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Izzy Drake's career as a professional Drake impersonator is on the ropes ... a wobble he's looking to shake by challenging his idol to a $1M celebrity boxing match.

Damon Feldman of Celebrity Boxing tells us he signed the Drake imposter and booked a fight for an August 27th event ... whether the real Drake fights the fake Drake or not.

The stakes here are high ... fake Drake has agreed to stop impersonating the real Drizzy if he loses.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story of fake Drake's embarrassing VIP eviction from one of real Drake's favorite Houston nightclubs.

Snakes on a plane would've been just the tip of the iceberg on this flight out of Thailand ... where 2 women are in custody for stashing more than 100 animals in their luggage!!!

Security at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok had to take a second look at the suspects' bags after the X-ray machine set off some red flags -- which is when they discovered 50 lizards, 35 turtles, an armadillo, some snakes and several other species in their luggage. Many of them were dehydrated, and 2 animals were dead.

Among the reptile stash were yellow-spotted river turtles, which are on the international vulnerable species list.

The women, who were planning to take the critters back to India, were charged with violating the Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act ... and face up to 10 years in prison for that. They were also charged with violating Thailand’s Customs and public health laws.

Wildlife trafficking makes $150 billion globally each year -- more than 70,000 animals have been found at Indian airports in the past decade, and over a third of them were spotted at the Chennai International Airport ... which is where the women were heading.

Several New York Yankees had a little too much time on their hands during their game Tuesday night ... 'cause they made a contest out of throwing dozens of pieces of chewed gum onto the field.

Seriously.

The sophomoric game all went down in the early innings of the Yanks' tilt with the Oakland A's ... when Nestor Cortes, Jordan Montgomery and Matt Carpenter all scooped up some bubble gum and hit the corner of the dugout to begin the weird event.

The players picked out a landmark on the field -- it appeared to be a sprinkler head -- then they popped a few pieces in their mouths, spit them out, and then got to throwing.

The side game lasted for about three innings ... and it went on for so long, both the game's home and away broadcasts caught it on camera.

Former Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin talked about the game on-air ... and had the perfect description for it -- "gross."

"It's like golf," Maybin said. "It's like frisbee golf. They find a little marker on the field and they toss the gum and they act as if they're playing frisbee golf."

Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay noted what a headache it must be for the NY groundskeepers to eventually clean up.

Some fans on social media found it funny -- but others found it disrespectful, calling it littering and disgusting.

Outkast's Big Boi is divorced from Sherlita Patton, officially bringing their 20 years of marriage to a close.

Legal documents obtained by TMZ show the court entered the final divorce decree last month, making this a pretty quick dissolution. Big Boi just filed for the divorce in April.

In his filing, he said there was "no reasonable hope of reconciliation" between Sherlita and him -- noting they'd already separated and were living apart.

The two agreed to a postnuptial agreement in 2016, in which they divided up their assets and debts, and more recently agreed to a confidential settlement to tie up any loose ends. The exes also agreed to keep details of their finances private.

Both parties are looking to avoid any mud-slinging -- as part of the divorce, they agreed neither would make threats of "injury, maltreating, molesting, harassing, harming, or abusing" in any way shape or form.

Translation: Let's keep this above the waist and amicable.

As we reported, Sherlita filed for divorce from the rapper way back in 2013, demanding financial support and full custody. Big Boi responded she wasn't getting anything without a fight, but the couple reconciled.

A man who has already been arrested for stalking Ariana Grande has been arrested again ... this time after breaking into her Montecito home on her 29th birthday.

Aharon Brown has a history of dogging Ariana. He was arrested last September at her L.A. home after showing up with a large hunting knife, allegedly screaming at her security, "I'll f***ing kill you and her!" He was arrested for making criminal threats and a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting him from coming near Ariana.

That did not stop him. He violated the restraining order recently by trying to find Ariana and apparently got close. He was supposed to turn himself in Tuesday for violating the restraining order, but Sunday he traveled to Montecito and broke into her house.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... on Sunday, Brown somehow got into Ariana's Montecito home. She was NOT home at the time, but the security alarm went off and cops showed up and arrested Brown.

OBJ is getting out of O-H-I-O -- Odell Beckham has found a buyer for his $3.3 million Ohio mansion ... and it only took the NFL superstar exactly two months to sell it.

