Super Bowl

If Josh Allen and Co. are able to lock up a Super Bowl win in the next few weeks, Thurman Thomas tells TMZ Sports he'll jump through some tables with Bills Mafia -- and he's pretty sure a few of his former Buffalo teammates will join him!!

The Bills' march toward a SB title will continue this weekend ... with a matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium -- and if Buffalo comes away victorious, it'll be on to New Orleans, where it'll face off with the Eagles or the Commanders with the Lombardi on the line.

A win would mean a first-ever ring for the Bills ... and Thomas told us this week in order to celebrate, he'd happily hop through a plastic table -- just like Buffalo diehards have been doing for years.

Philadelphia roots are apparently thicker than blood in the Kelce household ... 'cause Fletcher Cox tells TMZ Sports he's sure Jason Kelce would cheer for the Eagles to beat Travis Kelce's Chiefs if they met in next month's Super Bowl.

A Philly showdown with Kansas City would happen if both teams pull out wins on Sunday ... and Fletcher is confident the Eagles will hold up their end of the bargain in a home tilt with the Commanders.

The former Birds D-lineman said he's expecting at least a 10-point victory ... although he did say he has big respect for Jayden Daniels and the rest of Dan Quinn's Washington team.

1:00 PM PT -- A spokesperson for Universal Music Group tells TMZ … “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist -- let alone Drake -- is illogical. We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.

"Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.

"We have not and do not engage in defamation -- against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song.”

Drake is not backing down in the war against his own label, in fact he's now upped the ante by suing Universal Music Group for spreading the "false and malicious narrative" he's a pedophile ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

Drake filed the defamation case Wednesday morning in federal court in NYC ... ripping UMG for releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar's vicious diss track, "Not Like Us." In the docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Drake says UMG knew full well Kendrick's lyrics, and images in the music video, referring to Drake as a pedophile were false and dangerous.

In the suit he calls Kendrick's hit -- filled with "inflammatory and shocking allegations"-- was a "gold mine" for UMG ... and he says they had an ulterior financial motive in promoting it.

The Super Bowl is just weeks away, and Guy Fieri is gearing up to once again throw the BIGGEST party in New Orleans on Super Sunday ... and the Food Network star says this year could be the best yet!

"We throw a tailgate for 10,000 people, 2,000 of which we carve out specifically for our veterans, first responders, and active military. But for 10,000 people to come spend five hours in Flavortown getting ready for the greatest day in sports," Fieri told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

The party, which starts at noon on the day of the big game (February 9), will go down at the massive Mardi Gras World facility ... and Guy says it's the perfect place to tailgate before kickoff.

Janet Jackson's paying homage to one of her career milestones ... 'cause one of her dancers grabbed her chest from behind during her recent show -- and, it's pretty clearly a throwback to her 1993 album, "Janet."

The singer-songwriter took the stage at Resorts World in Vegas Monday ... and, while outfitted in a tight black leather bodysuit, a dancer came up and ran his hands over Jackson's chest ... while Ms. Jackson looked ready to get 'Nasty' with it.

The Vegas pose calls back to the cover of her 1993 album "Janet," which showed Jackson facing the camera with her arms up in the air, with two hands cupping her bare breasts from behind -- the wide release only showed her from the neck up, but the limited edition featured the full photo. The image was also on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine that year.

Lil Wayne's ick over getting "snubbed" for Super Bowl 59 in his New Orleans hometown seems to have blown over ... Wayne is now cheering on Kendrick Lamar to have a helluva halftime show!!!

Skip Bayless made attempts to push Wayne over the edge on his show on Monday, claiming to be "baffled and angry" there wouldn't be Young Money emblems inside Caesars Superdome come February -- but Wayne said it's all g-double-o-d.

“I’ve spoken to him, and I wish him all the best and I told him he better kill it,” Wayne told Skip. "For whatever reason I believe it’s over my head. I don’t know why, period. Obviously, I believe that it’s perfect. I do not know why.”

While we don't know if Lil Wayne will be making an appearance at the Super Bowl in his hometown of New Orleans, we do know another big-time rapper will be in attendance -- Big Sean -- who tells TMZ Sports he already has tickets to the big game!

That's how confident Sean feels!

We caught up with the Detroit rapper out in Los Angeles ... and he didn't waver at all -- he's emphatic in his declaration that Jared Goff and the Lions are a lock to make the big game.

Jim Harbaugh and the L.A. Chargers' first year together is going better than many were expecting ... and Shawne Merriman's thrilled about it -- 'cause he told everyone who would listen before the season he knew they'd be good!

