TMZ.com Home

Aariel Maynor, the man that shot and killed Jacqueline Avant, bragged to his friends over the phone from jail after murdering the 81-year-old philanthropist ... this according to the prosecutor seeking to lock him up for the rest of his life.

According to court documents, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Maynor laughed about all the publicity he's been getting to a friend during a jail call ... she didn't think it was funny, telling him he shouldn't be joking about someone's life. He told her it was all over the news, wondering "You think my mama's seen that, though?"

He told her he expected to get $50K from the Avant's house before the robbery went south.

He reportedly called another friend from jail and told them he expected to only serve a max of 25 years because the prosecutors did not file a so-called "special circumstances" murder charge -- which could've resulted in life without parole, or even the death penalty.

As we reported, Maynor broke into the Avants' Beverly Hills home in December, opening fire on Jacqueline with his assault long barrel pistol. She was taken to a hospital but died of her injuries.

Police caught Maynor an hour later ... after he was found attempting to burglarize another home in the Hollywood Hills but accidentally shot himself in the foot.

Prince Harry's finally revealed what he and Queen Elizabeth II discussed during their first face-to-face in a while -- and it sounds like Her Majesty was in a sporty spirit.

The Duke of Sussex was talking to the BBC Monday night about the Invictus Games -- for which he and wife Meghan Markle are in attendance -- and one of the hosts asked him how his not-so-secret meeting with grandma went.

PH spilled ... sorta. He echoed back the question -- which was about whether QE2 sent well-wishes to Team UK -- saying yeah, Liz sends her best. Harry also noted he'd already passed on her sentiments to those for whom they were intended ... namely, the athletes.

Harry also said it was great seeing her, adding she'd love to be here if she could. That's about it -- nothing of substance, really, but at least it's a glimpse of their chat.

You'll recall ... Harry and Meghan made a pitstop in London last week on their way to the Netherlands, where they met with both the Queen and Prince Charles, briefly, before they were on their way again. It was the first time the couple had been back in the UK. together since they stepped down from their Royal duties in 2020, and since the Oprah interview.

Roderick "Pooh" Clark, an original member of Hi-Five, has died.

Marcus Sanders, fellow Hi-Five member, tells TMZ ... Roderick died on Sunday from complications from an infection and pneumonia at a hospital in Waco, TX.

He tells us Roderick got into a car crash 30 years ago in Florida that left him paralyzed from the neck down, making him unable to walk. He developed an infection that spread through his body -- one that persisted for some time.

He also developed pneumonia over the last 2 weeks, being in and out of the hospital up until his death.

Those close to Roderick have been posting tributes to the late singer online, including the band's musical director Martinez Little, saying, "We had some amazing phone conversations in the past and some great visits when I came thru Waco! I'll cherish them forever."

Roderick and his quintet group of R&B singers formed in 1989 ... other than him and Marcus, they also had bandmates Tony Thompson, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. They reached the top of the charts in 1991 with their hit, "I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)."

Roderick was 49.

If it's one thing Drake is good at, it's making a hit song ... and his latest photo with Taylor Swift has us thinking there could be one in the works with the pop artist.

The OVO rapper dropped a series of photos on Instagram, Monday ... and the last of five is with no one other than pop star, T-Swift.

It's not clear if it is a throwback photo or if it was taken recently ... but Drizzy captioned the gallery saying, "They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work".

And, he could be on to something ... both Taylor and Drake have worked super hard and rose from the ranks in the music industry. Drake's been bestowed the award of Artist of the Decade by Billboard and Taylor was named Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of 2021.

Of course, a music collab wouldn't be the biggest stretch ... Taylor and the Champagne Papi have been friends for a minute. They've been spotted together as far back as 2013, at the MTV Video Music Awards.

In Taylor's 2019 song "I Forgot That You Existed" she sings ... "And I couldn't get away from ya. In my feelings more than Drake, so yeah."

Bam Margera is working out again as part of his latest rehab program ... and one of his oldest friends says it's the best Bam has been in ages.

