TMZ.com Home

A Florida man took out the trash this week ... and may have saved his neighbors from a pissed off alligator in the process.

The hero -- a Mount Dora man named Abdul Gene Malik -- posted the video of his daring gator capture using a large black garbage bin, saying ... "I got kids to protect."

Malik, an Army vet, demonstrated his bravery as he slowly approached the reptile head-on with the trash can as it chomped, hissed and thrashed.

Then, our hero made the clutch move that did the beast in ... by flipping the trash can lid and hitting the gator on the head, stunning it enough to charge with the bin and force it into the receptacle.

Onlookers screamed and cheered as Malik then flipped the trash can up, capturing the reptile until the authorities could come take care of it. Bravo!!!

As courageous as Malik was ... the scene in Florida isn't quite as crazy as what went down in Utah last month, when a gator attacked its handler and tried pulling her in for the kill.

There was no garbage bin to save the day, but thankfully, a guest at the zoo named Donnie Wiseman jumped on the gator's back and wrestled it away to save the woman.

Kudos to both fellas.

Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins will each lose more than $15 MILLION if they refuse to get the jab ... because the NBA just announced it will NOT pay players who miss games for not having the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Association has not made it mandatory for players to be vaxxed, but local mandates in San Francisco and New York City will keep guys like Wiggins and Irving -- who have reportedly elected against the vaccine -- from being able to play home games for the Warriors and Nets, respectively.

Considering NBA teams play half of their games at home, this would keep the 2 stars from playing in at least 41 games this season ... which will put a serious hurt on their bank accounts.

Wiggins -- who is in a 5-year, $147,710,050 deal -- will reportedly pass up on $15.8 million this season ... while Irving -- 4-year, $136,490,600 contract -- will forfeit $17.5 million.

Kyrie has spoken out about his choice ... saying it's a personal decision and he hopes to be with his team as much as possible.

Wiggins is reportedly hellbent on not getting the vaccine ... despite the Warriors setting up meetings with health officials to try to ease any fears.

The league says players cannot be forced to get vaxxed unless the players' union agrees to it ... and it sounds like that ain't happening any time soon.

It is possible -- POSSIBLE -- the 13-year-long Britney Spears conservatorship could end today as everyone -- with one big exception -- appears in court via zoom for what promises to be an explosive showdown.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Britney will not be present for the hearing, but Jamie and Lynne Spears will be on zoom.

There was a hearing scheduled to hear arguments on ending the conservatorship set for January 28, but we've learned that was moved up to today. That presumably means the judge will hear arguments on ending the conservatorship, and here's the reality -- no one is going to argue the conservatorship should continue.

Britney, Jamie and Lynne all want to terminate the conservatorship, so there will be no opposition. Although it's possible the judge could end the conservatorship at today's hearing, our sources say it's unlikely.

There are 2 likely scenarios ... first, the judge could order another mental evaluation, because that's what triggered the conservatorship 13 years ago and maintained it for the years that followed.  That could take several months to complete.

Another option ... the judge could order a mediation where all the parties get together and come up with a plan on how to transition from the conservatorship. Specifically, who will manage Britney's business affairs and who will make sure Britney's able to live her life safely? As we reported, Jodi Montgomery has already agreed to stay on after the conservatorship ends.

And, that brings us to Jamie. TMZ broke the story, Jamie objects to the appointment of CPA, John Zabel, as temporary conservator of Britney's estate. Our sources say although Jamie has previously said he would step down after today's hearing, our sources now say he will ask the judge to keep him on as conservator until a transition plan is in place. This is something that Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, will fight tooth and nail -- he wants Jamie out NOW.

This promises to be a long hearing. Among the issues, removal or suspension of Jamie, termination of the conservatorship, fees for Jamie and the lawyers and various accounting issues.

TMZ has launched our first of many podcasts. Today after the hearing, we'll break down what happened and explain what it all means going forward.

Chrissy Teigen is beefing with comedian Heather McDonald -- who slammed her as hypocritical, before Chrissy fired back with a "f*** off" ... and the feud happened to go down on the anniversary of her son, Jack, dying.

The model prefaced her reaction by saying she couldn't sleep all night because she "was up, sick, sobbing, as my phone popped up the memory of being in the hospital exactly 1 year ago, losing our baby."

She added, "So maybe I'm a little sensitive but f*** off." This was a direct shot at Heather, who had earlier called Chrissy a hypocrite over a post about looking 'perfect' on social media.

Okay, follow along ... Chrissy had posted a pic of herself glammed up, but with her eyes closed and her mouth slightly open. She captioned it, "I really think you guys are too conditioned to seeing perfect photos all day because so many of my comments on any given photo are 'why would she post this.'"

