TMZ.com Home

Shaun Weiss is back and better ... and now he'll be returning to the big screen ... 'cause the dude's just landed a role in a movie.

The 'Mighty Ducks' star tells TMZ ... he'll be in the film, "Jesus Revolution," starring Kelsey Grammer -- based on the true story of Lonnie Frisbee and the hippies he baptized in the '70s -- and the role is reflective of his own life.

Shaun tells us, someone from Lionsgate actually saw his sobriety story and wanted to offer him the role. He did a read for a director via zoom, and voila!

We're told, he plays a strung-out Vietnam vet who gets saved and sobers up. And, he's really gotten into the role ... even asking his dentist if he could temporarily take out the implants he just got, to look the part.

Well, that wasn't possible but, either way, Shaun says the role has taken him back to his own life and being drugged out ... so much so, he says, playing the role is almost like experiencing a relapse.

As we previously reported, Shaun has struggled with drug addiction for many years ... even losing most of his teeth from drug abuse. He's since turned his life around, gotten a new set of pearly whites and has been sober for 2 years!

Talk about a comeback ...

Erica Campbell is praising Chris Rock for showing restraint in the face of a Will Smith slap to the face ... and his ability to keep calm has only helped draw attention to his comedy tour.

The Gospel singer sat down with Raq on the "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper" podcast ... and shared her take on The Oscars moment, applauding Chris for not fighting fire with fire.

Erica says emotions can cloud judgment and she's proud of Chris for keeping a cool head at the moment ... lifting him up as an example for lots of folks to follow.

It's just one part of the silver lining Erica sees from an otherwise disappointing moment between two celebs she views as important Black figures.

Chris is doing a comedy tour and his shows have been packed -- with a surge in prices on the resale market. Erica believes Chris helped his own case by showing restraint in the moment Will slapped him, and now audiences are drawn to his tour to hear what he has to say about the incident.

Even though Tom Brady's back, Rob Gronkowski says he's not ready yet to commit to playing football again ... telling TMZ Sports he's still truly undecided about his future.

Most thought the tight end would be a shoo-in to return to Tampa Bay in 2022 after his QB unretired ... but Gronk says that's just not the case -- at least not yet.

In fact, Rob says he actually avoided catching footballs at a charity event over the weekend so he wouldn't get an urge to make a decision that he might regret later.

"I knew if I started catching some passes that my head would have started turning, like, 'Oh, crap, I got to get back out on the field,'" Gronk said. "And, right now, I'm not ready to get back out on that field. I'm not ready to commit to the game of football right now."

The 32-year-old does not have a contract yet -- and he said he won't sign a new one until he's 100 percent sure he's ready to get back on the field.

As for what he's doing in the meantime -- he told us he's enjoying his offseason ... and he announced Gronk Beach is making its return this year at the NFL draft in Las Vegas later this month.

Rob says the party will happen on April 29 -- and he promised it'll be a complete rager.

After that, it appears a football decision will ensue.

Musician and American actress Fairuza Balk was just 23 years old when she played Vicki Vallencourt - the girlfriend who's a ride or die for her 'geek' of a boyfriend -- in the 1998 football film "The Waterboy."

Balk was cast alongside some of the greats including Adam Sandler as momma's boy and H20 enthusiast turned all-star player, Bobby Boucher, Kathy Bates as Bobby Boucher's overprotective mother, Mama Boucher, Rob Schneider as the annoying yet supportive "you can do it" character, Townie and Henry Winkler as the convincing coach, Coach Klein.

One of Gwen Stefani's bandmates claims he's having some trouble with a fella who thinks Heath Ledger is still kicking and living on his property -- and he's asked a judge for help.

No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal filed for and received a temporary restraining order against a guy named George Leonardopoulos ... whom Kanal says has terrorized his family for the past few months with unannounced and unwelcome visits.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Kanal claims Leonardopoulos has swung by his L.A.-area pad repeatedly since late January -- even hopping a gate onto the property on one occasion.

On one such alleged drop-in from just last week ... Kanal claims Leonardopoulos came to their front gate and buzzed the intercom, telling Kanal's wife that he used to live there with the previous owner of the property -- and that person is Heath.

Kanal says he purchased the house from HL in 2005 (before the actor's death) and Leonardopoulos apparently lived at the house in the past and bizarrely told the Kanals he thinks Heath is still on the premises ... and alive.

Even creepier ... Leonardopoulos allegedly said it was gravely important he be let in to pop into their garage so he could "wake" Heath -- telling them if "you know what is good for you, you will let me in." At least that's what Kanal is claiming here in his TRO paperwork.

In addition to the alleged threats, Kanal says they've seen Leonardopoulos wielding a large stick and a knife and that they've called the cops on him in the past. Now, they're asking for legal help in the form of a restraining order ... and they got it.

A judge signed off on Friday, and it's in effect until a hearing can be held later this month. Leonardopoulos has to stay 100 yards from the Kanal family and their grounds until this can be hashed out.

