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Elon Musk says he isn't the one holding up a battle of the billionaires with Mark Zuckerberg ... claiming Tuesday the Meta honcho is actually the one who turned down a potential fight at Italy's Colosseum.

The Tesla exec took to X just minutes ago to explain his side of the situation ... saying after the two men had initially agreed to fight, Rome offered up one of the Seven Wonders of the World for the guys to scrap in.

But, according to Elon, Zuck just flat-out didn't want to do it.

"Zuck declined," Musk said emphatically.

That's when he said he offered to fight in Zuckerberg's backyard Octagon instead.

"I suggested his home as 'safe space,'" Musk said. "Tragically, he was ahem 'traveling.'"

Zuck, meanwhile, has offered up a completely different version of the situation, saying on Threads earlier this week that he was moving on from the battle ... because he didn't believe Musk was serious at all about the fight.

"I offered a real date," the 39-year-old said. "Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead."

He continued, "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

The Tuohy family says before Michael Oher made "outlandish," "hurtful" and "absurd" claims about them in court on Monday ... he actually tried to shake them down for $15 MILLION.

Marty Singer -- the Tuohy family attorney -- said it all happened recently ... and, what's worse, he claimed this is not the first time Oher has done this.

Singer -- in a lengthy statement to TMZ Sports -- said Oher came to the Tuohys prior to filing his 14-page petition in Shelby County, Tenn. ... and threatened them, saying if they didn't pony up an eight-figure check, he'd "plant a negative story about them in the press."

Singer denied all of the allegations in Oher's court filing ... explaining that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy absolutely did not trick the former NFL star into getting into a conservatorship when he was 18 years old as he had claimed.

The conservatorship "was established to assist with Mr. Oher’s needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver’s license to helping with college admissions," Singer said. "Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way."

As for Oher's claims that the Tuohys used the conservatorship to broker a movie deal with Fox behind Oher's back that netted them millions -- while leaving Oher with nothing -- Singer said that was BS as well.

"The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone -- let alone from someone they loved as a son -- defies belief," Singer said.

Instead, the attorney claimed Tuesday the Tuohys had "received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits" from "The Blind Side" ... money Singer said the Tuohys have always either shared with Oher or have tried to share with the former Baltimore Ravens tackle.

"Over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from 'The Blind Side,'" Singer said. "Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher’s equal share into a trust account they set up for his son."

Singer continued, "Unbeknownst to the public, Mr. Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before – but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth. Sadly, Mr. Oher has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour."

Singer added the Tuohys are "heartbroken" over it all and they hope to reconcile with Oher soon ... though "they will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit."

Katharine McPhee and David Foster's son's nanny died after an elderly woman at a Toyota dealership ran her over with an SUV.

Our sources say the nanny, Yadira Calito, is the woman who died last week in an incident at a San Fernando Valley car dealership.

The fatal accident happened Wednesday morning at Hamer Toyota when an 84-year-old woman behind the wheel of a Toyota RAV4 crashed into the customer reception area.

Kat's nanny was pinned under the SUV and dragged for about 20 feet before eventually being freed from under the car. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, and later pronounced dead.

Police say the elderly driver was taking her car in for service when she hit the gas instead of the brakes ... sending her car from the service bay driveway into the customer reception area. The driver has not been arrested.

Two men working at the Toyota dealership were also injured in the crash ... but both are expected to make full recoveries.

The white apartment manager in North Carolina on video hitting a Black 11-year-old and pouring soda on him is being taken to court by the kid's parents.

Robert Eury and Joella Lee-Eury filed a federal lawsuit against Kimberly Jennings, claiming she got physical with their son and 8-year-old daughter because they were using the pool at the apartment complex she manages.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the parents claim their kids were swimming in the pool at an apartment complex where their friends live when Jennings ordered them out of the water.

The parents say their kids were attempting to leave when Jennings approached their son and "poured soda over his head and struck him in the face multiple times all because him and his little sister was swimming in a pool at the property she manages."

In their suit, the parents claim Jennings also pulled their daughter's hair and hit her after ordering the kids out of the pool. The parents even claim Jennings told their son "he was acting like a real n*****."

