TMZ.com Home

Louisville Metro PD is about to fire 2 cops involved in the Breonna Taylor raid ... one of whom was responsible for getting the search warrant for the deadly raid.

Detectives Joshua Jaynes and Myles Cosgrove both received pre-termination letters from LMPD's Chief Yvette Gentry ... according to their lawyers. Cosgrove was one of the officers present during the raid and did fire shots.

Jaynes was not there but filed the paperwork with a judge to get a warrant. He had said that was based on information from a postal inspector that drug suspect -- Breonna's ex-boyfriend -- had received packages at her home -- but Jaynes later admitted he never verified that info with the post office.

According to the New York Times, the letters both officers got said, "These are extreme violations of our policies."

LMPD previously fired Brett Hankison, saying he had "violated obedience to rules and regulations," and use of deadly force while serving the warrant.

Hankison is also the sole officer the grand jury indicted on a wanton endangerment charge. He was not charged for the shooting of Breonna ... he was charged with shooting into a neighboring apartment.

Principal Joe Louis Clark, whose tough-as-nails approach was the subject of the movie "Lean on Me," has died.

Joe's family says he passed away Tuesday at home in Gainesville, FL after a long battle with an undisclosed illness. He was surrounded by family members, but will also be mourned by hundreds, if not thousands, of graduates from his time as a legendary principal in Northern New Jersey.

Morgan Freeman played Joe in the 1989 film which chronicled his hard-nosed efforts to improve Eastside High School in Paterson, NJ. The school was described as crime and drug-ridden when Joe took over as principal there in 1983.

The former Army Reserve sergeant and drill instructor took no crap from the student body, and once expelled 300 kids in one day for fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers and drugs.

The image of Joe roaming school hallways with a bullhorn and baseball bat wasn't just something Hollywood cooked up for Freeman's role ... it's how Joe rolled in real life.

His style earned him national headlines and made him controversial ... critics felt he was way too aggressive, but his admirers pointed to positive results at the school.

Joe was 82.

Jamar Mackey, the VA Beach man cops erroneously detained at a mall, says he's tested positive for COVID-19 ... and he's squarely blaming the maskless officers who cuffed him.

Jamar's outrageous encounter with cops on Dec. 19 made national headlines, because VA Beach PD grabbed the wrong guy in what appeared to be a clear case of racial profiling. At the time, Jamar and his fiancé told TMZ they were pissed -- not only for the humiliation and alleged profiling -- but because the officers were not wearing masks.

Jamar and Shantel Covil tell us they take the pandemic and quarantine very seriously because he owns a sanitizing business, and she has a home healthcare business. They both test frequently, and he says he got his positive test result on Dec. 22 -- just 3 days after the incident -- so he's convinced that was the source of his infection.

As for whether the involved officers have the coronavirus -- VBPD says they can't comment due to privacy laws.

So far, Shantel has tested negative, but Jamar tells us they're most concerned about their children, including their a newborn, contracting the virus.

Tyrese has more to say about the divorce he announced Tuesday night ... he says Black families and marriages are under attack, and it all has to do with kids watching and ultimately mimicking their parents.

Tyrese announced he and wife Samantha are divorcing after almost 4 years of marriage. He says it's super friendly, but is now explaining why he thinks the marriage fell apart.

Tyrese says ... "I've wrestled with this question ... How can we naturally know how to BE something we were never raised by? Most of us were raised in broken homes with NO examples of what being a husband, wife or FATHER is."

Tyrese posted this video of happier times, when their daughter was learning how to walk.

Tyrese seems to feel remorse nonetheless, saying, "... I hope you know that I did the very best I could ... I truly did."

And, he still holds out hope he and Samantha can repair what's broken ... "I pray we leave the door open because the God we serve is a mountains mover and can make a way out of no way."

It's that time of year to grab your coats and suit up for the frosty weather ... at least that's exactly what these stars seem to be doing!