The ex-pass rusher sat down with TMZ Sports just prior to the Bolts' 2024 kickoff -- and he was adamant back then that his former team had a real chance to make a run to the AFC Championship game.

This week, when we caught back up with him -- he gloated about his preseason forecast -- telling us that after being around the team in the summer, he just had a real feeling this Chargers team could be a Super Bowl contender.

Lil Wayne was "devastated" when he wasn't given the chance to headline the Super Bowl halftime show in his hometown ... but if Todd Graves gets his way, he can be a part of the first-ever Super Bowl parade in New Orleans!!!

TMZ Sports caught up with the Raising Cane's founder -- the newly crowned "King" of the Super Bowl host committee parade going down Feb. 8 -- and he says while he doesn't make the decisions regarding the halftime show, Tunechi has an open invite to the parade.

"Lil Wayne," he said. "I would love it, and I will ask him, if Lil Wayne wants to be a part of the parade with me. That'd be quite an honor. He's a New Orleans, Louisiana legend. We love him."

Even Big Freedia admitted their bounce lost some of its spring when Lil Wayne was snubbed and denied the headline halftime spot in his hometown New Orleans Super Bowl ... and turns out the entire city is feeling the burn!!!

We interviewed Big Freedia on 'The TMZ Podcast' and word in the 504 streets is that everyone in New Orleans is sad for Wayne -- especially since he attempted to put things into existence months ago ... but ended up gutted when Kendrick Lamar got the nod.

Big Freedia told hosts Charlie Neff and Wyld Young there's still hope ... Kendrick could easily share stage time with Wayne in February and all would be right in the world ... and wards.

Saints star Demario Davis is pumped the Super Bowl's coming to New Orleans, but the 5x All-Pro wholeheartedly believes Lil Wayne should be part of the halftime show!

TMZ Sports asked 35-year-old Davis about the controversial SB situation -- which has the internet/music world in a frenzy -- in the wake of the NFL announcing Kendrick Lamar as the halftime show performer, despite Weezy, a legend in the city, wanting the gig.

While DD makes it clear he's not disrespecting K-Dot -- in fact, he called Kendrick and Taylor Swift the hottest acts in all music -- he also talked about the importance of having someone from Louisiana, given the rich music history, be part of the halftime show.

Grammy-winning jazz musician Robert Glasper knows a thing or two about jamming with Kendrick Lamar ... and he says his schedule will miraculously be free should he get the call to join him on that Super Bowl 59 halftime stage!!!

We linked with Rob at LAX Friday, and he tells us the chances may be slim, but if K. Dot needs him to key up any tracks from his 2015 monster album "To Pimp A Butterfly," he's the guy -- because he was the guy when it was recorded!!!

Rob worked on smooth songs such as "These Walls" and "The Blacker The Berry" with his homies Terrace Martin and Thundercat ... amazing compositions -- but thinks K. Dot will crank up the energy for the Big Dance and drop "Not Like Us."

Kendrick Lamar has plenty of hits to choose from when he hits the Super Bowl 59 halftime stage next year -- and has plenty of options with several of his fellow rappers as well!!!

We caught up with Rich The Kid at LAX this week and he tells TMZ Hip Hop that K. Dot can easily dominate the performance on his own ... but Rich wouldn't scoff at the opportunity to perform their 2017 double-platinum collab "New Freezer."

That said ... RTK admits he would immediately turn around and give that hypothetical slot to Lil Wayne, who was pitted into the Super Bowl convo when Kendrick got picked in Wayne's hometown.

Lil Wayne is speaking out after not being selected to perform at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show ... and he's not mincing words -- the snub has left him devastated.

Wayne took to IG on Friday morning ... where he spoke directly to his fans in an earnest video, thanking them for their support over the past several days and explaining how disappointed he is not to be chosen to take the stage in New Orleans.

LW says he's been building the strength to address the situation "without breaking." He makes his feelings clear ... when he wasn't selected, it hurt -- a whole lot.

Kendrick Lamar's viral new song validated Dee-1's unyielding message that hip hop culture has sunk into Hades -- and the New Orleans-bred rapper is etching it as a career-changing moment!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Dee on Thursday, just hours after Kendrick shouted him out on the song being dubbed, "Watch The Party Die."

Kendrick seemingly mutes himself with the somewhat cryptic bars, "I want to be empathetic, my heart like Dee-1 but I would ___" ... and Dee thinks the Compton lyricist was metaphorically saying he would blacken his soul to combat the evils of the world, and decided that silence would be the best punchline to end the rhyme.