TMZ.com Home

Zac Stacy told cops the brutal attack on his ex was all "staged" ... claiming the woman set him up because she was "bitter" he didn't want to be with her.

The former NFL running back's conversation with officers was all captured on police video, obtained by TMZ Sports, just days after he ruthlessly beat his ex at her Florida home.

In the arrest footage, Stacy can be heard speaking with Orlando Police Dept. officers for several minutes about the events that led up to the Nov. 13 altercation ... insisting it all "was staged."

"It's just a case of just bitterness, man," Stacy told the policemen. "That's why she did this. The whole assault thing, she staged it. She set me up."

Stacy continued, "The whole thing was staged. All she's trying to do is get money out of me. She got a reaction out of me."

Stacy explained that he believes his ex -- the mother of his months-old son -- was upset with him because he didn't want to continue a romantic relationship with her.

The former St. Louis Rams and New York Jets player told officers the woman knew he wasn't in a good place mentally (he said he had just gotten out of rehab for anxiety and depression), and she used that to get "a reaction out of me."

"She knew I was down, she knew I was going through anxiety and depression," Stacy said. "She knew I was trying to close this gap that's between me and my son and she's just upset that she got caught and she's upset I'm not taking care of him like she expected. And now she took it this far."

Stacy added, "This is just a case of just girl is just bitter that I don't want to be with her and she's just trying to destroy my whole reputation 'cause of this s***."

Stacy then told the officers he knew his actions were "f***ed up."

"I don't know what man -- how any man could have handled that situation," Stacy said.

The 30-year-old was eventually taken to a local police station and booked on charges of felony aggravated battery and felony criminal mischief.

Stacy is currently out on bond.

Kim Kardashian has passed the baby bar exam after two years of attempts, moving her one step closer to becoming a real-deal attorney.

Kim certainly didn't hold back her excitement when she made the announcement Monday,  saying, "OMFGGGG I PASSED THE BABY BAR EXAM!!!!"

Kim had previously failed the exam 3 times, but had COVID during one of those attempts, she joked, " ... on the 3rd try w a 104 fever but I’m not making excuses ;)"

The baby bar is the first of two exams needed to be taken to become an attorney in the state of California, Kim mentioned, "I was told by top lawyers that this was a close to impossible journey and harder than the traditional law school route but it was my only option and it feels so so sooooo good to be here and on my way to achieving my goals."

She also thanked Van Jones in her announcement, saying he was the one who pushed her to go to law school.

Finally, Kim gave a shout-out to her late father, Robert, who was a hugely successful attorney in L.A., saying, "I know my dad would be so proud and he would actually be so shocked to know that this is my path now but he would have been my best study partner. I am told he was notorious for making fun of people who didn’t pass on their first attempt like he did, but he would have been my biggest cheerleader!"

Kim took fans along on her journey, showing late-night study sessions and even sharing her failures.

Terrible news in the horse racing world ... 3 jockeys were hospitalized and 2 horses died after a horrific fall during a horserace in Hong Kong on Sunday.

The tragic event happened during the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at Sha Tin Racecourse ... when jockey Lyle Hewitson's horse lost its footing several hundred yards into the race, collapsing ahead of a large pack of horses.

The whole incident was televised ... and the video clearly shows Hewiston's horse, Amazing Star fall, sending the South African jockey slamming to the ground, before being trampled by a stampede of horses.

That caused a domino effect ... and sent 3 other jockeys and their horses flying to the ground.

Hong Kong Jockey Club's executive director Andrew Harding says all 3 men were treated at Prince of Wales hospital with multiple injuries.

Hewitson ended up having a fractured hip and small bleed in the brain. 4x Hong Kong champ, Zac Purton, suffered four fractured ribs, a fractured wrist and a broken nose.

The third jockey, Yuichi Fukunaga of Japan, broke his collarbone.

Miraculously, all of the jockeys survived.

Unfortunately, the 2 horses weren't so lucky. Amazing Star and Naboo Attack suffered fatal injuries and had to be euthanized.

The race did go on after the collision. Australian jockey Blake Shinn and his horse Sky Field officially took the title ... a win he calls "bittersweet".

"I have mixed emotions for winning this race today," Shinn said.

"Obviously the first emotion is that my feelings are with the fallen jockeys and horses out there."

Santa Claus can pass up Philadelphia ... Meek Mill's got his hometown covered for the holidays, as he gives away more than half a million bucks worth of some fire gifts!!!

TMZ has learned Meek's planning to hand out a massive sack full of gifts for families in need this weekend -- things like bikes, video game gift cards, laptops, tablets, dolls and much more.

