Celebrity Feuds

Meghan McCain's vacant seat on "The View" will be filled by another strong, conservative woman, but they're also in no hurry to make the decision ... sources close to the talk show tell TMZ.

As we reported ... Meghan announced she was leaving "The View" on July 1 following a series of nasty exchanges with her cohosts, though she said the official reason was wanting to be in D.C. with her family.

Regardless, her departure leaves a huge hole as far as -- to state the obvious -- the views offered on the show. For that reason, our production sources say they're searching for someone like McCain -- a Republican or conservative -- to replace her, but no names have been officially proposed yet.

Instead, we're told the plan is to rotate guests once Meghan is out at the end of the month, and for the start of the new season in September ... and take their time finding a permanent replacement.

Our sources say it's obviously very important to find the right woman ... so producers want to test chemistry between the guests and the regular cohosts.

Prince Harry reportedly waited until the last minute to let the Royal Family know he's writing a memoir ... one for which he's getting a big fat 8-figure check.

Penguin Random House -- the publisher Harry's partnered with for this -- made the announcement Monday, saying the Duke of Sussex's book is due out sometime late next year, and which will essentially be the "definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him."

So, essentially ... it's Harry's story in his own words. Well, sorta -- he's rumored to be using a ghostwriter, who's apparently getting a small cut of Harry's reported $20 million advance. Harry's reps say whatever profit the book makes will go to charity.

As for Harry, he put the news about his memoir this way ... "I'm writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become." He adds, "I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I've learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that's accurate and wholly truthful."

PH's rep told British outlets he is not expected to get formal permission from Buckingham Palace or Queen Elizabeth to move forward -- and it's unclear if he's even going to run the final thing by them for accuracy. Word is he's almost completed the first draft.

Of course, there are reports the Royals are kinda pissed, as Harry supposedly didn't loop them in on his plans until very recently -- and, of course, they see it as yet another opportunity for him to bash them -- a la the Oprah interview.

It's interesting ... especially since Harry's had some facetime with his fam since the Oprah sit-down, including earlier this month with his bro, Prince William, at an unveiling of a statue honoring their mother, Princess Diana.

Damon Dash almost followed in Alice's footsteps back to Wonderland -- walking face-first into a see-though wall he apparently didn't see ... perhaps speaking to where his head's at lately.

The rap mogul arrived for a podcast sesh Thursday with TV producer Rob Weiss, Shawn Chase and O'Neal McKnight to be a special guest on their weekly offering of "The Cray" ... where the gang talks all things culture, lifestyle, politics ... and just real-life experiences.

As you can imagine, they were stoked to have Dame come on and share some knowledge -- but the dude had a bit of a whoopsie-daisy moment trying to enter the recording room ... slamming right into a clear, glass wall separating the spaces of their floor.

Don't worry -- he didn't hit it too hard ... but it definitely knocked him back a bit -- and it got a laugh from the rest who were around. Understandable, we suppose ... DD has been in a bit preoccupied lately on more serious fronts, like with Roc-A-Fella and Jay-Z.

Remember ... he's been in a legal war with his old company and biz partner over IP/interest he's trying to unload for some dough -- namely, selling Jay-Z's first album, "Reasonable Doubt" as an NFT, plus ... trying to sell off his 1/3 stake in RAF, which a judge just shot down.

Unclear if he got into any of that with the Cray crew -- but it sounds like we'll find out soon enough ... we're told this episode is set to air soon on PodcastOne.

Jeff Bezos lost the billionaire space race to Richard Branson, but his trip will still be historic ... because it's carrying both a teenager and an octogenarian into space.

As you've probably heard ... the Amazon honcho's rocket company, Blue Origin, is scheduled to launch into space aboard the New Shepard rocket July 20. When it does, its first paying customer -- 18-year-old Oliver Daemen -- will go down in the record books as the youngest space traveler ever.

Blue Origin announced the Dutch teenager would join Jeff and his brother, Mark Bezos, on the flight because the original $28 million winner of the company's auction for the spot chose a later mission "due to scheduling conflicts."

