TMZ.com Home

George Valera -- arguably the most touted prospect in the entire Cleveland Guardians farm system -- has found himself in some seriously hot water ... after he shoved an umpire during a game on Thursday night.

The wild scene all went down in the third inning of the Columbus Clippers' tilt against the Nashville Sound ... when Valera -- who was playing centerfield for the Clips -- stepped into the box for his second at-bat of the night.

Broadcast video from the game shows during the middle of the AB -- Valera appeared to take exception to something Sound catcher Alex Jackson said ... and he confronted him about it, halting play.

The two then got so heated, the home plate ump tried to intervene -- but that didn't stop Valera from sticking his finger in Jackson's mask. A few moments later, Valera pushed the ump in what seemed to be an effort to get to Jackson.

The shove ignited an all-out brawl on the field ... as both benches cleared to back their guys. Pushing and shoving then ensued -- before, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.

Both Valera and Jackson ended up getting thrown out of the game over it all. It's unclear if Valera will face further punishment for putting his hands on an ump.

Michael Grimm, famous for winning "America's Got Talent" season 5, is showing big signs of improvement after being hospitalized with a serious, and mysterious, health issue.

Michael's wife, Lucie, tells TMZ ... he recently had a breakthrough in his recovery, and he's now able to speak and even walk under his own power.

It's big news for Michael, who has been in the hospital since Memorial Day, when he was rushed to an intensive care unit and put on a ventilator.

Michael's wife says he's still in the hospital and doctors have so far been unable to diagnose a specific disease or syndrome behind his hospitalization.

We're told Michael had an adverse reaction to being on the ventilator ... his wife says his brain stopped communicating with the rest of his body.

So, now he needs to relearn movement and speech, which is why walking is such a milestone for his recovery.

While Michael no longer needs a cane and is able to speak, his wife tells us he still can't sing or play guitar ... but he's working on different exercises to get back his musical talents.

The breakthroughs are nice, but there are still some issues ... Michael's wife says he has PTSD from being on the ventilator and some past personal trauma has been resurfacing during rehab.

Lance Armstrong's opinions on transgender athletes have rubbed a lot of people the wrong way recently … including a pair of his "Stars on Mars" castmates, who actually confronted him about it all while he was on the competition show.

The former cycling star has shared his two cents on the matter over the last few weeks repeatedly ... especially after filming an episode of his "The Forward" podcast with Caitlyn Jenner.

On the pod, he and Jenner spoke about trans women competing against biological females -- and the two appeared to share the opinion that there should be a separate category for the parties, due to what they believed was an unfair advantage of being born a male.

While filming "Stars on Mars," Armstrong made no attempts to distance himself from that stance ... telling Ronda Rousey he doesn't see why it'd be "unfair" to introduce a new category to the sports competition landscape to assuage the issues.

Quickly, however, Tinashe jumped in to confront him over the thought process.

"We just have to care about if you other-ise people," the "2-On" singer said on the new Fox show. "It's not good for their mental health."

When Armstrong asked her to expound, she added, "Like, kind of, like, exclude them from the same spaces and places that everyone else is."

Armstrong swore he wasn't trying to exclude anyone with his ideas ... saying, "I sound like a right-wing lunatic. I'm not. I'm the most liberal person -- but from a sporting perspective ..."

But, Tinashe wasn't having any of it ... later telling Fox cameras, "I definitely didn't think that he should be the spokesperson for that."

Adam Rippon -- an openly gay figure skater -- also chimed in on Armstrong's remarks ... making it clear he was not a fan of them either.

"That is so disheartening," he said.

Rippon further explained he believed Armstrong's words could shake up the whole dynamic of the show going forward.

American actress Maria Thayer was 30 years old when she played the smart and pretty high school graduate, determined to get accepted into Yale University Rory -- in the comedy/teen film "Accepted" back in 2006.