The Philly-born and raised rapper's getting his friends to kick in too -- Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Sixers partner Michael Rubin and Meek's managers at Roc Nation are supporting the huge gift giveaway.

The event, set for this coming Sunday, will be a more up close and personal giveaway than Meek could pull off last year during the pandemic. You might recall this heartwarming moment -- he had gifts delivered, surprising the families ... but could only video chat with them.

Justin Bieber was left exposed -- if only briefly -- after a fan jumped on stage with him during a performance ... something that got smothered quickly by the muscle on hand.

The pop star was in the middle of singing 'Intentions' Saturday across the pond at the O2 arena ... where he'd been booked for the Jingle Bell Ball as one of the marquee acts. All was going fine -- that is, until some dope decided to pull a stunt.

Check it out ... the guy hoists himself on the platform and appears to attempt a selfie from the back, but it doesn't look like he was successful. Within seconds, security was on his ass, sending him scrambling in the background.

You see Justin react to all the commotion, but it's unclear to what extent he realized something crazy was going down -- 'cause it all unfolded quickly. Still ... you gotta imagine he's grateful for the watchful guards doing their job, otherwise, it coulda been scary.

JB carried on with his set ... and seemed to have somewhat of a better reaction than Maroon 5's Adam Levine did a couple months ago, when he too was bum-rushed in a similar fashion.

Granted, that incident was a lot more up close and personal than this ended up being -- so who knows how Justin would've responded to actually being touched. A good rule of thumb for over-eager spectators ... stay down below and take it all in from a distance.

Kanye West is on a crowd-pleasing streak ... just a few days after wowing a sold-out L.A. Coliseum, he was a surprise performer at Rolling Loud California.

Ye popped on stage during Future's set at the festival, singing “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and as you can tell from the video ... the fans loved it. He performed a 5-song set that included DONDA‘s “Praise God,” and “Father Stretch My Hands".

But, that wasn't it from Ye... the rapper stayed on stage Sunday night through the rest of Future’s set and they both performed songs, with Kanye even freestyling a verse.

The duo had the San Bernardino, CA crowd super hyped, and they clearly wanted to keep it there... they kept going to DJ Esco between songs to decide what they’d do next.

Kanye's had an eventful week... the surprise performance with Future came 3 days after his beef-squashing concert with Drake Thursday night. The reunion with Drake was a benefit concert to free Larry Hoover, the cofounder of the Gangster Disciples, who is serving 6 life sentences in federal prison.

Steve Harvey committed another gaffe during a Miss Universe show -- this one wasn't as bad as what he'd done before ... but it was still pretty dang cringeworthy.

The comedian was tapped yet again to host the beauty pageant during Sunday night's broadcast, which was being televised all the way from Israel. While talking to the finalists, he got around to the eventual winner, Harnaaz Sandhu of India, and asked a strange question.

Watch ... the guy reads from his card and notes she supposedly has an interesting talent -- impersonating animals ... and he asked her to do just that right on the spot.

You could tell she wasn't prepared for that, let alone having to actually do it. And yet, Sandhu toughed it out anyway like a champ, telling Steve she would, since she had no other option on live TV. And then ... she did a cat impression, and it was actually really good.

Sandhu belted out a handful of loud meows, and went on to say that a particular skill -- such as this one -- could lead to bigger and better things ... so dream big, kids!

Now, while this might seem relatively harmless -- SH is actually catching some backlash for the ask here ... because, apparently, he didn't pull this same stunt with other contestants he interviewed in the moment. Instead, he asked about their legit accomplishments.

Of course, this brings back memories of him mistakenly announcing the wrong Miss Universe winner in 2015 ... and while this isn't nearly as big a blunder, it's still not great.

Kylie Jenner almost got a surprise marriage proposal, but cops intervened before an obsessed fan could pop the question.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... they were called to Kylie's neighborhood Thursday for a report of a man who had hopped a fence and knocked on a door looking for Jenner. Only problem? The guy had the wrong house and was at Kylie's neighbor's place.

Cops spoke to the 23-year-old man -- armed with flowers -- who told them he was there to profess his love for Kylie, and ask for her hand in marriage.

Obviously, the whole thing didn't fly with police -- who arrested the guy for misdemeanor trespassing -- and took him in for booking.

The Fonz's 1949 motorcycle recently sold for $231,562 at auction, but it won't just go to a museum or any old home ... it'll be in the hands of celeb grease monkey Richard Rawlings.

