Celebrity Feuds

Amber Heard is out with the old, in with the new when it comes to her legal representation -- scrapping a key attorney on her team ... and bringing in the big guns.

The actress, who is currently appealing the Johnny Depp verdict, announced Monday that she's hired the law firm Ballard Spahr as she ventures into an appellate court ... which she apparently thought warranted a fresh set of eyes to review the case as well as evidence.

The lead attorneys from the firm that are coming on ... David L. Axelrod (not the Obama/CNN guy) and Jay Ward Brown -- both of whom successfully defended the NYT against a defamation suit recently brought by Sarah Palin ... a First Amendment case, their specialty.

Amber is keeping Ben Rottenborn onboard with the addition of Axelrod and Brown -- but she is losing one lawyer ... Ms. Elaine Bredehoft, who was lead counsel in the trial. Her departure from the team isn't really explained beyond simply saying she's stepping down.

EB says it's the perfect time to "pass the baton" and that she's done her due diligence in making sure the new team is up to speed. Frankly, Elaine took a bit of a thrashing, metaphorically, during her representation -- that seems to be the consensus anyway.

As for the new boys ... DLA and JWB say, "We welcome the opportunity to represent Ms. Heard in this appeal as it is a case with important First Amendment implications for every America." They add they're confident the appellate court will interpret the law in their favor and clear AH's name.

A rep for Amber says, "When it comes to protecting the fundamental right of Freedom of Speech, we look at the jury’s decision -- to paraphrase a famous quote -- not 'as the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.' A different court warrants different representation, particularly as so much new evidence is now coming to light."

Megan Thee Stallion has finally responded to Dwyane Johnson’s animalistic desires … rather mildly we might add … probably because she has a boyfriend who’s watching things really closely.

Meg was a guest on SiriusXM to promote her new — and controversial — “Traumazine” album when she reacted to The Rock wishing to be her “pet” as promoting his “DC League of Super-Pets” film with Kevin Hart.

An overly astonished Meg appeared to hear the Rock’s statements for the first time … which is kinda crazy, considering her boyfriend Pardison Fountaine nearly had a cow over the comment earlier in the week.

Meg said the moment solidified her celebrity but didn’t take the megastar actor up on his offer all the same.

In a comment-and-delete scenario on Instagram, Pardison admitted his joke about The Rock’s wife using food seasoning didn’t land the way he hoped and offered up an explanation.

The “Traumazine” drama didn’t end there, however. Ahead of the album’s release, Megan’s now former label head Carl Crawford aired out her manager T. Farris to close the curtain on their relationship with a bang.

The Game's failed to get Eminem on a Verzuz battle ... so now he's trying to bait Slim Shady into responding with a diss track.

Game released his long-delayed "DRILLMATIC: Heart vs. Mind" album with 31 tracks ... but the song everyone is talking about on social media is the 10-minute Eminem diss song "The Black Slim Shady."

The Hit-Boy-produced track mostly comes off slapstick with the West Coast rapper using silly voices ... akin to Eminem's classic "Stan" track but Game does pepper the song with several personal attacks.

Disrespectful topics range Em's past pill-popping addictions, his songs only get played within white America and how Game believes Big Sean and 6ix9ine are better rappers.

50 Cent -- who also has been ignoring Game's Verzuz challenges -- also catches a few strays on the track ... mainly for his lack of rapping output these days.

Of course, Em is one of the biggest artists of all time -- actually the 2nd highest-selling -- behind Garth Brooks, but Game says his beef is for the spirit of hip hop culture ... which just celebrated its 49th birthday yesterday!

Chuck should be careful what he wishes for, though. In 2019, Eminem happily railroaded Fat Joe's "Lord Above" song with Mary J. Blige -- just to fire back at Nick Cannon.

A$AP Relli claims he's been receiving death threats after allegedly being shot by A$AP Rocky ... and his legal team says it's gotten so bad they had to contact law enforcement.

A$AP Relli's attorneys, Jamal Tooson and Brian Hurwitz, tell TMZ Hip Hop ... their client has been subjected to constant harassment online and being labeled "a snitch" following Rocky's arrest in April.

