 7 of them within 3 minutes, and the same dispatcher picked up several times.

Police say Piane was harassing the dispatchers, allegedly calling them "c***s" ... among other things.

OPD says when officers arrived, they found Piane wandering down the road a ways from the motel. We're told he was cited for making the combative and completely unnecessary calls, but another alleged issue landed him in jail.

We're told, while writing him the citation, officers sensed he might've been under the influence of something and ended up arresting him on suspicion of public intoxication.

Piane was a guest panelist on 'Drag Race' from 2012 to 2016, and helped put the show's music together, as well. He has since moved on from the production altogether.

P!nk seems quite concerned a teen influencer is being used by her parents in an unsettling way -- but the kid's speaking for herself, saying she is in the driver's seat here.

Piper Rockelle -- a YouTuber who just turned 14 -- tells TMZ ... "The first thing I want everyone to know is that my mom doesn't make me do anything. Quite the opposite, I'm a kid who had a dream and my mom is amazing enough to help me live it out."

She adds this of P!nk's worries ... "I don't think P!nk has ever seen one of my YouTube videos because if she did she'd see it's just my friends and me having fun and acting like ourselves. The content we make is the kind of stuff anyone can watch."

ICYMI ... P!nk took to social media over the weekend to address what she considered the over-sexualization of children -- and specifically name-dropped Piper to make her point. The singer seemed to take exception with a bikini photo posted to Piper's IG recently.

Piper touches on that too, telling us she rocked the bikini 'cause ... well, it's summer, adding she doesn't see anything sexual about a 14-year-old wearing a 2-piece in and of itself.

The YT'er told us she just did a crash course on P!nk, and learned she started following her dreams for stardom right around the same age Piper is now ... so, she questions why P!nk's giving her flak for doing the same thing.

Soulja Boy is still steaming over being left off Kanye West's new album ... telling us Ye is nothing but a time waster and a coward!

We got Soulja at a Shell gas station in Calabasas on Monday and asked him about getting cut from "Donda" ... and the rapper didn't hold back.

Soulja says Kanye totally wasted his time by reaching out to him for a collab on Ye's new track, "Remote Control," before ultimately leaving SB's verse on the cutting room floor.

What's more, Soulja is ballistic Kanye was, as he says, spinning fake stories on social media about the album's release.

He says he's especially ticked off Ye didn't have the courage to personally call him and explain why he was cut.

Jay Cutler might be having problems playing the field after splitting with Kristin Cavallari, but she's doing just fine ... TMZ's learned she's dating a big country star.

According to our sources ... Kristin and singer Chase Rice have been seeing each other for about 2 months now, though we're told it's pretty low-key and casual so far.

Our sources say they've been talking and hanging out pretty regularly, getting to know each other, but seem to be heading toward that territory best described as smitten with each other.

We're told Chase and Kristin were introduced through a mutual friend in Nashville -- where they both live most of the time -- and hit it off, but their relationship isn't exclusive just yet.

As we reported ... Cutler recently admitted he's not had much fun back in the dating world since he and Cavallari officially called it quits in April 2020, describing the scene as "hard as hell."

Jay described the many challenges he's faced, including the major change of using apps and social media platforms to court women, adding ... "I'm at a different phase of my life now with kids and priorities are just changed."

Speaking of kids ... our sources with knowledge of Kristin's situation say Chase hasn't met hers yet.

Georgia native Russell Horning -- or better known as Backpack Kid -- was a young teenager when he began to gain fame for his viral video comprised of original dance moves on social media ... but it wasn't until superstar Rihanna shared BK's vids on Instagram that the young dancer's popularity really caught fire.

Once Backpack Kid's signature dance move The Floss wiggled its way into pop culture the flossy teen was spotted on Saturday Night Live alongside Katy Perry as she performed her 2017 dance single "Swish Swish."

Backpack Kid is now a backpack adult and is focused on his fitness routine.

Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis is gutting it out onstage as he continues to recover from the coronavirus -- he needed an oxygen mask onstage just to get through a performance.

Jonathan and Korn returned to the stage Friday night in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park after canceling a bunch of shows when he contracted COVID-19 earlier this month -- and it's clear he's still struggling with the lingering aftereffects.

Video shows Jonathan taking occasional breaks to suck in SOME pure O2 between songs, and he spent the majority of the concert sitting down on a huge throne.

Korn guitarist Brian Welch says Jonathan's still feeling "physically weak and having a mental battle" ... and he's drawing on the energy from fans.

Jonathan confirmed as much to the crowd, saying ... "I'm f****** feeling very weak but I f****** refuse to f****** cancel!!!"

Offset is going from Main Street to Wall Street -- and he's doing it with his wifey by his side ... as they celebrate their music publishing company going public.

The rapper couple was on hand Monday at the NYSE in Times Square to do the honors of ringing the opening bell. Well, Offset did anyway ... but Cardi B was right there too for moral support. They posed for some photo-ops too as they hyped their new venture.

If you hadn't heard, Offset and the Migos' music catalog now belongs to Reservoir Media -- or RSVR -- which has snapped up a ton of masters and rights for a variety of artists in recent months, this as they were ramping up for an IPO last month.