The motorbike was among the most prized items from the Henry Winkler-themed auction... it was expected to sell for $80k-$120k, but Rawlings scooped it up for nearly double.

The "Fast N' Loud" star tells TMZ ... his winning bid is a tribute to his dad who is battling Alzheimer’s ... he says back in the day, they would watch "Happy Days" together.

Rawlings says his dad used to ride a bike and wear a leather jacket that looked similar to Fonzie on the sitcom ... and even added he had a lot of swagger just like Fonz!

One year at Richard’s school carnival while there were games and bake sales, Richard’s dad rode his motorcycle to the school wearing his leather jacket and set up a kissing booth. As Richard says, the PTA moms ate it up.

Now Rawlings will have the actual bike that Fonz rode on, in the show ... though he won't have the actual outfit Fonzie wore -- which went for $75,312 in the auction.

Richard says he plans to ride the bike a few times, and then he'll put it in his new Monkey Trap that will have cool cars and memorabilia from all the shows he has done.

No matter what you think about LaVar Ball's antics when it comes to his sons, you gotta respect it ... so says Matt Barnes who tells TMZ Sports at the end of the day, he got 'em all to the NBA.

Remember, LaVar has aways been his boys' official hype man for years -- praising Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo any chance he gets ... promising fans (and haters) they would all be in the big league.

LaVar ended up being right ... Gelo is on a G-league team, Zo is dominating with the Bulls and Melo has brought the Hornets back to life.

Barnes applauds LaVar for it, telling us he's a great dad for making sure his kids got to the top level.

Even if he did do a lotta trash talk.

"As far as him being a great dad and helping his kids to where they're at to succeed, I definitely salute him," the 41-year old tells us at LAX this week.

"The kids are very talented. Hope Gelo gets a real chance to make an NBA team but to have 2 kids in the league that are doing well and a hopeful third..."

"I can do nothing but respect that."

"Home Alone" star Devin Ratray -- who played Buzz McCallister in the flick -- had a spat with his girlfriend that got so bad ... someone called the cops to get things under control.

Law enforcement sources tell us they were called to a Hyatt near downtown OKC earlier this week for a domestic dispute between Ratray and his girlfriend.

Ratray's rep says the two got into a verbal argument, nothing physical, and things were so nasty the two broke up. The rep would not say what the argument was about.

Cops tell us things were sorted out once Devin and his gf decided to go their separate ways for the night -- she got a separate room -- and no one was arrested.

Of course, Ratray will live in classic Christmas movie infamy as Buzz, who tormented his little brother Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin) for years to come. The actor recently revealed to People that there was a possible "Home Alone" reunion in the works ... but unclear if this hiccup will derail that project.

For what it's worth, "Home Alone" fans looking to relive their childhood fantasies can participate in an upcoming raffle to stay a night in the famous McCallister home thanks to Airbnb.

There's a social media push to get Kanye West to step in and fill the role of Louis Vuitton creative director after the death of Virgil Abloh ... and Dapper Dan believes Ye would be the perfect fit.

We got DD at LAX Friday who sang Ye's praises, calling him a genius and saying, "Louis, get Kanye!!!" Of course, Dapper Dan acknowledges Kanye would need to be game to take on the role, but sees it as a perfect fit.

As we reported, Virgil's sudden and surprising death after a battle with cancer drew an outpouring of support, and also raised eyebrows on who could be next to fill his position at LV ... with Kanye's name almost instantly coming to the forefront.

Kanye and Virgil had been friends for more than a decade at the time of his death, and Kanye showed up at memorial and funeral services in both Miami and Chicago to pay his respects and honor the fashion mogul.

Kanye has obviously made his mark in fashion over the years with his Yeezy brand -- a partnership with Adidas to make shoes -- and most recently a collab with GAP.

It was just this week when Kim Kardashian thanked Kanye for introducing her to the "world of fashion," when she accepted the Fashion Icon of the Year Award at the People's Choice Award.

Before this mini microphone man was making audiences jam out to his memorable music, he was just another cute kid ready for the holidays in Manhattan, New York.

This tiny tot created a career for himself that caused him to fly away with success. He's sold millions of album copies, set a record for his Grammy Awards -- he's won Best Male Rock Vocal Performance 4 consecutive years in a row -- and made a huge impact on the rock and roll world.

He's also tried his hand in acting, being featured alongside Jennifer Lawrence in a huge movie franchise.

A lot of uncertainty over the filming of the 'Black Panther' sequel -- due, in part, to Letitia Wright's vaccine status -- has now got fans wondering ... why not just recast T'Challa???