Thayer shared the big screen with Justin Long as the slacker who invented the fake college, "South Harmon Institute of Technology," aka 'S.H.I.T.,' Bartleby, Blake Lively as Bartleby's love interest who makes the transfer to 'S.H.I.T,' Monica, and Jonah Hill as the nerdy friend looking to join a fraternity, Sherman.

Maria was also in the films, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Hitch."

Britney Spears says NBA phenom Victor Wembanyama is simply wrong when he says she "grabbed" him from behind ... she insists it was simply a friendly tap.

Britney is responding to the story TMZ broke early Thursday ... that the head of Victor's security backhanded her in the face outside Catch restaurant in Vegas. The account she just posted on social media aligns with what she told the police.

Britney says, "I recognized an athlete in my hotel lobby as I was heading to dinner. I later went to a restaurant at a different hotel and saw him again." That hotel is Aria.

She goes on to describe the encounter ... "I decided to approach him and congratulate him on his success.  It was really loud, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention."

Now the dispute ... "I am aware the players statement where he mentions 'I grabbed him from behind' but I simply tapped him on the shoulder."

As for the slap, she says "His security then back handed me in the face without looking back, in front of the crowd. Nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses off my face."

Britney adds she herself was "swarmed" by around 20 fans on her way into Aria, noting, "My security team didn't hit any of them."

As we reported, Victor spoke with reporters -- including KENS 5 reporter Nate Ryan -- after practice Thursday to detail his side of how things went down.

Britney says, "“I also don’t appreciate nor do I thin this is a laughing matter. Watching the player smile and laugh was cruel and demoralizing with the situation that took place. I am 5’3 and he’s 7’4…”

Sources close to Britney tell us she hasn't yet heard from Victor's team and she's pissed about it ... thinking someone would've at least reached out to apologize.

TMZ spoke to an eyewitness who says he not only saw the head of security slap Britney, he heard the impact.  He also says Britney was furious, screaming "This is f****** America."

As we reported, Metro PD has launched a criminal investigation and interviewed Britney this morning at her hotel. We're told the case will "likely" be referred to the D.A. for review.

Victor Wembanyama says Britney Spears didn't just tap him on the shoulder before a security guard put his hand on her on Wednesday night ... the NBA star says she full-on "grabbed me from behind" -- sparking the intense scene.

The San Antonio Spurs' top pick explained his side of the situation to KENS 5 reporter Nate Ryan shortly after a workout on Thursday afternoon ... saying it all went down as he was walking into Catch restaurant in the ARIA Hotel in Las Vegas.

Wembanyama -- the most touted basketball prospect since LeBron James -- said there were a lot of people in the hallway near the eatery calling for him ... but he was instructed not to stop in order to avoid creating a chaotic scene.

One woman, though, kept asking for him ... before she ran up to him and put her arms around him.

He later learned that person was Spears.

"I didn't see what happened, because I was walking straight and we were told, 'Don't stop,'" Wembanyama said. "But that person grabbed me from behind -- not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind -- and so I just know the security pushed her away."

"I don't know with how much force, though. But security pushed her away. I didn't stop to look so I could walk in and enjoy the nice dinner."

Wembanyama said he didn't know the woman was Spears until "a couple hours later" because he never saw her face.

"At first I was like, 'No, you're joking,'" he said. "But, yeah, it turns out it was Britney Spears."

Spears' husband, Sam Asghari, also addressed his side of the incident in a pair of Instagram posts Thursday afternoon ... chastising Wembanyama's security guard for getting physical with the singer during the incident.

"The violent behavior of an out-of-control security guard should not cast a shadow on the accomplishment of a great young man on the rise @wemby," he said. "The blame should fall on the coward who did this, the people who hired him without proper vetting, and a systemic culture of disregard for women within sports and entertainment."

Sam went on to say he believed Spears was "physically assaulted," and he demanded to see changes "come from the top."

"And I look forward to those changes," he said.

