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Opening statements for the Blac Chyna-Kardashian civil case have officially begun, and BC's lawyer laid out some shocking claims right out the gate ... including Kris Jenner once allegedly saying "Take her off the show."

Chyna's lead attorney, Lynne Cianni, told the jury Tuesday that they would be presented with evidence showing the Kardashian women -- Kris, Kim, Khloe and Kylie, specifically -- worked to tank her and Rob's reality show ... which she says will include text messages.

Cianni said one of those messages was sent from Kris to the showrunner for 'Rob & Chyna' ... which she claims read, "Take her off the show." BC's lawyer says the text came after Kris complained to the showrunner that Chyna had allegedly "beat the s*** out of Rob's face."

However, Cianni says they have video evidence to prove that Kris was making that up -- unaired footage from around the same time which she says will show Rob without a scratch on him. The attorney insists ... no attack happened.

Not just that, but Cianni also says they have evidence that'll prove Kim herself helped get their show canceled. The attorney says there was a "kill fee" of $100k ... but Chyna never accepted it, because she was already making around $90k an episode.

Cianni says there were other lies uttered about her client ... including the idea Chyna and Rob were not together during the filming of their show, the notion Rob and Chyna couldn't be in the same room together, the claim that Season 2 was never greenlit and that footage for Season 2 was never shot, and the contention there was no creative plan long-term.

As a result of this alleged coordinated campaign to sink their series, Cianni says Chyna lost out on other reality show appearances, club appearances and money for social media posts -- which hurt her financially and beyond.

Fat Joe's taking a break from ripping mics to tear into America's healthcare system and the politicians allowing hospitals to essentially steal from patients ... and TMZ Hip Hop's learned he's taking this fight all the way to Washington, DC.

Joey Crack recorded this incredibly powerful message last month in the Bronx, calling out healthcare "crooks" for hiding hospital prices -- something that's actually illegal, but as Joe points out ... no one's policing the system.

Joe teamed up with Power to the Patients to demand change, and you can tell he's feeling this cause as much as any verse he's ever recorded. As he says on the spot, "When we can't see or compare prices, hospitals charge us whatever they want. They robbing us!!!"

The Bronx icon has some A-list companies in the fight for patients' rights. You might recall ... Susan Sarandon and Cynthia Erivo filmed their own PSAs last year for Power to the Patients, which aired during the Oscars.

Susan also joined us on "TMZ Live" to tackle the hot button issue.

We're told Fat Joe's so serious about this campaign, he'll be attending the White House Correspondents' dinner later this month to rep the org, and, hopefully, get some DC powerbrokers onboard with the effort.

A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are doing the ultimate love bird thing that an expecting couple could while on vacation -- soon-to-be Mama Bear looking on as dad takes on Mother Nature.

The singer/fashion mogul was taking in the sights Tuesday down in her native Barbados -- notably, the sight of her baby daddy ripping and roaring through the ocean just outside their vacay home while mounted on a jet ski.

Check it out ... Rihanna is surrounded by some friends/fam, checking in on A$AP with a pair of binoculars as he navigates the choppy waters solo. Seems like she was impressed by what she was seeing, and likewise ... he was pretty happy too. Each of them were all smiles.

Of course, RiRi is heavily pregnant -- it looks like she could pop any day now -- so she definitely wasn't going to join on this particular excursion.

No worries, because A$AP was able to manage just fine on his own ... and before long, he reunited with his lady on land and they headed back inside together. If you didn't believe your eyes before this weekend, you can believe this -- they're very much together.

We'd already been told there was no truth to them splitting over alleged cheating -- it was nothing more than a Twitter rumor that took off like wildfire -- but the proof is in the pudding now that they're in each other's company again, looking super boo'd up, per usual.

Like we said, the future parents aren't just putting on a united front in paradise ... they very much are a united front, for realsies.

"The Flash" star Ezra Miller seems to be having lots of trouble in paradise ... getting arrested yet again in Hawaii.