It's business as usual for Kanye West -- despite dropping out of Coachella -- he's apparently still on his work grind ... stopping by a construction site in L.A.

Ye was spotted in Beverly Hills Monday, just hours after we broke the story that he was no longer going to headline the music festival. For the most part, it appears Kanye's got his head buried in his phone ... perhaps reading fan reactions to his cancelation.

What's interesting ... recent reports suggested Kanye was leaving town to get treatment and better himself after his social media outbursts. However, that just doesn't seem to be true.

Coachella organizers have not yet named Ye's replacement ... Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Swedish House Mafia are all still scheduled to headline.

Mika Newton isn't just using her voice to sing, she's urging folks to step in and help Ukrainians survive the war -- a crisis she says grows more grave each day for her country.

The Ukrainian singer joined "TMZ Live," following her performance Sunday night at the Grammys and shared her thoughts on Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine and what Americans can do to help.

Mika says all help is needed, in whatever form ... whether it's raising awareness or sending donations. She's aware the brutal images from the war can be overwhelming, but she says it's necessary to make sure folks don't forget what is happening every single day.

ICYMI, Mika performed with John Legend and 2 other Ukrainian artists -- Lyuba Yakimchuk and Siuzanna Iglidan. She dedicated her performance to her sister and all soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine.

As we reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky also appeared -- a total surprise to even Mika -- and he urged viewers to "support us in any way you can" and not be silent.

Kristin Cavallari and Tyler Cameron are pretty comfortable around each other ... even willing to have a make-out session in the middle of a photo shoot!

The reality stars were doing a campaign for her Uncommon James line in Joshua Tree Monday ... we're told Kristin asked the former 'Bachelorette' star to be a part of the shoot last month after appearing on a talk show together.

As we reported, Kristin filed for divorce from Jay Cutler in April 2020, but tried going on a few dates with him after filing. The time apart and then together didn't prove helpful for a rekindling, as she called it quits and began dating other people, including country music star Chase Rice in 2021.

In March, she was having the time of her life at "Magic Mike Live" in Las Vegas ...  getting a full-blown lap dance of sorts -- albeit one that had her lying flat on her back -- while the dude went to work on the whipped cream. Nothing like Sin City ...

A Nicole Brown Simpson look-alike surprised O.J. Simpson in his bedroom at 1 a.m. for a prank video -- and you can see in the footage, The Juice was SHOCKED by the impromptu wakeup call.

The clip was posted to TikTok over the weekend -- showing the Nicole doppelganger and several other young women barging into the ex-NFL star's room late at night to try to get a rise out of the guy.

The girls had their phones out -- playing music loudly -- while a man can be heard in the background saying, "Let’s go! It's party time in the house!"

One of the girls can be heard yelling "Wakey! Wakey!" ... all while the Nicole look-alike laughed.

O.J. -- who wasn't wearing a shirt -- appeared to giggle it all off ... and eventually looked like he was going to get up and entertain the guests before the video cut out.

Further details surrounding the prank -- like when it happened, where it happened and who the girls were -- are unclear ... O.J.'s yet to address it publicly.

Cardi B's archenemy, blogger Tasha K, will not have a pass to say whatever she wants about the rapper while she appeals their defamation case ... the judge just saw to that.

On Monday, a federal judge in Atlanta signed off an injunction forcing Tasha to delete a bunch of her old posts which trashed and defamed Cardi. Remember, Cardi won her legal battle with the blogger back in January when the jury ruled in her favor.

Tasha was ordered to pay Cardi about $4 million in damages and attorney's fees ... and had to delete all old posts that include offending statements -- false claims about Cardi and STIs, cocaine, prostitution and "side peen." However, Tasha's appealing that judgment and had yet to remove those posts and/or videos.

According to the new docs, Tasha's now on the clock -- the judge has given her 5 days to scrub her social media platforms and YouTube page of all those shots at Cardi. Both sides agreed to the terms of the injunction.

Now, if Tasha wins the appeal, the judge says she can file to modify the injunction ... so, she could repost her allegations about Cardi.

Rapper Goonew was quite literally front and center at his own funeral ... with his body propped up and on display in a club.

The 24-year-old's funeral, named The Final Show, was held at Bliss Nightclub in Washington D.C. Sunday, and footage from inside the building appears to show the rapper's embalmed corpse overlooking the crowd, fully dressed up and wearing a crown.

The audience reaction is pretty mixed ... some are dancing along to the music, while others are stone-faced, staring at the dead body in front of them. Bliss Nightclub said they weren't made aware of the tribute ahead of time, according to TooFab, and have apologized to anyone offended.

The club is still investigating if the body was real or not, or if any legal ramifications are possible.

Goonew, real name Markelle Morrow, was found with fatal gunshot wounds a few weeks ago in a District Heights parking lot -- his family believes he was the victim of an armed robbery.

Kanye West will no longer be performing at Coachella this year -- leaving the festival with an open headliner spot ... and fans without an appearance from Travis Scott.