Jennings was later arrested on an assault charge, but the parents say their kids are still reeling from the pool incident ... so now they're suing for discrimination, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The woman involved in the car crash that killed Alex Collins on Sunday night was "hysterical" after the wreck ... telling cops she did not realize the force of the collision had sent the former NFL star into her vehicle.

"I can't find him!" she can be heard saying in the 911 audio, obtained by TMZ Sports.

The call was placed just a few minutes after Collins' motorcycle had collided with the woman's SUV at around 10:20 PM in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.

The woman told dispatch that Collins had "hit me from behind" ... though she was frantic -- because she had no idea where his body had gone after the crash had occurred.

"I'm trying to look to see where he is," she said.

Minutes later, bystanders can be heard in the background of the call telling her Collins was in her car -- screaming at her to open the vehicle's door ASAP.

As we reported, authorities eventually pronounced Collins dead at the scene. He was just 28 years old.

The NFL community mourned his passing on Monday ... with his former teammates Russell Wilson, Geno Smith and Robert Griffin III all honoring him with tribute posts on their social media pages.

Others around the league -- including Tyler Lockett, Jimmy Graham and Marlon Humphrey -- sent their condolences as well.

"Always quick to greet everyone with a smile, he was a genuinely kind person who carried a special joy and passion wherever he went," said Collins' former team, the Baltimore Ravens. "May Alex always be remembered for the light and love he brought to so many people in his life."

Twitter is home to a lot of ridiculous opinions, but the latest trend involving Sandra Bullock might be the app's worst ... users are calling for her to lose her Oscar on the heels of "The Blind Side" controversy.

It's about as crazy as it sounds, especially since there's zero evidence Bullock -- who played Leigh Anne Tuohy in the movie -- had any clue of the drama behind the scenes with Michael Oher and the Tuohy family.

One user wrote, "So Sandra Bullock should have to give back her Oscar right, and man do we need to start checking these good feeling stories. The parents blocked $300 in earnings the movie from him getting any of it and gave the money to their real children? WOOOOOOOW!"

Another says, "If the Michael Oher allegations are true then we have to go AND TAKE THE OSCAR back from Sandra Bullock and give it to Gabourey Sidibe for 'Precious'" and "Sandra Bullock should give her Oscar back. She knows she didn't deserve that s***."

However, there's also people coming to her defense, writing, "Not y'all calling for Sandra Bullock's Oscar to be revoked. It ain't her fault the real life people were exploitative scammers and thieves," and "You know Sandra Bullock deserved her Oscar because she acted so well, she made the Tuohy family likeable."

As we reported, the former NFL star claims the Tuohy family never adopted him -- as the movie suggests -- but he was instead placed under a conservatorship. Oher claims the family made a ton of cash off his life story in "The Blind Side," while he got nothing.

Sean Tuohy is calling BS on Oher, saying the family's only option to legally make him part of their family was a conservatorship -- as he was over 18 -- and each family member made about $14,000 from the movie ... including Oher.

We covered it all on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

Selena Gomez and Francia Raisa's relationship is officially out of the gutter -- that much is clear -- but we can't swear that's also true for their bowling game, which they worked on together.

Selena and her one-time BFF/kidney donor hit up a Studio City bowling alley Monday night, and even hopped in the same car after their time on the lanes with some other pals.

It's hard to say if their friendship is back to what it once was, but as we reported, it's been moving in that direction -- they were dining out together just a few days before taking on the 10 pins.

Selena and Francia hit up celeb hot spot Giorgio Baldi Friday night in Santa Monica, both looking as stunning as ever while getting in the same ride.

You'll recall, they've had an up-and-down relationship since the transplant, but Francia recently claimed there's no more bad blood ... after Selena wished Francia a happy birthday last month.

Bunk beds at the Little League World Series are out for good ... the tandem sleeping units will be permanently removed from the prestigious event going forward after a player was seriously injured in one of them last year.

Little League officials said in a statement to the Associated Press on Monday ... the decision was made after Easton Oliverson suffered a fractured skull and brain bleed while falling from a top bunk inside the LLWS' dormitory complex in Williamsport, Penn. in 2022.

"Out of an abundance of caution," the officials said, "we placed all beds individually on the floor during last year’s World Series, and in preparation for the 2023 Little League International Tournament, Little League decided to provide its participants with single, one-level beds for all of their player housing at each of its tournament locations, including those in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the dormitories can accommodate all 14 single beds."