That person remains anonymous, but Oliver is the son of Somerset Capital Partners CEO Joes Daemen ... who paid for his kid to replace the original winner.

Meanwhile, the person who will pilot Blue Origin's rocket with the 3 men aboard is 82-year-old Wally Funk ... who will become the oldest human to go to space.

Funk was part of the Mercury 13, a group of 13 American women who in the early 1960s underwent similar studies as NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts to determine if they could handle space travel ... but they never launched.

If all goes according to plan, Wally will finally get there, and when she does she will break the age record set by John Glenn, who returned to space in 1998 at the age of 77. Daemen will break the youth record set by the Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who was 25 when he blasted into orbit in 1961.

The FAA approved Blue Origin's launch Monday, just a day after Branson flew to space aboard the first passenger flight by his own space tourism company, Virgin Galactic.

Branson received a hero's welcome back on Earth Tuesday in NYC, as he was heading in to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Blueface's jeweler wants to make it crystal clear, the rapper doesn't owe him any money -- contrary to the online digs from Tekashi 6ix9ine ... and Tekashi can go shove it, according to the jeweler.

We got Gavriel D., the founder and CEO of NYC Luxury, Monday in NYC ... and he stopped to give us the 411 on Blueface tatting the name of Gavriel's company on the side of his head.

You'll recall the "Bleed It" rapper raised eyebrows last week with the tat on his dome, and drew Tekashi out of his troll hole to comment. He insinuated Blueface is broke and can't afford to pay for his bling, so he turned to human billboarding.

Gavriel says that's total BS ... and says there's only one logical explanation for the tat -- Blueface loves the brand!!! It's true. Blueface is known for giving his favorite brands serious real estate space on his dome. He's done it with Corvette and Yves Saint Laurent.

The celeb jeweler also told us a while back he joked with Blueface about his Corvette tattoo and that he should get an NYC Luxury one too. We're told Blueface one day, out of the blue, FaceTimed him and voilà ... there he was on the table getting the tattoo done.

Tekashi69 is a reputation slayer ... so says a Japanese tattoo artist in a new lawsuit claiming the rapper jacked his name and defamed him by calling him a heroin addict.

The tattoo artist, Takashi Matsuba, filed legal docs in NY claiming his reputation is in danger thanks to Tekashi69. According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Matsuba claims 6ix9ine "has created confusion and the false public perception that" Matsuba is associated with Tekashi69. He says he’s not.

Matsuba says the confusion is easy to see … the rapper’s moniker is substantially similar to Matsuba's first name. Only 1 letter's different.

Matsuba says in the Hulu documentary "69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez" ... there's a scene where the tattoo artist's name "TAKASHI MATSUBA" is superimposed on the screen. He claims the director's then heard saying "Peter's roommate, a Japanese tattoo artist named Takashi would inspire Danny's new persona, Tekashi69."

Matsuba also has beef with Showtime, claiming the documentary on that channel defamed him in the March documentary "Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine."

Matsuba says Tekashi's heard in the doc saying, "There was this tattoo artist named Takashi from our neighborhood. And he was this heroin addict. He did heroin to create. He did it to get himself in his little world. He did it to be himself. And that’s where I got the name Tekashi from. And that’s who I am.”

Matsuba says the quote is false and defamatory because he has never used heroin.

The tattoo artist says the quote is damaging to his profession because "tattooing requires the use of needles, and heroin is connected in the public’s mind with hypodermic needles.”

Matsuba says he demanded producers to edit the documentary to remove his image, name and likeness from the Hulu doc ... but says they've refused. He's suing for damages.

"I couldn’t care about them 2 dingbats."

Conor McGregor is days away from one of the biggest fights of his career, but the UFC superstar's still getting grilled about Jake and Logan Paul ... saying he has no intention of ever fighting the YouTubers-turned-boxers.

... but he's not counting it out for good!!!

"The Notorious" -- who's seeking revenge against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on Saturday -- was asked if he'd ever step in the ring with the two bros this week ... and his answer is very interesting.

"I don’t see so, but never say never," Conor said. "If they’re gonna keep competing and what not, who f***in' knows? But dingbats, the 2 of 'em."

