Celebrity Feuds

Heavyweight boxing champ Andy Ruiz says he's already training for the rematch with Anthony Joshua ... and tells TMZ Sports he's calling the shots this time around!!

Of course, Ruiz was a late replacement who stepped in for Jarrell Miller when "Big Baby" failed a drug test -- with Andy only getting around 6 weeks of training before the June 1 fight. 

But this time around, Ruiz tells us he's working in a FULL training camp -- and he's going to be the one to decide WHERE the fight takes place. 

Ruiz tells us he'd like to throw down in Mexico -- where he recently met with President Lopez -- or go back to Madison Square Garden in NY. 

There's one place he won't go ... England, where Joshua is from. 

Bottom line ... "I'm the champion," Ruiz says -- "We're the A-Side."

As for whether he's spoken with Joshua, Ruiz tells us, "I haven't talked to him, but I'm pretty sure he's training hard for the rematch. And, so am I."

Pablo Escobar's brother says Elon Musk ripped off the "not-a-flamethrower" idea and beat him to the punch -- but now he's got his own (hot) take on the gizmo ... and a possible legal fireball for Elon.  

The Colombian kingpin's bro, Roberto, just launched his own flamethrower -- which is basically a glorified propane torch -- and it is eerily similar to Elon's product from early 2018. There's a reason for that, according to Escobar's camp ... he claims Elon and co. jacked the idea after one of his engineers paid a visit to the family compound in mid-2017.

We're told while Elon's guy was out in Medellin that summer, he and Robeto allegedly got to talkin' about a toy flamethrower that could "burn money." Burning cash -- literally -- is apparently a favorite pastime of the Escobars ... ya know, 'cause of how rich they were from all drug smuggling and whatnot in Pablo's heyday. Torching dinero ... the new wealth brag.

Anyway, Roberto's camp claims nothing ever came of that convo -- until, suddenly, in January of 2018 ... Elon announced his 'The Boring Company Not a Flamethrower,' which raked in millions in the first few days on digital shelves. We're told the Escobars were pissed.

Now, they've got their own version out in the marketplace -- which retails for $500 -- but more importantly, our Escobar sources say Roberto and la familia are weighing their options on potential legal action against Musk and TBC for alleged intellectual property theft.

Might be an uphill battle for the fellas down in Colombia -- it's likely Elon got his own flamethrower patented from the jump ... so proving anything they're claiming could be difficult in court, if not impossible.

But hey, crazier things have happened ... like a Colombian drug lord running the international narcotics game for over two decades, or a fart app. Light it up, Escobars. 

Oh, and we've reached out to The Boring Company for comment ... so far, no word back.

Karlous Miller -- an OG cast member on Nick Cannon's "Wild 'N Out" -- says his triumphant return to the show came as a result of a heart-to-heart with its host. 

The comedian -- who got fired from the show last year after a reported falling-out with Nick -- told us his guest appearance on Sunday's episode happened after he and Nick hashed out some lingering issues. The tension between them was obvious during an October interview on "The Breakfast Club." 

ICYMI ... Karlous and his 85 South Show pals aired out some dirty laundry on how he got canned -- and suggested it was because he made a crack about going on a date with his ex, Mariah Carey, and her new beau. 

Karlous (half-jokingly?) implied Nick didn't like that, and things were never quite the same in their relationship. Eventually, he says the "white people" gave him the boot, but appeared to believe it was Nick's doing. In that same interview, Nick flat-out denied it.

Fast-forward to this weekend, when Nick brought out a masked MC known as Ski Mask the Bird God ... only to reveal it was actually Karlous, shocking the audience and the cast.

They battle-rapped and even made light of the situation ... with Nick joking about Karlous getting fired on his day off. In the end, though, it was clearly all love between 'em. 

Justin Bieber is stoking the battle flames again by nominating Tom Cruise after doing the bottle cap challenge and saying the cap could be Tom's dome, if he wants to join the party.

JB threw up a video Sunday, showing himself doing the now-famous viral challenge that tons of celebs have taken part in. He tells the cameraman, "This could be Tom Cruise's head," and then does a spinning kick to fully unscrew the cap and send it flying.