This year's version of the event is slated to begin later this week.

As we previously reported, Oliverson nearly died following a fall at last year's LLWS ... with his family saying the 12-year-old tumbled from a top bunk to the floor while he was asleep.

Oliverson was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery ... but, thankfully, he survived.

The player's family went on to sue Little League Baseball over the fall, alleging the beds were not safe. Little League officials never publicly commented on the allegations in the suit.

Beyoncé is setting the record straight on her feelings toward Lizzo -- not only is she back to name-dropping the artist in song, she also singled her out with a loving shout-out.

Bey was bringing the house down, per usual, Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in ATL, and performed "Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)," which supports her fellow female artists -- including Lizzo -- by shouting them out.

You may recall, Lizzo was notably absent from the song's callout section during a Beyoncé show earlier this month, but she was back on the lineup a couple of days later. Bey took things a step further this time, though -- saying, "I love you, Lizzo!"

The crowd certainly took that as a sign -- one fan in the crowd even responded, "OK!"

As we reported, Beyoncé ditched Lizzo's name at a Massachusetts show on August 1 ... coming directly after the "About Damn Time" singer was slapped with a lawsuit from 3 of her former dancers, claiming she created a hostile work environment with alleged sexual harassment and fat-shaming, among other things.

Lizzo, for what it's worth, has denied the allegations against her ... and it looks like Beyoncé's got Lizzo's back, and then some.

Adele's got a habit of tearing up onstage while singing her love songs, but her latest sob sesh is for a gender reveal ... not hers, but for a couple of her fans in Vegas.

Chris Dare and his wife, Shantelle Lord, got the gender reveal party of a lifetime at Adele's residency show at Caesars Palace, getting the singer to answer the question: boy or girl?

Adele was filled with excitement from the get-go during the weekend, and eventually revealed the parents-to-be are having a baby boy -- which got the 3 of them, and the entire audience, jumping for joy.

After wishing them well, Adele breaks down in tears, apologizing to the crowd for getting emotional ... before jokingly asking Chris and Shantelle to do her next gender reveal "if and when" she gets pregnant again.

Images from the Alex Collins crash scene are horrifying ... showing the ex-NFL running back's motorcycle and the SUV that it ran into were completely mangled following the collision.

The former Baltimore Ravens star was killed in the accident on Sunday night ... after authorities say his 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600K bike collided with the side of a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban that had appeared to turn in front of him on a busy road in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. at around 10:20 PM.

According to the Broward County Sheriff's Office, the wreck was so violent, Collins was thrown from his motorcycle ... and later pronounced dead on the scene.

Video shot just moments after the impact shows both vehicles were completely destroyed ... with Collins' bike left in pieces in the middle of the street.

Officials say the circumstances surrounding the crash are still under investigation ... though they added the driver of the SUV did remain on scene and was cooperative.

Collins was picked by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft ... and went on to have a solid career for both Seattle and Baltimore. In his five seasons with the two teams, he piled up 1,997 rushing yards and 18 rushing TDs. He added 467 receiving yards on 59 catches as well.

After leaving the NFL following the 2021 season, Collins attempted to resurrect his football career in the USFL -- signing with the Memphis Showboats earlier this year.

He was just 28 years old.

There's more evidence suggesting Angus Cloud's death was the result of an accidental overdose and not suicide -- as first suspected -- because the young actor did not write a note for loved ones ... TMZ has learned.

Multiple law enforcement sources involved in the death investigation tell us Angus did not leave behind a note when he died suddenly. As we first reported, Cloud was found dead in his bedroom last month at his family home in Oakland ... and an initial statement the family provided hinted he might have taken his own life.

The statement revealed Angus' struggle after the recent loss of his dad, adding, "Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence."

A source close to Cloud also told us he'd had severe suicidal thoughts after his dad's death.

However, just a few days after his death, Angus' mom, Lisa, came out denying her son took his own life, saying just the day before he died he was talking about the future, helping family members out and even reorganizing his room.

As we reported, the 911 call to Angus' family home was for a "possible overdose" ... and Lisa said in her statement, "I don't know if or what he may have put in his body after that. I only know that he put his head on the desk where he was working on art project's, fell asleep and didn't wake up. We may find out that he overdosed accidentally and tragically, but it's abundantly clear that he did not intend to check out of this world."