Although Relli did not initially come out publicly as the person on the other side of the altercation, A$AP Bari proverbially pointed the finger at Relli — labeling him a "rat" online, causing the harassment to really pick up from there.

We're told things have gotten so bad, Relli's been in intensive therapy to cope with the situation, claiming the ordeal has disrupted his sleep and impaired his mental state.

Relli's attorneys also rejected the notion Relli "snitched" on Rocky or the Mob ... insisting a "snitch" is someone who initially agrees to do illegal activity with another individual, but then rats out that person to law enforcement when things go south. They say that's simply not what happened here.

TMZ broke the story back in April ... Rocky was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon shortly after returning from Barbados before the birth of his child.

As we reported, Relli sued Rocky in civil court, claiming Rocky shot him after the two got into an argument and said he suffered physical harm and emotional distress as a result.

Britney Spears' lawyer is going scorched earth on Kevin Federline ... ripping him for yapping about her relationship with their boys and posting videos of family matters.

Attorney Mathew Rosengart says ... K-Fed's decision to post old footage of Britney arguing with boys Sean Preston and Jayden James was cruel, bottom-the-barrel behavior.

Britney's lawyer says in doing so, K-Fed violated the singer's privacy and dignity, undermined the children, demeaned himself as a father, and violated societal norms ... and now Rosengart is threatening legal action, suggesting a criminal cyber-bullying statute may have been violated.

Remember ... Britney and K-Fed are going back and forth in public over her relationship with the kids, with Kevin posting the videos and giving an interview to DailyMail, while Britney fights back with social media posts.

Rosengart says he's not about to let Britney be bullied like she was during her conservatorship ... and tells us he's working with Instagram to turn up the heat on K-Fed.

Britney's attorney says Kevin should keep their family matters private. In fairness, Britney also went public about her children Wednesday in her own IG post, calling the kids "hateful," and suggesting K-Fed's house is a marijuana den.

A$AP Rocky is now being sued over the alleged shooting that led to his arrest ... and the guy who says he's the victim is a former member of the rapper's group.

Rocky is being sued for assault and battery by Terell Ephron, a former A$AP Mob member who used to carry the moniker "A$AP Relli."

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Ephron claims the shooting went down November 6 in Hollywood, where he says Rocky set up a meeting and initiated a verbal altercation leading to shots being fired.

In the docs, Ephron says Rocky pulled out a handgun during the dispute, pointed it at him and pulled the trigger ... firing multiple shots, with bullet fragments striking Ephron. Ephron claims he suffered injuries to his hand that required medical attention.

Remember ... A$AP was arrested at LAX back in April, with cops waiting for him to get off his private jet from Barbados and take him away in handcuffs.

Rocky was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon ... and police said it stemmed from the Nov. 6 shooting, where the alleged victim claimed Rocky shot at him multiple times, with at least one bullet grazing his hand. Cops also said Rocky knew the alleged victim.

There's some bad blood between the A$AP Mob and Relli ... with A$AP Bari claiming Relli snitched on Rocky, leading to the arrest.

Relli claims a large portion of the shooting incident was caught on camera ... which lines up with what LAPD sources told us back in April, when we first reported cops had footage of the alleged shooting in their possession.

Ephron is going after Rocky for damages ... he says he continues to suffer emotional distress as a result of the shooting and is losing out on work.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson might be over, but that doesn't mean Kanye's attacks on the comedian are going anywhere ... as evidenced in his most recent post.

Ye got on Instagram Monday -- the same platform he was temporarily suspended from months ago -- to post a phony New York Times headline that reads, "Skete Davidson Dead at Age 28."

Kanye didn't include a caption or anything further, but you can only really assume it's to celebrate Kim and Pete's split ... news that broke last week.

Not only was the post a shot at Pete, Kanye also took aim at Kid Cudi, who he had a falling out with after Cudi continued to pal around with Pete while he was dating Kim. The line reads, "Kid Cudi meant to play funeral but fearful of bottle throwers."

As we reported, Cudi walked off the stage at Rolling Loud Miami last month after unruly fans in the crowd continued throwing things at him.