In his caption, Bieber wrote ... "I nominate Tom cruise and Hailey Bieber." Besides the fact that we're likely to see Hailey's version of the challenge, it's obvious that the Biebs actually DOES want to fight ol' Tommy ... despite telling paps that he was just messing around when he sent out that bizarre tweet. 

Bieber even said at the time that TC would probably whoop his ass in a real fight, but based on what we're seeing here ... we're not so sure. Bieber's got some karate moves in the shed, it seems.

There's one person we know who would be happy to make it happen ... Dana White. He's already told us it would be the biggest purse in UFC history and could possibly go down. There's even been rumblings that Tom might actually be interested in getting in the Octagon. 

Fact is though, he hasn't uttered a peep about it ... so who the hell knows. In the meantime, put this bottle cap challenge up there with the best of 'em.  

Sherri Shepherd's ex-husband says she's preventing him from getting work by constantly bashing him -- but Sherri says if she did have that kinda power ... she'd put it in reverse.

The ex-'View' co-host was at LAX this weekend, where a pap asked her how she felt about Lamar Sally firing back after her scathing interview with D.L. Hughley -- in which she labeled him as a "sorry-ass dude" that she only married out of loneliness. 

Lamar told us that's BS, accusing her of being vindictive and bitter ... adding that they brought a child into the world out of a loving relationship. Sherri has disavowed their kid.

As for his claim that she's effectively blackballed him from getting any writing gigs, Sherri's got a rebuttal -- she says she doesn't have the ability to make that happen, but if she did ... Sherri would flip it in Lamar's favor, so he can stop mooching off of her. 

She must be talking about that $4,100 a month she pays Lamar in child support -- something she believes he was angling for all along, even before they opted to hire a surrogate. 

Sherri drops another nugget about Lamar's work history here, alleging that he'd been out of work when she first got with him ... despite the fact he's a talented writer, as she puts it.

Taylor Swift losing out on the rights to her old tunes is a learning lesson for up-and-coming artists, so say two people who know that game all too well ... Ricky Bell and Sheila E. 

The musicians were asked about Taylor's feud with Scooter Braun Saturday at LAX, and they each had interesting insights on the biz. Short story long ... don't hate the player. 

Ricky -- who started with New Edition, and then went on to form Bell Biv DeVoe -- kicks things off by actually defending Scooter, saying he isn't really the bad guy here ... just a business man making a smart business move by snatching up Taylor's catalog. 

When presented with the idea of selling the songs back to Taylor, Ricky scoffs ... but offers up a compromise if she's truly interested in getting them back. 

You'll recall ... Scooter's purchase -- through his company, Ithaca Holdings -- caused quite a stir last week, invoking Taylor herself to lash out and call him a bully. The beef has somewhat divided the music industry ... some siding with Taylor, and others with SB.

Ricky and Sheila don't necessarily take sides here -- but they do both seem to acknowledge that signing away your music tends to be the nature of the beast for young artists. 

While Ricky says he doesn't know who owns NE or BBD's music, Sheila reveals she actually holds the rights to most of her catalog -- which is pretty amazing, prolific as it is.

It's interesting too ... Ricky and some of the other OG New Edition guys were in a trademark beef over the band name just a year ago, and Sheila famously collab'd with Prince ... who fought with Warner Bros. over ownership of his own music while he was alive.

50 Cent tried shaming his former label mate, Young Buck, for once posing with Lil Nas X, but Buck's not falling for 50's homophobic antics.

Sources close to the former G-Unit MC tell TMZ ... Buck's photo with LNX -- which was posted back in June, well before Nas X came out -- wasn't meant to be anything more than fan appreciation. We're told Buck wanted to give the young rapper props for his newfound success. It wasn't a tease for a collab or anything. 

However, Fiddy decided to use Lil Nas' coming out as a chance to attack Buck. He reposted Buck's pic with the caption ... "New young Buck (Fresh Out the Barn) ft Little Nas X 🔥Coming July 4."

We're told Buck is unfazed by 50 Cent's attempt to diss and troll. Fact is, it's kinda old at this point, and Buck feels he's simply trying to drag him over a bogus contract from years ago.

Blueface wants to get his side of the story out as to why he kicked his mom and sister out of his house -- so he's posted more footage of the altercation with an explanation.