TMZ Sports has learned -- the lucky buyer is getting a sick deal for the 13,800-square-foot Columbia Station crib ... which is located about 20 miles west of Cleveland.

The two-story pad has 4 bedrooms, 7 baths, a decked-out kitchen, 3-car garage, movie theatre, golf simulator, a game room and game streaming room.

Yeah, pretty lit.

There's also a huge pool in the backyard and plenty of space -- 2.13 acres to be exact -- for some dope barbeques and outdoor kickbacks.

But, the best part of the place might be the custom-made walk-in closet ... which can hold about as many pairs of sneakers as a Foot Locker.

The mansion had a ton of interest after it hit the market in April via Megan Pettine of Keller Williams ... and an offer was accepted on Monday.

Of course, OBJ's time in Ohio was short-lived -- he had a rollercoaster experience with the Browns for two and a half seasons -- and now he has no reason to live in the Buckeye state.

But as of now, the 29-year-old is a free agent and recovering from ACL surgery ... so ya can't count out a return to the Midwest just yet.

English actress and singer Julie Dawn Cole was just 13 years old when she was cast as Veruca Salt -- the spoiled and greedy daughter who demands everything 'now' and the second person to discover the Golden Ticket -- in the 1971 classic film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

Julie shared the big screen with the late Gene Wilder as the colorful and gleeful Willy Wonka, Peter Ostrum as the sweet and humble, Charlie Bucket and Denise Nickerson as the selfish and vain gal, Violet Beauregarde.

"I want it now!"

Kim Kardashian is using her celebrity to bully a small business for the rights to a skincare line, according to a new lawsuit ... but Kim's legal team says it's nothing more than a "shakedown effort."

Kim is being sued for trademark infringement over her new brands, SKKN and SKKN BY Kim, by a company out of Brooklyn called Beauty Concepts, which claims it owns the rights to "SKKN+" and says Kim's use of the moniker on her beauty products is confusing customers.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Beauty Concepts says it's a Black and woman-owned business that survived the pandemic, and moved up to a brick-and-mortar store only to learn Kim K was launching her new brand with a strikingly similar name.

In the docs, Beauty Concepts says it reached out to Kim's team after she filed papers trying to lock up rights to "SKKN" ... informing her it already held the trademark for "SKKN+" and asking Kim not to use similar branding. The company claims Kim's team ignored the request and pushed forward, releasing her line anyway.

Kim's attorney, Michael Rhodes, is pushing back, telling TMZ ... "This lawsuit is not what it seems. SKKN BY KIM is a new brand that follows in the footsteps of Ms. Kardashian's successful KKW line of products. Building on independent research and development, her company filed a trademark application for SKKN BY KIM to protect the new branded products. This prompted the current shakedown effort."

Rhodes says, "We applaud Ms. Lunsford for being a small business owner and following her dreams. But that doesn’t give her the right to wrongfully claim that we’ve done something wrong. In its letter, Beauty Concepts claimed to own rights to a logo made up of SKKN+, and had just filed for trademark protection for that logo. The business was a one-person shop offering facials from a single Brooklyn location. The salon had no signage and was by appointment only. To our knowledge, Beauty Concepts sold no products under the SKKN+ name.

He continues, "Beauty Concepts asked that we drop the SKKN name. Of course, we said no. Beauty Concepts then challenged Ms. Kardashian’s trademark applications at the USPTO. Unsurprisingly, the USPTO rejected Beauty Concepts’ own SKKN+ mark saying that “skkn” just means “skin.” Undaunted, Beauty Concepts then tried to make its business seem more than it was – it leased a new storefront, changed its website, etc."

Rhodes says Kim's team tried to work with Beauty Concepts to figure something out, and says he "pointed out running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skincare line."

It's a dark day for fans of romance and flamingos -- the relationship between two same-sex birds has flown the coop.

Denver Zoo broke the fowl news in a post intended to celebrate pride month, but instead they had to announce Freddie Mercury and Lance Bass are no longer rockin' together.

The zoo's famed same-sex duo had originally gotten together to be "surrogate parents" in case a breeding pair of the birds was unable to raise a chick on their own.