From winter vacations, to posting pics from their backyards, it’s clear these celebs are getting a kick out of bundling up and braving the snow!

Celebs such as Drake, Amber Heard, Kylie Jenner and plenty of other stars have been sharing their frosty photos, in spirit of this season … and now it’s time for you to join in on all the fun!

Scroll through our gallery of stars in the snow to see all the other celebs with iced out pics!

Joe Exotic is taking a Patrick Henry approach to the possibility of catching COVID-19 -- if the world gives him COVID, then give him death too ... or something like that.

TMZ has obtained an email the 'Tiger King' sent to his Tiger Team -- which is also helping him in his pardon efforts -- and it spells his intentions out clearly ... JE does NOT want to be put on a ventilator in a worst-case scenario should he contract coronavirus.

He writes, "Filled out an advance directive to not be put on a ventilator or life support if I get COVID." He goes on to say that people are dropping like flies at the prison he's at in Fort Worth ... adding that staff and inmates are getting sicker by the day.

He's not entirely wrong about the numbers ... FMC Fort Worth has a listed 12 deaths linked to COVID, with 58 inmates and 27 staffers currently positive. That said, FMC has a decently high recovery rate -- 650 inmates and staffers combined have beaten the 'Rona.

Killer Mike is all about trees ... and we don't mean the Christmas variety.

The Atlanta rapper, activist and marijuana mogul joined us on "TMZ Live" and made the case why Black people deserve a big piece of the cannabis pie.

The way Killer Mike sees it ... ganja's popularity in America has largely been built on the backs of Black folks, so he says they deserve at least 25 percent of the industry -- profits, licenses, businesses, etc.

While legalization and decriminalization continue to gain traction at the state level, one of the criticisms is the lack of access for minorities to make money off a substance that put so many behind bars. Mike uses prohibition to explain why we're making the same mistake twice here.

Killer Mike's also pushing President-elect Joe Biden to be like Bernie Sanders and pledge to decriminalize dank ... and he shares his protest plans for April 20, the unofficial stoner holiday.

Johnny Manziel has officially signed a contract to return to professional football -- inking a deal with the brand new Fan Controlled Football league.

In other words, JOHNNY FOOTBALL IS BACK!

A spokesperson for the FCF confirms the 28-year-old will take the field when the league launches on Feb. 13 -- and he'll be mic'd up with a live camera streaming from his helmet!!

As we previously reported, Manziel was in talks to be the starting QB for the Zappers -- co-owned by NY Mets pitcher Trevor May and sportscaster Bob Menery.

The details about Johnny's contract are still under wraps -- but it seems like it's more about having fun than trying to get rich.

"Football has always been a huge part of my life, and the opportunity to join the FCF was too good to pass up," Manziel says.

"FCF is doing something new and original in Sports, a league that is truly all about the fans and letting them call all the shots. I can’t wait to get started -- this is going to be fun."

The FCF is a 7-on-7 full-contact football league where the fans control everything from the uniforms, logos and the play calling.

The field is only 50 yards long with 10-yard end zones -- which means this game is built for fast action and lots of scoring. All games will take place at a special facility in Atlanta.

Each game runs 60 minutes and will be live-streamed on Twitch. The league says they've already locked in players who formerly competed in the CFL, XFL and Division 1 college football.

Sohrob Farudi -- the CEO of the league -- is clearly fired up about landing Manziel ... saying, "We're excited for Johnny to join the FCF and finally have a chance to be himself both on and off the field."

Before this excited, little lady was a world-renowned singer and songwriter, she was just bundled up baby posing for a frosty photo north of the border in Canada.

Even though this songstress found her calling as a pop artist spreading a good time everywhere she goes ... from the looks of it she could have had a career as a snowman engineer, complete with a carrot nose and two eyes made out of coal.

If you're still struggling to put your finger on the cute celeb kid pic remember ... it's not Christmas until somebody cries tries to build a snowman.

