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8:57 AM PT -- Mystery solved ... Taylor-Con is just a regular Swiftie fan convention that's going down in Dallas in March -- one that's being organized by fans, and which Taylor Swift and co. seem to want to jump on by trademarking this phrase, which will undoubtedly be circulating.

Taylor and her team don't appear to have any official affiliation with this -- she'll be touring around this time, so she definitely won't be there -- but Taylor-Con is going down, and it's already sold out.

Taylor Swift is moving into a new business era, it seems -- 'cause she's interested in locking down a certain phrase for what sounds like an event centered all around her.

The pop star just filed for a new trademark through her company, and it looks like she wants to the sole rights to the term "TAYLOR-CON." No word on what exactly that may be at this point -- but we do know what TS and co. have in mind in terms of advertising it.

According to the application, obtained by TMZ, T-Swift appears to wanna brand a wide variety of items with "TAYLOR-CON" ... which means, yes, she wants to sell you crap.

Just a taste of what she's aiming to slap this phrase on ... everything from guitar picks and jewelry to clothing/accessories and coffee cups/journals -- not to mention digital items, like sound recordings and computer media. In other words, the whole nine yards of "stuff."

Again, it's hard to say exactly what this is ... but based on the name alone, it certainly sounds big -- and you can almost guarantee it'll revolve around her almost exclusively.

Also worth noting -- this new trademark application from Taylor basically mirrors her "Midnights" application that her same company filed in 2022, which was also seeking to brand a ton of things with that label at the time. Take a look, they almost match up to a T.

On its face, you could argue this may well be a new album ... but it's too early to say.

In any case, it seems Taylor's not done taking over the world just yet ... her reign continues, and it's looking like she's getting set to make the next move in her career ... nonstop Ws.

Swifties, rejoice!

Alec Baldwin apparently didn't want to go through the circus of Zooming into New Mexico to face the renewed charges against him -- so, he's skipping it, and entering a plea from an even further distance.

The actor waived his appearance that was set for Thursday morning, where he was due to beam into a courthouse in Santa Fe County and tell the court how he feels about the involuntary manslaughter charge that was re-filed against him in recent weeks.

Instead, he just submitted a not-guilty plea through his attorneys ... opting to pass on a virtual pop-in. Makes sense -- he's already telegraphed his game plan, signaling through lawyers that he wants this all done quickly and out of the spotlight.

Remember, Alec made clear last week that he has the right to a speedy trial ... emphasizing the fact he does NOT want to drag this out any longer than it needs to be. There are some conditions of release he has to abide by too -- no consuming booze, no illegal substances and no firearms and no leaving the U.S. without written permission ... the usual.

Now, that he's pled not guilty ... the case can continue, and he'll eventually have to come to court for the trial itself. Considering Alec has been denying any wrongdoing from the start -- all signs point to him fighting this thing to the very end, in front of a jury.

Alec has gotten some support lately on this front -- specifically, from SAG-AFTRA ... which put out a statement saying it's not an actor's job to check firearms on set.

Remember, the D.A.'s office there already tried prosecuting him once -- but dropped the charges ... only to resurrect them again through a grand jury, presumably on newer evidence they think makes their case solid.

The parents of OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney, the woman accused of murdering her boyfriend, were obsessed with trying to gain access to the dead man's computer and unlawfully accessed it ... so claim prosecutors in the murder case.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim and Deborah Clenney were arrested Tuesday on felony charges of unauthorized access or excessive access to a computer. Their daughter, Courtney, was also charged with the crime.

According to the police affidavit, Courtney's dad, Kim, came into possession of Christian Obumseli's laptop shortly after Courtney stabbed him to death in April 2022.

Prosecutors obtained a series of text messages between Courtney's parents and her lawyers, which repeatedly reference the need to figure out Christian's password. There were more than 4,200 texts in the group chats between the parents and the lawyers.

Courtney had apparently provided a list of potential passwords and through trial and error over a week's time, they were able to figure it out. The password ended up being his birthday ... 0412.

Courtney's lawyer told the group not to actually access the computer, but Kim told the lawyer he had already accessed it and was "starting to poke around." He said he had not opened a file and didn't see anything.

As we reported, the only thing on the hard drive was a cryptocurrency balance sheet. Prosecutors have not alleged -- at least not yet -- that Kim or Deborah deleted any content.

