TMZ.com Home

It's a tough time to be a Blazers fan, but NBA champ Byron Scott thinks Portland should be HAPPY after Damian Lillard got traded to the Bucks ... 'cause he's finally got a chance to win!!

TMZ Sports caught up with the former Laker out at KiKi Shepard's "Celebrity Golf Classic" this week ... and chopped it up about the blockbuster deal that sent Dame Time over to Giannis Antetokounmpo's squad.

Of course, it's a huge bummer for Portland fans to see their franchise player leave after 11 seasons ... but instead of taking the torches to their No. 0 jerseys, Byron believes it would be best to look at the silver lining by rooting for Lillard to get a championship with his new team.

"I think, obviously, Damian joining the Bucks -- a team that won a championship a couple years ago, and they got one of the best players, if not the best player in the league, in the Greek Freak, as I call him ... and adding Damian, who is motivated, who wants to win a championship, who has given his heart and soul to the Portland area -- I think they should be not so much upset that he's left, but they should be happy for him to get a chance to win."

Scott points out a major loss for the Bucks in the trade -- elite perimeter defender Jrue Holiday -- but he's predicting Milwaukee still makes it out of the East in his absence.

Conor Kennedy -- the third oldest child of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy -- was 18 years old when the spotlight was shining bright on his trendy shag and tall stature back in 2012 ... dating one of the most famous stars of all time, Taylor Swift.

As you may recall, Conor and T Swift dated for a few months ... with some Swifties believing a handful of Taylor's tracks went to the tune of their summer fling.

Obvi, the Kennedy name has been around for decades but is currently making more noise as RFK Jr. is campaigning for the 2024 election.

Environmental activists stormed a theater where Les Misérables was being performed and took over the stage ... halting the production and leading to several arrests.

The chaotic scene happened during a Tuesday performance of the famous play in London's West End, where folks protesting against oil, gas and coal rushed the stage before the play was over.

Video shows demonstrators from "Just Stop Oil" storming the stage in the middle of a musical number ... with protestors shouting at the audience to "join the rebellion."

Police officers were called and five activists were arrested.

Demonstrators rushed the stage from either end as the Les Mis cast was performing the show's famous song, "One Day More." The show tried to go on but the cast was then escorted off stage, and the theater was evacuated and the show did not finish.

The audience booed the protestors as they held up orange banners with the Just Stop Oil logo ... with some in the crowd shouting at the activists to get the hell outta there.

Just Stop Oil says its goal is to demand governments stop licensing new oil, gas and coal projects ... and they've protested other big events like Wimbledon and vandalized famous Vincent Van Gogh artwork.

Fans of Britney Spears are doing a lot of celebratin' now that her sister, Jamie Lynn, is off "Dancing with the Stars" ... with some even claiming her removal means they'll finally start watching.

As we reported, Jamie Lynn got the boot Tuesday night, in just week 2 of the competition -- something that came as a shock to the judges, as well as JLS and her dance partner, Alan Bersten.

Well, fans of Britney are over the moon with Jamie Lynn's early removal -- one person online said, "She thought people were gonna vote for her? Babe... everyone literally hates you." Another said Jamie Lynn lacks "half the talent your sister ever had."

It's gettin' pretty brutal on X, where comments include ... she was "destined to lose" and "karma is a bitch."

When Alan reacted to getting kicked off the show by simply tweeting, "Damn" ... Britney fans flocked to his post, too ... but some showed support, with a side diss on Jamie Lynn, of course -- "Justice for Alan! You deserve an amazing partner next season!"

In case ya forgot, social media had much of the same noise last week when 'DWTS' debuted, and Alan was catching heat just for being paired with her.

Drew Barrymore's actions during the writers' strike appear to have royally pissed off the top writers on her talk show, because they're quitting ... refusing to work when the show returns, post-strike.

A trio of co-head writers who worked on "The Drew Barrymore Show" pre-strike have reportedly turned down offers to come back and work for her syndicated daytime program -- which leaves the production in hurry-up mode to hire some new scribes ... per THR.

These writers turning their backs on Drew are Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon and Liz Koe -- and they've been working on DB's show since season 1.