Tyrese and his wife, Samantha Lee Gibson, have made the difficult decision to get a divorce.

The 'Fast & Furious' actor made the announcement Tuesday, saying, "Our intention is to remain the best of friends & strong coparents. We feel incredibly blessed to have found each other and deeply grateful for the 4 years we have been married to each other."

The two married in February of 2017 and had a daughter, Soraya, in 2018.

Tyrese continued, "As if 2020 hasn’t already been extremely grueling and challenging to us all we wanted to mutually speak on this now to keep this energy in 2020 and not take this energy into 2021."

Samantha was Tyrese's second marriage, he was previously married to Norma Gibson from 2007 to 2009 ... the two had a daughter together named Shayla.

Logan Paul's reckless filming of a dead body hanging in a Japanese forest torpedoed a movie he was signed on to star in, and it cost the production company millions ... this according to a new lawsuit.

Planeless Pictures just filed suit against the YouTuber, claiming they inked a deal with him in 2016 to make a movie -- starring Logan as a fictionalized version of himself -- called "Airplane Mode," which was supposed to be a spoof on modern-day trend-setters, like the Paul brothers and other social media folks.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Planeless claims they were all set to have Logan star in, write and help produce the flick, and he'd agreed to help get other influencers on board as well, including Jake Paul, Juanpa Zurita, Nick Bateman, Amanda Cerny and others. The idea was that they'd distribute it through YouTube and other social media platforms -- via said influencers' pages -- in a new, revolutionary way to market and monetize the film.

Planeless even says Google inked a $3 million licensing deal with them for the movie -- but they claim it all came crashing down when Logan foolishly filmed himself in Aokigahara, Japan (otherwise known as the "suicide forest"), where he documented the hanging death of a man up close. You know what happened after that on his end, but according to Planeless' claim, they say his boneheaded move completely destroyed the movie deal.

Chris Harrison will be on your TV sets for the foreseeable future, hosting the 'Bachelor' -- he's not going anywhere, despite a move he's making to Texas.

Rumors swirled this weekend amid news the longtime 'Bachelor' host was packing his bags and moving to Barton Creek -- just outside of Austin -- with his girlfriend, Lauren Zima. Folks heard that and thought ... the dude might be exiting his role with the franchise forever.

That's not the case though -- production sources with direct knowledge tell us he is NOT leaving the show ... he's simply relocating, partly because of a recent partnership deal he struck with a local brewery. He's also from Texas -- once hailing from Dallas -- but as far as work ... we're told he'll commute.

NBD really, tons of stars do this these days ... including one Ryan Seacrest, who pretty much lives bicoastal now because of his NYC-based hosting gig on 'Ryan & Kelly,' along with his L.A. based 'American Idol." Same idea for Chris, and in fact, his commute is much shorter.

Another reason folks thought he was hanging up his tux is because he was MIA for 2 weeks and JoJo Fletcher took over the hosting duties. We're told he was absent because he took his son to college -- in Texas -- and had to quarantine for 2 weeks before returning to the set.

Early reports of shots being fired in downtown Nashville before Anthony Quinn Warner blew his RV and himself to smithereens may be bogus -- because we've now learned there's no evidence he or anyone opened fire.

Federal law enforcement sources involved in the investigation and with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... yes, officers initially responded to the scene on Christmas morning after receiving reports of shots fired -- but since then, officials haven't been able to find anything to back that up.

We're told investigators have zero evidence to suggest Warner opened fire in or around the explosion site. Our sources say their initial theory was that Warner may have fired shots to get the cops to the downtown area where they would hear the recording from the RV of an impending explosion and clear the area so no one would be injured or killed in the blast.

There's another, more sinister theory ... that Warner wanted cops there to get close to the explosion, but officials now don't believe that. They say everything Warner did was to avoid loss of life, which is why he chose 6:30 AM on Xmas morning.

