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12:30 PM PT -- A spokesperson for Warner Bros./Discovery tells TMZ ... “We dispute Mr. Simmons’ allegations, stand by the filmmakers and their process, and will vigorously defend ourselves against these unfounded allegations.”

9:23 AM PT -- Attorneys for Russell Simmons -- Imran H. Ansari and Carla DiMare -- tell TMZ, "Russell Simmons has filed a claim of defamation in court regarding the film 'On the Record.'

"Despite voluminous support for Mr. Simmons in the form of credible information, persuasive evidence, witness statements, and calls for further investigation by notable members of the media, politics, and the civil rights movement, the defendants simply disregarded it, and released, and continue to re-release globally, a film that tremendously disparaged and damaged Mr. Simmons with its salacious and defamatory accusations, that he vehemently denies.”

Russell Simmons claims HBO Max ignored mountains of evidence refuting the sexual assault claims against him when it produced a documentary about the cases ... and now he's suing the streamer for $20 million.

According to docs filed in New York, Simmons says the 2020 documentary "On the Record," "disregarded or suppressed" more than 20 witnesses who refuted the allegations multiple women made against the music mogul.

Simmons says that information was readily available to several bigwigs at WarnerMedia, the parent company of HBO Max, including CEO John Stankey. He claims civil rights leaders and members of Congress urged HBO to review the evidence supporting Simmons' denials ... although he doesn't name any of them.

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial continues in NYC Wednesday morning ... and the 16th day of testimony begins with the prosecution calling a forensic video expert to the stand.

In terms of his qualifications, Frank Piazza says he runs a website called Legal Audio Video and has previously worked with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the New Jersey Bar Association and private law and investigation firms. When asked by the prosecution this morning if he's been qualified as an expert in his field, he responded, "50 times." The defense has no objection to his qualifications as an expert witness.

Piazza is asked how many times he's worked for the Southern District of New York -- the federal body prosecuting Diddy in the case -- and he says "50 or 100 times," and he's asked if that will influence his testimony. He points out he does "75 percent defense work." He says he's paid $295 per hour.

Abby Lee Miller's accusing a prominent Los Angeles-area hospital of malpractice ... claiming the doctors who performed surgery on her left a foreign object in her body.

The "Dance Moms" star is suing Cedars-Sinai Marina Hospital and two doctors in relation to a 2020 surgery she got on her spine.

While the surgery appeared to have been successful, Abby says she began suffering from abdominal pain and discomfort ... distress she says she shared with multiple medical professionals, including the two doctors who performed her surgery.

Diddy's guardian angel appeared at his federal trial Tuesday ... but, instead of getting all the charges dropped, he may have helped the prosecution's case.

Day 15 of testimony in Diddy's federal sex trafficking case took place ... and, Eddy Garcia -- the former security supervisor at the InterContinental in Century City, Los Angeles -- testified about an alleged payout he and his colleagues received to bury the infamous Cassie beating tape.

As we've told you ... Eddy worked at the hotel back in 2016 -- and, on the same day cameras captured Diddy beating up Cassie, he says he was approached by Diddy's right-hand woman, Kristina Khorram, who wanted to get the tape.

Luigi Mangione's legal team's working to free their client one body part at a time ... because they're now asking a judge to unshackle his hands in the courtroom for future appearances.

According to a letter sent to the judge in the case, Mangione's side -- led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo -- is requesting Mangione be allowed to wear court-appropriate clothes instead of a prison jumpsuit, and not have to put on a bulletproof vest.

They also want the restraints taken off his hands ... arguing all of the shackles and prison garb unfairly prejudice his ability to get a fair trial.

Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne, is heading to prison -- he was just sentenced in a Los Angeles court to seven years and three months in federal prison for embezzlement.

The sentence comes after he was found guilty of stealing $15 million from his clients over a decade-long period -- infamously including $3 million of settlement cash from relatives of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton in Los Angeles fined Girardi $35,000 and ordered him to pay more than $2.3 million in restitution.

Comedian and actress Fortune Feimster is pulling the plug on her marriage to wife Jacquelyn Smith, officially filing for divorce in Los Angeles after more than four years of marriage.

According to court docs obtained by TMZ, Fortune filed earlier this week, citing the usual “irreconcilable differences.” The breakup appears to be amicable -- and there won’t be any financial fireworks thanks to a prenup the couple had in place.

The pair tied the knot in a pandemic wedding back in October 2020, after dating for several years. But after nearly a decade together, things have quietly come to an end.

Diddy's criticisms of Cassie go way back -- long before the infamous hotel beating -- as evidenced in this clip, where he boldly tells fans the singer had fallen way below expectations ... all while she awkwardly sat next to him.

The rap mogul made the video in 2006 -- shortly after Cassie bombed at BET's "106 & Park" performance -- and it shows the two celebs sitting with each other as Diddy admits she had a "whack show."