James Franco has been cast as Fidel Castro, something John Leguizamo says is an outrage ... but the film's producer's punching back, albeit with an explanation that's a bit confusing.

The news was announced this week that JF would be playing the late Cuban dictator, who came to power in the '50s and ushered in Communism. It sounds like James is going to portray a somewhat younger Castro ... and, of course, it's gotten some double takes.

Leguizamo was perhaps one of the most vocal critics, writing ... "How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F'd up!"

He adds, "Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong! I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!"

So John's beef seems to be with the fact that a dramatized film about Castro can't help but humanize him, which he thinks is wrong considering FC's notoriously harsh regime ... but more importantly, James is a white dude. So the casting is already off to bad start, per JL.

Welp, he's just plain wrong on this one ... so says a producer of the film, John Martinez O'Felan, who tells THR that John's missing the big picture. What that larger point is, though, doesn't really come through all that well in JMOF's explanation, to be frank.

He says, "A guy like John Leguizamo has historically been looked up to by Hispanics as one of America's earliest actors of Latin descent since the 90s and I've always admired him as a fellow underdog. But his comments are culturally uneducated and a blind attack with zero substance related to this project."

O'Felan goes on to say ... "The reality of the ignorance piece falls within his statement suggesting his personal view on being 'Latino,' because a land mass or living area does not determine a person’s blood history or genetics."

He continues by saying Jon's words are "a great talking point because they represent the same confusion and identity crisis in Hollywood right now within the Hispanic community in America who are arguing that we should only identify as Latin, which is mostly because of the falsehoods being spread by the actors who are supposed to be representing us, but instead create division amongst their own people." Uhhh, what???

Yeah, it's a word salad of a response -- but from what we can gather ... he just doesn't have an issue with James being white, maybe 'cause Castro had Spanish roots. It opens a can of worms on whether Latinos can be considered white racially ... and yes, they technically can.

And for those pissed about the inauthentic casting here, that argument is sorta deflated now with the casting of Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, another iconic historical figure, but on the American side. ADA still maintains traces of her Spanish accent in her performance.

An important piece of Beatles history is up for grabs -- John Lennon's nasty response to a Paul McCartney interview, and it provides tons of insight into the writing duo's complicated relationship.

John fired off a letter to Paul days after an interview critical of him and The Beatles appeared in a November 1971 issue of British music magazine Melody Maker, and John's reply is mostly scathing ... but also thoughtful and pleading.

From the jump, John's frustration with Paul is clear ... telling Paul he's ungrateful for all the money he's getting from The Beatles. As the 3-page letter rambles on, John takes issue with Paul dismissing his song "Imagine" and berates Paul for being indecisive over the band's breakup.

The Beatles had been broken up for more than a year at that point, and were haggling over money. In the letter, John pleads with Paul to meet him without any lawyers ... then turns around and accuses Paul of buying up shares of another record company behind his back.

George Harrison and Ringo Starr also get roped in, as John rips Paul for telling the magazine George and Ringo would break him -- and also accuses Paul of threatening Ringo and his wife, Maureen.

The typed letter, which includes some of John's handwritten additions and signature, is being auctioned off by Gotta Have Rock and Roll ... and it's expected to fetch at least $30,000.

John also sent the letter to Melody Maker magazine editor Richard Williams, scribbling a plea for him to publish it ... and it appeared in the magazine a few weeks after Paul's interview ran.

There's also a fascinating postscript. John says he's puzzled Paul's interview mentioned leaving their wives, Linda and Yoko Ono, out of the dispute ... to which John replies, "I thought you'd have understood BY NOW, that I'm JOHNANDYOKO."

Kid Cudi and Kanye West’s cold war is creating all sorts of collateral damage, and longtime GOOD Music producer Mike Dean appears to be the latest one feeling the burn.

Dean launched into a Twitter rant after learning Wednesday night he'd been dropped from Cudi’s upcoming "Moon Man’s Landing Festival" without warning.

He clarified on Thursday that Cudi was indeed the one who cut him -- but still says he's definitely "G.O.O.D." on the live music circuit ... with or without Cudi’s help.