Bam's "Jackass" and "Viva La Bam" costar, Brandon Novak, tells TMZ ... it's the closest Bam has been to the person he was when they were growing up together on the skateboard scene.

Bam's working out at Recovery Through Repetition, a fitness gym for folks who are in recovery, and Brandon says they took Bam to his first class Friday night and the plan is to get Bam exercising on a consistent basis.

TMZ broke the story ... Bam said one of his earlier rehab stints made him feel like he was going to die from an overdose or suicide, and he claimed he was seeking help in Florida.

Bam got booted from the latest 'Jackass' movie because he failed a drug test ... but he sued and last week a settlement was reached.

Bethenny Frankel might've been groovin' out a little too much on the roller rink in New York City ... getting into the music before taking a hard fall.

The philanthropist/entrepreneur was at the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink for the opening of Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace -- where it's transformed into a roller rink. It's all the rage again ... decades after roller skating was a thing.

Bethenny was dancing away while putting on lip gloss ... then falling butt-first on the floor. Luckily, someone was nearby to offer the former 'RHONY' star an assist.

The event was packed with celebs ... Usher hosted the opening, and fellow icons Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Floyd Mayweather, and Meek Mill all laced up.

Bethenny's quite the talented skater, although ice is more her thing ... she was the runner-up on "Skating With The Stars" in 2010 -- making it all the way to the finale with her partner, professional skater Ethan Burgess.

Benzino says the bad outweighs the good when it comes to 50 Cent's track record in hip hop ... claiming when you talk "just the facts," the facts aren't great for Fiddy.

The former "Love & Hip Hop" star is the latest guest on the "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper" podcast, and he's addressing his 50 Cent beef head-on by strongly hinting he's about to drop a lawsuit on him and several others.

Then Benzino, who was co-owner of The Source, rips his nemesis, saying ... "He's the first 6ix9ine. Like, the first hip hop rat!!!"

As you know Tekashi 6ix9ine infamously snitched to the feds on fellow gang members to get a reduced sentence -- and Benzino's referencing an old allegation Fif ratted on former record exec Jimmy Henchman.

Benzino even references federal "paperwork" allegedly signed by 50 that would prove he snitched -- a claim often repeated by Ja Rule and others at Murder Inc. Records.

However, 50 Cent's always denied this, and as TMZ first reported ... law enforcement sources told us those documents were fake.

Here's the odd part ... Benzino reminded Raq he went out of his way, back in 2000, to help 50 -- and possibly save his life -- when he got stabbed at Hit Factory studios.

Clearly, things have gone way south between them since then, and Benzino's not backing down.

Jake Paul flipped men's boxing on it's head ... and now he's doing the same for the women, telling TMZ Sports stars Amanda Serrano AND Katie Taylor will both make OVER $1 MILLION when they fight next month, and the Problem Child believes it could be the "biggest fight of the year," man or woman.

"The history that this is making. First time women have ever headlined Madison Square Garden, which is massive, and two of the pound-for-pound best going at it, this is what boxing needs more of. I am counting down the days," Jake told us.

Serrano -- who fights for Jake's Most Valuable Promotions -- is 42-1-1. Taylor is 20-0. The women, along with Claressa Shields, are considered the three best active female boxers alive.

Typically, women's boxing hasn't received anywhere near the interest the men have ... but that's something Jake sees changing.

"I think it will shine a light that women boxing is just as good as men boxing. I think that's been a stigma for so long. 'Oh we don't wanna see that, we don't wanna see it. It's not as fun.' No! These women are awesome, they're legit, they are savages and you're gonna see a war April 30, and I think this is gonna open up a lot of doors for women's boxing in general."

It's not just eyeballs and media attention that are sometimes lacking when it comes to women's boxing ... there's also a pay disparity. But, Paul says Amanda and Katie are gettin' PAAIIIID.

"They're both getting 7-figure payday which is unprecedented and will knock down so many doors for the women that deserve this pay over the next couple of years. This is just historic for the sport in general."

And, JP's prediction for the scrap?

