YouTube

There are going to be MILLIONS of foxes running around this Halloween ... 'cause the furry animal costumes are selling at record numbers this year -- and it's all thanks to that insane viral video "What Does the Fox Say," TMZ has learned.

By now, you're probably one of the 131 MILLION people who watched the bizarre, hilarious (yet strangely fascinating) video by the band Ylvis on YouTube (and if you haven't seen it, GET OUT FROM YOUR FOX HOLE!).

We spoke to 3 of the biggest costume outlets in the country -- Spirit Halloween, Buycostumes, and Amazon -- and we're told that fox costumes are exploding this year, crushing last year's sales.

In fact, one outlet says fox costume sales are up almost 40% from last Halloween ... and the number is expected to rise, with Halloween still another 2 weeks away.

But don’t worry – the costume retailers tell us they’re beefing up orders of bushy tails and pointy fox ears ... so it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon and join the skulk (see below).

Fox Fact: a group of foxes is called a skulk ... now you know.

The people who bring you "Judge Judy' have just filed a lawsuit, claiming evildoers have been posting episodes of her show on YouTube ... and now she wants a non-TV judge to lay down the law.

Judy has the most popular show in daytime ... it's been that way for 3 years, since Oprah said bye bye. Here's how big -- 9 million daily viewers.

The company that produces the show -- Big Ticket Television -- gets an enormous amount of money for the show, so the idea that someone is stealing it and not paying a dime has them royally pissed off.

As for the culprit -- his name is Ignacio De Los Angeles. Ignacio dared to post an episode from 2006 on YouTube. Big Ticket told him to take it down, but Ignacio ignored.

Big Ticket wants the judge to use a can of whoopass on Ignacio, Judge Judy style.

The gloves are off in Pharrell WIlliams' trademark war with Will.i.am -- Pharrell now says Will.i.am is DREAMING if he thinks he's up to the "Get Lucky" singer's level ... because he's not even close.

As we reported, Will.i.am filed a lawsuit against Pharrell over the trademark "I Am" ... after Pharrell attempted to stake his claim on a YouTube channel called "I Am Other."

In his docs, Will.i.am suggested users might get confused over the "I Am" name because he and Pharrell have both "achieved great distinction" in the hip hop world, each releasing mega hits ... and working with the industry's top professionals.

But Pharrell has fired back ... saying that's utter BS ... Will.i.am hasn't achieved the same distinction at all. As a result, Pharrell argues there would be zero confusion about who's really behind the "I Am Other" channel.

What's more, Pharrell says Will.i.am's track record for copyright infringement is embarrassing ... saying Will.i.am's been a defendant in nearly a dozen infringement lawsuits (including song stealing).

For these reasons, Pharrell wants Will.i.am's lawsuit thrown out of court ... so he can use the phrase "I Am Other" with zero repercussions. He also wants Will.i.am to pay for his lawyers.

Riff Raff went INSANE during a live rap performance in Ohio this weekend -- when someone threw a beer can that hit him in the chest ... and he challenged the guy to FIGHT HIM on stage.

Riff -- who believes he was the inspiration for James Franco's character in "Spring Breakers" -- was performing at Halftime Fest at Ohio University in Athens, OH when someone launched the can.

The rapper was so upset, he ordered the DJ to stop the track so he could yell at the crowd ... saying "The most sucka ass motherf**ker throwing the can ... I bet you won't step on the stage ... I will WHOOP your f**king ass."

Obviously, no one accepted Riff's challenge ... so he decided to end the show -- telling the crowd, "F**king throw a can on me? For real ... I'm done."

But Riff composed himself soon after the incident -- and took out his aggression on the Athens bar scene ... crushing beers at several local joints with some of the locals.

Good to see Riff isn't holding a grudge.

The R&B singer who actually said the N-word in a song many people confused for a Justin Bieber track tells TMZ ... he's NOT to blame for the hoax ... but he thinks he knows who did it.

As we previously reported, several media outlets fell for a lame YouTube hoax this week ... when someone created a bogus "official" Justin Bieber account and posted a song in which the singer dropped the N-Word.

Turns out the song was actually a track by a singer named Khalil Underwood ... an aspiring R&B singer, who happens to be black (which explains the casual n-bomb in the song).