The company hit the exchange in July, but now -- a month later -- the Wall Street heads invited Offset, Cardi and other Reservoir investors for a belated celebration ... and let 'em have some fun with the age-old bell-ringing tradition in the process.

We got Offset on his way out, and he made it pretty clear that this is something he's excited to be a part of -- not just because it's one the first female-led businesses of its kind to put itself out there, but because there's something in it for him and other musicians.

The idea behind Reservoir, it seems, is putting the power of publishing and control back into the actual artists' hands, and based on what Offset says here ... he's all about that.

Kanye West's long-awaited "Donda" album has been worth the added wait for the rapper ... it's Apple Music's top album in 130 countries, the most #1 entries in history.

As we reported ... after delaying the release of his 10th studio album for several weeks and keeping fans on pins and needles as he continued to hold "Donda" listening parties, it finally came out this weekend -- but not without drama.

First, Ye posted texts suggesting a recent holdup was due to DaBaby not signing the necessary releases to clear his verse for the song "Jail, Pt. 2" ... but that was later cleared up and his verse was added.

However, Kanye also claimed Sunday that the album was put out by his label, UMG, without his approval and they blocked "Jail pt. 2" from being included ... but it is included on both Apple and Spotify.

Speaking of Spotify ... Kanye's album's doing work there too -- his "Jail" track featuring Jay-Z and Francis and the Lights debuted at #1 on the U.S. Spotify chart with 4.277 million streams. That's the biggest debut for any song this year.

So, love it or hate it -- and we know there are plenty of people who certainly hate it -- "Donda" is a huge success so far ... and sets up a major showdown with Drake this week.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's romantic Italian getaway is sailing on ... on a gondola in Venice.

The lovebirds did the tourist thing Monday during their ongoing Euro vacation, getting comfy cozy together in the sea vessel on a seat shaped like a heart.

It paints a pretty fitting picture of the 2, who have been attached at the hip in Italy for a few days after kicking off their traveling lovefest a couple weeks ago in Cabo.

We broke the story ... Travis flying to Mexico with Kourt was his first time on an airplane since the deadly 2008 plane crash that killed 4 people and left him with third-degree burns on 2/3 of his body.

Lizzo has weighed in on the King/Queen of Pop debate -- and she's stirring the pot big time by crowning the great Janet Jackson as the latter ... which has Madonna fans up in arms.

The singer dished her rankings Sunday -- this after Justin Bieber took the title of Prince of Pop among his fanbase following a milestone Spotify record -- and she seems to concur ... saying that the Biebs is, indeed, the Prince ... still behind Michael Jackson, the King.

Then, Lizzo threw a wrench in things with her Queen bestowment -- saying Mike's sister is actually right alongside him on the pop throne ... and that was met with pushback.

Of course, music fans had to interject and point out that Madge has long claimed that title for herself -- as she's an iconic artist who did A LOT for the genre in her heyday, and just in general over the years. Some feel Lizzo's putting her head in the sand on this one.

We should point out -- before people start getting too crazy on this whole thing -- that this is simply Lizzo's opinion ... and that none of these titles are all that official anyway. Still, Lizzo seems to have taken notice of the online ruckus she caused ... writing "Ruhruoh."

She clarified later saying that there's a new generation of up-and-coming artists who might take these folks' place one day -- but, for now, Lizzo considers this the standard.

As for the rest of her list -- she thinks Britney's the PoP, Rihanna's the PP, and Beyonce's in her own category. Honorable mentions for other genres include Usher (R&B King), Aretha Franklin (Soul), Mariah (R&B Queen), Tina Turner (Rock and Roll) and Mary J (Hip-Hop/Soul).

Kanye West hosting Marilyn Manson at his latest "Donda" event has spurred a reaction from one of the latter's most notable accusers ... Evan Rachel Wood's got a response, in song.

The actress hit the Bourbon Room in Hollywood Saturday night, where she got on stage and did an impromptu performance of the New Radicals' "You Get What You Give" ... with just a guitarist and an iPhone on hand to help out.

It's pretty clear who ERW was dedicating the song to, because her caption alluded to "survivors" who she feels were betrayed this week -- of course, in relation to Manson. Also, as you may know, Manson is name checked in the lyrics ... and when she sang that line (4:40 in the video), Evan threw up a middle finger.

She writes, "For my fellow survivors who got slapped in the face this week. I love you. Don't give up." Evan also said that she'd been saving this cover, and that Saturday felt like an appropriate time to let it rip.

This all comes on the heels of Kanye's third listening show in Chicago this week -- where he not only had Manson come hang out, but DaBaby as well ... both of whom have been embroiled in controversy of late. Manson, however, is another level ... he's been accused of rape and sexual abuse by numerous women -- all of which he's vehemently denied.

Still, it was a bizarre move on Ye's part to bring both of those guys out -- not to mention feature them on one of his tracks. DB and MM are on "Jail, Pt. 2." Some reports say Kanye did it just for shock value and publicity ahead of the release ... which if true, is bonkers.

Speaking of the chaotic upload of "Donda" ... Ye spoke on that just today, saying it was put out by UMG without his final approval. But, he still appears to be firmly in support of "Jail, Pt. 2" being included. For the record ... the song did end up making it on Apple and Spotify.