In other words -- SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE!!!!

Remember, Jake has incessantly gone after McGregor for months ... offering $50 million to make the fight happen, even releasing a wild video claiming the superstar and Dana White are scared to set it up.

Conor -- who loves making money -- has kept his options open about fighting Jake in the past ... and you'd think there's gotta be a reason for that.

Stephen Dorff came out swinging against Marvel and its latest big screen offering, "Black Widow," as well as its lead star in Scarlett Johansson ... for whom he says he feels sorry.

The veteran actor straight-up bashed ScarJo's newest flick in an interview with the U.K.'s Independent outlet ... saying, in part, "I still hunt out the good shit because I don't want to be in Black Widow. It looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game. I'm embarrassed for those people. I'm embarrassed for Scarlett!" Tell us how you really feel!

Steve went on to add this for good measure ... "I'm sure she got paid five, seven million bucks, but I'm embarrassed for her. I don't want to be in those movies. I really don't. I'll find that kid director that's gonna be the next [Stanley] Kubrick and I'll act for him instead."

SD continued on with his diatribe, expanding the scope to include the film industry at large -- which he characterized as a "big game show" -- but his main gripe seems to be with what he considers selling out to the big studios ... and maintaining some sense of artistic integrity.

That's interesting coming from Steve ... seeing how he's been in superhero movies himself -- including a Marvel fan fave, 'Blade' -- but also another superhero film that many considered "garbage" ... his 2015 appearance in "American Hero," which was like a farce of the genre.

One could argue -- as many online are right now -- that Stephen's other film credits aren't necessarily Kubrick-esque either. He's been in a bunch of films that some might consider bullish and not-that-artsy (aka, B-films) ... including "Felon," "Carjacked" and lots of others.

Rachel Nichols -- a star anchor for ESPN, covering all things NBA -- was caught on camera last year talking to LeBron James' publicist about how to prevent a fellow female anchor, who's Black, from taking over her job during the Finals ... and the fallout seems devastating.

The New York Times published a bombshell report Sunday, detailing the drama at the sports network over the past year and change ... this after a video of Nichols talking to Adam Mendelsohn was secretly recorded by an ESPN employee, leaked ... and spread like wildfire.

Nichols was working/filming from a hotel room last May just as the NBA Playoffs were getting underway (due to the pandemic) and it appears she left her camera on somehow, and the thing was still recording when she had this chat with Mendelsohn ... with the feed going back to the ESPN studio, where somebody captured the damning words exchanged.

In the first snippet posted by the Times, you can hear Nichols venting to Mendelsohn -- who's a PR/comms wiz -- about how ESPN had approached her with the idea of doing sideline reporting during the Finals that year, as opposed to hosting -- a task Nichols has shared on and off lately with Maria Taylor, another rising star ... who's African-American.

Check out the convo ... Nichols basically says she declined ESPN's offer, because she knew it would make way for Maria to handle hosting duties full-time, essentially pushing Nichols out of the picture ... something she was clearly not down for, as she wanted to maintain her gig.

Nichols goes on to say of Maria shortly thereafter ... "If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity -- which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it -- like, go for it." She adds, "Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away."

In a 2nd audio snipped ... Mendelsohn is heard giving advice to Nichols about how she could frame the dynamic of ESPN pitting two females against each other in order to gain leverage, even if it would potentially be at Maria's expense. He also had some interesting thoughts on #MeToo and BLM, saying he had "nothing left" and was exhausted ... in what sounds like what he (and perhaps Nichols) considered phony pandering/appeasing at the executive level.

After this video/audio was spread around among ESPN workers internally, it eventually reached the higher ranks ... and the NYT reports the network has been in damage control mode ever since, with fears that Nichols might sue -- and that Taylor might leave entirely.

Richard Branson is closing in on winning the billionaire space race with Jeff Bezos -- because Virgin Galactic now has a flight planned for next weekend, and the British billionaire will be onboard.

Richard's company announced plans Thursday to launch the rocket-fueled flight July 11 ... just 9 days before Bezos plans to travel to suborbital space July 20 with his Blue Origin mission.