The "Thotiana" rapper threw up multiple clips of what appears to be surveillance video from inside his home, which was the site of chaos last weekend ... as the family drama played out on Instagram Live. But, he says this new video tells the full story of what was going down,

In Blueface's clips, you can see 2 women causing a ruckus in his crib -- shouting at him from downstairs with a small child in their company as well.

The MC captioned his post, writing ... "Sense [sic] they wanna go viral so bad this the real story my mom got tired of my broke ass sister free loading at her house so she brought her to mine an I wasn’t going for it I already got her an apartment guess that wasn’t enough she want my car she want me to buy her a car off the lot an some more stuff."

He adds that he once had to live out of his car and struggle to get to where he's at now, and then goes on to blame his fans for turning against him before they had the full context of the fight.

The reason his fans, and also non-fans, were disturbed is because it seems like he got physical with his female family members, and did in fact kick them out.

Word online is that Blueface's live-in girlfriend didn't like his mom and sis, and the assumption was that his reaction here was based off that alone. He says that's not the case though.

Sounds like he's claiming they rolled up unannounced to leech off him without his consent. *Insert grimacing "yikes" emoji here*

Hot dog eating god Joey Chestnut has a brand new BEEF -- this time, he's biting back at legendary sports reporter Peter King who's crapping all over food eating competitions. 

FYI, King has a real problem with ESPN releasing a new "30 for 30" special this week on the rivalry between Chestnut and his wiener-gobbling rival, Takeru Kobayashi. 

"A shame that as at least a fifth of children in America go to bed hungry nightly [ESPN is] highlighting gluttony, treating someone who overeats excessively as a 'competitive athlete,'" King wrote ... "Truly disgusting."

So, when we spotted Chestnut in NYC -- getting ready to defend his mustard yellow belt at the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 on Coney Island, we had to ask for his thoughts. 

"I think Peter King ... he's kind of narrow-minded," Chestnut said ... "He's picking low hanging fruit."

"It's easy to criticize something ... he could easily criticize NASCAR for greenhouse gas emissions."

Chestnut says at the end of the day, the amount of food consumed at the competition is "very small" -- and notes that Major League Eating is very involved in donating to food banks around the country.

Taylor Swift's VERY public war with Scooter Braun over rights to her masters has backfired for the singer -- 'cause people are playing those old tracks ... which only helps her enemy.

We monitored Amazon's 'Movers and Shakers' music chart all day Monday -- following Taylor lashing out at Scooter Sunday for buying Big Machine Label Group, and the rights to all her old albums as a result -- and it looks like folks were craving some OG Taylor.

Four of her old albums -- which were produced under a Big Machine contract -- saw significant spikes in CD purchases ... with a couple of them even climbing to the top spots on the 'M&S' list. Taylor's debut album, "Taylor Swift" peaked at #3 Monday in digital sales -- up 471% --and her fourth studio album, "Red," peaked at #4 -- up 433%. 

Two of her other Big Machine albums -- "Fearless" and "1989" -- saw surges of 221% and 88%, respectively.

You'd think that'd be great news for Taylor -- but it really benefits one Scooter Braun the most, seeing how his company now owns the rights to all those songs. 

Long story short ... Scooter's guaranteed to see the most cash flow from the surges, which might not have even happened had Taylor kept her gripes to herself. As you know ... she didn't do that, and it's divided the music industry (and Hollywood, it seems) in the fallout.

In other music news, Lil Nas X saw some MAJOR surges as well since coming out as gay. His smash hit, "Old Town Road (Remix)," was up 600% on the 'Movers and Shakers' list!!!

LaVar Ball is going scorched earth on Charles Barkley for calling him an "idiot" ... saying Chuck is jealous of his success ... and Barkley wishes he was his dad.

Remember, just a few days ago Barkley blasted LaVar for the comments he made to ESPN's Molly Qerim ... with Charles saying, "Wherever LaVar Ball is, there's a village missing an idiot ... We should just keep LaVar off television."

LaVar got wind of Chuck's comments ... and he ain't pleased.

"I don't even pertain to Charles because he's so jealous of me," Ball says. "He want to be me so bad. He never had a father. He wish I was his father. That's why he's so animate towards me."