According to Hawaii County police, the 29-year-old was arrested for second-degree assault ... after cops say they responded to an incident at a private residence in Pāhoa, Hawaii around 1 AM on Tuesday.

Cops say the "Fantastic Beasts" star got annoyed after being asked to leave a friend's home and was accused of throwing a chair that struck a 26-year-old female on the forehead ... leaving her with a half-inch cut.

As we've reported, this is not the first time Miller has gotten arrested in Hawaii. Miler was arrested for disorderly conduct last month after an incident at a bar ... when they allegedly lunged at a guy playing darts and took the mic from a woman doing karaoke.

On top of that ... they were physically blocked from going into another bar on Hilo, just weeks prior ... things got so heated, cops had to come and cool everything down.

More recently, Miller was spotted dancing oddly at a lounge in Hawaii, this month. Eyewitnesses told us, they was pretty much all over the place.

Drake and Taylor Swift are NOT about to drop new music together ... despite a social media post from Drizzy fueling rumors about a potential collab in the works.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … sadly there is NO collab between Drake and Taylor that is about to be released, and Champagne Papi's Instagram post from Monday is just a throwback photo with no hidden message.

As we reported ... the OVO rapper posted a photo dump on IG, which included a photo of him with his arm around Taylor. Drake captioned the post, "They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work".

Our sources say there's nothing behind the pic other than memories ... and the photo with T-Swift is from a few years ago, sometime in 2017 or 2018.

Drake and Taylor are friends with a long history ... and the post and caption led many to believe Drizzy was signaling new music ... but we're told it's just a harmless throwback post.

DJ Envy has an admitted 50 Cent bias – but he's still calling cap on Benzino's plans to sue the "Power" series honcho for defamation.

We caught "The Breakfast Club" co-host with his wife Gia outside Fox News in NYC, and while he pledged his allegiance to 50 Cent (they came up through the same underground hip hop grind in Queens), he doesn't feel Benzino can truthfully present a winning case in court.

Envy acknowledged Young Buck and Benzino's beefs with 50 Cent ... after catching his social media wrath, but in his opinion, they're both out of legal luck.

Again, he's admittedly biased, but even Envy opted to deflect when we asked him about Fiddy's Easter Sunday shot at Jay-Z ... saying he looks like a "gay painter" and posting a side-by-side of Jigga and Basquiat.

Back to Benzino ... he was just on TMZ's "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper," calling for 50's head in court and comparing him to Tekashi 6ix9ine ... in terms of alleged snitching, at least.

DJ Envy and Gia are currently promoting their book, the ridiculously long-titled "Real Life, Real Love: Life Lessons on Joy, Pain & the Magic That Holds Us Together" -- but what could feel longer than being married for 10 years without an orgasm?

The couple recently stepped into The Shade Room to reveal they not only endured a cheating scandal, but 10 years of Gia faking the big O to satisfy Envy's ego. That admission stirred up a spicy convo on the latest episode of TMZ Hip Hop.

Johnny Depp will take the stand Tuesday in his super bitter defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, and he's expected to talk about an incident he says ended the marriage ... when he says she or a friend defecated on his side of the bed.

Johnny is suing Amber for $50 million ... claiming she lied when she accused him of physically abusing her. She's countersuing him for $100 mil for defamation, claiming he coordinated a smear campaign against her.

A key date in the trial is April 22, 2016. Amber was having a birthday party for herself at their downtown L.A. penthouse. Depp showed up late and decided he would bail, which he says enraged Heard. Amber has said Johnny threw a magnum wine bottle at her before leaving.

We're told the housekeeper called Depp the next morning and told him someone had crapped on his side of the bed and then put the covers over it ... he thinks Amber wanted him to unsuspectingly hop in bed and hit the poop.

Depp believes either Amber or one of her friends is the culprit. Amber has said one of their Yorkshire terriers was the pooper, but Depp has scoffed at that, saying the poop was too large for a 3 to 4 pound dog to excrete.

Johnny has said the pooping incident was the final straw in their marriage.

