TMZ.com Home

Former Angels staffer Eric Kay has just been found guilty of distributing the drugs that led to the death of ex-MLB pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

The jury just announced the verdict ... finding Kay guilty of one charge of conspiracy to possess fentanyl with the intent to distribute and one charge of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death.

Kay is now facing life behind bars. Sentencing has been set for June 28.

According to The Athletic's Sam Blum, who was in the courtroom for the Kay trial this week, Skaggs' mother and wife broke down in tears and hugged following the verdict.

As we previously reported, Kay -- who had worked as the communications director for the Angels for several years -- had been accused of supplying Skaggs with the drugs that ultimately led to his overdose death before an Angels game in Texas in June 2019.

Skaggs was just 27 years old.

Story developing ...

A woman fell from the stage at the L.A. Rams' Super Bowl parade on Wednesday ... and the spill was so nasty, she says she suffered a fractured spine and broke her cameras in the fall.

The incident happened toward the end of the celebration in Los Angeles ... when Kelly Smiley tripped while appearing to take a photo of Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly Stafford.

In video, obtained by TMZ Sports, you can see Smiley accidentally walked backward off the front of the stage while snapping pics ... and tumbled to the ground some 10 feet below.

Matthew Stafford was seen walking away from it all in the footage ... while Kelly Stafford was spotted walking toward the woman to get help.

Eventually, Smiley was taken to a nearby hospital, where she said testing revealed she suffered a broken back in the tumble.

In a GoFundMe set up to help Smiley pay her medical bills, her friends said she also "severely damaged" her professional photography gear. The GoFundMe has an initial goal of raising $30,000.

Fortunately, Smiley posted on her social media pages that she was "feeling ok" ... but she added that she was staying at the medical facility overnight for further evaluation.

Pete Davidson's return to Instagram is gonna get really interesting really quickly, because one of his new followers is ... you guessed it, Kanye West!!! Naturally.

In his latest tug-of-war with his ex, Kim Kardashian, Ye followed Pete's new account Wednesday night, and not quietly, either. He left a pretty ominous ALL CAPS comment ... “FOLLOWED”.

He then posted a screenshot of that, but of course, he quickly deleted it.

Pete launching a new IG account is a little ironic -- and maybe defiant -- considering it's the very platform Kanye used to publicly insult him. Just a few days ago, he called Pete a "d**khead" and posted their private messages, where Pete insisted he hopes to squash their beef someday.

You'll recall, Ye also encouraged folks to scream at Pete, if they saw him out in public ... he later posted private texts from Kim, expressing concern for Pete’s safety. And, that's just IG ... the rapper previously threatened to 'beat Pete Davidson's a**' on a song from his Donda 2 album.

So, it's no shocker Pete didn't give Ye a follow back. In fact, the only people Pete is following right now are his boo, Kim Kardashian, and actor Sebastian Stan.

The 'SNL' star actually deleted his account back in 2018 for mental health reasons. He called the Internet an "evil place" ... he joined again briefly, but dropped out again after posting a concerning note.

The odd thing is with Ye lurking and taunting him, the Internet can't seem all that inviting now!

Rockmond Dunbar is taking Disney and 20th Television to federal court over his ouster from "9-1-1" ... accusing the studios of discriminating against him based on his race and religion.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Rockmond claims he was the only Black male lead actor on the TV show and his dismissal severely damaged his career.

In the docs, Rockmond claims he submitted paperwork seeking both a religious and medical exemption for the COVID-19 vaccine, and says producers assured him they wanted him to remain on the show and his schedule would be adjusted to accommodate him being unvaccinated.

Instead, Rockmond claims he was barred from the set and assured his character's storyline would show him leaving temporarily, keeping open the possibility for him to return down the road.

But Rockmond claims that never happened either ... in his suit, he says Disney and 20th Television fired him in retaliation and refused to pay him the hundreds of thousands of dollars he says he's still owed.

