Netflix

Netflix is giving viewers what they want -- and that would apparently be another taste of Volodymyr Zelensky's TV show that launched him into stardom ... and then the presidency.

The streaming giant announced Wednesday that 'Servant of the People' has been reintroduced to its library, saying ... "You asked and it’s back!"

It followed with a description of the show ... a teacher unexpectedly becomes President of Ukraine after a video of him complaining about corruption goes viral. Of course ... life ended up imitating art for Zelensky soon thereafter.

Netflix is running 2 seasons and change. This isn't the first go-round for "SOTP" on Netflix ... it was on its menu from 2017 to 2021.

There's intense interest in Zelensky, both with his ascendency to power and his evolution as a leader who now shows shades of Winston Churchill.

BTW ... the show is subtitled ... although there are moments when the cast breaks into English...

Tinder rolling out background checks isn't a response to Simon Leviev's alleged handiwork -- detailed in "Tinder Swindler" -- but if it prevents similar cases from happening, the app will be thrilled.

Tinder just announced this week it will require the new background checks for users, but we're told the program has been in the works for some time. A spokesperson for Match Group -- owners of Tinder, Match.com and Plenty of Fish -- tells TMZ ... the criminal background check feature was something users have been demanding for a while.

They say the company teamed up with non-profit organization Garbo back in 2020 to create a system that works for all users. The rep points out this partnership started well before the doc debuted this year on Netflix.

The process brings up offenses that are relevant to safety, and that includes financial crimes. They tell us it's a great way for women to get a deeper look into their matches. And, while they didn't create the system for him, they say someone like Simon would be flagged instantly.

As you know, 'Swindler' was all about Simon and some of his alleged victims, who claim he tricked them out of more than $10 million after meeting them on the dating app ... and then ghosted them once he got what he wanted.

Since the doc dropped, Simon's had quite the ride ... he got banned from most dating apps, allegedly earned $30K on Cameo, and got a criminal court complaint filed against him from the wealthy family to which he claimed to belong.

'Love Is Blind' stars Deepti Vempati and Kyle Abrams were spotted together after rumors spread the two were an item ... and the clip tells it all!

Kyle & Deepti were walking the streets of Wicker Park in Chicago Sunday. While they weren't holding hands or getting cuddly, people who saw them say they sure looked like a couple!

As they go down the sidewalk, a waitress calls out to them ... offering mimosas on the house. An irresistible offer apparently, as the reality stars beelined it into the restaurant -- his hand briefly on her back.

Season 2 of the Netflix series featured both Kyle and Deepti, as they ended up getting engaged to other people -- Shaina Hurley and Abhishek "Shake" Chatterjee.

As fans recall, Deepti said no to a marriage with Shake at the alter  ... after he constantly spoke about how he wasn't attracted to her. Kyle and Shaina didn't make it to the altar, breaking up in part because of religious differences.

On Friday's reunion episode, Kyle blew fans away when he said his deepest regret was not proposing to Deepti. The show did not highlight any of their dating interaction in the pods. In a recent interview, Deepti played it coy about her and Kyle's relationship post 'LIB' but said the two of them were "figuring it out".

"FBOY Island" star Garrett Morosky says his passport showing Russia as his birthplace just got his butt detained in a Mexican airport ... while trying to return to the United States.

We got the Netflix reality show star at Tocaya in WeHo and he told us he had all sorts of problems crossing the border ... an ordeal he's chalking up to his quirky passport and the Ukraine-Russia war.

Garrett says he was all set to board a flight from Mexico to Los Angeles this month when he was suddenly yanked out of line and detained ... with Mexican officials asking him all sorts of questions and even taking off his pants during a search.

Garrett has a U.S. passport, but he was actually born in Russia ... which is on his travel documents. "FBOY Island" fans will recall, Garrett was on a date with Sarah Emig when he told her he was adopted from Russia.

Given the increased tension between the U.S. and Russia -- due to the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent U.S. sanctions -- Garrett says he was scared he might not be allowed back into the U.S.

