TMZ Sports - Page 50

Antonio Brown is hoping to get business boomin' on a whole new field these days ... he's hawkin' T-shirts now -- that feature the letters "CTE" all over them.

Of course, fans have weaponized the medical term against Brown throughout the last few years ... accusing the former NFL star of having the trauma-induced brain disorder anytime his behavior goes against traditional societal norms.

Lately, however, Brown has embraced the barb ... and used it in hashtags on his social media posts.

And, now, it's clear he's trying to make some coin off it too.

Brown revealed on his X page on Tuesday that he's selling "CTESPN" shirts ... for $40 a pop.

The tees are black with red lettering ... and they feature an image of him shirtless from when he quit on the Buccaneers during the middle of a game against the Jets in 2022.

The shirts also have a pic of Brown when he was on the Steelers -- as well as a screen grab of one of his 2023 tweets that referenced his version of "CTE" ... "Catch The Energy."

"Pre order now," Brown wrote on X with an emoji of a purple devil. "#CTESPN."

9:35 AM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor are not dating, and there's nothing romantic between them at all. We're told Leo is still in a relationship, and he's not with Teyana. This interaction was strictly friendly, we're told.

Leonardo DiCaprio and his costar, Teyana Taylor, were looking pretty damn cozy over the weekend at a pre-Oscars party ... with a lot of touching going on between the two of them.

Check out these videos of the two actors -- who are currently in production for PT Anderson's new indie flick -- hobnobbing Friday night at the WME party here in L.A., where they were seen making contact at a couple different points in the evening.

Specifically ... Leo was seen with his arm wrapped around Teyana's waist as they got close and chit-chatted in private amid all the hustle and bustle of the party going on around them.

Teyana was wearing a fairly revealing outfit, FWIW ... and her lower back was exposed.

There was another moment where they were getting a little flirty -- with Teyana and LD facing each other and TT fixing Leo's ponytail from the back of his baseball cap. This one wasn't PDA, per se, but you can tell Teyana was comfortable doing it ... and ditto for Leo.

Once the hair help was complete, they continued to talk ... and laughed it up as well. No signs of them doing anything more telling than what we can see here, including kissing.

Still, it's pretty eye-opening to see ... especially since Leo is supposed to be dating model Vittoria Ceretti -- who was noticeably absent from this shindig. The last time Leo and Vittoria were spotted together in public was actually recent -- they were out and about in late Feb.

Teyana, of course, is in the middle of a divorce with Iman Shumpert ... which has gotten pretty ugly at times. They share children together, and while Teyana has tried keeping their divorce proceedings private -- much of the drama has surfaced in public court docs.

Of course, the bigger backdrop here is Leo/Tey acting in the same movie of late -- and on its face, it would appear they've gotten close. We've seen tons of footage of them on set, and they seem intricately involved in the script ... 'cause Teyana's shot a lot of scenes with LD.

Whether they're more than just friends, though ... anyone's guess. Clearly, they're comfortable with one another -- comfortable enough to put hands on each other, at least. One last thing .... we know Leo and Teyana left this party separately, for whatever that's worth.

We've reached out to Leo and Teyana's camp ... so far, no word back.

Originally Published -- 8:11 AM PT

Sabrina Ionescu is officially off the market ... the star NY Liberty guard just married her longtime boyfriend over the weekend, Raiders center Hroniss Grasu!

One of the wedding guests, Dallas Wings forward Satou Sabally, shared photos and videos from the beautiful ceremony ... showing Ionescu and Grasu dancing, as friends and family watched.

"To an everlasting bond of love 💗," Sabally wrote in the IG caption.

"What an amazing wedding of two very special people, a weekend full of smiles and happy tears 🥹"

Vanessa Bryant, along with her daughter Natalia, was also in attendance. Remember, Ionescu was mentored by Kobe before his tragic death in 2020.

"Congratulations to Sabrina and Hronnis!" Vanessa said ... "Such a beautiful couple. Wishing you both the very best, always!!! Xo"

Ionescu and Grasu -- who revealed their relationship to the public in 2021 -- are both of Romanian descent and University of Oregon alum.

Sabrina, heading into her 5th season with the Liberty, and Hroniss, who has been in the NFL since 2015, got engaged last January ... as the big man got down on one knee in front of a massive floral arrangement on the roof of a high-rise in the city.

Luke Combs is done trying to make sense of what the Carolina Panthers are doing with the team -- the last straw was the Brian Burns trade -- and now the country music star is going in on the squad!