Lance and Freddie were an item for a number of years before they called it quits ... according to the zoo. As ya might expect, coming in the middle of Pride Month ... the announcement ruffled some feathers online.

The zoo assures the public it was an amicable breakup ... but we can't confirm that, yet.

They say the notion of "mating for life" isn't true for all birds -- the zoo's flock of 75 flamingos has seen some couples stay together forever, while others jump from partner to partner ... no shame intended.

One thing ya know about Wendy Williams, she doesn't tiptoe around anything ... which is why she told us -- as only Wendy could -- about her ongoing medical struggles, and starting her new career.

Wendy joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to tell us more about why she's turning her back on TV, for now, and instead, choosing to produce her own podcast -- and, for her, it comes down to time and money.

Sounds like she's been doing some homework, because she told us ... "When you're famous, podcasts will make more money for me, being famous, than doing the Wendy Williams Show."

She made it clear, she's "100 percent retired" from the grind of her daily TV show.

Wendy's still in the planning stages when it comes to exactly what she's going to dig into during the podcast -- although, as we first reported, she has some celeb guests in mind already. But, the biggest revelation she dropped on us was about her battle with lymphedema.

She had no issue holding up her foot to reveal just how swollen it is from the condition -- which is caused by a blockage in the lymphatic system. Wendy says she can only feel "maybe 5 percent of my feet" ... but also explained how she's not letting it slow her down.

To that point, we got video of her out in NYC Monday night, and she seemed to be moving pretty well.

Wendy says it was an amicable split from Debmar-Mercury, her TV show's production company, and while she swears she's done with TV -- she did admit there's one gig she'd still do ... but only as a guest host.

Buffalo Bills owner Kim Pegula is on the road to recovery after a health issue left her hospitalized earlier this month ... with the team saying she is "progressing well."

The Pegula family said in a statement two weeks ago that Kim had been "receiving medical care as a result of some unexpected health issues" ... and on Tuesday, they shared a positive update.

"Kim is progressing well and is resting and rehabilitating from a health issue," the statement reads.

"We are grateful for the medical professionals providing her care and to everyone for their prayers and well wishes."

Pegula was reportedly in the ICU at Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional, according to Spectrum News 1.

Kim, who married Terry Pegula, a billionaire businessman, back in 1993 ... is an integral part of both the Buffalo Sabres and the Bills, two teams the Pegula family owns.

She's the team president of both squads ... and, in fact, is the first female to hold that title in both the NFL and NHL.

Donald Trump was not only in on the January 6th insurrection, he wanted to lead the insurrectionists to the Capitol, and when the Secret Service refused to drive him there, Trump tried to grab the wheel of the Presidential car ... this according to Mark Meadows' right hand aide, Cassidy Hutchinson.

Her testimony is shocking ... the January 6th House Committee called a special session so she could appear and tell her story about the events leading up to the riot.

Hutchinson testified ... Trump became aware on January 6th people in the crowd had weapons and were approaching the Capitol without going through security. She says she overhead Trump respond, "I don't f***ing care if they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me."

She went on to say Trump ordered the Secret Service to remove the metal detector from the area around his speech, presumably so armed protesters would be unfettered to approach the Capitol.

After Trump spoke to the crowd, he got back into The Beast (the presidential limo) and ordered the driver to take him up to the Capitol. The head of the security detail refused to take him, saying it was unsafe. She says Trump responded, "I'm the f***ing President! Take me up to the Capitol now."

When the head of security refused, she says Trump reached forward and grabbed the steering wheel and had to be physically restrained.

She says he then lunged at the head of security and allegedly attempted to go for his throat. Trump was again restrained and the limo proceeded back to The White House.

Hutchinson also testified Trump would often become enraged, throwing plates, pushing over chairs when things didn't go his way.

Trump has taken to his Truth Social platform in an attempt to discredit Hutchinson's testimony ... saying he didn't even know who she was -- and assuming she was only angry with him after being denied permission to travel with staff on a trip to Florida.

Sometimes being the world's highest-paid athlete ain't always easy ... 'cause Lionel Messi had to deal with a SWARM of fans while he was trying to get a little R&R in on a vacation this week.

Messi, fellow soccer stars Luis Suarez and Cesc Fabregas, as well as their wives chartered a yacht in Formentera -- and when they stepped off of it to grab a bite to eat ... a crush of fans mobbed Messi on the sand.

