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Justin Baldoni is ramping up his legal war with publicist Stephanie Jones ... the woman his lawyer blames for triggering the whole Baldoni and Blake Lively drama.

Justin's attorney, Bryan Freedman, just filed an amended set of counterclaims against Stephanie ... pushing back legally after Jones' lawyers went on "Extra" to talk to Billy Bush about her side of the dueling lawsuits.

Freedman also blasted Jones in a statement to TMZ, telling us ... "In light of new evidence being uncovered almost daily, it has become imperative to amend our counterclaims against Stephanie Jones and Jonesworks. We are not surprised at all that Ms. Jones would instruct her legal team to go on record and mischaracterize the circumstances surrounding the sham “subpoena” and Vanzan lawsuit, so impressively uncovered by the passionate group of online sleuths."

Justin's lawyer continues ... "A cursory reading of the 'Van-sham' lawsuit makes clear that the Lively Parties have been caught engaging in their own smear campaign, intentionally circumventing the normal procedures for clearly improper purposes by creating a farcical complaint with an unrelated plaintiff and no named defendants, ensuring that no one would know about or object to their attempt to obtain information they were not entitled to."

Freedman adds ... "To suggest -- as Vanzan (Lively and Reynolds) do in their secret ''complaint' -- that they are unaware of the identities of their own employees and contractual counterparties is a complete joke. We are just starting to scratch the surface of a much broader and more insidious scheme.

To be clear, Jones and Jonesworks are equally implicated in this misconduct. We reiterate once again that there is not and has never been a smear campaign, except for the one being waged by the Lively Parties and Ms. Jones in collaboration with the New York Times."

He concludes ... "We will continue the fight to expose and hold accountable the wrongdoers and uncover the truth."

Meanwhile, Stephanie's attorney Maaren Shah tells TMZ ... "This case will be decided on the mountain of evidence that demonstrates Wayfarer Studios and Ms. Abel deliberately breached their contracts with Jonesworks, which the defendants have conspicuously failed to rebut."

She continued ... "The defendants' weak attempt to assemble their own case against Ms. Jones amounts to nothing more than a few debunked conspiracy theories and media gimmicks that have no basis in fact or evidence.  The indisputable fact remains: the defendants have yet to provide any substantive defense to Ms. Jones’s case. Everything else is just distraction and noise."

The NFL draft this year isn't just about finding out where college football's best will play in the pros -- it's also apparently a bit of a fashion show -- as the guys stunned at Lambeau Field in everything from the classic tux to bold custom 'fits!

Cam Ward -- the No. 1 overall pick -- walked the stage in a two-piece suit by Hugo Boss, whose reps told us it's crafted from virgin wool, silk and linen.

The sleek look -- part of the company's David Beckham collection -- comes with a price tag over $1K.

Scott Peterson should get a new trial proving he could not have committed the murders because of new scientific evidence -- so claims The Innocence Project -- but Nancy Grace says the so-called "scientific evidence" is a load of crap.

Nancy appeared on the new episode of the "2 Angry Men" podcast and addressed a new theory that would have made it impossible for Scott Peterson -- who's serving a life sentence for the murders of Laci and their unborn child, Conner -- to have committed the crime.

The Innocence Project says based on scientific technology that was not available when Peterson was tried back in 2004, fetal testing puts the date of death somewhere between December 28, 2002 and January 5, 2003.

The Titans officially have a new quarterback ... Cam Ward!!

Brian Callahan and Co. just took the former University of Miami signal-caller with the first overall pick in Thursday night's NFL draft ... and based on some early reaction around the internet, Tennessee fans everywhere are stoked with the acquisition.

Ward, too, seemed pumped to be heading to the Volunteer State ... as he had a huge grin on his face while he walked toward Roger Goodell at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. to accept the honor.

Sophie Turner is giving hints of a potential falling out with boyfriend Peregrine Pearson, because she unfollowed him on social media.

The internet is catching on to the fact that Sophie is no longer following the British aristocrat on Instagram ... and now theories of a potential split are running wild online.

The "Game of Thrones" star has been dating Peregrine for almost 2 years ... and they got together in the wake of Sophie's divorce from Joe Jonas.

Bad news for Bryan Kohberger ... prosecutors in Idaho just got the green light to seek the death penalty if he's convicted of murder in his upcoming trial.