"Panthers, WHAT ARE WE DOING?!?!?" the 34-year-old said in a message to the organization on X.

"No first-round pick for McCaffrey a few years back and now none for Burns?!?! Are we just firebombing the whole team here or what?"

If you missed it, the New York Giants traded for the 2x Pro Bowl pass rusher on Monday (and then signed him to a massive $150 mil contract), sending the Panthers a 2nd and 5th-round pick in return in the upcoming NFL Draft (they also swapped 5th rounders in '24 and '25).

Clearly not the haul Combs would expect for a premiere player who can get to the quarterback.

This trade comes almost two years after the Panthers sent Christian McCaffrey, one of the NFL's best running backs, to the 49ers ... and Luke's had it!

To add salt to the wound, Panthers fans had to watch their former RB star in Super Bowl LVIII in February.

"I usually don’t comment on these kinds of things but it’s just becoming slow torture at this point," Combs said to end his message.

Andrew Tate is facing more legal troubles ... the online influencer was busted Monday in Romania for alleged sexual offenses.

Tate and his brother, Tristan, were detained last evening for 24 hours after UK authorities issued arrest warrants accusing them of sexual aggression and exploiting people in Great Britain from 2012 to 2015.

Their spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, categorically denied the accusations to the Associated Press, saying the Tate's "express profound disappointment that such serious allegations are being resurrected without substantial new evidence."

Four women complained to UK authorities, claiming the Tates physically and sexually abused them. But prosecutors declined to move forward with the cases, prompting the accusers to pursue civil litigation against the brothers as a last resort to hold them accountable.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal is expected to make a decision Tuesday on whether to execute the arrest warrants, carrying out the orders issued by the UK's Westminster Magistrates Court in London while the brothers are detained.

In a separate case, the Tates were indicted in Romania last year for rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

A year earlier, the Tates were originally arrested with two women in that case, but they were released from jail after 3 months and put on house arrest. The brothers have denied any wrongdoing.

Bam Margera got into a loud argument with his fiancée that was caught on camera, and while it looked and sounded like they were at each other's throats ... Bam says it actually stemmed out of love.

The former "Jackass" star was arguing with Dannii Marie last Thursday outside of a Nashville hotel -- not long after he'd injured himself in a skate stunt that left him with a torn MCL and ACL.

In the video, obtained by TMZ, you can see Bam and Dannii shouting at each other -- it's a heated conversation, for sure, but Bam tells us all is well in their relationship.

He says the argument started after he stepped outside for a smoke break ... we're told Dannii apparently thought he was trying to sneak away to use hard drugs, as he has in the past.

Fact is, a lot of online trolls have speculated Bam might relapse after his injury if he were prescribed pain meds. We're told Dannii found Bam outside in the alley, and confronted him about that very possibility thinking the worst, but he insists the only thing he lit up was a cig.

Long story short ... Bam says Dannii was simply expressing concern for him, and he absolutely appreciates his woman looking out for his best interests. He credits her with keeping him on the straight and narrow with his sobriety.

Bam says he took a urine test that day to reassure Dannii he was clean, and he tells us he remains substance-free even to this day -- marking 6 months of sobriety.

Bam's manager Mike Quinn tells TMZ... "Good news, Bam remains sober. The personal incident outside a hotel, involving Bam and his fiancée, Dannii, stemmed from Dannii's concern for Bam's wellbeing. This misunderstanding between the couple was resolved positively, as expected moments later. Bam continues to take his regular voluntary urine tests to confirm his sobriety."

Darryl Strawberry says he sustained a heart attack on Monday evening -- but, thankfully, medics were able to save his life ... and he's now recovering at a hospital.

The three-time World Series champion explained in a social media post the health scare happened in the St. Louis area.

He didn't go into too much detail about the emergency ... although he did say docs had to bring him "through a stent-procedure" to fix his ticker.

Fortunately, he added the process "brought my heart to total restoration!!!"

"Your prayers are so absolutely appreciated as I continue to recover," he wrote on his Instagram page, "in Jesus Name! #savedbyHisgrace❤️❤️."

Several celebs commented on the post, including Alex Rodriguez, Matt Barnes and Cecil Fielder, showing the ex-baseball star love and gratitude that he's now doing OK.

Straw's got a big few weeks coming up ... Tuesday is actually his 62nd birthday -- and on June 1, he's slated to have his No. 18 retired by the New York Mets.