Sources connected to Ye tell us he's decided to pull the plug on his performance at the 2-weekend-long event in Indio, CA -- which starts next weekend. What's more, we're told Travis Scott was supposed to join Kanye onstage ... so that's now out of the question as well.

It's currently unclear exactly why Kanye's backing out -- but he's clearly had a tough few months -- lashing out at Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson and Trevor Noah, among others on social media.

TMZ broke the story, his racist attack on Trevor got him suspended from Instagram for 24 hours last month ... he hasn't posted anything since.

Kanye's cancelation leaves Coachella with an obvious hole. Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Swedish House Mafia are still headlining ... but there's clearly a lack of diversity.

Of course, Travis was supposed to headline the festival back in 2020 before it was canceled because of COVID. Travis was then booked for 2022, but Coachella organizers pulled the plug on the idea after the tragedy at Astroworld. Fans demanded he come back with a petition, to no avail.

Travis has not performed in a large capacity since.

Here's Prince at age 11 doing his very first interview, but not about music -- just a kid sharing his opinion on a Minnesota teachers' strike ... an incredible piece of lost TV footage!

The clip is from way back in April 1970, and it shows a reporter from local TV outlet WCCO asking young Prince what he thinks of the picket lines outside schools. The kid was rocking a winter hat and that same sly smile the world would come to know 13 years later.

11-year-old Prince told the reporter, "I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff."

At first glance, the kid looks a lot like Prince, but the reporter never asked the kid's name ... so there was no proof on camera that it really was Prince Rogers Nelson.

WCCO did some digging, tracking down other kids from the archival footage who did share their names, but ran into some dead ends. That's when they turned to Prince historian Kristen Zschomler, who gasped when she first saw the clip.

Zschomler says it's definitely Prince in the video, standing outside his old Lincoln Junior High School stomping grounds ... and she says footage of Prince as a child is super rare.

The TV station got further confirmation it was Prince, getting in touch with an old classmate who recognized Prince and some of their other peers on tape.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson's relationship continues to grow ... in fact, it's spreading to other parts of Pete's family now too!

Sources connected to Pete tell us Kim recently joined him on a trip to NYC. We're told Pete was there working on a movie -- so Kim came to check things out -- and the production happened to be close to Pete's grandparents' home on Staten Island.

After the shoot wrapped for the day, Kim and Pete dropped in to spend some time with his family ... and Kim got to officially meet his grandparents.

Of course, the meeting shouldn't be all that surprising -- the two have been together for several months now -- but bringing the family into the mix is always a big step.

We also know Pete's become more than familiar with Kim's family -- including her mom and sisters -- one of the first pics we saw of the pair together was snapped at Kris' home in SoCal with the Kardashian family matriarch and Flavor Flav.

Pete's also been openly accepted by Kim's closest circle of friends, who have all told us he's a great guy and a good addition to Kim's life.

Our sources say Pete has still not met Kim's kids, out of respect for Kanye, so it will be interesting to see if that changes down the line.

Martha Stewart's cat, Princess Peony, is dead, and her ninth life ended violently at the paws of Martha's 4 dogs, who mistook her for a rogue threat and killed her.

Martha broke the news Sunday ... revealing Princess Peony died in a case of mistaken identity. Her social media caption read, "Burying the beautiful and unusual Princess Peony. the four dogs mistook her for an interloper and killed her defenseless little self. I will miss her very badly. RIP beauty"

Fans and friends, including Kris Jenner and Ellen Pompeo, commented on the post and wished Martha the best.

She later posted a pic of PP in remembrance ... Martha says her feline pal was a dominant calico Persian who celebrated her 12th birthday last year.

There were warning signs for Martha and Princess -- back in August, Martha talked about her cats being afraid of her dogs, posting ... "My cats feel liberated because the four dogs are away on vacation. Leaving the cats alone in the house to roam, relax, recover !!!"

Still, gotta wonder how her pups mistook a not-so-large house cat -- with which they'd lived for several years -- for a human intruder. 🤔

Martha has always been a lover of animals ... at one point, she had 25 dogs and 20 cats. She also hosted the Puppy Bowl with Snoop Dogg back in February and has spoken out often about her farm, home to a wide variety of animals, including horses, canaries, peacocks, and goats.

Olivia Rodrigo has one more very cool thing in common with her idol, Taylor Swift -- the teenager's the proud owner of a banged-up Grammy! Hey, it's hard to hold 3 of 'em at once.

The 19-year old performed her hit "Drivers License" during the 64th Grammy Awards ... and then went on to snag 3 golden trophies, and that's where her troubles started.

After the show, Olivia was posing for some pics with her 3 Grammys when one slipped out of her hands and broke in half. The look on her face at the moment of impact was priceless.

It's kinda funny, fans quickly pointed out how similar the moment was to Taylors at the 2010 Grammys. She'd won 4 that night and one went boom during press pics.

The photos and their reactions are pretty damn similar -- and it's no secret Olivia's looked up to Taylor, who's supported Olivia's rising career.

Olivia ended up taking home Grammys for Best Pop Solo Performance for "Drivers License," Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Sour."