As you know ... Johnny sued a British publication for defamation in England and lost the case ... they called him a wife beater and the judge concluded the allegation was "substantially true." The current trial is in Virginia, so it remains to be seen if he has better luck getting a second bite of the apple.

Shaquille O'Neal is opening up about his divorce with Shaunie O'Neal, not only taking blame for the split, but also acknowledging the loneliness that followed when his then-estranged wife and kids left their family home.

The 50-year-old Hall of Famer joined "The Pivot Podcast" with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor this week ... and got real about the breakdown in his relationship.

"I had the perfect situation," Shaq plainly told the guys.

"Wife was finer than a mug. Kept giving me babies, still finer than a mug -- I had it all."

The hoops legend and Shaunie got married in 2002 -- in the midst of Shaq's dominant NBA reign -- and had four children together ... Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir and Me'arah.

Unfortunately, the two separated in 2007 ... before almost immediately reconciling. However, despite getting back together for some time, Shaunie filed for divorce in 2009, citing "irreconcilable differences."

The divorce was finalized in 2011.

And, Shaq isn't trying to place blame elsewhere ... he plainly says he was at fault.

"I don't make excuses. I know I messed up."

Shaquille last played in the NBA during the 2010-2011 season ... so he had a lot of free time on his hands, and he admits he was lonely.

"I was lost. 76,000 square-foot house by yourself. Lost."

O'Neal says his divorce from the "Basketball Wives" star and executive producer -- who's currently engaged to fiancée Keion Henderson -- is one of the three big regrets that continues to linger in his mind.

The other two ... the strained relationships he had with Kobe Bryant and Penny Hardaway.

"Big mistake in the Penny relationship. Big mistake in the Kobe relationship," Shaq said.

Jada Pinkett Smith's "Red Table Talk" is returning with all-new episodes, but their lineup is glaringly missing Will Smith as a guest ... or any mention of that slap.

Season 5 of Jada's Emmy-winning series will premiere weekly starting Wednesday ... it'll feature celebrities like Janelle Monáe and Kim Basinger, but Will seemed to be left off the guest list.

Many speculated he'd join his family on camera to address the viral Oscars moment ... he's used the platform to talk about their marital issues in the past, sitting down with Jada in 2020 to openly discuss his wife's entanglement with musician August Alsina.

The promos for this season highlight a variety of topics, but it looks like Will slapping Chris Rock isn't one of them.

Also on board ... the parents of Miss USA Cheslie Kryst ... as we reported, Cheslie tragically jumped from her high-rise apartment in New York back in January.

Trick Daddy insists his restaurant did NOT take a hit, following his controversial take on Beyoncé's singing skills -- and yet, the rapper-turned-chef is firing some new shots.

He joined "TMZ live" to clear the air on those comments he made about Bey. ICYMI, his restaurant, Sunday's Eatery, got flooded with bad online reviews, starting last summer, when he said "Beyoncé can't sing."

The joint's Google ratings dropped from 4.8 to 2.6, but TD tells us Sunday's Eatery weathered the storm just fine. Most importantly -- for the Beyhive, anyway -- he also called Beyoncé the greatest entertainer (not singer) in the world.

As far as those bad reviews, he blames trolls and not Beyoncé's dedicated fans ... because he says, "real fans" understand people have different opinions.

The whole experience isn't making him shy, though ... he offered up what he admits will be an "unpopular opinion" -- "Kevin Hart ain't funny."

Blac Chyna's mom, Tokyo Toni, is not a fan of the Kardashian family and she wants everyone to know it ... unloading on the entire family in a rant, following their appearance in court.

Tokyo fired shots at the Kardashian/Jenner clan Monday night on Instagram live ... just hours after they all stood together in the same courtroom.

Ya gotta see the video ... Tokyo calls out the entire family, throwing out profanities at times and laughing hysterically at other moments.

At one point, she says the family 'looked dead' and compared Kris Jenner to a character from the movie 'Saw' ... another time she raps about the family and says, "They got no fatty. They need a daddy."