Puka Nacua put his hoops skills on full display at the NBA's All-Star festivities last month ... and he tells TMZ Sports if he ever needed basketball to pay his bills, he could probably get it done professionally overseas!!

The Rams wideout put on the show on Feb. 16 at the All-Star Celebrity Game in Indianapolis ... scoring 16 points while throwing down two highly impressive dunks. It was so eye-opening, many wondered if the football player could actually transition just fine into the sport if he wanted to.

So, when we got him out at LAX this month ... we asked the question -- and he didn't say no!!!

While he was sure he could never get it done in the NBA, the 22-year-old didn't rule out other pro leagues across the pond ... telling us, "Maybe in another country!"

Nacua, however, doesn't seem interested at all in pursuing another career anytime soon -- telling us straight up, "I'm a lot better at football, that's for sure."

Of course, there's really no reason whatsoever to even explore at this point. The former BYU standout just had one of the greatest rookie seasons in NFL history, catching 105 passes for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns.

It's Tuesday, and we're off and running to start the week at TMZ ... especially on TV!

Let's start with 'TMZ Live,' where Harvey and Charles discussed the latest wave of scandal at Kensington Palace -- all thanks to a doctored photo depicting Kate Middleton with her children ... which she has now come out and admitted she edited herself, to the suspicion of many.

The Royals keep digging themselves a deeper hole with all this ... and it's getting spooky.

Next up, we got 'TMZ on TV' ... where the gang talked John Cena's nearly-naked stunt at the Oscars -- which practically saw him in his birthday suit on stage, and national television.

As it turns out, he wasn't nearly as naked as we all assumed -- but pretty damn close.

Finally, 'TMZ Sports' ... where Babcock and Mojo discussed a big Kobe Bryant misspelling.

Check your local listings for when TMZ is on in your area or catch up on past episodes!

Dak Prescott claims a woman is threatening to go public with false sexual assault allegations against him if he doesn't pay her $100 million ... and now, he's suing to try to put a stop to it all.

The Dallas Cowboys superstar filed the lawsuit in Collin County, Texas on Monday ... alleging the woman, Victoria Shores, spelled out her extortion plot in a letter to him and his representatives back on Feb. 13.

Prescott claims Shores alleged in her letter that he assaulted her in Feb. 2017 -- just after his rookie season with the Cowboys had concluded. He said in the suit that if and only if he paid her $100 mil, she'd stay silent about it all.

The quarterback's attorneys, however, said emphatically in the lawsuit Monday, "Mr. Prescott has never engaged in any nonconsensual sexual behavior with anyone."

In fact, they wrote, "the timeline of events and [Shores'] actions in the years since the alleged assault are consistent with being involved with only consensual actions with Mr. Prescott."

"The fact that Mr. Prescott did not hear a single negative thing about this supposed interaction from nearly a decade ago is truly telling of" Shores' motives.

Prescott is now suing the woman and her lawyers for defamation, slander, civil extortion/duress and more.

Prescott's attorney, Levi McCathern, wrote in a statement to TMZ Sports on Monday evening, "Lies hurt. Especially, malicious lies. We will not allow the Defendant and her legal team to profit from this attempt to extort millions from Mr. Prescott."

CJ Perry and Miro have called it quits on their marriage 7+ years after tying the knot ... and unfortunately for the two wrestling stars, this isn't part of an AEW storyline.

TMZ Sports has learned the famous, now-former couple -- who also play a married couple in the ring -- broke up once and for all in winter 2023 ... after years of an on-again, off-again relationship.

The couple said their "I dos" in July 2016 ... a couple of years after they began dating.

We reached out to Perry, formerly known as Lana in WWE, who confirmed the split.

"Miro and I have made the difficult decision to separate after many wonderful years together,  and have decided to move on as friends, and hopefully onscreen characters somewhere down the road," CJ told us.

As for what went wrong, our sources say there wasn't an explosive fight or cheating ... they simply grew apart over the years.

In fact, we're told Perry and Miro, known as Rusev in World Wrestling Entertainment, remain friends and still plan to work together in the future.

It's likely music to the ears of the executives at All Elite Wrestling -- where both are employed -- as the wrestling stars have portrayed themselves as a married couple going back a decade to WWE, through present-day AEW.

CJ and Miro, a former AEW TNT and 3x WWE United States champion, were last photographed out together in public in late 2022... and it's been a couple of months since they've wrestled together on TV.