New York-based actor Rajiv Surendra is best known for playing the role of Kevin Gnapoor -- captain of The Mathletes ... a club suited for so-called 'math nerds' at North Shore High School -- in the iconic 2004 film "Mean Girls."

Surendra shared the big screen with some of Hollywood's biggest names including Lindsay Lohan as the new girl, Cady Heron, Tina Fey as the calculus teacher and supposed drug dealer, Ms. Norbury, Rachel McAdams as the snobby, popular chick, Regina George, Amanda Seyfried as the not-so-smart girl, Karen Smith ... and Amy Poehler as Regina George's hot cool mom, Mrs. George.

Andy Dick got a visit from cops after a guy he's living with angrily whipped out a gun while they were live on the web.

Here's the deal ... Andy's been staying with a YouTube personality in Las Vegas, who calls himself the Wappy Flanker, and things went awry over the weekend during their live stream. We're told a third man went over to Wappy's place, and an argument broke out.

That's when Wappy pulls out a gun, and threateningly tells the visitor to beat it. In the video, you hear Andy telling his host, "Don't shoot the gun."

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... police received a call from someone who was watching the live stream, and cops went to the home Saturday for a welfare check.

We're told police spoke to Andy and the man who pulled the gun ... and Andy told cops he was fine, and wanted to keep staying at the home. Officers left without citing or arresting anyone.

It appears this isn't the first time a gun has shown up in the live stream ... a day earlier, video shows the Wappy Flanker with a gun on his waistband while Andy shoos off a guy recruiting him to stream an RV trip.

The troubled comedian appears to be sleeping on a cot in the living room ... and the live stream is seeking donations for Andy. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Scores of people say they've fallen ill after eating a bowl of Lucky Charms ... and now the feds are investigating the popular cereal.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Monday the agency is looking into the hundreds of reports from folks who told them they got sick after eating the General Mills product.

The FDA says more than 100 people have complained about Lucky Charms through the agency's reporting system ... and that's not even counting the more than 3,000 folks who went to iwaspoinsed.com and claimed they recently got sick after eating the cereal.

Of course ... Lucky Charms, marketed as "magically delicious," is a frosted toasted oat cereal with marshmallows, and it's widely available across the country. The packaging says the cereal "contains bioengineered food ingredients" and brags about being gluten-free.

People claiming Lucky Charms is making them sick say they suffered from diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting and nausea ... just to name a few.

Weekend 1 of Coachella 2022 is in the books -- and after a 2-year hiatus, it seems folks were itching to land in some trouble with the law ... turns out, arrests were up!

The Indio Police Dept. just released hard numbers describing the alleged scoundrels they encountered Fri-Sun -- the first time Coachella had happened since 2019 -- and wouldn't you know it ... they slapped handcuffs on quite a few more people than the last time around.

There were a total of 112 arrests this year -- up 13% from the 99 arrests they made during Weekend 1 in 2019 -- and they issued a helluva lot more citations in 2022 as well ... 72 of them, in fact, which is 41% more than what they handed out in 2019 for the same window.

If you're wondering how exactly that data breaks down -- well, IPD has that info for you too ... there were 85 drug/alcohol/intoxication busts this year, 15 false ID arrests, 3 instances of folks allegedly possessing drugs for sale and 9 property crimes for which they hauled someone in.

On the citation front ... 54 slips were written for people cops say used bogus handicap placards, and 18 that were drawn up for attendees actually parking in handicap spots.

Now, the upside ... Indio Police say traffic congestion was kept in check -- thanks to a team effort from neighboring law enforcement agencies and partners -- and there were no major concert-related incidents.

So, all in all ... a pretty successful first weekend in the desert, minus all these other arrests they're mentioning. While they're not ideal, it doesn't seem like there were any crazy assaults or crimes of the like ... seems as though people were mostly getting trashed on their own accord.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is all flash and no cash ... at least that's what he wants a judge to believe, because he's claiming to be broke at the same time he's flaunting $2 mil on camera.