Ultimately, he was released and allowed to board a flight to L.A., but he says it was an eye-opening experience.

"Selling Sunset" star Christine Quinn narrowly escaped violent intruders early Friday ... and what saved them is some sturdy glass.

Christine, her husband, Christian Richards, and their son were sound asleep when they were awakened by some noise outside the house.

They apparently didn't see anything when they peered outside, but when they checked their security footage they were horrified to see 2 armed people trying to break in through a window.

What saved them from a home invasion robbery -- triple-pane glass that just wouldn't crack.

They called 911 and cops got there in minutes, but the robbers escaped.

Christine lives in the Hollywood Hills above the Sunset Strip. That area, along with others in the L.A. area, have been hit hard by crime over the last year.

Christine says the window the robbers were trying to break was 4 feet from her bedroom. She says it was the most horrifying moment of her life.

The tables have turned on 'Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev ... he was bamboozled himself in an Instagram scam.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Simon was hit up last Thursday by a verified female on Instagram. She claimed she'd help Simon and GF Kate Konlin get verified on the app through her BF -- saying he worked at Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's tech company that owns IG.

The alleged swindlers went to great lengths to pull this off ... Simon Facetimed the BF, who was in a busy office -- appearing like he was at Meta, with employees walking around behind him.

The fake "Metamate" said the only way he could give him the blue check on his profile -- as well as delete the fake accounts under his name -- would be to offer up a big chunk of change ... $6,664. The payments were sent via PayPal through 2 separate transactions -- one for him and one for his GF.

Shortly after, Simon's manager found the deal suspicious and reached out to an actual team member at Meta, who told them they don't charge for verifications. Before anyone could call out the swindlers, they completely scrubbed themselves from the Internet -- including removal of their IG accounts ... letting the swindlers walk away with the cash.

Simon allegedly swindled countless women out of more than $10 million through Tinder ... ghosting them once he got what he wanted. Since then, he's had "enemies" after him -- most recently a criminal court complaint against him from the true Leviev family, which he has no real part in.

Simon Leviev -- AKA the "Tinder Swindler" -- is now in the crosshairs of the extremely wealthy diamond-titan family that he pretended to be a part of ... they've just filed a criminal court complaint against him.

Guy Ophir -- lawyer for the true Leviev family -- says charges were filed Monday morning in Israel against Simon, telling us justice must be served for the malice brought against the Leviev name.

The legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- outline the ways in which Simon allegedly took advantage of the family, including most notably changing his name from Shimon Yehuda Hayut to Simon Leviev to give the appearance of wealth ... Simon claimed to be a part of a wealthy family, with ties to the diamond industry.

Ophir tells TMZ ... according to Israel law, only the state can file criminal charges ... but there is an exception to the rule -- in cases of "Malice Defamation" like this one.

In these cases, the person that was hurt can file a private criminal charge and ask for criminal punishment. By using the Leviev family name, Ophir claims Simon committed malice defamation and malice invasion of privacy.

He says this is the first step in an "all-out legal war" that the family's instructed him to unleash against Simon and everyone that will join venture with him -- past, present and future.

Ophir mentions, "The Leviev family intend[s] to donate the money that they will receive to all the victims of his crimes."

Simon Leviev is an expensive habit -- as several European women will attest -- and now he's got nightclubs lining up to hand him up to $20K just to pop bottles and party.

Leviev is now infamous from the Netflix documentary 'Tinder Swindler,' and becoming a household name -- even for negative reasons -- means some hot spot clubs are looking to book him for appearances.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Simon has several offers from clubs in Philly, Boston, Germany and Mexico, and he's at least interested, because his team responded with a laundry list of demands.

We're told he's asking for the $20,000 payday, plus bottle service ... but it doesn't stop there. Leviev's also requesting a private jet, suite at a 5-star hotel, black SUV car service and 2 full-time security guards.

Basically, he wants the same lifestyle his alleged victims say he pretended to have while he duped them into handing over millions of dollars. As we reported, Simon was recently shopping for Ferraris ... so, he's for sure, leaning into the image he portrayed in 'Swindler.'