Heather commented on that post calling out Chrissy for "humble brags" ... posting allegedly unflattering photos when she knows she actually looks great.

Heather took it a step further when she reposted Chrissy's photo with the caption, "I cannot take it ... I'm just having one of those days where I had to point out the #hypocrite on IG. I can't be the only one that can see through this BS."

That prompted Chrissy to eventually respond ... "Why people follow people they hate [is] beyond me."

Chrissy acknowledged she was already distraught on Tuesday, as she posted a 1-year-old picture of herself crying in the hospital, with John Legend at her side, on the day they lost Jack.

She captioned it, "And to the son we almost had. a year ago you gave me the greatest pain I could ever imagine to show me I could survive anything, even if I didn't want to."

Khloe Kardashian's latest ad campaign's got it all -- she's topless and rolling around in bed -- but you won't catch even a glimpse of the ad in it's intended glory on TV, because networks say it's just too sexy.

TMZ's obtained the commercial for Khloe's Good American clothing company, which was intended to launch a brand new "Find the One" campaign to promote its denim jeans.

As you can see ... the ad features a topless Khloe rolling around in bed wearing only those sexy, skintight jeans before she drops the new slogan.

We're told Good American sent the video out to broadcast networks to air this week, but it got rejected during the approval process ... because it was deemed too risque for TV audiences.

This was supposed to be Khloe's company's first-ever TV campaign -- and we're told Kourtney had a commercial in the hopper too. The good news? Our sources say a less-sexy version with less side-boob and skin will be edited to eventually make it to TV.

BTW, her spot feels like a total callback to a classic 1980s Brooke Shields ad for Calvin Klein, where she declared "nothing" comes between her and her CK jeans.😉

Here's the weird thing ... it stirred a ton of controversy, because Brooke was only 15, and yet, it still aired all over the country!!!

Manny Pacquiao is done with competitive fighting ... the boxing legend announced Tuesday night he's retiring from the sport for good.

Pacquiao revealed the news in an emotional video on his social media page ... thanking his family, friends, trainers and everyone else who helped him along his journey to becoming one of the greatest of all time.

"This is the hardest decision I've ever made," Pacquiao said, "but I’m at peace with it. Chase your dreams, work hard and watch what happens. Good bye, boxing."

Pacquiao absolutely dominated in the ring from the day he took his first pro fight back in 1995 -- finishing his career with a brilliant record of 68-8-2.

He earned victories over guys like Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya and so many more in his 26 years in the sport.

"Even me," said Pacquiao, who ended up winning a staggering 12 world titles in his career, "I'm amazed at what I have done."

The 42-year-old -- a current senator in the Philippines -- will now be able to put all of his focus behind his political career ... one in which he's hopeful will end with him being the president of the Philippines in the not too distant future.

Kenya Moore's decision to join "Dancing With the Stars" pissed off her bosses at the network where she got famous -- so much so, they tried to force her into a very tough decision.

Sources connected to 'Housewives' production tell us ... when 'DWTS' approached Kenya months ago about being on its new season, she immediately ran it up the flag pole at True Entertainment, the production company behind "Real Housewives of Atlanta," and there was no issue.

However, the problems started when we broke the story Kenya was officially signed on for the 30th season of 'DWTS.' We're told that's when Bravo came to Kenya and told her to choose one show or the other.

What's bizarre about that is ... lots of other Housewives have done 'DWTS' before without Bravo raising a stink. Erika Jayne, Kim Zolciak-Biermann, Nene Leakes and Lisa Vanderpump were all on the ABC show ... and Lisa even filmed for 'RHOBH' during the dance competition.

Ultimately, we're told Bravo blinked in the standoff with Kenya, and relented she could do both shows, but with one condition -- there won't be any crossover, a la Vanderpump.

Bravo won't feature Kenya's time in L.A. shooting for 'Dancing' when the new season of 'RHOA' begins.

The Kardashians are coming back for more reality TV ... and here's the first look at their new show on Hulu.

Kim, Khloe and Kourtney started filming their new show Tuesday at Lucky's in Malibu, and they were dressed to the nines.

It looks like Kim's keeping in line with her look from the Met Gala ... dressing in all black and covering most of her face. Meanwhile, Kourtney's showing some cleavage in a yellow top and blue jeans, and Khloe looks like she's ready for autumn in the Bu.

As you know, the Kardashians are moving on to the streaming service after 14 years and 20 seasons filming "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" for traditional TV.

The Kardashians have a multi-year deal with Hulu to produce new content all over the world, with their debut set for later this year, but details on the show have been scarce ... so it's interesting to see the first day of filming.