Neither Perry nor Miro have yet filed for divorce.

3:32 PM PT -- Saquon Barkley is firing back at Tiki Barber ... accusing the NYG legend of hating on him even years before he opted to leave for the rival Eagles.

"you been a hater since I got to New York," Barkley said in a message to Barber on X. "… and all the 'Dead to me' talk don’t smile in my face when you see me."

Barkley added, "lol yup you’re the prime example of loyalty to a team.. I got the deal I wanted, secured more gm which wasn’t given to me before… so if fans are gonna hate me for that so be it! But I never turned my back on my teammates and always had theirs."

Tiki Barber is furious with Saquon Barkley for leaving the New York Giants in favor of the rival Philadelphia Eagles ... saying straight up Monday, "You're dead to me!!"

The NYG legend unleashed the harsh words on WFAN's "Evan and Tiki" just minutes after it was reported that Barkley will ink a three-year deal with Philly worth around $37 million when the new NFL year kicks off later this week.

"He's dead to us now," Barber said of Barkley. "You're dead to us, Saquon."

Tiki was hardly the only Big Blue supporter livid with the move -- numerous fans sounded off all afternoon on X as well.

Even Barber's cohost on the show, Shaun Morash, threw some shade Barkley's way too.

"By the way, Philly," he said, "enjoy the nine games he'll play next year. Enjoy, Philly. Enjoy."

Barber -- who played his whole 10-year NFL career with the Giants -- wasn't just mad at Barkley over the situation, though. He also admitted that the Giants mishandled the matter -- particularly by not franchise-tagging him this year.

Barkley was on Barber's mind even before Monday's news ... as just days ago he warned the 27-year-old tailback not to sign with the Eagles ... claiming it would be an insult to the Giants' legacy.

"Go to Baltimore!" he said. "Go to Houston! Go to L.A. Chargers! Do not go to the Philadelphia Eagles because if you do, that appreciation and respect and reverence that we all have for you, Saquon, will be lost. It will be gone"

"You’re going to turn into one of those people that we hate, and we don’t want that. We don’t. We’ll respect you, but we’ll hate you, and that’s not a good thing."

Sure doesn't seem like Tiki was lying.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce may have failed to make their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2024 Oscars ... but they at least showed up for a shindig afterward, albeit on the DL.

TMZ has confirmed that the pop star and the NFL stud stopped by Madonna and Guy Oseary's Oscars exclusive after-party at a private residence in the Hollywood Hills on Sunday evening ... where there weren't any photos allowed inside.

Of course, British Vogue published a bunch of shots of stars who showed up and posed at what appears to be a designated photo-op area -- which had a bunch of fun cutouts, etc.

Some of the stars who were pictured included Robert De Niro, Matthew McConaughey, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lenny Kravitz, Salma Hayek and others. Notably, Taylor and Travis were not part of the photo lineup ... but are listed among the celeb guests who crashed it.

Like we said, sources with direct knowledge tell us they were in fact there ... even though they seem to have gone out of their way to not be seen/photographed, which is interesting.

Taylor and Travis landing here in L.A. comes after T-Swift's six sold-old shows in Singapore as part of her "Eras" tour -- which wrapped up this past weekend. Sounds like they were ready to get the hell out of there and come back stateside ... which is exactly what they did.

They enjoyed some alone time in Asia for the brief period Travis was there -- but obviously with her tour being on pause for a good month or so ... they were ready to come home.

They've had no problem letting their love story play out in the public eye in some settings ... but in others, they're weirdly private, and it really doesn't make much sense.

Remember, the singer supported the Kansas City Chiefs tight end at several of his football games -- including the Super Bowl -- and Travis has seen Taylor's "Eras" tour in four different cities. On its face, it seems like they're only cool being snapped in public at certain times.

Taylor herself even seems to be incredibly averse to being photographed at times -- going so far as to hidey under umbrellas to keep paparazzi from snapping her ... which, again, is so bizarre. Here for this after-party, it looks to have been more of the same ... ultra privacy.

Perhaps Taylor and Travis have had enough of the Dads, Brads and Chads weighing in on their every move? Time will tell!

Kim Kardashian and Odell Beckham Jr. are looking more like a couple by the day -- and they seemed to soft-launch their relationship this weekend ... that's what this video suggests.