Steve-O taking a plunge from one of London's famous landmarks has him in hot water with cops ... who were waiting for him moments after he splashed into the River Thames.

The "Jackass" star tells TMZ ... he's in England to tape his third comedy special, so on Thursday he jumped off the Tower of London Bridge and was promptly detained by cops.

TMZ obtained video of the crazy stunt, and you see Steve-O counting down in front of a crowd before jumping off the bridge ... all while decked out in all sorts of Union Jack gear, including an umbrella.

Steve-O says he spent a good portion of the afternoon in a police car and says cops told him their issue with his stunt is it might encourage others to make suicidal leaps from the famed bridge.

In the end, Steve-O says police let him go, and, as far as he's concerned, the craziest part wasn't the jump ... it's the state of the Thames.

Steve-O says the river was absolutely filthy ... which probably isn't a great combo with the new big tattoo he's sporting on his leg. Dirty water isn't exactly great for open wounds.

The bridge jump wasn't Steve-O's only stunt of the trip ... he says he also jumped off one of those famous double-decker buses, which he considered much worse than the bridge jump. Yeah, pavement makes for a tougher landing than water.

You're welcome, England ... for the crash course in entertainment.

An eyewitness to the Britney Spears slap at the hands of security for NBA phenom Victor Wembanyama tells TMZ ... he clearly struck her and she was furious.

Brian Grajales, a Canadian who was outside Catch restaurant Wednesday night says he saw Britney approach Victor's entourage, clearly wanting to take a photo with him.

Brian says she "infiltrated" her way into his circle, leaned in, and in a British accent, said, "Excuse me, sir ... excuse me, sir." She then touched Victor's back, and that's when he says the head of Victor's security backhanded her right in the face.

One law enforcement source told TMZ, the security guy hit Britney's hand and her hand then hit her face, but Brian squarely disputes that. He says the security guy struck her.

Brian says Britney's sunglasses flew off, but he doesn't recall if she fell, but there was a lot of commotion.

He says Victor walked into the restaurant, and, in a British accent, Britney screamed, "This is f**king America!!!"

As we reported, the Metro PD is conducting a criminal investigation, they went to interview Britney this morning, and we're told the case will "likely" be sent to the D.A. for review.

Marcus Jordan, you motorboatin' son of a bitch! 😅

MJ's son celebrated his girlfriend Larsa Pippen's 49th trip around the sun with a photo dump of the lovebirds enjoying each other's company -- and we stress enjoying!

Jordan posted a clip where the 32-year-old is seen threading a Hookah mouthpiece through Larsa's top -- a low-cut black dress -- before taking a big ol' puff, all while the couple hangs out at an unknown club.

MJ exhaled ... and then did his best "Wedding Crashers" impression.

It wasn't all steamy videos ... Marcus also came with the prerequisite lovey-dovey-ness.

"Happy birthday to my best friend & partner in crime," Jordan wrote on one of the photos.

Larsa was clearly appreciative of the birthday love ... sharing posts from not just her bae, but from her friends, as well.

Unfortunately, it's not all cupcakes and rainbows for the couple. Earlier in the week, Michael Jordan publicly stated he doesn't support his son dating the ex-wife of his former teammate/frenemy, Scottie Pippen ... flat-out answering "No" when asked if he approved of the relationship.

With or without MJ, it's clear Larsa and Marcus -- who began dating last year -- are very much in love!

Britney Spears was allegedly assaulted Wednesday night in Vegas, after a member of NBA phenom Victor Wembanyama's security backhanded her in the face, and she has filed a police report.

The incident went down at Catch restaurant in the ARIA Hotel around 8:30 PM. Britney, along with her husband, Sam Asghari, and 2 others went to the restaurant for dinner. She was swarmed by fans as she entered the casino.