Dean told HipHopDX ... "[Kid Cudi dropped me] from the festival. I don’t care. I’m doing stadiums this weekend.”

What's even more puzzling is Mike and Cudi have their own long-running relationship -- he even produced on Cudi's last solo "Man On the Moon" album in 2020.

Kanye and Cudi’s friendship came to an end earlier this year, and the fallout continues.

Pusha T was forced to choose sides when he released his last album, but things came to a head at Rolling Loud Miami last month when Cudi was forced off stage by rogue Kanye fans who pelted him with objects.

Kanye canceled Cudi for being friends with Pete Davidson, and now Cudi clips Mike ... seemingly for his ties to Ye.

Ma$e’s viral "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" interview isn't sitting well with Fivio Foreign ... but he might have a way to get back at his ex-mentor in a way that gets them both paid.

Fivio teased a new single on Wednesday that clearly samples one of Ma$e’s Bad Boy-era signature hits “Tell Me What You Want” … much to the amusement of Rowdy Rebel and 'MDWG' co-host Gillie Da Kid.

The Brooklyn rapper posted video of himself in the studio with Young Money signee Mellow Rackz posted up firmly in his lap -- she even confirmed their relationship status in the comments.

Anyway, the point here is more about the song playing while Mellow and Fivio get cozy -- if it does get released, it could potentially pay royalties to both Ma$e and Diddy ... while giving Fivio an instantly recognizable (translation: radio-ready) track.

Of course, he could just be trolling to get back at the former-reverend Ma$e.

To recap, Fivio claimed Ma$e only fronted him $5,000 to start his rap career -- but Ma$e clarified the $5k was allegedly part of a larger $750K advance in which they both got cashed out by Columbia Records.

Ma$e got to feeling himself after his interview went viral, and returned to IG after a few months of inactivity by claiming "billionaire son” Kanye blessed him Tuesday with a pair of the ultra-rare Nike Red Octobers for Yeezy Day.

Except … those are actually Kanye’s Louis Vuitton Dons from his '09 LV collaboration and Ye publicly stated he didn’t authorize Yeezy Day.

Monica Lewinsky is taking fire from the Beyhive, after she obliquely asked Beyonce to change the lyric of one of her old songs.

As you may know, Monica chimed in over a word in Bey's song "Heated" from her "Renaissance" album -- Bey used the word "spa***n" and "s**z" ... insulting words referencing a disability. Beyonce's team said there was no offense meant and they were unaware it was offensive, so it was removed from the song.

Apparently, Monica now feels emboldened, and suggested Beyonce remove a lyric from her 2013 hit "Partition."  The lyric in question ... "He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse/He Monica Lewinsky'd all on my gown."

In case you don't know -- but you should -- the lyric references Monica's famed Gap dress, in which Bill Clinton's sperm/DNA linked him to her.

Monica wrote an article years ago in Vanity Fair, informing Bey she was incorrect ... if she was set on the lyric, it should have gone like this ... "He Bill Clinton'd all on my gown." It's a solid point.

The Beyhive is infuriated at Monica, with one member tweeting, "Rap song muse is in your bio. You like the references. Only relevance you have as of lately." Another tweeted, "It's a 10-year-old song and the answer is NO."

It appears the beef between 50 Cent and "Vanderpump Rules" star Lala Kent is completely squashed -- because TMZ's learned she's been kickin' it with the rapper/producer on the set of his upcoming horror flick.

Witnesses on set tell us Lala's been popping up "multiple times" to visit 50 as he films the movie "Skill House" at the content-creating space, Sway House in Los Angeles.

For those unaware, Lala was caught in the middle of a feud between 50 and her now-ex fiance Randall Emmett in 2019. Remember, Fif accused Randall of owing him $1 million ... and taunted him by posting a clip of Lala on 'VR' talking about how she'd get expensive gifts from Randall after sex.

50 also posted texts from Randall begging him not to publicize their drama -- and then Lala got involved by saying the rapper's actions diminished the #metoo movement.

That's all behind them now. We're told Lala doesn't have any role in the movie, and has just been popping in to chat with her friend.