Check out this footage, obtained by TMZ, that shows Kim and OBJ at Jay-Z and Beyonce's Oscars after-party Sunday night at the Chateau Marmot in L.A. -- and you can see them mingling in a lobby-like area of the venue ... getting touchy-feely with each other.

As you can see ... Kim was chit-chatting with Odell in a pretty flirty manner -- going back and forth with him and seemingly comparing their outfits. At one point she actually puts her hands on Odell too ... going up and grabbing his face, almost as if she's going in for a kiss.

You never actually witness them lock lips ... but this is the most we've seen them interact with one another in public since they've been rumored to be dating ... going back months now.

Doesn't look like they knew they were being filmed either -- but at this point ... it's pretty obvious they're together as a couple. They even showed up together for all the post-Oscars shindigs ... first hitting the Vanity Fair after-party, and later swinging by Jay and Bey's thing.

Remember, they were also spotted out together in Vegas last month during the Super Bowl -- and there, too, they seemed to be trying to lay low ... and distance themselves a bit.

Same vibe here when they were outside heading into a party -- namely, trying to stagger a bit -- but they're not doing a very good job at throwing people off the scent anymore. Now with this new video -- it seems cat's outta the bag ... they're straight up dating each other.

Rumors of Kim and Odell being an item have swirled for months -- and all reports thus far have suggested that it's not that serious. However, they seem pretty into each other ... and the fact they continue to hang out all this time later indicates this might be the real deal.

Kim has yet to publicly declare anyone as her official significant since splitting from comedian Pete Davidson in August 2022. Of course, she was previously married to Kanye West, who she shares kids North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm with ... but that's over.

As for Odell ... he split from his longtime girlfriend Lauren Wood earlier in 2023, and has been single since.

While Kim and Odell have yet to confirm the rumored romance on paper (or on IG, more like) ... it's clear they enjoy each other's company. Perhaps a little bit more than that, TBH.

12:06 PM -- The L.A. Lakers say they're already in the process of fixing the typos on Kobe Bryant's statue ... admitting to ABC News on Monday they've known of the issues "for a few weeks."

"We have been aware of this for a few weeks," a spokesperson said, "and are already working to get it corrected soon."

The statue erected to immortalize Kobe Bryant outside of Crypto.com Arena has multiple typos on it ... at least four, to be exact.

The flaws were discovered this week ... on the base of the monument where an image of a signed box score from Bryant's famed 2006, 81-point game was etched in.

You can see Von Wafer's name is mistakenly spelled "Vom Wafer." Jose Calderon's name is also incorrectly listed as "Jose Calderson." The word "decision" in two of the "Coach's Decision" portions of the statue is also wrongfully written as "decicion."

A copy of the box score sold at Goldin Auctions back in 2022 shows none of the errors were featured on the original document.

We've reached out to the Lakers for comment, but so far, we've yet to hear back.

The Bryant sculpture was first put up at the arena back on Feb. 8 ... at a star-studded event. Phil Jackson, Stu Lantz, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Derek Fisher and Lakers owner Jeanie Buss were all there ... as was Vanessa Bryant, who helped introduce it with an emotional and, at times, lighthearted speech.

"For the record," Vanessa said before the public saw the carving for the first time, "Kobe picked the pose you’re about to see. So if anyone has any issues with it, tough s***."

At the ceremony, it was also announced the Lakers would unveil two more tributes to Bryant at their arena at a later date.

The brother of LSU hoops star Flau'jae Johnson has been arrested after cops say he injured an SEC employee when he jumped onto the basketball court as a scuffle broke out on the hardwood during the Tigers-Gamecocks game.

Greenville Police tell TMZ Sports that Johnson's brother, Trayron Milton, was taken into custody Monday and was charged with assault, battery in the 3rd degree and disorderly conduct.

The arrest comes following his involvement in the altercation during the women's SEC title game on Sunday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena ... which was started when Gamecocks guard MiLaysia Fulwiley shoved Johnson to the floor.

Milton, who was sitting courtside, hopped over the scorer's table, apparently trying to defend his sister, but also injuring an SEC employee in the process.

"While Milton was jumping over the barrier, the victim was sitting at the scorer's table at the edge of the court," a GPD spokesperson said.

"To get over the table, Milton came from behind the table, pushed down on the victim’s head, and stepped on her shoulders to jump over."

Milton was eventually placed in handcuffs and escorted out of the arena while being booed by fans.

Johnson has not commented about the incident or her brother's arrest ... but South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said the LSU guard approached her after the game and apologized.