FYI -- Barkley was raised by a single mother and has been very open about his family's struggles growing up. Ball clearly had no issue going after Chuck's personal life, continuing to go in on the Hall of Famer.

"He's just got a little problem right now. He an old guy, he don't know where he's going right now. So, it's okay. But hey, I ain't gonna mess with Charles. He's lost in his mind right now. It's okay, when you get old sometimes that happens."

"I know he's jealous. He wants everything I got. People don't come up to him, kids don't believe in him. Nothing."

Kourtney Kardashian seems willing to make peace with Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's brood after the families went toe-to-toe over the Kardashians' public enemy #1 ... Ms. Jordyn Woods.

The eldest Kardashian sister was seen embracing Will and Jada's daughter, Willow, Sunday after they ran into each other in West Hollywood. Kourt and Willow shared what looked like a friendly hug -- this, of course, after there appeared to be bad blood between the fams.

Of course, the hug could be fake Hollywood niceties ... or it could be the first sign all that Jordyn drama is becoming water under a bridge.

You'll recall ... Jada hosted Jordyn on her Facebook show, "Red Table Talk," where she shared her side of the Tristan Thompson cheating scandal. Jordyn denied kissing Tristan back after she says he planted one on her after a night of partying. 

She did admit to sitting on his lap too, but says nothing more came of it. 

Khloe wasn't buying that -- moments after the Jordyn episode aired, she lashed out by calling Jordyn a liar and initially blamed her for the breakup of her family.

Jorydn's been doing just fine after being ousted by the Kardashians -- inking new deals left and right -- and Khloe seems to be doing well too, focusing her time on raising baby True ... making sure Tristan's still in the picture as well despite their differences.

Jordyn Woods ain't playing the crying game after being excommunicated by the Kardashians -- it's the opposite actually ... despite what her new fashion brand might suggest.

Kylie's former BFF launched a new clothing line Tuesday in partnership with online retailer BooHoo. Seems she's the face of the line ... at least that's what we get after watching the video she posted of herself rockin' some of its gear ... all the while flaunting her curves for the cam.

It's interesting ... the BooHoo line looks similar to stuff the Kardashians have worn and sold from their own fashion empire. Seems Jordyn's ripped a page right out of their biz book and is keeping it going for herself ... how 'bout that?!

There's also this -- Kim K suggested on the latest 'KUWTK' episode that Jordyn's only been able to provide for her own family through what Kylie has "given" her with respect to jobs and other opportunities.

"Justin Bieber seems like a wimp" -- UFC star Ben Askren.

Yep, the biggest stars in the UFC are well aware of the possible Tom Cruise vs. Justin Bieber superfight ... and top-ranked welterweight Ben Askren is already picking a winner.

"I'm gonna say Tom Cruise," Askren says ... "Like, Tom Cruise at least seems like he's probably been through some sh*t."

As we previously reported, Bieber's rep, Scooter Braun, recently told Dana White he'd be down to fight FOR REAL if Tom signs on ... and Dana says it would be the biggest Pay-Per-View fight of all time.

Ben agrees ... "That would make a whole bunch of money!"

Meantime, Askren has his fight to worry about ... he's throwing down with Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 on July 6.

But, if 56-year-old Tom Cruise does agree to fight 25-year-old Bieber, Askren says he'd be down to train the 'Mission Impossible' star ... and he's already got a game plan for him.

"All I'd teach him is [the double leg takedown] and then beat his ass ... little typewriter action on his face!"

How's this for confidence ... Keith Thurman is so certain he's gonna knock out Manny Pacquiao in the 1st or 2nd round, he's putting $10,000 up so he can cash that extra check!!!

Keith and Manny are squaring off at the MGM Grand on July 20 -- in a fight Thurman thinks he'll EASILY win.

"I'm younger. I'm gonna let my hands go in a way that Adrian Broner didn't," Thurman tells TMZ Sports ... "I'm gonna make it a fight!"

Remember, Broner LOST via unanimous decision when he fought Pacman back in January -- Keith says Broner simply didn't come with any offense that night.

As for the bet, Keith says he's already 100% certain he'll get the W ... but wants to put some added pressure on himself to close the show early.

"That's motivation! I can't go 3 minutes going 'tap, tap, tap' when I got $10k on the round!"