Kodak Black's violated the terms of his supervised release in his federal gun case by failing a drug test ... and now we've learned the rapper was ordered to get treatment.

You may recall ... the rapper was sentenced to 46 months behind bars in the gun case in late 2019, but he was freed by Trump when his sentence was commuted back in January as part of the ex-President's flurry of pardons and commutations.

We're told Kodak's failed drug test resulted in a court hearing this week for violating the terms of his supervised release.

According to court records ... the judge ordered Kodak to complete a 90-day stint in a residential program due to the violation. Our sources say Kodak is already in the treatment program.

The greatest tight end in the NFL believes LeBron James would have thrived as a pro football player ... 'cause Travis Kelce tells TMZ Sports the King would've been a serious "problem" in the league if he didn't become a basketball icon.

LBJ recently revealed he received offers to play for the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks during the 2011 NBA lockout ... and said he would have likely tried out at tight end if he decided to play football.

Considering Kelce is a 5-time All-Pro tight end, a Super Bowl champ and a 6-time Pro Bowler, we had to ask about LBJ's chances in the league ... and he truly believes James would have balled out!!!

"I think LeBron is one of the greatest athletes in the world, right," Kelce told Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

"His athleticism, how knowledgeable he is about the game of basketball that you can tell how he plays, he gets down to the scheme of things."

Kelce continued ... "And, that's a lot about being a football player is understanding schemes, going out there, playing free and letting your athleticism show."

Of course, there may be a bit of bias in Kelce's answer ... he grew up in Cleveland Heights, just about 45 minutes from LeBron's hometown of Akron. But, make no mistake, he's serious about LeBron's abilities on the gridiron.

"I think Bron would have definitely been a problem on the football field, no doubt about it," he added. "Especially with tight end room. That's us Northeast Ohio guys, man. We're all-around athletes. You can throw us in any sport, we'll have success."

As for whether LBJ would have been able to make that transition in 2011, Kelce says he wishes he could have seen that experiment unfold.

We also spoke with Kelce about his partnership with LG, where he's opening the doors to his life off the field for the "Travis Kelce, Only On OLED" series ... which also stars 2 of his childhood friends.

United Kingdom cameraman Adnan Ghalib was thrust into the limelight in late 2007 after he went from being behind the lens as one of the regular paparazzi swirling in Britney Spears' orbit ... into Brit's new mystery boyfriend in early 2008.

Complete with highly adorned Affliction shirts, on-trend Ed Hardy trucker hats and a signature flavor-saver strip of hair down the middle of his chin ... Adnan seemed inseparable from Britney Spears shortly after she split from Kevin Federline.

The Brit and Britney were often photographed driving aimlessly up and down Sunset Blvd, strutting hand in hand on Starbucks runs and even the occasional shopping spree for shutterbugs.

AG now lives a pretty private life that includes sharing sporadic shirtless pics on social media.

Jesse Palmer is the new permanent host of "The Bachelor" ... replacing Chris Harrison, who was cut loose after his racism scandal.

The move keeps it all in the family, so to speak ... because Jesse's a former 'Bachelor' himself, and now he'll be the face of the ABC franchise for its upcoming 26th season.

Jesse says he's humbled by the opportunity to return to the show as host, and he's looking forward to offering the next 'Bachelor' advice as production is about to begin.

Some of that advice might involve being certain about names of the women in the rose ceremony -- something Jesse learned the hard way in 2005 in one of the show's most infamous moments.

TMZ broke the story ... Chris says he has no hard feelings over his 'Bachelor' exit, telling us he's happy to have his Mondays back and seems at peace with the end of his era.

Chris hosted both shows in the franchise for 2 decades, but he found himself embroiled in scandal this year after he excused historical racism during an interview with ex-'Bachelorette' Rachel Lindsay.

Bill Cosby thinks R. Kelly got a raw deal with a guilty verdict in his federal sex crimes case ... and he's blaming Gloria Allred and systemic racism.

We got Cosby's spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, at Avra in Beverly Hills and asked what his client's reaction was to Kelly's conviction on all 9 counts. He told us Cosby said, "The guy was railroaded."

Naturally, Gloria is drawing most of Cosby and Wyatt's ire ... she represented alleged victims in both Cosby's case and Kelly's, and Andrew says she's running a familiar playbook.

As we reported ... R. Kelly was found guilty Monday on 9 federal counts, including racketeering, sex crimes, kidnapping, obstruction of justice and human trafficking.

While, Kelly's looking at 10 years to life when he gets sentenced in May, Wyatt told us he doesn't think the disgraced singer will actually be sentenced, because an appeals court will overturn the conviction.