While the WGA strike was ongoing, however, they could be seen picketing outside of CBS's NYC office on multiple occasions. And, when Drew announced she was prematurely bringing her show back (before the strike was over) a couple of them openly expressed disappointment in their boss ... echoing the backlash Drew received at large.

Of course, Drew ended up reversing course and ultimately held off on having her talk show return to the air -- as did several other hosts -- but clearly the relationship between Drew and her head writers was damaged.

Not too long after that ... the AMPTP and WGA ended up striking a deal, and the picketing writers were given the green light to go back to work.

Now that Drew's without her key writers, it's unclear if this will affect her official return date -- which was just announced as Oct. 16. Their departure certainly throws a wrench in the works.

YNW Melly now has his own witness tampering charge -- just like his co-defendant YNW Bortlen -- in their double-murder trial, but his lawyers think prosecutors are just trying to cover up problems with their case.

Prosecutors confirmed with TMZ Hip Hop ... they hit Melly with the witness tampering charge Wednesday in Miami-Dade County, just a couple of days removed from tagging Bortlen with the same charge.

Melly's team is set to appear in court on Friday for a hearing in which they'll argue prosecutors have been withholding key evidence about the lead investigator in the case.

Melly's attorney, Raven Liberty reacted to the added charge, telling us ... "This is a transparent and desperate attempt by the State Attorney's office to distract the public from the deposition of an Assistant State Attorney who accused this case's lead detective and lead prosecutor of felonies by falsifying and covering up evidence damaging to the state's case."

The 11-year-old youth football player accused of shooting two of his teammates earlier this week has been ordered by a judge to stay in custody for at least the next 21 days.

The boy, who cops say opened fire on two 13-year-olds following a dispute at a practice at the Northwest Recreation Complex football field in Apopka, Fla. on Monday, had hoped for home detainment ... but he will now be forced to stay in juvenile detention for at least the next 3 weeks.

Reporters at the hearing in Orange County on Wednesday morning said the child began crying when the ruling was announced.

He's now expected to be on suicide watch at the detention center ... according to WFTV 9.

At the hearing, an aunt for one of the alleged shooting victims took the stand and said the teen's family had hoped the 11-year-old would remain in detention.

A police report, obtained by TMZ Sports, stated a witness to the shooting said the initial dispute happened due to a quarrel "over a bag of chips."

Donald Trump has found himself on the outs with Forbes -- at least as it pertains to its richest Americans list -- 'cause he's fallen off the top 400 club ... again.

Here's the deal ... DT was first removed from the coveted baller group in 2021 -- amid a rocky exit from the White House -- but he got back in just last year, clocking No. 343 with a then-estimated net worth of $3.2 billion ... following real estate sales and other ventures.

Now in 2023, he has once more fallen off the 400 list with a current estimated net worth of $2.6 billion. You'd think all the indictments against him -- not to mention a civil trial that's taken a hard look at his wealth/property values -- would be to blame ... but not necessarily.

According to Forbes, his dip in riches is actually more attributed to a bad investment in Truth Social -- which the outlet notes has mostly failed to take off and attract a consistent user base -- as well as some of his office buildings depreciating on the market.

Trump's commercial real estate portfolio has apparently taken a major hit amid remote work and some cities seeing a trend of residents fleeing -- like SF, where he holds some assets.

In other words, it's just the regular economy that seems to have dinged him here ... and not so much the mounting legal bills. Another interesting nugget from this report -- Forbes pegs DT's liquid wealth to be in the ballpark of about $426 million, so he's far from broke.

5:28 PM PT -- Jonathan Steinsapir, counsel for the Co-Executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson tell TMZ ... "The litigation between the Estate of Michael Jackson and Jeffré Phillips has been amicably resolved without the need for a trial and without any findings or admissions of wrongdoing. Mr. Phillips has voluntarily returned Michael Jackson’s property to the Estate. All outstanding disputes between the parties have been settled on confidential terms. We wish Mr. Phillips well in his future endeavors. "

Michael Jackson's estate is no longer beefing with a man who allegedly stole $1 million worth of MJ property from the late singer's Carolwood estate ... the parties just told the court there's a settlement.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Michael's estate settled its legal dispute with Jeffré Phillips, who was accused of taking tons of Michael's belongings in 2009, after the singer died.