What's more, Rockmond claims the studios not only refused to accommodate his vaccine exemption requests, but also deliberately made it sound like he was an anti-vaxxer ... and he says he essentially became persona non grata in Hollywood.

Rockmond's going after the studios for money, and he wants an injunction barring the studios from discriminating against anyone based on race or religion when it comes to vaccination policies.

We reached out to Disney and 20th Television ... so far, no word back.

Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand -- 818 -- is being sued by competitor Tequila 512 for brazenly ripping 512 off and even getting Kendall's famous sister involved.

For starters, 512 claims in the lawsuit it's a cheap trick for 818 to copy its schtick by using an area code for its moniker. BTW ... 818 is the San Fernando Valley, and 512 is Austin.

But, there's more ... 512 claims the color scheme on the 2 bottles is so similar, it's meant to confuse consumers. And, 512 adds, it was in the game first ... since 2015.

Check it out for yourself ... when the 2 bottles are placed side-by-side, they do look similar, both in color and design.

Now here's the twist ... 512 zeroes in on Kim Kardashian in the lawsuit, claiming something shady happened when Kim's app, "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" was promoting Kendall's 818 and for some reason the 512 bottle was front-and-center on the in-game images. It's unclear if this was intentional or a mistake, but the irony ... a mistake would be even worse because it validates 512's claim that people are easily confused.

In screengrabs from the game, you see a bottle with a similar shape to 512. 512 claims they reached out to game creators after first noticing the product in the game, and it was then changed to the green design ... and it appears the bottle made another change to yellow.

As it was put in the lawsuit ... “Either Defendant intentionally used Plaintiff’s bottle, hoping to further blur the lines between the two products, or Defendant was itself confused about the difference between the two brands."

Kendall was not named as a defendant ... only the company is being sued. A company rep says, "We are reviewing the complaint and believe the allegations are without merit."

In another strange twist ... controversial Russian skating star Kamila Valieva fell to the ice multiple times and failed to medal in the women's free skate event.

15-year-old Valieva -- the best skater in the world -- was heavily favored to win leading up to the competition, but ended up finishing fourth after suffering one of the worst performances of her young career.

Kamila has been at the center of a firestorm of controversy ... after it was revealed last week that she failed a drug test in December. Valieva was popped for a performance-enhancing drug named trimetazidine. The drug helps blood flow and endurance.

Valieva was ultimately suspended for the positive test by Russian drug officials ... who then quickly reversed course, un-suspending her just a day later.

Other Olympic entities appealed the lifting of the suspension ... so the decision went to an organization called the Court of Arbitration (CAS), who ruled Valieva should be allowed to compete, despite seemingly being caught cheating.

One of their reasons? It'd cause "irreparable harm" to the 15-year-old skater.

Although Kamila didn't medal in Wednesday's event ... she did win a gold medal last week. It's still unclear if she will get to keep her medal.

Britney Spears got a special invite ... to speak before Congress.

Reps. Eric Swalwell and Charlie Crist fired off a letter to Spears, asking her and her attorney, Mathew Rosengart, to explain "how you achieved justice..." The 2 congressmen wrote, "There is no doubt your story will empower countless others outside the millions that are already inspired by you and your art."

The 2 Congressmen say they want to learn "about the emotional and financial turmoil you faced within the conservatorship system." The letter goes on to say they are concerned that Britney was "forced to engage in employment against your will."

The Congressmen make it clear in the letter ... they're fully on board the #FreeBritney movement, saying, "We applaud your inspiring fight and stand ready to assist in any way we can."

For her part, Britney said she was grateful ... "I felt heard and like I mattered for the first time in my life !!!" She got the letter in December, but said she wasn't nearly at the healing stage she's in now.

Rep. Crist appeared on TMZ Live today to talk about the invite.

Chet Hanks is closing the book on his famous parents after opening up about his upbringing with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson ... he says personal fitness training is his next chapter.