Now, our sources do say ammo was recovered at the scene, including exploded rounds that authorities say came from the RV ... however, they don't have markings of rounds fired from a gun. Authorities are convinced that ammo was in pristine condition until the explosion.

As for that loud bang prior to the blast, heard by the people who called 911 -- and we're told multiple people called -- our federal sources say they believe it could have been a recording of gunfire blaring from the RV, which would accomplish the same purpose of getting cops there to clear the area, but they just don't know for sure.

As we reported, there seems to be increasing evidence the AT&T building was Warner's main target.  Authorities think he may have been paranoid about 5G technology.

Lindsey Vonn will not be walking down the aisle with P.K. Subban after all -- they've called off their engagement ... and their romantic relationship, altogether.

The sports power couple -- who've been together since at least 2018 -- made a joint announcement Tuesday afternoon ... both posting the same photo with similar captions.

Lindsey writes, "Over the past 3 years PK and I have had some incredible times together. He is a kind, good man, and someone I respect a great deal."

She goes on to add, "However, after much consideration we have decided to move forward separately. We will always remain friends and love each other immensely. We ask that you please respect our privacy during this time."

The NHL star expressed a similar sentiment ... saying he will always treasure the time they spent together as a couple and the many laughs they shared.

It's a surprising breakup -- Lindsey and P.K. were one of those duos who looked very much in love, and never had any public signs of turbulence since linking up. You'll recall, he popped the question in the summer of 2019, and she returned the favor in December.

They vacationed all over together too ... always looking super lovey-dovey, and posting tons of cheeky pics along the way. Lindsey was especially proud of the engagement ring he got her as well -- she even wore it prominently at events with him.

It's crazy -- they were actually supposed to get hitched this year but postponed it due to the pandemic. As recently as November, Lindsey told us on "TMZ Live" they were looking forward to rescheduling it sometime in 2021.

Well, that's off the table now. 😟

The robot apocalypse is looking a lot closer -- and a little funkier -- because some advanced machines are flaunting their dancing skills ... complete with choreography!!!

Boston Dynamics released a video to ring in the New Year, which features their two signature machines -- ATLAS and Spot (the dog robot) -- looking very *NSYNC-like ... dancing in unison to the Contours hit, "Do You Love Me."

BD writes, "Our whole crew got together to celebrate the start of what we hope will be a happier year: Happy New Year from all of us at Boston Dynamics." What they don't mention ... how and WHY they got their droids on the good foot like this???

The A.I. is terrifyingly state-of-the-art here -- robots putting on their best "So You Think You Can Dance" audition.

We shoulda seen the choreographed number coming ... we've already seen ATLAS and Spot do everything from parkour to opening doors and picking up boxes.

So, while this is neat and all ... we're personally praying the Boston Dynamics team has a fail-proof shutdown for these things.

WWE Star Shad Gaspard's widow claims the Venice Beach lifeguards on duty the day her husband died left him to fend for himself ... and she wants L.A. and California to pay for her loss.

Siliana Gaspard filed a wrongful death suit ... alleging the lifeguards weren't up to snuff in protecting Shad from drowning, which she says happened on the government's watch.

In her docs, obtained by TMZ, Siliana claims there wasn't sufficient signage on Venice Beach the day Shad died to warn him of the dangers of strong currents with the potential to take him under.

Not only that, but she claims the lifeguard towers that day were significantly understaffed and the lifeguards negligently opted to only save their 10-year-old son ... and left Shad "in the water to die."

You'll recall ... Shad had apparently instructed lifeguards to focus on saving his son, but had gone under the surface when they returned for him.

He was missing for a few days before his body washed up onshore -- but he was, deservedly, hailed for his heroism and sacrifice to save his child.

It's interesting ... after the tragedy, Siliana praised the lifeguards and divers who attempted to save and locate Shad, saying ... "We’d like to once again thank the lifeguards, coastguard, divers, fire and police departments for their efforts."

Based on the lawsuit, it seems she's had a change of heart.