The terms of the settlement are confidential ... though it's worth noting Michael's estate had been asking a judge to help return the property.

TMZ broke the story ... Michael's estate claimed Phillips was engaged to one of MJ's siblings back in the day and used the chaos and sadness around Michael's 2009 death to swipe a bunch of private and personal property from MJ's Carolwood home.

The estate claimed Phillips was going to sell the items and was looking to prevent any such sale from going forward.

From there, Michael's estate sought to recover the property ... pegging the aggregate value at around $1 million.

Among the items MJ's estate claims Phillips stole from the home ... laptops, iPods, hard drives, DVDs and CDs believed to contain non-public MJ performances and unreleased concert footage.

According to the estate, the rest of the stuff included Michael's handwritten notes with song lyrics ... plus cassette tapes, personal computers, framed record awards, a Michael Jackson doll, and a photo album with MJ on the cover.

Greg Brooks Jr. has a rare form of brain cancer, according to LSU ... who provided an update on the Tigers CB, just weeks after he had surgery to remove a tumor.

As we previously reported, Brooks underwent (successful) surgery on September 20 ... and doctors removed a large tumor from his brain. Despite the procedure, the diagnosis wasn't clear until this week ... when doctors announced Brooks has medulloblastoma.

“For the last three weeks, Greg has been recovering from an extensive surgery to remove a brain tumor that was located between his cerebellum and brainstem,” Dr. Catherine O’Neal, Chief Medical Officer at Our Lady of the Lake Health, told reporters.

“Greg’s speech and ability to communicate has been impacted, and although he is responsive and working daily with physical therapy, he will face months of intensive rehabilitation."

The good news is there's no evidence that the cancer has spread ... and Dr. O'Neal says he'll get a treatment plan from "nationally recognized specialists in this specific form of brain cancer."

The university has also launched a fundraiser for the former 4-star recruit to help raise money to cover the medical expenses including travel, treatment, and therapy.

"He has a long journey ahead," Dr. O'Neal said, "and will need the full support of our community behind him as he faces this battle."

Lisa from BLACKPINK just peeled back the curtain on her stint at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris ... sharing several jaw-dropping shots from the sexy performance -- and Blinks are losing it.

1/4 of the massive K-pop girl group took the stage for five shows at the famous venue during Paris Fashion Week ... performing a number of songs alongside the "Crazy Girls."

A handful of fans were able to snag tickets to the small venue ... but luckily for everyone who couldn't go, Lisa showed exactly what they missed by posting a number of action shots to her 98 million Instagram followers.

"Such an amazing experience at @crazyhorseparis_official," Lisa said Wednesday. "Thank you everyone for making this happen. Call me whenever you need someone to fill a spot😉"

There were several VIP in the audience throughout Lisa's brief residency ... including her groupmates Rosé, Jisoo and Jennie, as well as Rosalía, Austin Butler and Kaia Gerber.

Kevin Spacey feared he could be suffering a very serious medical emergency overseas ... rushing to the hospital after having symptoms of a heart attack.

Spacey spoke about the health scare in Uzbekistan at the Tashkent International Film Festival during its closing ceremony Monday night ... saying his entire arm went numb for about 8 seconds while taking a tour of the Afrasiyab Museum in the city of Samarkand earlier in the day.

Fearing he was having a heart attack, Kevin says he raced to the hospital.

Lucky for Kevin, and festival organizers, he ended up being fine -- and was able to attend the festival and give a speech later that night.

Spacey said that frightening ordeal made him appreciate life a lot more ... and congratulated the filmmakers at the festival for all the hard work they do to tell their stories. He also applauded the festival for providing opportunities for upcoming storytellers to grow.

If it wasn't already clear, here's more proof Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann absolutely hate each other ... after he allegedly locked her out of their main bedroom, and she called the cops.

We've obtained the body cam footage as well as the 911 call from an incident in late August when Kim claimed she was unable to get into her bedroom to retrieve her personal belongings and her medication.

The police response shows just how nasty things are between Kim and Kroy -- as he refuses to show his face -- only talking to the officers through a closed door.

Throughout the police visit, Kim bashes Kroy, telling officers Kroy is jobless, and she's the reason they even still have the house. She echoed some of the same sentiments on her 911 call as well ... even stating Kroy's threatened her and gotten physical before.