A judge ruled Thursday that capital punishment will be on the table if Kohberger is found guilty of murdering four University of Idaho students.

Kohberger's legal team was trying to have the death penalty ruled out ... citing his recent autism diagnosis ... but the judge ruled against him.

Just another day in the life of social media star Alix Earle ... She's always on the go and hittin' the hottest spots. Of course, she does it all lookin' cute and chic! This week's destination: Alix hit up the beautiful Turks and Caicos!

The blonde bombshell rocked several cute 'fits and hands down brought the party to the beach ...

Earle revved up the fun and hit the water on a Jet Ski with her friend, and in typical content creator fashion, she documented the thrills!

Gary Richards -- the legendary promoter behind Electric Daisy Carnival and HARD -- is telling TMZ he actually knows how to throw a destination festival … unlike, well, Billy McFarland.

Hot on the heels of Billy’s doomed Fyre Festival 2.0, Gary tells TMZ he’s giving away 10 cabins for his upcoming FriendShip 2026 cruise to folks with the wildest Fyre Fest stories -- past or present.

Gary tells us watching the Fyre Festival docs seriously fired him up ... telling us that as a festival producer, all your fans have is your word -- and your track record -- so seeing all the chaos at their expense is straight-up unacceptable.

Summer's almost here, and some are already soaking up the rays, hitting the beach to get a head start on that sun-kissed glow -- exhibit A, below👇

Can you guess which famous beach babe is lapping up the sun, working on that perfect tan, and mixing up some vibrant citrus colors to match her sunny vibe?

Al Sharpton just got done meeting with Wendy Williams at her assisted living facility ... and he says they prayed over her situation.

We got Al going in and out of the Coterie in New York City on Thursday -- the place Wendy likes to refer to as a "luxury prison" -- and our photog asked him about what he's doing to help Wendy and how she's holding up.

Wendy's fighting to get out of her guardianship and Al says they spent about 40 minutes together ... including time spent praying.

Basketball phenom Alijah Arenas rolled on the ground in a huge puddle of water just moments after he was ripped from a burning Tesla Cybertruck ... video, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows.

The clip was recorded by a neighbor who tells us he heard the crash happen at around 5 AM Thursday just outside of his home in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.

The witness says he raced out and saw Arenas stuck inside the flame-engulfed vehicle after it had barreled over a fire hydrant and come to a stop on a nearby tree.

Jax Taylor dug into his own personal 'Valley' in public Thursday ... pulling down his sweatpants to give his crotch a good scratch while out running errands.

The reality television star was spotted out and about in Los Angeles Thursday ... and, he had an itch that he just couldn't help but scratch, digging his fingernails into his pubis.

Check out the pic for yourself ... Jax is really pulling those sweats down -- not quite revealing his intimate parts -- but showing skin that ain't far from them either.

Jennifer Lopez's ex-lover Casper Smart got smoked by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office ... 'cause he was just charged with operating an illegal marijuana grow operation at his home ... TMZ has learned.

We're told the City Attorney filed 2 misdemeanor charges against Smart -- one count of participating in unlicensed commercial cannabis activity and and one count of engaging in commercial cannabis activity without a temporary application license.

The charges stem from a December 2024 raid, when police executed a search warrant at Casper's L.A. home, where cops say they found evidence of a small-to-medium-size grow operation.

FYRE Festival's on the auction block ... and, a man who already owns the IP for the broadcast and streaming rights might try to purchase the whole dang thing.

We spoke with Shawn Rech -- the man who cofounded TruBlu, a true-crime streaming service with "To Catch a Predator" star Chris Hansen -- and, he says he's considering buying the rights from the festival from Billy McFarland, who announced yesterday he's selling.

Rech explains he purchased the IP, which allows him to use the FYRE name to create a streaming service unrelated to the overall event ... admitting he secured it for a pretty reasonable price.

The world's first-ever sperm race is on deck and it's shaping up to be a heavyweight fight ... with plenty of trash talk on the eve of the main event.

Two young sperm donors, Tristan from USC and Asher from UCLA, are preparing to do battle in Friday's live event at the Hollywood Palladium ... so they joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to give us some insight into what it's like being full-blown sperm athletes.

Tristan and Asher say healthy lifestyles and diets are key to getting their little swimmers ready for the big race ... and abstinence is coming in to play too ... just like before a big boxing match.