Angus' autopsy is complete, pending toxicology results, but without a note it appears Lisa's theory on the circumstances surrounding how her son died are validated even further.

Kanye West is again connected to presidential politics because his former publicist has been indicted along with Donald Trump for allegedly engaging in an organized conspiracy to overturn election results in Georgia.

Trevian Kutti, once a publicist for Kanye and R. Kelly, is on video trying to strongarm election worker Ruby Freeman to confess to police she engaged in election fraud by tampering with ballots -- a claim that has proven false.

Kutti allegedly went to Freeman's home and ID'd herself as a crisis manager, and somehow got the election worker to travel with her to the police station, where she is seen on body cam video, threatening Freeman with jail time.

Kutti has been charged with 3 crimes, including violating the RICO statute. A RICO conviction has a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison.

Mark Zuckerberg is hellbent on taking a fight in the UFC -- NOT with Elon Musk, but possibly with an actual UFC fighter -- and now, Dana White is more than insinuating it could actually go down!

As you know, Zuck's moved on from a fight with Elon, saying last Friday, " ... I'll share details on my next fight when I'm ready." So, he's got some plan for his "next fight."

He went on to say, "I want to do it in a way that puts a spotlight on the elite athletes at the top of their game," adding, "You do that by working with professional orgs like the UFC or ONE to pull this off well."

Zuck said Monday, "I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

So, who are the "elite athletes" and "people who take the sport seriously?" It seems unlikely there's another Elon out there -- billionaire vs. billionaire -- and it doesn't make a lot of sense Zuck would involve the UFC for some amateur fight with a rando.

We know Zuck's been in communication with UFC Prez Dana White for well over a month and probably a lot longer, and Dana has 500 fighters on his roster who would love this kind of attention -- fighting M.Z.

Now there's no way Zuck would fight a UFC vet, but what about a fighter who just joined the org?

We contacted Dana with our connect-the-dots theory, and here's what he told us ... "I have said since day 1 Mark is a very serious guy. He loves the sport and is training hard. I believe he is serious about fighting in the UFC."

Notice Dana said "fighting IN the UFC." That more than suggests he'd be fighting someone on the INside, not the outside.

A pair of 20-somethings were on their way to a Lollapalooza concert, but ended up in the hospital instead ... this after they sat down on the third rail in an Illinois train station and got zapped.

What’s even more shocking … the horrifying incident was all caught on video, which was shared online. Check it out for yourself … the two were parked next to each other on the third rail in Chicago’s Ridgeland Station earlier this month.

People were milling about on the platform above … but no one seemed particularly concerned about their well-being. All of a sudden, the young man got electrocuted, his body was shaking and going rigid as he clung to the woman beside him. She, too, was jolted by the voltage -- and, subsequently, both went limp. A friend sitting next to them pulled them off the third rail before emergency service units arrived.

Donald Trump can't stop catching cases ... a Georgia grand jury just indicted him for 2020 election subversion -- now the fourth criminal case he's facing as he runs for President again.

The ex-POTUS has been hit with 13 counts from a Fulton County grand jury ... according to D.A. Fani Willis. She also announced indictments against 18 other co-conspirators with Trump ... including Rudy Giuiliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

The 97-page indictment includes a total of 41 counts ... among them, RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) charges -- meaning Trump allegedly engaged in organized crime activity for purpose of overturning the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

One key piece of evidence in the case is a January 2, 2021 phone call Trump made to then GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger ... imploring him to investigate alleged voting irregularities, and find more votes in Trump's favor.

Meadows, Giuliani and several other of Trump's lawyers -- and now alleged co-conspirators -- were on the call as well.

Remember, Trump has 3 other criminal cases that are currently pending ... one in New York state for an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, a federal case pertaining to his classified documents scandal after leaving office, and another federal case tied to his alleged efforts to undermine the 2020 election with his actions on, before and after Jan. 6.

Trump's plead not guilty to the other cases, and he's still pushing ahead -- and leading all other GOP candidates -- with his 2024 presidential campaign, despite mounting legal woes.

There's no date set yet for his first court appearance in Georgia, but D.A. Willis said she would give Trump and the other defendants until Friday to surrender voluntarily.