Both Deborah and Kim will appear in Miami court via zoom Wednesday morning. They are living in Austin, TX and prosecutors are trying to extradite them to Miami, where their daughter sits in jail awaiting her murder trial.

4:40 PM PT -- According to online records, the Clenneys are facing unspecified felony charges from out of state -- but we're still working to confirm exactly what they've been dinged for.

The parents of Courtney Clenney -- the OnlyFans model who has been charged with murdering her boyfriend -- have been arrested themselves ... TMZ has learned.

Kim and Deborah Clenney were arrested at their Austin, TX home Tuesday in connection with the murder case ... and we're told it has something to do with potential evidentiary tampering.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... the Clenneys were taken into custody by law enforcement in Travis County on a warrant out of Miami.

The allegation, from what we understand, boils down to a laptop that belonged to Courtney's late boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, which our sources say remained in their Miami apartment after he was killed in an argument in 2022.

We're told Courtney's dad, Kim, went back to their unit to clear out her stuff in the aftermath ... and in the process, stumbled across this laptop -- which we're told had not been impounded as evidence when police first went through after the incident.

Our sources say Courtney gave her father the password, and he got in ... but found nothing but a crypto exchange on the hard drive. After that, we're told he notified Courtney's defense attorney about it ... and handed it off to the legal team.

At this point, our sources say they're still in custody ... and the exact charges are a bit unclear -- but we're told they have a bond hearing in court Wednesday.

We covered it all on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

Originally Published -- 4:08 PM PT

Cher wants to put her son into a conservatorship, but he says he doesn't need one -- and, for now, a judge is still siding with him ... yet again denying her request to lock him down.

Elijah Blue Allman was stone-faced heading into his temporary appointment hearing Monday -- where a judge will presumably decide if Cher will, in fact, be tapped to head up a conservatorship for her adult son ... this after temporarily denying her earlier this month.

In early Jan., the court blocked Cher's effort to put Elijah into a conservatorship -- siding with Elijah's attorneys when they argued they hadn't been given enough time to make their case against the conservatorship ... plus, not getting docs they needed to combat her request.

Cher cited her son's ongoing battle with addiction as the key reason why she wants the legal apparatus used on him -- claiming he can't be trusted to manage his finances on his own.

She specifically says that regular payments he receives from a trust fund left behind from his late father, Gregg Allman, are likely to be squandered because of issues she claims Elijah continues to experience ... but he's called BS on that, saying he's cleaned up his act.

Welp, the judge heard the arguments anew ... and he once again shot down Cher and her team -- simply saying they hadn't proven Elijah doesn't have the capacity to handle his own affairs ... going on to say that an alleged bipolar disorder diagnosis, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily mean he's incompetent. As the judge said, that doesn't address capacity.

The court also acknowledged that Elijah has proven in paperwork that he's remained clean and sober of late ... plus, he's also proven that he's handling his money just fine.

The judge set a future date for a trial on this issue -- where it will presumably be decided once and for all -- and went on to suggest Cher and her kid head into mediation, STAT. Cher beamed in remotely BTW ... it was only Elijah, his wife and all the lawyers in court today.

Our photog got Elijah and his lawyers on the way out as well ... and they had some words.

When a French Bulldog was stolen right from under the owner's feet, she took matters into her own hands ... with the Dog Mom clinging to the hood of the thieves’ speeding getaway car.

Ali Zacharias was enjoying lunch at a Whole Foods in Downtown L.A. with her French Bulldog Onyx sitting by her feet under the table, when a woman walked up and began calling for the dog.

Turns out she was a dognapper, and grabbed the leash and began walking away.

Ali initially thought it was a simple case of mistaken identity, and started calling out, “Excuse me, that’s my dog.”

When the woman ignored her and continued walking away, Ali gave chase, but the woman jumped in a nearby getaway car that was lying in wait.

Ali tried to enter the car, but it was packed with other people ... they shoved Ali out and locked the doors. Ali stood in front of the vehicle and screamed for help ... but no one came.

The driver took off, knocking Ali onto the hood of the speeding vehicle, while she clung on for dear life.

The car went several blocks before making a sharp turn, violently throwing Ali from the hood of the car into the street.

Ali reported the dognapping to LAPD, which canvassed the area for any surveillance footage of the suspects.

The car was described as a white Kia Forte sedan with a missing front driver’s side hubcap.