Seeing as how Lala and Randall had a pretty nasty break-up, we're guessing he won't be thrilled to see her cozying up to his archenemy. For what it's worth, 50 says Randall eventually paid back the $1 mil loan.

As if the Lala-Fif sighting wasn't weird enough ... this is the same movie set where a camera op recently passed out while shooting a super bloody scene for the flick.

Kanye West and Chaka Khan won't be breaking bread anytime soon -- the R&B/funk legend is still hot about how he sampled her voice for his 2003 debut single, “Through the Wire.”

The classic, yet infamous song -- which sampled Chaka's "Through the Fire" -- came up while she was promoting her new track, "Woman Like Me" in an interview with FOX5 in D.C. Marissa Mitchell asked Chaka if she's heard from Ye since publicly ripping him over the sample.

CK dissed Ye’s production during a 2019 episode of “WWHL” and a 2021 interview with VladTV -- and she doesn't sound any cooler about it in 2022. She said she and Kanye haven't talked, and more to the point ... she doesn't want or need to hear from him whatsoever!!

She doubled down on her truth that Kanye failed to mention his sample would speed up her vocals (a popular hip hop producer technique during those times) -- and it sounds like the finished product still keeps her up at night.

What’s even crazier … she agreed to perform the song with Ye at the 2004 VMAs — the same year his groundbreaking album “The College Dropout” was released.

"Through the Wire" was the first single, paving the way for the album to be crowned as "Album of the Decade."

Wiz Khalifa is getting some blowback for a viral video inside a Los Angeles nightclub where he verbally destroyed a pair of DJs for not playing his new song.

If ya missed it, Wiz lost this cool over the weekend at Poppy ... calling the DJs "horrible," before offering to engage in an actual fight with them.

Legendary DJ Capri has emerged as the most established member in the disc jock community to speak out against Wiz’s rant — and he's certainly choosing violence!!!

In an Instagram PSA posted on Monday evening, Capri explained why he thought Wiz’s behavior was totally unacceptable … and even went as far to say he would’ve swung on the Taylor Gang rapper and dealt with the consequences as an afterthought.

Capri also pointed out the 2 DJs Wiz berated -- DJ Mike Danger and MC Tron -- were likely younger, nervous and less experienced than Wiz, and he should have exercised more patience.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard each wanted to seriously paint the other in a bad light -- worse even than we saw at trial ... with even more damning claims surfacing post-verdict.

A treasure trove of court docs has been unsealed, and according to multiple outlets ... they contain mountains of unheard evidence that ultimately didn't make it in front of the jury -- forming salacious allegations about each party that hadn't been known until now.

Some of the more noteworthy ones include a claim from Team Johnny that Amber allegedly worked as a stripper and escort at some point early in her career -- something his lawyers apparently wanted to present at trial, but were shot down in the end by Judge Azcarate.

There's also reportedly mention of a reality show Amber's sister, Whitney, shot once upon a time which contained what Team Johnny seems to have thought was some harmful info about Amber -- also having to do with her past -- but the judge wouldn't let that in either.

As for Team Amber ... her lawyers wanted to enter Marilyn Manson texts between Johnny and him that they felt showed him giving pointers to his pal about how to deal with an "amber type scenario" of his own ...  and even seeking refuge with Johnny in 2016 amid relationship problems he was dealing with that seemed to be teetering into legal territory.

One text from MM to JD around that time reportedly read, "I got a serious police amber type scenarios with L’s family. I’m f**king stressing. I don’t know if you are back but I need asylum somewhere because I think the cops might be headed my way." This is in reference to someone named Lindsay, whom Manson said had pulled something similar to Amber and who he called "amber 2.0" ... to which Johnny responded with acknowledgment and support.

There's more evidence AH wanted entered about how Johnny's 'Pirates 5' days were worse than previously thought -- and how Disney was supposedly fuming about his behavior throughout production. She also wanted to mention other cases he was dealing with -- including his assault lawsuit, which he recently settled ... all of which were omitted.

As we all know, the evidence presented was pretty focused and specific to Johnny's specific defamation claims, and Amber's own as well. We got an earful from just that alone, but if any of this other stuff had been permitted ... the case probably would've lasted way longer.