You'll recall, the doc claims he bilked women out of more than $10 mil by gaining their trust on Tinder.

Ya gotta wonder if he really has Ferrari money now, but if not, he's now trying to get it legitimately ... if the nightclubs will bite.

Stand-up comedian Earthquake has the biggest platform of his more than 30-year career, and he's giving Dave Chappelle all the props for giving him the big break.

Earthquake joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" to talk more about his upcoming special, "Legendary" ... the first of Dave's 4-part series, "Chappelle's Home Team." He told us, he's flattered Dave "reached back" to give comedians like himself such a huge opportunity to reach a wider audience.

Of course, Dave sparked lots of controversy for Netflix last year after his special, "The Closer," pissed off LGBTQ+ groups and some employees at the streaming service.

Rather than shying away, Netflix is capitalizing on its relationship with Dave ... and Earthquake and other comedians are benefitting. Earthquake says it all started with a surprising call -- which he thought was a prank -- from Netflix execs.

Chappelle won't be doing any stand-up specials this time around, but he is executive producing all of them and recording intros for the comedians. BTW, Earthquake gave us some insider intel about the other comedians who will be featured.

The so-called "Tinder Swindler" isn’t the only one who got a bad rep from the Netflix documentary -- his bodyguard thinks he did too, and now he's threatening legal action.

If you’ve seen the doc, you know we’re talking about Piotr -- who was prominently featured as the personal security guard for Simon Leviev ... and some people think the doc makes it seem like he was in on Leviev's alleged scams.

That’s what’s he and his team are saying anyway -- and they think it's hurt Piotr's reputation and ability to work, so they’ve fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Netflix. Much like Simon dealing with one of his GFs ... they have a lot of demands.

In the letter, obtained by TMZ, attorney Joanna Parafianowicz says she wants Netflix to yank the 'Swindler' doc altogether.

Not just that, she's demanding Netflix publish an apology to Piotr on its official websites.

Of course ... Piotr is also asking for money due to what he characterizes as irreparable harm to his reputation and career. All in all, he's asking for 5 million Euros (about $5.6 mil).

His rationale for all this is ... Netflix never got permission to use his image or likeness, nor did it include his side of things. Piotr’s attorney says the current depiction of him as it stands -- namely, that he knew what Simon was doing -- is completely false. They insist Piotr was completely out of the loop on that front.

These new pics of Simon Leviev make ya think -- somewhere a woman is crying about losing a big stack o' money, 'cause the guy's perusing super pricey sports cars in his native Israel!!!

The so-called 'Tinder Swindler' -- the title of the Netflix documentary about Simon -- was spotted on the prowl over the weekend in Tel Aviv at a luxury dealership, and naturally ... he was checking out Ferraris.

As you can see, SL rolled up in an SUV with what appear to be bodyguards trailing behind -- protection from his "enemies," no doubt -- and wearing a Gucci jacket worth thousands.

But that's nothing compared to the whips he's eyeballing! Some of the Ferrari models in his sights, including a 296 GTB, which go for as high as $250,000 MSRP. And not only did Simon take a good hard look at the exteriors, but he actually got inside at least one of 'em to get a feel from the inside.

From the outside looking in, Simon would definitely seem to be rolling in the dough to be able to shop for a prancing horse.

We should note -- for the sake of any impressionable women seeing this -- that Simon did NOT cruise away in any of the cars.

Considering his history of alleged fraud -- the documentary claims he bilked women out of more than $10 mil -- you gotta wonder if this is all just for show, or if he's legit rich.

Simon Leviev, aka "The Tinder Swindler," is saying goodbye to scamming women and has just scored an actual paying job ... this time, he's making money being his real self on Cameo.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the 'Tinder Swindler' joined the site Tuesday and got a wave of requests from fans to make messages. We're told he made $30K within his first 3 days, charging $200 a pop for personal video and $2k per video for businesses.

Folks have requested everything from birthday shoutouts to pep talks, happy anniversary videos, and more. He says in his profile he's excited to be on Cameo to wish folks whatever they need. In a few videos, he jokes his enemies are after him.