This live video came after Blac Chyna and her mom appeared in court for the first day of jury selection, for the $300 million fight with the Kardashians/Jenners ... it seems that Tokyo was getting a full kick out of it, as she was rolling a J and talking for minutes in a full-blown rant.

During the court appearance, lots of members of the Kardashian clan showed up ... including Kris, Kim, Khloe and Kylie.

As we've told you, Blac Chyna sued her ex, Rob Kardashian and the entire fam back in 2017 ... accusing them of getting her and Rob's series, "Rob & Chyna," canceled for what she claims was a personal vendetta against and now its finally getting a day in court.

So, it's obvious Tokyo's beef comes on her daughter's behalf ... and she surely didn't hold back how she felt.

So far, there has been no response from anyone in the Kardashian/Jenner family ... we'll see how everything plays out in court.

Jacqueline Avant's murderer has just learned his fate after pleading guilty to the crime -- and he'll be doing some hard time for a good long while.

Aariel Maynor -- who was arrested and subsequently convicted of murdering Mrs. Avant after entering his plea in March -- was sentenced Tuesday in L.A. County ... and the judge threw the book at him, sending him to prison for the rest of his life.

As we reported ... Maynor copped to breaking into Jacqueline and her husband Clarence's Beverly Hills home in December -- and then opened fire with an "assault long barrel pistol" when he came upon Jacqueline, who wasn't with Clarence at the time. Maynor then fled the scene.

Jacqueline was taken to a hospital, but succumbed to her injuries and died.

Photos of the crime surfaced shortly thereafter, and it looks like Maynor broke through a sliding glass door on a side of the property ... leaving behind a ton of shattered glass.

Prosecutors pushed for a lengthy sentence, telling the judge Maynor bragged and joked with his friends about the situation from a jail phone. According to court docs, he also said he expected to serve a max of 25 years because the prosecutors did not file a so-called "special circumstances" murder charge.

Jacqueline was deeply involved in her community, serving as the President of the Neighborhood of Watts, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of UCLA's International Student Center. She was 81.

Clarence, of course, is known as the Godfather of Black music -- having had a hand in a number of classic records and albums throughout the years ... with the likes of Jay-Z, Diddy, L.A. Reid and others singing his praises for his influence in the culture.

Cristiano Ronaldo will not play in Manchester United's game against Liverpool on Tuesday ... his soccer club just announced the star is sitting out while he mourns the tragic death of his newborn son.

Man U officially ruled Ronaldo out early Tuesday morning ... saying in a statement, "Family is more important than everything and Ronaldo is supporting his loved ones at this immensely difficult time."

Manchester United is set to kick off its game in Anfield at 12 PM.

As we reported, Ronaldo and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, announced Monday their baby son passed away. In a statement, they said "it is the greatest pain that any parents can feel."

Ronaldo and Rodriguez -- who announced back in December they were expecting a twin boy and a twin girl -- added that the birth of their daughter "gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness."

Fans, teammates, celebs and more have poured out support for the soccer player and Rodriguez since the announcement.

It's unknown when Ronaldo will return to the pitch next ... but it's clear his team is going to give him all the time he needs.

"Cristiano," Man U said in its statement Tuesday, "we are all thinking of you and sending strength to the family."

Angelina Jolie may be trying to sue the FBI over the Brad Pitt plane incident involving their son -- but if it is her, she's proceeding anonymously ... having just gotten the green light to do it.

Jolie has been speculated as the person behind a recent Jane Doe lawsuit filed against the federal agency over a FOIA request -- one the feds have apparently denied this woman as it pertains to an investigation they undertook a few years back involving alleged abuse on a private jet ... this according to a new report from Politico.

This woman has apparently been asking the FBI to hand over documents from their investigation, but claims she's been getting the cold shoulder ... so, she's suing them over it -- but before she dives in on this case, she wanted her identity to remain under wraps.