After the hoax, several people pointed the finger at Underwood ... claiming he operated the scheme in a shameless attempt to gain publicity.

But Underwood tells TMZ ... that simply ain't the case -- he's just an innocent bystander who was roped in to the hoax because he happens to sound like Bieber.

In fact, Underwood says he thinks the real perpatrators are Beliebers who truly believed the song was a Justin original and tried to "leak" it on YouTube.

Underwood says the funny part .. Beliebers were saying they liked the song when they thought it was a JB original, and when they learned the truth, they changed their minds.

"Fred" star Lucas Cruikshank finally told all his fans he's gay -- which is, without question, a bold and brave decision to be applauded.

It's also something, millions of his fans apparently could've told him years ago.

A "Judge Judy" fan must have a cyber-death wish ... 'cause he's declared war on TV's most powerful woman over a series of YouTube videos ... and there's no way in hell he's gonna win.

Long story short ... CBS has filed a lawsuit against someone named Jessie Zaragosa, claiming the person ran multiple YouTube accounts called "JudgeJudyWorld," "JudgeJudyWorld1," "JudgeJudyWorld2" and "JudgeJudyWorld3."

According to the lawsuit, Zaragosa posted numerous episodes of "Judge Judy" on the accounts in order to rack up views ... in an effort to make money off the videos on his pages.

CBS claims it demanded YouTube take down the videos ... and YouTube complied ... but Zaragosa fired off a counter-notice demanding YouTube put it back up.

So CBS took the fight from the Internet to L.A. County Superior Court ... where Zaragosa will undoubtedly get crushed because he has absolutely no ownership rights to the "Judy" footage.

The lesson here -- don't mess with Judge Judy.

Selena Gomez just appeared in a video dancing to the song "Everybody Knows (Your Boyfriend is a Douchebag)" ... which begs the obvious question ... is this a message directed at her ex-BF Justin Bieber?

Selena and her friends post videos like this all the time -- dancing to other people's songs -- but the timing of this one seems suspect, considering Bieber's recent wave of d-baggery.

It's possible Selena and her friends just like the tune ... and there's no hidden meaning ... but Justin and Selena have been known to communicate through song.

You'll recall JB sang "Cry Me a River" at a concert after they broke up. Selena later responded by performing the same song.

So we gotta ask ...

The adorable kid from the Caine's Arcade viral video -- who couldn't afford arcade games and had to settle for cardboard boxes -- is about to start raking it in. We found out he just inked a deal with one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood!

According to legal docs filed in L.A. Superior Court -- and obtained by TMZ -- 10-year-old Caine Monroy was signed by William Morris Endeavor. Caine is now part of WME's client list which includes Denzel Washington, Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, and Steve Carell -- so it's a pretty big deal.

And to think it all started after a video of Caine went viral last year -- featuring the East L.A. child ingeniously using cardboard boxes and trash to build himself an arcade in his dad's used auto parts shop.

Hollywood ... sometimes good things happen here.

Bam Margera is learning the hard way ... the folks at YouTube do not take kindly to self-induced golden showers posted on their site.

In case you don't follow Bam's career ... the MTV star is now getting into the rap game ... and one of his videos started to get some heat on YouTube.

Problem is ... the video ain't exactly family friendly ... containing some incredibly graphic images (naked people) and some unusually graphic hydration techniques (Bam takes a drink from his own yellow fountain).

Also, the lyrics were a bit too racy for YouTube ... since the hook is basically a description of how Bam wants to bend a particular body part in an unusual way so that he can have sex ... with himself.

A rep for YouTube tells TMZ ... "The video was taken down because of the content. It was flagged by users and a policy team believed it contained too much sexuality per our terms of use."

The controversy stems from an article that ran in OK! Magazine in Australia, written by international journalist Daphne Barak. In the article, Carter was quoted as saying, "Yes, [MJ] gave me wine. I mean, I could have refused, but I was 15. As for drugs? He gave me cocaine."

But Carter's rep tells TMZ, "Nothing was said that was reported" ... and directed us toward a YouTube video of the interview with Barak ... which seems to back up Aaron's side of the story.