If you haven't seen it, Simon's the focus of a new Netflix doc, "The Tinder Swindler" ... accused of scamming women in shocking fashion out of a fortune. It was like a Ponzi scheme, where he'd take money from one woman and use it to impress the next before he took money from her.  In all, he pilfered around $10 million.

Netflix is turning the page from Dave Chappelle's 'Closer' controversy by staying in business ... with Dave Chappelle, and rolling out new comedy specials with his fingerprint all over 'em.

Dave and the streaming platform announced a new standup comedy series Friday called, "Chappelle's Home Team" ... which will focus on comics handpicked by DC himself. The first of 4 episodes are set to drop February 28, featuring Earthquake.

Remember, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos refused to remove "The Closer" last year when LGBTQ groups, and others, accused Chappelle of transphobia and staged several protests at Netflix HQ.

Sarandos said the company fully supported all comedians' right to express themselves ... and stood by Dave. The new specials are proof positive of that continued partnership, which has been extremely profitable for both parties.

He's released 10 standup specials on Netflix since 2016 and, by some reports, has made north of $200 mil.

'Tiger King' star Jeff Lowe and his wife just copped plea deals in their drunk driving case ... and they will NOT serve any time behind bars.

Prosecutors in Oklahoma tell TMZ ... Jeff and Lauren Lowe each pled no contest to a misdemeanor charge of DWI and will pay a fine and court costs to put the incident behind them.

We're told there will be no jail time or probation for either Jeff or Lauren ... with prosecutors saying this is a typical outcome for these types of cases in Oklahoma City.

TMZ broke the story ... Jeff and Lauren were busted back in June after cops pulled them over in a white Range Rover. Police said they were both driving before the bust, which is why both were ultimately hit with the charge.

Simon Leviev is looking to turn his "Tinder Swinder" fame into a legit career, because he wants to break into Hollywood.

Sources close to Simon tell TMZ ... he's already signed with a talent manager, and wants to write a book, star on a dating show and host a dating podcast. Yeah, no shocker ... the guy's got big plans.

Simon's new Hollywood manager is Gina Rodriguez with Gitoni Inc, and we're told they've already discussed a bunch of plans to parlay his newfound Netflix fame into profit and an entertainment career.

We're told Simon's idea for a potential dating show includes women competing for his love ... and he's interested in sharing dating dos and don'ts on a potential podcast.

As you know ... Simon's the subject of the new Netflix documentary in which women -- and law enforcement -- claim he flaunted a lavish lifestyle to women on Tinder, and once he got them hooked, he would convince them to "loan" him money.

When they did, he'd ghost them and allegedly make off with their dough.

Almost like a Ponzi scheme, the Netflix doc claims Simon would use one woman's funds to wine and dine the next, and so on. All told, Simon allegedly swindled over $10 million from his alleged victims before his 2019 arrest.

So, why in the world would anyone trust him -- in or out of Hollywood???

Kanye West showed up Friday night for a screening of the Netflix doc on his life ... and there was no Julia Fox, no Kim Kardashian, but there WAS someone else.

Ye showed up at L.A.'s new hot spot -- Mother Wolf restaurant -- with Chaney Jones to watch the new Netflix show, "Jeen-Yuhs," who lots of folks say has jacked Kim's look. Lots of celebs showed up for the screening, including DaBaby, Taraji P. Henson, Quavo, Roddy Ricch and Jason Lee.

Kanye was chill, wearing a black leather jacket and a hoodie. He took a bunch of photos with guests and chatted everyone up.

As for Chaney ... she wore the Kardashian-esque super-tight bodysuit, along with gloves, boots and yes, black sunglasses.

Kanye's still waiting for Billie Eilish to apologize for supposedly shading his pal, Travis Scott, at her concert last week. The apology isn't coming, because Billie has talked about stopping shows when someone is in distress long before the Astroworld tragedy. Ye says if she doesn't apologize, he won't headline at Coachella.