Chet tells TMZ ... he's done answering questions about what Tom and Rita think about him, because he wants to be seen as his own person.

As you know ... Chet recently shared what it was really like for him growing up, explaining how there was a double-edged sword with privileged experiences ... leading to jealousy and envy from others.

Chet has his own success story with fitness, as you can see from the before and after pics. As for how he'd like to help others, it's more sophisticated than just barking exercise orders at a gym. He's creating custom workout plans for his clients, including nutrition. But he's also teaching meditation techniques. And, his work bleeds over into life coaching ... teaching people personal growth on Zoom calls.

Chet says his end game for others isn't just getting jacked  ... it's also about creating a positive state of mind.

The dude sounds serious about personal training  ... Chet says he's already amassed a client base in his program, Hanx Fit, and meets with people on Zoom over the weekends to help them with their workouts and nutrition plans.

Drake's got some new custom bling on his finger ... and it even comes with a shoutout to his kid.

Celebrity jeweler Alex Moss tells TMZ ... he just finished up a lucky No. 11 ring for Drake, made of gold and diamonds.

The No. 11 is significant ... it's the day Drake's son, Adonis, was born ... and the jeweler says Drake wanted to incorporate the date in the design.

As you see, there's also owl imagery ... with the bird's wings wrapping around to form the ring. It's par for the course for Drake, who uses the owl because his brand "OVO" resembles an owl face.

We're told the bling cost $77,000 ... it weighs in at 83 grams, with 14 karat gold and 15.7 carats of VVS D-F natural diamonds.

The jeweler toiled over the piece for about 2 months ... and we're told it was a gift to Drake from Kai Bent-Lee, the restaurateur and son of famous Canadian celeb chef Susur Lee.

Some might say Hazel-E's crossed a line in her viral feud -- but she has no regrets about clapping back at Winnie Harlow the way she has, and insists there's more to come.

Hazel-E went on the "It's Tricky with Raquel Harper" podcast to break down her war of words with the model which went nuclear when the insults got super-personal and lasered in on both women's appearances.

The "Love & Hip Hop" star told Raq that if people are gonna roast her appearance, she feels it's only fitting for her to respond with the same intensity. As Hazel put it ... if she's being pulled apart for the way she looks, "then nothing is off-limits".

The rift with Winnie ratcheted up when LightSkinKeisha posted pictures back in 2019 saying Hazel-E looked like Ernest P. Worrell from the 'Ernest' movies. It was strictly their beef until Winnie commented on one of Keisha's posts with ... "Keisha nooooooo."

Didn't seem like much, but it caught Hazel-E's eye real quick.

That's when she replied to Winnie ... "Look here 101 Dalmatians."

As you probably know Winnie -- a former 'Top Model' star -- has vitiligo, but Hazel-E still piled on with, "In real life if Tyra Banks didn't feel sorry for your malnourished a**, no one would know you! Pipe down salt n pepa."

Harsh, for sure, but check out the clip with Raq ... Hazel feels justified.

Rams fans are going to love this ...

Von Miller tells TMZ Sports both he AND Aaron Donald will return to Los Angeles next season ... promising that they're going to "run that s**t back!"

Von made the proclamation while leaving the team's Super Bowl parade on Wednesday afternoon ... saying he and Donald are going to be like Shaq and Kobe -- and another unique duo -- in L.A. next season.

"Like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson!" Miller joked with us.

Of course, prior to Wednesday's celebration, neither guy had committed to playing for the Rams next season.

Von is a free agent and has no deal in place to come back for 2022. Donald, meanwhile, is reportedly mulling retirement.

When we asked Donald about his future shortly after we spoke with Von ... he said he's down to come back -- as long as superstars like Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. (who's also a free agent) return too.

As for the after-party ... Von said he and some of the guys have plans to hit up Vegas and golf all weekend.