Hip-hop's most infamous heel was on "TMZ Live" Monday when he copped to using "prop money" in a recent video where he boasted he has more cash on hand than a rival rapper's net worth. Most people took it as a subliminal shot at Fivio Foreign, though 6ix9ine never says his name.

All that money flew in the face of Tekashi telling a judge he's broke.

He still owes $1 million to robbery victims in the criminal case where he snitched on ex-friends to get a reduced sentence.

Claiming he's faking his riches because, "I'm an entertainer," won't help Tekashi's street cred -- but, to that point, he also told us he doesn't get why everyone blames him for ongoing beefs with Fivio, Lil Durk and others.

In his new music video for "Gine," 6ix9ine calls out Durk over the murder of King Von -- one of Durk's closest friends. It's a brazen and cold-hearted line, for sure.

One of the drug dealers who supplied fentanyl-laced pills to Mac Miller just received his sentence after copping a plea last year -- and he's going to prison for a long time.

Ryan Reavis will be behind bars for 10 years and 11 months after pleading guilty in November to one count of distributing fentanyl. The sentence is longer than what Reavis himself had asked for -- 5 years -- but shorter than the 12.5 years prosecutors were gunning for.

Remember ... the feds say Reavis supplied the deadly oxycodone pills to Mac's alleged drug dealer, Cameron Pettit ... on orders from Stephen Walter, who also recently pled guilty to distributing fentanyl. Reavis said in court Monday that he was just a middle man.

More importantly ... he claimed he had no idea that the pills he was supplying were counterfeit. Despite this, the judge seemed to have dished out an even-handed sentence -- but not before hearing a statement from MM's mother, Karen Meyers.

It read, in part ... "He would never knowingly take a pill with fentanyl, ever. He wanted to live and was excited about the future. The hole in my heart will always be there." In other words, she insisted the alleged dealers/suppliers in this case were solely responsible for his perish.

As we reported ... Reavis was first arrested back in 2019 out in Arizona -- where authorities say they found a bogus doctor's notepad, from which he presumably filled prescriptions. They also claimed they found firearms and drugs ... including prescription-only pills and marijuana.

Absolutely devastating news from Cristiano Ronaldo and longtime GF Georgina Rodríguez ... the couple just announced their baby boy -- a twin -- tragically passed away.

Ronaldo and Rodríguez had been expecting twins.

Cristiano made the crushing announcement on Instagram Monday morning ... and it's difficult to read.

"It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy passed away. It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel," the 37-year-old soccer star wrote.

"Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness."

The details surrounding the tragic incident are not clear.

Remember, Cristiano and Georgina announced they were expecting twins in October. Then, they shared their gender reveal in December (with help from the whole family) ... when they found out they were expecting a boy and a girl.

Cristiano ended his post thanking the medical professionals who helped his family.

Blac Chyna's civil case against the Kardashians is officially underway, and it seems the family at the center of it are quite invested right out the gate ... even for jury selection.

Indeed ... several of the Kardashian women are in court Monday as Chyna's lawyers and theirs pick men and women to weigh in once and for all. That includes Kris, Kim, Khloe and Kylie ... all of whom were present as the selection process got started.

Chyna's there too, obviously -- but one person who decided to skip today's proceedings ... her ex, Rob Kardashian, who was directly tied to BC during the initial run of their show.

We got eyes in the courtroom where they're ticking through potential jurors -- around 40 or so people have been brought in as prospects -- and besides the Kardashian presence ... it sounds like it's a pretty standard day as lawyers go through the motions with questions.

Fashion-wise, Kris is in a white pant suit ... the other ladies are in black pant suits.

As you know ... this case stems from Chyna's 2017 lawsuit, where she alleged the family torpedoed her and Rob's series, "Rob & Chyna," for what she claims was a personal vendetta against her. The suit's been stalled for years, but it's finally getting its day in court.

The Kardashians have denied her claims -- suggesting there were lots of reasons the show got nixed -- including the not-so-great ratings. They also insist they had nothing to do with that decision.

Despite all the back-and-forth mudslinging between both parties, we do know Chyna has been looking forward to her opportunity to make her case in front of a jury of her peers.