Onyx is a black Merle Frenchie with 2 different colored eyes and a spotted coat and is still missing.

Ali told KTLA TV, they “stole my child away from me.”

She continued, “I’m just praying that I can get him back.”

This has been a significant problem in recent years -- stealing French Bulldogs. The most famous theft, of course, Lady Gaga's dogs who were being walked by her dogwalker when a car rolled by, stopped, and 2 men got out to steal the dogs.

The dogwalker was shot and the dogs were taken. Eventually, the dogs were returned and arrests were made.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may want to beef up security around their $15 million Montecito mansion ... after a series of break-ins at their neighbors' lavish homes.

The couple traveled to Jamaica last Wednesday for the opening of the new Bob Marley biopic, an organized band of thieves burglarized an estate about five minutes from their royal compound, according to DailyMail.

The criminals were intent on stealing a safe containing cash and/or other valuables, but it was unclear what, if anything, was taken.

It was the latest in a string of burglaries plaguing the fancy neighborhood, where the likes of Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Oprah, Ellen, Rob Lowe and other celebs live.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff spokesperson Rachel Zick issued an alert to area residents, explaining that police have received several recent burglary complaints "with notable similarities in the resident layouts, times of occurrence and items taken."

Zick said the crooks are always looking for safes, while targeting unoccupied homes that "back up into open spaces such as golf courses as well as creeks, streams or the ocean." Usually, the break-ins have occurred between 6 PM and 10 PM.

The Monticeto Association, a local advocacy group, has offered tips to the community on home protection.

Paxton Singleton -- who starred in the hit show "The Haunting of Hill House" on Netflix -- has been arrested in Arkansas ... TMZ has learned.

According to online booking records ... 19-year-old Singleton was arrested Friday in Siloam Springs on charges of loitering and possessing alcohol as a minor.

The loitering charge carried a $430 bond which was paid 'cause docs say PS was released early Saturday morning. He has a court date scheduled for February 29.

Singleton's got a few credits on IMDb ... most notably starring in all 10 episodes of "The Haunting of Hill House" as the young version of Michiel Huisman's Steven Crain.

He's also appeared in "The Rookie," "Supernatural," "The Resident" and "Chicago Med" ... along with a couple of smaller projects.

Jay Leno is taking steps to manage his wife's affairs ... in the form of a conservatorship.

The comedian filed legal docs Friday to become conservator of his wife Mavis Leno's estate ... according to court records.

A source with direct knowledge tells TMZ ... Jay's wife suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

The diagnosis, our source says, is the basis of the conservatorship ... meaning Jay's wife may not have the wherewithal to take care of herself.

We've seen Jay out in public with Mavis as recently as November, when they were photographed together at a comedy event in Los Angeles.

It's unclear when Jay's wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's -- a progressive disease that starts with memory loss and is the most common type of dementia.

Jay and Mavis have been together for decades ... tying the knot way back in 1980 after meeting in the 1970s at the famous Comedy Store in West Hollywood.

Teyana Taylor says Iman Shumpert's playing dirty in their divorce war, claiming he's slowly shutting down all the utilities in the home where she lives with their 2 children ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

In a new court filing, Teyana's attorney says she woke up this month in the Georgia home they used to share, only to discover the WiFi and cable was cut off, and one day later, the water stopped running ... and she's fully laying blame on Iman.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Iman moved out back in October, and shortly thereafter, Iman's brother -- who handles his personal affairs -- told Teyana, Iman intended to shut off the power.

Since then, she claims Iman hasn't paid a cent of child support, or covered any of the kids' expenses ... including food and clothing costs.

With the water, cable and WiFi now gone, Teyana's attorney says they're concerned he's going to follow through and cut off the gas and electricity.

On top of that, Teyana claims Iman left her holding the bag on $200K worth of home renovations he started 3 years ago.

In the docs, she says Iman told her his money is tied up in investments, and proposed she cover the cost and he would reimburse her -- but she's yet to see a penny from him.

Mind you, it's not like Teyana can't afford to turn on any utilities that get shut off -- she's clearly got the cash to handle that, but her attorney's court filing makes it clear ... this is about holding Iman accountable.

Since their divorce is pending, Teyana's attorney points out the court put a standing order in place ... meaning both parties are supposed to maintain the status quo on their home and finances until the divorce is finalized.

A jury of Donald Trump's peers just decided he oughta pay E. Jean Carroll a fortune for defaming her while denying her sexual assault allegation ... tens of millions, in fact.