A judge just signed off on that request this week ... so she'll move forward here as Jane Doe. The reason she says she wants to stay hidden -- the "impact on the privacy of her client's minor children," so says this woman's attorney ... big shot Amanda Kramer.

That seems to be another tell in some folks' eyes that Angie may be the mystery woman trying to dig up these docs. Based on all the info she's cited in docs thus far, obtained by TMZ, it would appear her description of the incident tracks with what happened in 2016.

You'll recall ... the family was flying from France to the U.S., when Angelina claims an argument broke out between Brad and their oldest boy, Maddox, which she alleges escalated into some sort of physical confrontation and resulted in Brad making contact with the kid.

Brad denied her characterization, saying the contact was inadvertent -- but the case was still investigated by Child Services and the authorities when they landed ... which eventually got kicked over to the FBI over jurisdiction. Since it happened in the air, it was their game.

In the end, the FBI closed the case and declined to file any charges ... as they felt there simply wasn't enough there to move forward. And yet, all these years later ... here's a Jane Doe wanting to get to the bottom of how exactly they reached a similar conclusion in what may be the same matter.

As for what this woman apparently wants with these records ... to "better understand the FBI's investigation and obtain information necessary for her children to receive medical care and trauma counseling." Her attorney also makes it sound like she wants to use these records in other DV advocacy work she might be involved in, politically or otherwise.

Aaliyah Gayles -- USC basketball recruit and no. 8 ranked player in the 2022 class -- was reportedly shot multiple times after gunshots rang out at a house party this weekend in Las Vegas.

The incident occurred around 11:15 PM in North Las Vegas on Saturday according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The paper reports 4 people were hit, including the 18-year-old hoops star ... who had two emergency surgeries Sunday morning.

Details surrounding the shooting are currently unclear.

Her father, Dwight, went to social media to ask for prayers for his daughter, writing, "I know there is some that will say it's my fault and I take full responsibility for it but please please keep my baby girl in your prayers Las Vegas."

"I will give everyone that support Aaliyah an update but she's ok she go make it like always thank you all 💔 true warrior."

Gayles is a McDonald All-American from Spring Valley High School -- the first Vegas player  to make the exclusive squad since 2010.

The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 13.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3/.5 steals and 3.3 assists per game this past season and led the Grizzlies to the Class 5A state tournament.

Gayles is ranked #8 in ESPN's class of 2022 ... and committed to USC last August.

"Aaliyah is one of the strongest, most resilient young people I have ever known," USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said in a statement to ESPN.

"I have no doubt she will continue to face this unfathomable situation with courage and resolve. We will continue to support her and her parents in every way that we possibly can."

Speedy recovery, Aaliyah!

Michelle Obama's brother has major beef with a private school in Wisconsin that he claims booted his two sons after complaints of racial bias in their curriculum.

According to reports, Craig Robinson and his wife, Kelly, are suing the University School of Milwaukee -- a private pre-K-through-12 institution -- saying the honchos excused their boys last year without merit ... and in complete retaliation for something their parents brought to their attention.

The Robinsons allege that in 2021, while their kids were doing virtual learning, they filed two reports to school administrators detailing what they felt were examples of racist stereotypes and bias embedded into their lessons and homework assignments.

It's not entirely clear what exactly they felt was problematic -- beyond use of the word "plantation" and an apparent insensitivity to socio-economic status, as Craig explained on 'GMA' -- but in any case, the Robinsons felt strongly enough to flag it to USM.

Shortly thereafter, the Robinsons claim the school sent a letter notifying them that their sons -- who were 11 and 9 -- were being dismissed ... because of what the school felt was a hostile attitude and "complete breakdown in your family's trust of and respect for USM," per the suit.

The Robinsons say they're shocked, as they felt their kids were "model students" and that they'd taken the proper steps to address what they genuinely believed was a problem.

Now, they're pissed and want some justice -- suing for breach of contract and racial discrimination. BTW, looks like this school ain't cheap by any means ... tuition for each kid ran the parents more than $20k each. So, you can understand why they're fuming.