Virgin Galactic says Branson will be joined by 2 pilots and 3 other astronauts on the spaceflight, with Richard "testing the private astronaut experience" ... a fancy phrase for the views from space, the cabin, seating and zero gravity.

Richard's company says the spaceflight on Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo rocket plane will stream live on social media, and the mission's been dubbed "Unity 22."

If all goes according to plan, Virgin Galactic and Richard will beat Blue Origin and Bezos by a healthy margin.

Remember, when Jeff announced his launch, back on June 7, Branson hadn't even publicly mentioned a date for his trip. That changed within a matter of days.

Meghan McCain is leaving "The View," and the reason why is absolutely because of a series of nasty back-and-forths with her cohosts ... TMZ has confirmed.

Sources tell TMZ ... Meghan felt it was too hard for her being the only conservative voice on the show and it had become too challenging, as she felt she was getting ganged up on every day.

We're told McCain will address her departure Thursday on the show. It's unclear exactly what reason she'll give the audience for her departure, but make no mistake ... it's about the politics. Remember, she gave birth to a daughter back in September, so it's possible she may also mention wanting to spend more time with her baby girl.

The news comes a little over a month after Meghan and Joy Behar's last major on-air blowup -- the one that prompted ABC News President Kim Godwin to step in and call a last-minute meeting demanding all of the 'View' cohosts chill with personal attacks.

Our sources at the time also said ABC was getting flooded with pleas to fire Meghan over her latest tantrum and attacks on Joy ... which is what sparked the virtual meeting.

We were also told Godwin told the staff their personal attacks are coming off as toxic to the audience. The issue, we were told, weren't the debates ... but the attacks between the cohosts.

This is the latest shakeup in daytime talk shows. Remember, their competition over at "The Talk" just had to blow up their show, firing Sharon Osbourne after her very personal on-air battle with Sheryl Underwood.

White Sox star Lucas Giolito was so furious that Twins 3rd baseman Josh Donaldson made a "sticky" quip during their game Tuesday ... he straight-up called the Minnesota player "a f***ing pest."

The scene on the diamond was pretty wild ... after Donaldson homered off Giolito in the 1st inning -- he celebrated by insinuating the Chicago pitcher had previously used sticky substances to throw better.

As Donaldson crossed home plate, he rubbed his hands together and yelled toward his dugout, "It's not sticky anymore!"

Of course, Donaldson's implying the MLB's new crackdown on pitchers and foreign substances was affecting Giolitio ... and the Sox ace did NOT like that at all.

After the game -- which Giolito ultimately earned the win for -- he sounded off on JD ... eviscerating him in a profanity-laced rant.

"He's a f***ing pest," Giolito said. "It's kind of a classless move. If you're going to talk s***, talk s*** to my face. Don't go cross home plate and do all that. Just come to me."

Giolito continued, "We won. The W is next to my name. They're in last place."

Tuesday's contest was the first of a three-game series between the Twins and Sox this week, and while Giolito won't throw again against Minnesota in the next 2 days ... the series just got a whole lot more interesting regardless.

'90 Day Fiance' star Deavan Clegg claims Jenelle Evans is spewing lies about her since their podcast project went south, and she's lawyering up to take the former 'Teen Mom' to court.

Deavan's planning to file suit against Jenelle for defamation and cyberstalking ... according to her publicist, Lindsay Feldman of BrandBomb Marketing. As for how their relationship got this nasty ... it's a bit complicated, but the gist is a few months ago they teamed up for a podcast called "Girl S#!t" -- along with Gabbie Egan, and when it didn't work out, the mudslinging began.

Deavan accused Jenelle and Gabbie of bullying and ganging up on her, and Jenelle accused Deavan of spreading lies.

It all came to a head recently though, with Jenelle posting a 44-minute video explaining her side -- but also dropping an allegation that after a weekend with Deavan, Jenelle's supply of anxiety meds for her esophagus problems turned up missing. Deavan later alleged the medication Jenelle seemingly accused her of taking was Xanax.

Deavan vehemently denies that, and it's one of the main reasons she's threatening to sue Jenelle.