Here's the deal ... reports have surfaced in recent weeks saying Letitia wants out of the Marvel Universe entirely, supposedly in response to the vaccine mandates they're enforcing over at Disney. One report claims the writers actually had to rework the ending -- one which was originally going to heavily feature Shuri -- because of this alleged ongoing problem.

Meanwhile, THR says Letitia is expected back to resume filming in January -- this after taking some time off to recover from an on-set injury -- but the outlet also reported a little while ago that she was, in fact, spreading anti-vax sentiments with folks on the production.

In a since-deleted Instagram post, LW completely denied that account. Still, fans think there's  trouble in paradise, and are now wondering why producers wouldn't just get a new king of Wakanda ... aka, replace Chadwick Boseman with a new actor.

While many have argued that the mantle couldn't possibly be taken on anew -- because of how deeply tied it was to Chadwick's legacy -- others say ... actually, it could've ... and probably should've, especially in light of all the reported drama happening now. Now, folks are saying the idea of tapping a new T'Challa wouldn't have been the worst thing.

One Twitter user writes, "I know this is a bit of a hot take but a lot of this rumored on set drama of Black Panther 2 might’ve been prevented if they just recast T’Challa. I know people loved Chadwick Boseman, I did too, but that character had more stories to tell."

The argument is ... the character of T'Challa deserved a lot more screen time and movies to himself -- and that alone outweighs any perceived slight toward Chadwick and his memory by passing on the torch to another actor playing the same character.

BTW, this whole thing isn't just a few people firing off hot takes online ... there's an entire hashtag dedicated to this movement, #RecastTChalla. Some even say Chadwick's own words in previous interviews support the notion that he'd actually be behind this.

Of course, Marvel has held firm on their stance that they'll never get another T'Challa in front of the camera -- and besides, at this point ... they're knee-deep in production, and will very likely NOT go down that road, despite some of the fan base's clamoring.

Demaryius Thomas was at the forefront of everyone's mind this Sunday -- especially for his former team, the Denver Broncos, who paid tribute to him ... with an assist from the Lions.

The late wide receiver -- who died suddenly last week -- was honored during the opening minutes of the game ... with just 10 men on the Broncos taking the field, and WR Courtland Sutton taking a knee on the sidelines as his team let the play clock run out.

It essentially served as a moment of silence -- the significance of leaving Sutton/Thomas' position vacated on the field was symbolic, almost like it was meant to be filled by him in spirit.

Denver was penalized for this, but the Lions declined the penalty ... and let them play on as if nothing had happened -- something the team seemed to be grateful for online. There was also a video compilation played on the jumbo screen before kickoff, which showed off some of Thomas' highlights from when he was playing for them.

In addition to the on-field moment and the video, there were a number of other tributes set up all throughout the stadium, including a memorial that had been set up for Thomas that Peyton Manning and his family visited before the game got underway.

There was also a portrait of the guy that was on display in the tunnel, which players kissed and tapped as they made their way to the gridiron. And even on the field itself, the Broncos emblazoned Thomas' former number, 88, right there onto the grass.

All this was to be expected ... as we reported, the Broncos were pulling out all the stops to make sure their guy was recognized properly, as he was a big part of their SB run in 2016.

Thomas was found dead at his home on Thursday, with a call for cardiac arrest triggering a police response. It's unclear what exactly happened to him -- an autopsy is pending.

Ryan Reynolds is here to save Peloton's day -- narrating a new spoof ad that's in direct response to the outrage over Mr. Big dying in the new 'SATC' show. Also ... spoiler alert.

The actor just posted a hilarious 38-second clip, something Peloton apparently whipped up over these past few days. It shows Chris Noth -- who plays Sarah Jessica Parker's love interest throughout the OG series -- yukking it up with actress Jess King.

She stars as the hot Peloton instructor that Big is kinda into during the first couple episodes of 'And Just Like That ..." -- which killed off Carrie's hubby after a Peloton bike ride. As you can see, he's doing just fine ... and even jokingly asks if King wants to go for another ride.

As you've probably heard, CN's death made for a huge twist -- but it also had very real-world ramifications for Peloton ... whose stock price took a nosedive in the wake of the premiere.

Peloton came out and said Big didn't die as a result of riding their bike, but because of what he'd done prior to hopping on ... namely, living large. A company spokesperson responded, "Mr. Big lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle -- including cocktails, cigars, and big steaks -- and was at serious risk as he had a previous cardiac event in Season 6."

They added, "These lifestyle choices and perhaps even his family history, which often is a significant factor, were the likely cause of his death. Riding his Peloton Bike may have even helped delay his cardiac event."