Britney and co. walked over to Catch, and as they were entering the restaurant, Britney spotted Victor. We're told she's a fan and went over to him to ask if they could take a photo together. She tapped him on his back, right shoulder and, we're told the Director of Team Security for the San Antonio Spurs -- the team that drafted Victor last month -- instantly backhanded her, causing her to fall to the ground ... knocking her glasses off.

Britney composed herself and went to her table. We're told the security guy came over to the table and apologized. He said, "You understand how it is when you're being swarmed by fans." He apologized and Britney accepted it. BTW, we're told he also said when he slapped her he didn't know who she was.

Britney's security team spent time with Victor's security guy, and afterward her team filed a police report with the Metropolitan Police Dept. alleging battery.

Originally Published -- 7:35 AM PT

Kevin Costner's estranged wife is fighting for more child support ... scoffing at the $51,940 monthly figure he's currently offering, saying it's not even close to enough dough.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Christine Baumgartner calls Kevin's child support proposal "completely inappropriate" ... saying he apparently expects their kids to live well below his means when they're with their mother.

Christine claims Kevin spends $240,000 a month on himself and the kids when they're with him ... a huge contrast to the $51,940 he's expecting her to need to take care of the kids when they're with her.

Kevin's estranged wife says the almost $52K simply isn't enough to provide for the kiddos ... pointing out it's well below the $65,000 per month she says Kevin was getting for renting out a guest house at his $100 million beachfront compound, where the family lived together.

Christine says there's just no way she can give their kids the life they're accustomed to on $52k a month ... claiming it's not enough to find similar housing or keep up their lifestyle.

In the docs, Christine says at the current figure the kids would be in for a big step down once she moves out of Kevin's home ... she says the kids are used to living at the beach and in a gated neighborhood, two things she doubts she will find at $52K a month.

Christine says she needs the money for more than just rent ... rattling off a bunch of other expenses like utilities and TV bills.

Kevin's estranged wife says the kids are used to having a team of people hired to maintain the home and the property ... including assistants and helpers who handle schedules, grocery shopping, food prep, cleaning and cooking.

Remember ... Christine's requested $248k for child support, with Kevin's accountant saying some of her expenses include more than $100k for her own cosmetic procedures and boutique shopping.

Kobe Bryant will once again grace the cover of NBA 2K24, the video game maker announced ... the 4th time for the NBA legend!

2K -- first released in 1999 by Visual Concepts -- took to social media on Thursday, writing, "Sharing the Mamba Mentality with the next generation. Introducing our #NBA2K24 cover athlete, Kobe Bryant."

The game will come with two different covers ... a Kobe Bryant Edition and a Black Mamba Edition!

The KB version features a young Bryant, wearing number 8, flying through the air for a dunk. The BM edition features a veteran Kob, wearing his purple and gold away Lakers jersey.

"As we celebrate 25 years of NBA 2K with Kobe Bryant, we commemorate his legacy and the generational impact he has had on the game of basketball," the Prez of Visual Concepts said.

"While we mark the history of the franchise, NBA 2K24 also looks ahead to the future to bring an innovative leap in technology and the introduction of community-requested features like crossplay."

Kobe was last on the cover for the 2K21 edition ... following Bryant's tragic death in January 2020.

The NBA Hall of Famer was also featured on the special edition cover for NBA 2K17 ... and NBA 2K10.

Preorders for the game start Friday ... and the game drops at the beginning of September.

Drake's just one show into his extensive "It's All a Blur" Tour, and he's already dealing with the flying cell phone trend -- one pelted him in the wrist mid-performance.

The Certified Lover Boy was serenading the crowd Wednesday night in Chicago with his own rendition of Ginuwine's "So Anxious" ... when he was assaulted with the phone. It hit his left wrist, but he just watched it land on the ground, and was definitely not injured.

Confused fans in the audience wondered what they had just witnessed, but Drake couldn't be sidetracked from his mission ... he never made a big deal about the phone, and simply continued crooning for the crowd.