Texas-raised rocker Jaret Reddick has a long history in the music industry and is best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the Y2K pop-punk band Bowling For Soup ... even landing at number four on the Billboard Top 40 chart with the standout single "1985" and "Stacy's Mom" on their album "A Hangover You Don't Deserve."

Reddick continues to share the stage with his longtime bandmates and friends Chris Burney as the backup singer and lead guitarist, as well as, Gary Wiseman holding it down in the back on the drums.

A customer at a Foot Locker in L.A. was just viciously stabbed ... and it was all over a new shoe release.

Foot Locker did a release of Nike Dunks Wednesday, and there was a line outside the store on Melrose Ave. to get in for the hot new kicks. An eyewitness tells TMZ ... there was some argument between two separate parties in the line for the shoes, which sparked a physical fight, leading to the stabbing.

You see a male in a black T-shirt hop a barricade with a knife and swing on the woman in blue jeans, stabbing her.

It appears from the video we've obtained she was stabbed in the abdomen. We are not showing the actual stabbing but it is brutal. The woman was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. We do not know her condition.

The suspect drove off in a Hyundai and as far as we know he's still on the loose.

This isn't the first stabbing in the area. Last month, UCLA grad student Brianna Kupfer was stabbed to death while working in a nearby furniture store. The alleged assailant, Shawn Laval Smith, a homeless man, was arrested and charged with murder.

George Floyd's aunt, Angela Harrelson, knows his murder ignited a worldwide wave of activism, and she wants to make sure it continues ... as the federal trial continues for 3 ex-cops involved in his fatal arrest.

Angela joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live," but on Tuesday she'd been in court to see ex-officer Tou Thao testify. He and fellow ex-cops J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are accused of violating George's civil rights during the arrest.

She called it a triggering day -- having to see the gut-wrenching video again, as well as listening to Thao's testimony.

Unlike Derek Chauvin, Thao, Lane and Kueng did not have their knees on George's neck ... but Angela told us why she feels they still bear responsibility for his death.

Angela, who was extremely close to George, has also written a memoir, "Lift Your Voice: How My Nephew George Floyd's Murder Changed the World." As she explained, writing it was cathartic -- but it also gave her a chance to be a voice for George.

She says she's urging others to keep using their voices as they did during months of marches for equality and justice after George's murder. Angela's point is ... when you see something that isn’t fair speak up, because every person can make a difference.

DaBaby is dealing with more fallout from his bowling alley beatdown of his baby mama's brother ... because now he's facing a lawsuit.

DaniLeigh's brother, Brandon Bills, is suing the rapper over their recent fight at a SoCal bowling alley.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Brandon claims he walked by DaBaby in the bowling alley when DaBaby suddenly attacked him, leaving him with severe injury and pain.

Brandon claims he didn't fight back ... and says DaBaby's assault resulted in physical and psychological damage, plus medical bills and sustained disability.

As we reported, the brawl was caught on camera ... with the fight spilling into bowling lanes. Law enforcement says they're now investigating DaBaby for assault with a deadly weapon, because Brandon was kicked in the head while on the ground.

DaBaby's already claimed it was self-defense ... and he's been banned from the bowling alley, Corbin Bowl, in Topanga, CA.

DaniLeigh's bro is suing DaBaby for assault, battery, emotional distress and negligence.

'Tiger King' star Jeff Lowe and his wife just copped plea deals in their drunk driving case ... and they will NOT serve any time behind bars.

Prosecutors in Oklahoma tell TMZ ... Jeff and Lauren Lowe each pled no contest to a misdemeanor charge of DWI and will pay a fine and court costs to put the incident behind them.

We're told there will be no jail time or probation for either Jeff or Lauren ... with prosecutors saying this is a typical outcome for these types of cases in Oklahoma City.

TMZ broke the story ... Jeff and Lauren were busted back in June after cops pulled them over in a white Range Rover. Police said they were both driving before the bust, which is why both were ultimately hit with the charge.