You gotta give credit to the officers here for handling such a childish situation, working to keep both Kim and Kroy calm to prevent things from getting more nasty.

Eventually, the officers convince Kroy to hand over Kim's comforter, phone charger, medications and -- according to Kim -- a $1000 beauty cream.

Sexyy Red wants former President Donald Trump back in office for numerous reasons, and she’s claiming the hood agrees with her!!!

The “Pound Town” rapper officially endorsed Trump on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast -- she even forgave the ex-POTUS for previous blasts of racism and misogyny.

Sexyy's support isn't exactly rooted in policy ... specifically, she was a big fan of Trump's granting clemency and pardons to a long list of inmates and claims that was a big hit amongst all Black people.

She also said the stimulus checks were even bigger in the community ... because, who doesn't love free money!?!?

Money wasn't Sexyy's only motive in stumping for Trump ... she praised the entertainment value he brought to the White House, and most of all, she enjoyed -- wait for it -- when he called people fat!!!

Guys like Chris Christie might not agree, but Sexyy's commentary definitely got her a lot of love on social media from Trump's supporters.

8:37 AM PT -- Well, that was anticlimactic ... Keefe D showed up, but the lawyer he hired couldn't make it to the hearing. The matter has been continued for another 2 weeks.

Tupac's murder suspect, Keefe D, is showing his face in court for the first time in the Tupac murder case -- where he'll soon have a chance to respond to the charge against him.

Duane Davis -- who's been charged with one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon, plus a gang enhancement -- is due to appear in front of a judge Wednesday ... marking his initial public appearance since he was indicted and taken into custody last week.

He's being arraigned today, so he'll have the charge against him read out loud in open court ... and usually, a defendant pleads guilty or not guilty at this time.

As we reported ... Keefe's arrest came after a raid at his wife's home earlier this summer, when law enforcement busted into their Henderson, NV address and collected evidence. Now, the authorities clearly feel like they have enough to officially tie him to the crime.

Of course, as far as the public is concerned ... much of the mystery over who shot Tupac has long been resolved -- and a big part of that narrative has come from Keefe's own mouth. The guy's been doing interviews for years now, admitting to his involvement in the shooting.

According to Keefe ... his younger nephew, Orlando Anderson was the actual trigger man that night in '96 -- with Keefe riding passenger and supplying the weapon used. Orlando is now dead ... and so are the other 2 men who were said to have been in the car with them. Keefe is apparently the only living person from the car that night.

While prosecutors seem to acknowledge Keefe was likely not the one who pulled the trigger, they will argue Nevada law still applies to charge him with murder.

Keefe D had previously been implicated in Tupac's murder -- which, interestingly enough, got pieced together during the Notorious B.I.G. murder investigation. LAPD officials involved in that matter have said Keefe was given a proffer agreement to spill the beans and potentially avoid prosecution ... but it sounds like his many public statements eventually landed him on LVMPD's radar.

The only other living person who has direct knowledge of the murder is Suge Knight -- and he's made it abundantly clear to us that he won't cooperate with prosecutors here.

Members of Tupac's family have expressed both surprise, grief, and relief in the wake of the news ... as have others who knew Tupac back in the day, including Jada Pinkett Smith.

Tupac was only 25 when he was killed. And, even all these years later, the case draws interest.

Drake recently dubbed Atlanta "the most important city in rap" and the culture got the opportunity to prove him right last night during the taping of the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards.

The festivities made their way to the black-and-green carpet for the ultimate gathering of rap talent ... Boosie Badazz was especially turnt up before the show -- and during, when Fat Joe gave him a shout-out from the stage.

Joe hosted the awards and he greeted the press and media alongside his wife and daughter, Lorena and Azariah Cartagena.

Speaking of family, Da Brat flaunted her bounce-back game after giving birth to her first child a few months ago alongside her wife Jesseca "Judy" Harris-Dupart.

DC Young Fly linked up with Chingy while continuing to push forward in the wake of his partner Jacky Oh's death -- just like he told us he would and Cash Money Millionaires Juvenile and Mannie Fresh teased a new collab and Swizz Beatz was in the mix as well.