Despite that, he says, Cassie's going to keep striving to improve in the live arena ... besides, her song "Me & You" was still one of the hottest going in the clubs, he pointed out.

The man who allegedly shot and killed "King Of The Hill" voice actor Jonathan Joss confessed to the police right after the deadly attack ... bluntly stating, "I shot him," according to a police report.

The report, obtained by TMZ, gives a detailed account of what led up to Sunday's violent encounter outside Joss' home in Texas.

Police say it all started around 7 PM when a woman drove Joss from Austin to his old home in San Antonio to see if he had mail.

As the 15th day of testimony got underway in Diddy's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial in NYC, the prosecution called Eddy Garcia to the stand ... he was the security supervisor at the InterContinental in Century City, Los Angeles -- the site of the infamous Cassie beating video.

Garcia is asked about a specific day during the week of March 10, 2016, saying he was told there was an incident involving Diddy ... he's asked about monitoring security video feeds, and he said upon closer inspection, he says he did recognize the music mogul on screen, and he said he later learned the other person involved was Cassie Ventura.

Garcia testified law enforcement was not called because Cassie did not request it. He said he received a phone call from Kristina Khorram, from a New York area code. Khorram was Diddy's chief of staff for Combs Enterprises at the time. He says she asked about the video ... and he says she claimed Diddy had been intoxicated at the time the video was recorded, and didn't remember the event. That drew an objection from defense attorney Brian Steel, which the judge sustained.

Jonathan Joss' husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales is convinced he was gunned down in cold blood by a neighbor due to homophobia -- but cops are pumping the brakes, saying they’re not calling it a hate crime just yet.

The actor -- best known as the voice of John Redcorn on "King of the Hill" -- was shot dead on his own property Sunday evening -- and cops are saying that right now there's not enough proof to back up Tristan's claim it was a hate-fueled attack.

San Antonio Police posted an update on X Monday, writing, "Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation."

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial in NYC resumed Tuesday morning with the 15th day of testimony ... but before the jury was even seated, a woman caused a scene in the courtroom and was quickly ejected.

As proceedings began, Judge Arun Subramanian discussed with the prosecution and defense teams a compilation video exhibit expected to be introduced later Tuesday. There was a question about an expert's testimony ... and the defense questioned certain edits of the video, claiming they distorted the actual events. The prosecution noted time stamps on security videos are routinely inaccurate.

As they discussed a video played by the defense yesterday featuring "Mia" -- a former Diddy employee testifying under a pseudonym -- of her birthday, the prosecution says they intended to introduce a recording of Diddy's phone calls from jail in which he organized "social media celebrations" of his own birthday.

The Italian businessman who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured in NYC for nearly 3 weeks, wasn't always in distress during that period ... according to a bizarre video of him cooking crack in an air fryer.

TMZ obtained a 20-second clip, which seemingly illustrates a much different picture of Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan's alleged captivity in the SoHo townhome where police say John Woeltz and William Duplessie tortured him for 17 days. In the video, Carturan appears to be tied around the chest to a wheelchair, but his hands are free and he's smiling and joking with at least 3 other people in the room.

Carturan -- whose face we've blurred because he's an alleged victim -- is fiddling with an air fryer on a table, and you can hear a male voice say, "You're in a wheelchair cooking crack" ... and someone else says, "That's so whack."

Diddy once saved his former assistant from R. Kelly ... or, at least the version of her boss she dreamed up did, she revealed on Day 14 of testimony.

"Mia" -- Diddy's former assistant who used the pseudonym while testifying -- was back on the stand Monday ... and, she name-dropped quite a few celebs during her time on the stand.

The most shocking had to be R. Kelly, who made an appearance in a dream she had ... one where she was trapped in an elevator with Kelly and Diddy had to step in to save her.

Blake Lively might end up withdrawing the part of her lawsuit alleging emotional distress at the hands of Justin Baldoni, but there’s a catch holding things up … this according to his lawyers.

The actor's legal team sent a letter to the judge in the case claiming Blake is considering dropping her emotional distress claim, because she doesn't want to hand over her medical records ... which Baldoni’s team requested from Lively.

Baldoni attorney Bryan Freedman says they've been in communication with Blake's side about the records, but they've reached an impasse.

Diddy's former assistant "Mia" says she loves Cassie like a sister, but she didn't tell her about the mogul's alleged abuse because she says Diddy closely monitored their communications ... and he'd even put tracking devices on Cassie's car.

Mia took the stand for a third day of testimony Monday ... and, Diddy's defense attorney Brian Steel asked her why she wouldn't tell Cassie about Diddy allegedly raping her.

She responded by claiming Diddy could find out what she told Cassie ... saying he routinely took her and Cassie's phones -- presumably to search through them. He would even go so far as to put tracking devices on Cassie's car, with Mia telling the court ... "I’m not sure what he’s capable of. I was terrified.”