Photos show as the dude was trying to make his way back to the boat following the meal -- people did everything they could to get a close-up of the soccer star.

Some fans snapped pictures, while others reached in for handshakes and hugs.

To his credit, Lionel didn't look to be annoyed ... strolling through the sea of bodies with his head held high.

Eventually, Messi and the soccer stars made it back to the boat -- where they stripped off their tops and got in some sun and swimming.

Ghislaine Maxwell was just sentenced to 20 years behind bars for her role in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal.

Maxwell was sentenced Tuesday ... learning her fate nearly 7 months after being found guilty by a New York jury. She'll also have to pay a $750k fine and 5 years of supervised release once she's out.

As we reported ... Maxwell was convicted back in December on 5 of the 6 counts she faced in her sex trafficking trial, including a conviction on one count of sex trafficking of a minor.

Maxwell stood accused of soliciting and grooming minors for sex crimes and abuse at the hands of Epstein between 1994 and 2004.

During her trial, 4 women testified Epstein sexually abused them when they were all under the age of 18 ... and they also told the jury Maxwell recruited and groomed girls for Epstein to abuse and sometimes even joined in on the abuse.

At the sentencing, a few of Maxwell's victims spoke. One of the victims, Annie Farmer, said "Maxwell had many opportunities to come clean, but instead continued to make choices that caused more harm. She chose to lie about her behavior, causing additional harm to all of those she victimized."

Maxwell addressed the court as well and apologized to the victims. She said, “Your honor, it is hard for me to address the court after listening to the pain and anguish expressed in the statements made here today. The terrible impact on the lives of so many women is difficult to hear and even more difficult to absorb, both in its scale and in its extent."

"I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a manipulative, cunning and controlling man who lived a profoundly compartmentalized life and fooled all of those in his orbit. Jeff Epstein should have been here before all of you. He should have stood before you in 2005, again in 2009 and again in 2019. ... All the many times he was accused, charged and prosecuted. but today it is not about Jeffrey Epstein ultimately. To you, all the victims ... I am sorry for the pain that you experienced."

Maxwell pled not guilty to all the charges and her legal team insists she's been made a scapegoat for Epstein ... who committed suicide in custody in 2019 while awaiting his own trial.

The Fury family's relationship with a major Irish crime boss is what's keeping Tommy from entering the United States ... with U.S. officials placing a travel ban on any fighters, managers and promoters with ties to the wanted man.

Daniel Kinahan -- who helped found the MTK Global boxing promotions company that previously repped Tyson Fury -- is accused of running a massive drug and firearms trafficking operation in Europe ... and is currently on the run from authorities.

Law enforcement sources tell us fighters with any association with Kinahan -- even the most tenuous ties with the guy -- are being barred from traveling as part of the federal investigation ... in hopes of getting information on bringing him down.

Here's the thing -- Kinahan is accused of some SERIOUS crimes with the Kinahan Organized Crime Group ... but as far as MTK Global goes, it was legit and well respected in the boxing community.

We're told the feds are even keeping former fighters who are now broadcasters from doing their jobs ... stopping at nothing to get people to cooperate in the investigation.

While Tommy seemingly has ZERO connection to Kinahan, it's Tyson's relationship with Kinahan that kept him from making it to New York for Wednesday's press conference for the Jake Paul fight.

Tyson has clearly avoided questions about his links to Kinahan in the past ... but has adamantly denied any wrongdoing.

The terror of Vladimir Putin firing missiles on innocent civilians is on vivid display in these new videos showing the shopping mall Russia just destroyed.

Monday's missile strike in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk destroyed the mall, sending fireballs into the sky and unleashing a shockwave on a nearby park. In the video, you can see citizens strolling peacefully when suddenly they have to run for their lives.

Some people took cover behind trees, while others jumped into a pond seeking cover from shrapnel and rocks that were sent flying. A massive piece of concrete from a building landed in the park, but luckily it didn't hit anyone.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said there were more than 1,000 people in the mall at the time of the strike -- and the latest death toll stands at 18, with nearly 60 injured and another 36 people still missing.

As rescuers continue digging through the rubble, President Zelensky is labeling the missile strike "one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history."