He's confident Kelly will walk free one day, just like Cosby, but there's a big difference between their cases.

Cosby's release from prison wasn't about his guilt or innocence -- it happened because the D.A. screwed him on a deal he'd made to avoid prosecution. Far as we know, Kelly didn't have any such deal.

Jon Jones allegedly pulled his fiancee's hair and then headbutted a police car, leaving a dent in the hood and chipping paint, during his Las Vegas arrest early Friday morning, TMZ Sports has learned.

According to a Vegas Metro PD arrest report, cops were called to Caesars Palace around 5:08 AM for a "domestic disturbance" in a hotel room ... involving a white female who was "bleeding from her nose/mouth" and a "black male adult who is a professional MMA fighter."

When police arrived, they spotted Jon walking near the hotel, where they stopped and detained him.

Cops say 34-year-old Jones became "irate and smashed his head onto the front hood of the LVMPD patrol vehicle," leaving a medium-sized dent, as well as chips in the paint.

While handcuffed, police say Jones experienced a wide range of emotions. At one point, cops say he threatened to sue the department for handcuffing him on the biggest night of his life.

FYI, Jones' 2013 fight with Alexander Gustaffson was inducted in the UFC's Hall of Fame only hours before his arrest.

The officers also claim Jon joked about wanting to fight all the cops, to see if he could take them all on at the same time.

Police say they then interviewed the alleged victim, Jon's fiancée, Jessie, and the mother of his 3 kids, who claimed she was asleep when Jones came back to their room after a night out in Vegas with his friends.

Jessie told police "Jon came back and was not very happy." When they asked her if things turned physical, she replied "Umm not too physical but a little bit yeah."

When cops asked what she meant, Jessie said, "he touch the back of my head and pulled my hair a little bit but he did not hit me or anything."

However, cops said they noticed blood on her lip, which was also swollen. Jessie told cops it was because they were dry. Police also say they saw blood on her sweatshirt.

Cops checked Jon and Jessie's hotel room, and say they saw blood on the bedsheets.

When detectives were leaving the scene, they note Jessie was concerned about when Jon would be released from county jail.

As for who called the police, Jessie went down to a security booth to ask for an additional room key around 4:30 AM. A security guard said she saw blood on her person, and asked Jessie if she was okay. The guard claimed Jessie then began to cry and said she was scared to return to her room.

The guard then claims Jessie and Jon's youngest child said "can you call the cops?"

Jones -- who told police he never got physical his fiancée -- was ultimately arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery and felony tampering with a vehicle.

Jon has a court date scheduled next month.

Sen. Ted Cruz is proud to back the #FreeBritney movement, and did so Tuesday on Capitol Hill ... saying there are better options than a conservatorship for Britney Spears, and others in her situation.

The Senator from Texas raised Britney's case in calling for reform on conservatorship law -- and railed against the fact a grown woman "can't make basic decisions about her own life."

Cruz said, "Even though she's a mother, to this day she can't make basic decisions about her own life, her own career, her own health or her own finances." He added, "It seems that at each critical juncture, the legal system has been designed not for her benefit but to trample on her rights."

Cruz's solution? Instead of conservatorships, he'd like to see, among other things, the ability for someone in Britney's position to form a support network of people they know and trust ... and consult this group in the course of making their decisions.

Cruz also went off about allegations Britney was forced to get an IUD to prevent her from having a baby -- a claim she made while testifying back in June. The Senator says, "That is not somebody else's choice to make. That is grotesque."

Many would call that statement about a woman's reproductive rights ironic, at best, and hypocritical at worst ... due to Cruz's support of Texas' new anti-abortion law.

A renowned psychiatrist says he was asked earlier this year to determine if Britney Spears was overmedicated to the point she wasn't lucid ... and he makes an interesting case on how the conservatorship should end ... with one string attached.

Dr. Charles Sophy appeared on "TMZ Live" Tuesday and revealed around 8 or 10 months ago someone on Britney's team approached him to come and evaluate her medication.

Sophy says there was clearly a concern Britney was being excessively pumped full of drugs ... to the point she was not able to clearly speak for herself.

Sophy declined the invite ... because he didn't want to get involved in what he felt was a power struggle over the conservatorship. But, the good doc felt bad for Britney because he says IF she was in fact overmedicated it creates a vicious cycle she can't escape.

Dr. Sophy had an interesting idea ... end the conservatorship but attach one string -- that Britney must check in with the court from time to time to make sure she's taking her meds.  Otherwise, she should be free to live her life on her own terms, without a conservatorship.

Jamie Spears and Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, have been going at it in legal docs, and Wednesday's hearing promises to be contentious.