A verdict was reached Friday in DT's defamation damages trial -- this after he was found liable for defaming her in September ... not to mention an entirely separate civil case, where he was found liable for sexually abusing her way back in the day.

Trump had already been ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in the sexual abuse case -- something he's currently appealing -- and now ... on the defamation front, a jury came back with an astronomical figure, saying DT has to cough up $83.3 million to the woman.

Indeed, it's a massive amount of cash -- something that apparently shocked the courtroom in NYC -- and a lot of it actually comes in the form of punitive damages, the ones meant to teach somebody a lesson.

Trump was ordered to pay about $65 million in punitive damages, and about $18.3 mil in compensatory damages -- otherwise known as actual damages, meaning the harm she says she literally suffered as a result of Trump's statements about her.

It's interesting ... there are two statements, specifically, that Carroll had sued over -- one in which Trump called her story about the alleged sexual assault a "con job" and another in which he said something to the effect of never having met her, which she called a lie.

Carroll's attorneys wanted $12 million in actual damages for each statement -- and in the end, she got about 70% of that. The astounding number, of course, is the $65 mil ... and that itself speaks volumes about how the jury felt in terms of sending a message to the ex-Prez.

It sounds like the jury's recommendation for this huge amount is going to be upheld by the judge -- there was no indication from Lewis Kaplan that he thought it needed to be lowered.

It's being reported that E. Jean was emotional after hearing the number, and earlier in the day -- Trump was said to be furious while leaving court, this after closing arguments.

Convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith violently convulsed during his nitrogen gas execution for 4 painfully long minutes, and the founder of a leading euthanasia group says he knew it wouldn't go smoothly when he previewed the prison set-up.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, founder of pro-euthanasia group "Exit International", spoke to "TMZ Live" Friday about the first-ever nitrogen gas execution ... saying he was concerned to see a gas mask set-up for Smith's Thursday night execution at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.

He tells us he's long helped people wanting to end their lives with nitrogen in a quick, peaceful, and reliable way -- but ditched face masks 15 years earlier, because he found them to be unreliable and dangerous.

In layman's terms ... he says if the mask loses its seal on someone's face it alters the amount of air flowing in and slows the process, potentially leading to muscle convulsions.

Also, he tells us there was the obvious factor of Smith fighting his own death, which made his execution particularly excruciating.

Nitschke says when people choose to die on their own terms via nitrogen gas, they're encouraged to take long, deep breaths to make it quick -- but Smith, who he met in the prison during his visit -- made it clear he didn't want to die, took short shallow breaths, which added to his suffering.

Nitschke says he warned prison officials they were going about his execution the wrong way, but, clearly, that fell on deaf ears.

Smith became the first-ever inmate to be put to death utilizing nitrogen hypoxia ... basically, suffocating him.

A sexual assault lawsuit against Trey Songz has been dismissed ... with the judge saying the woman never responded to Songz's motion to dismiss, so her complaint is outta here.

Here's the deal ... the singer-songwriter was originally sued back in June by an unnamed woman for allegedly exposing her breast at a Connecticut casino back in 2013.

This is an allegation she initially floated in 2022 through a demand letter to him, but didn't officially sue until Summer 2023. In her original demand letter, she was asking for north of $5 million to settle it out of court -- but he never played ball, so she ended up suing civilly.

You'll recall ... this woman -- who filed as a Jane Doe in her suit -- claimed Songz had pulled out her breast from her bathing suit top during a "Foxwoods Liquid Sundays with Trey Songz" event and even claimed there was video evidence to back up her claim.

She alleged it was done without her permission, and that it amounted to sexual assault -- something Trey and his team had been vehemently denying from the very beginning.

Anyway, this lady amended the original complaint in July -- and then again in September before Songz filed a motion to dismiss saying the statute of limitations barred her claim ... which the judge granted, although he gave her another chance to amend it a 3rd time.

She did exactly that, but her renewed claims looked incredibly similar to the earlier ones ... prompting Songz to file another motion to dismiss. That was back on December 29 when he did that ... and apparently, Doe never responded to Songz's motion to dismiss this time.

Caroline Manzo is suing Bravo over something that happened between her and Brandi Glanville during a 'Housewives' spinoff that got raunchy ... which CM says crossed the line.