While she's at it, we're told she's also considering legal action against Gabbie for allegedly violating an NDA related to the podcast.

Olivia Rodrigo's latest cover art looks an awful lot like something Courtney Love put out years ago -- and the latter isn't afraid to point that out ... not to mention demand credit.

The 18-year-old singer -- who's blowing up right now from her "drivers license" hit, plus her debut album "SOUR" from earlier this year -- teased a new visual project tied to her record, which will apparently be all about prom ... and OR never being able to attend her own.

She posed for a shoot in which she's in a prom dress, a tiara and mascara running down her face ... with a bouquet of flowers in tow. If that looks familiar, it's 'cause it is ... Courtney's band, Hole, released "Live Through This" in the '90s, and it's got a very similar aesthetic.

CL poked fun at this ... reposting Olivia's photo, and captioning it with, "Spot the difference! #twinning! 🥸@oliviarodrigo 😉👸👸." Seems like it was all in good fun, but it would appear Courtney is legit upset about this ... and perhaps rightly so.

Olivia eventually responded in Courtney's comments, writing ... "Love u and live through this sooooo much." Not really an apology or acknowledgment of inspiration (in our minds) ... and it looks like Courtney thought so too, because she told Olivia to send her flowers and a thank you note, while making sure to note her favorite florist. Indeed, it's deliciously petty.

Some are saying Courtney's expecting too much here -- as there's an argument that artists (especially ones from vastly different generations) are ripping each other's style all the time, consciously or unconsciously. It's also unclear if Olivia was aware of Courtney's work when she/her team were putting this whole concept together. Either way, Court doesn't care.

She dug in, writing ... "Does Disney teach kids reading and writing? God knows. Let's see. Yes this is rude. Rage inducing? Honey if I had a dollar for everyone this happens? I'd be real rich!"

Richard Branson just cleared one huge hurdle in his quest to beat Jeff Bezos into sub-orbital space ... the FFA just gave Virgin Galactic the green light to fly passengers.

The Virgin Galactic honcho got the all-clear Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration reviewed extensive data gathered from his aerospace company's May 22 test flight. The review reportedly confirmed the flight performed well.

BTW ... it's the first time the FAA has licensed a spaceline to fly customers. Huge deal.

Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said, "We’re incredibly pleased with the results of our most recent test flight, which achieved our stated flight test objectives. The flight performed flawlessly, and the results demonstrate the safety and elegance of our flight system."

He added, "Today’s approval by the FAA of our full commercial launch license, in conjunction with the success of our May 22 test flight, give us confidence as we proceed toward our first fully crewed test flight this summer."

It should be noted, there were reports Branson was going to be traveling in one of his rocket-fueled flights over the July 4 weekend -- but the company has not announced any plans yet to do so -- aka, it almost certainly won't happen in that timeframe.

If it did takeoff ... that would edge out Bezos' Blue Origin flight by a couple of weeks.

T-Pain says Usher summoned him some years back just to casually let him know he had torpedoed the music biz by popularizing autotune ... which T says sent him into depression.

The 'Buy U a Drank' singer recently told the tale on Netflix's new docuseries 'This Is Pop' -- detailing what he claims was a seriously cold-ass encounter in 2013. Watch how T-Pain describes the alleged put-down ... apparently, they were both flying in the same airplane on the way to an award show, when T says he was called to Mr. Raymond's seat. They exchanged pleasantries, and then T-Pain says Usher laid in.

According to T, Usher believed T-Pain had tainted professional singing for guys (like Usher) who use their natural voice, and he supposedly said it with a straight face.

T-Pain says he was shocked and that, before he knew it, he realized he'd fallen into a depression, which he says lasted 4 years -- something he seems to be attributing to the Usher moment itself. It's a wild story.

Of course, people are jumping to T-Pain's defense in light of this, assuring him he not only did NOT ruin music, but might've actually revolutionized it ... considering every other famous rapper/singer these days uses some form of autotune.

And, for argument's sake ... even if you agree with Usher's sentiment, why break it to someone in that manner, and so randomly??? Seems like a jerk move -- on its face, anyway. We'll see if Usher offers a different version of the story.