The phone wasn't part of the plan, but Drake did have plenty of props onstage ... life-sized tributes to both Virgil Abloh and the fertilization of life!!!

Social media has inspired concertgoers to throw phones at performers in hopes of getting an exclusive video, but the movement has resulted in disaster -- ask Bebe Rexha, who's just healing from facial injuries suffered last month when a fan hurled a phone at her head.

Stars like Adele have vowed to strike back if phones fly their way, and we just got Jason Derulo's take on the subject, who'd be proud of Drake's reaction ... because he thinks artists shouldn't take pics with devices thrown onstage.

Taylor Swift's dad apparently knew there were some important happenings taking place concerning Big Machine Label Group just days before his daughter's catalog was sold to Scooter Braun.

In an email, obtained by TMZ, Scott Swift provides help into a "data room" for Ithaca -- the company that purchased BMLG (and Taylor's music) for $330 million. The timing of the email -- June 26, 2019 -- is interesting considering the company sale happened just a couple days later. DailyMail was first to break the news of the new details.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the data room was used to include info about upcoming deals and happenings within the company -- and would have almost certainly included info about the $330M sale.

As we reported, Taylor has maintained she didn't know the sale was even happening until it was finalized and made public. Scott Swift has said he did not participate in any shareholder calls about the sale because they were under strict NDA, and he didn't want to know anything that might jeopardize his daughter's career.

We've also seen a copy of that NDA, which appeared to be standard in its guidelines.

However, Big Machine's CEO Scott Borchetta released a statement shortly after Taylor said she'd been left in the dark, calling Scott out ... "I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott, 13 Management lawyer Jay Schaudies (who represented Scott Swift on the shareholder calls) ... didn't say anything to Taylor over the prior 5 days."

BTW ... Jay still works on Taylor's management team to this day.

We also reported Scott Swift cashed in to the tune of $15 million on the catalog sale as he owned a percentage of Big Machine when it was sold.

A source close to Taylor tells us, "In 2020, the ability to evaluate any opportunity for Taylor to purchase her catalog was conditioned on signing a gag order NDA prohibiting her from ever speaking the truth about Scooter and the situation. Taylor has completely moved on from this saga, and has turned what started out as an extremely painful situation into one of the most fulfilling creative endeavors of her life."

However, our Scooter sources dispute the part about the NDA and gag order ... telling such an order just doesn't exist.

The Taylor source continues, "She re-recorded 3 albums and has 3 more to go. She’s looking forward to the release of her new album tonight."

OceanGate is pressing pause in the wake of the Titan submersible's fatal voyage to the Titanic shipwreck ... the company says it's halting all operations.

In a statement Thursday, OceanGate says it's suspending all exploration and commercial operations in the wake of last month's tragedy, which killed OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four others.

As you know, Stockton was piloting the Titan submersible when it imploded during a dive to the famed shipwreck ... killing everyone on board, including British billionaire Hamish Harding, French researcher/diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman.

OceanGate has several other submersibles aside from the Titan, but the company says none will be going below the surface any time soon.

The Titan wreckage was recently recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic ocean ... along with presumed human remains.

Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann are still doing things as a family despite their extremely bitter divorce ... taking their children to worship and break bread together.

The former 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star and former NFL player went to church as a family last Sunday in Atlanta, bringing their 4 minor children with them to the service.

Afterward, Kim and Kroy took the kiddos out to eat ... and there were even a few smiles among the family.

Frankly, it's a bit unexpected to see the estranged couple together with their kids in tow ... the divorce has just been that acrimonious.

As we've reported, Kim called the cops on Kroy just last month, because he allegedly accused her friend of kidnapping their son. She also allegedly punched him during a different argument that led to a police response, and she's accused him of being mentally abusive.

Financially, Kim and Kroy allegedly owe $1 million to the IRS and they're both being hounded in court for allegedly falling behind on payments for everything from Target purchases, to fancy cars and gambling trips.