The 'RHONJ' star just filed against the network -- plus a ton of other production companies/studios involved in making 'Housewives' -- over an incident she claims took place in Jan. 2023 out in Morocco ... where she says they were attempting to film for a show called "Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip."

Long story short, this is a mish-mash of 'Housewives' from different shows -- and they get them all together for a season of drama while Bravo and co. films them vacationing.

However ... in the docs, obtained by TMZ, Caroline alleges that things went too far between herself and Brandi ('RHOBH') one evening -- during which she claims she was sexually harassed by BG after producers supplied castmates with alcohol to promote more outrageous behavior for the show.

Basically, CM claims Brandi was coming on to her in their rental house -- and alleges she even forced herself onto Caroline and kissed her without consent ... going on to claim that Brandi continued to paw at her and "mount" her on a couch, making for a very awkward interaction.

While Caroline most certainly has issues with what she claims Brandi did in the moment -- she's not suing her in this suit ... instead, she's suing Bravo -- alleging that showrunners and producers were responsible for creating/fostering a drunken environment that puts cast members at risk for things like this to happen.

In fact, Brandi came out after the fact -- this season hasn't aired yet BTW -- saying, more or less, the same thing on Twitter ... pinning the whole thing on producers and alleging that they really push for this type of over-the-top behavior to stir up drama in hopes of ratings.

Brandi -- who's been part of other 'Girls Trip' seasons for Bravo -- even claimed online a while back that producers strongly encouraged cast members to get drunk with excessive alcohol -- and Caroline, too, alleges that in her lawsuit here. She also describes what allegedly happened between her and Brandi as triggering trauma she says she experienced as a little girl ... when she says she was sexually assaulted at the young age of 7.

Now, she's suing Bravo for negligence, sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and more. Of course, Caroline is seeking major damages here.

George Carlin's estate is getting the law involved over the AI special, "George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead" ... suing the creators for the "bastardization of Carlin's real work and legacy."

The copyright infringement lawsuit, filed Thursday in a California federal court, is accusing media company Dudesy of condensing 5 decades worth of the influential comic's standup routines to train an AI chatbot ... mimicking his voice and humor for the special -- without consent or compensation.

The docs also make it clear they're not happy with George's voice/likeness used for promo purposes -- rubbishing the special as a "piece of computer-generated click-bait which detracts from the value of Carlin's comedic works and harms his reputation."

They're asking for an immediate removal of the special and destruction of all copies as well as unspecified damages.

The hour-long special featuring a robot version of George doing standup has been available on YouTube since January 9th -- and the late icon's daughter Kelly Carlin-McCall has been the biggest denouncer of the project ... releasing a statement stating no technology could replicate her father's genius.

On "TMZ Live," she echoed the same sentiments ... telling us the AI program had her dad's name, but that's about where the comparisons end ... adding the computer botched her dad's comedic cadence and just didn't capture the magic like he once did.

Kelly's wish to have it removed could likely be granted if Tom Brady's recent legal win is anything to go by. The athlete successfully got his own AI-generated comedy special from the same platform removed from the internet.

Convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith was executed Thursday by the state of Alabama using a new deadly procedure, as his wife and pastor looked on in absolute horror at his excruciatingly painful reaction.

Smith was ushered inside the execution chamber at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, where prison staff put him in restraints and fitted a gas mask over his face to suffocate him with nitrogen hypoxia. He became the first ever inmate to be put to death utilizing this method.

Before the execution began at 8:07 PM CST, Smith made a heart sign with his left hand to his family who was present before saying his final words through his mask: "Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards... I’m leaving with love, peace, and light."

The next 18 minutes turned into a nightmare for Smith and his two closest confidantes -- namely his wife, Deanna, and his spiritual guide, Jeff Hood, both of whom were in the witness box.

Hood later told the Daily Mail ... the execution was the "worst thing" he had ever seen, even causing prison officials to gasp while Smith died much slower than anticipated.

The pastor also said Smith started convulsing with his body popping up on the gurney after correctional officers pumped his mask full of nitrogen hypoxia, forcing him to inhale high concentrations of the gas.

At one point, Deanna cried out for her dying husband as he grabbed at his restraints, taking his last breaths before he suffocated. Smith was sentenced to death in 1996 for killing a preacher's wife, Elizabeth Sennett, as part of a $1,000 murder-for-hire plot.

He was pronounced dead at 8:25 PM CST.