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Wayne Brady joins the cast of "Hamilton" in Chicago next week, but he wants everyone in his life to know ... don't expect ticket hookups.

The new Aaron Burr told us he's getting hit up by almost everyone in his life because tickets are so hard to come by ... but only very specific friends and lovers have a shot.

He has a great story about how he broke the news to his daughter.

Brady joins the Chicago production January 17 for a 3 month run.

When Dylann Roof is executed, the son of slain Rev. Daniel Simmons wants to bear witness -- but not out of vengeance.

Daniel Simmons Jr. tells TMZ he and other members of the Charleston church were relieved by the jury's guilty verdict and decision to give Roof the death penalty -- but he's still waiting to see an ounce of remorse.

Simmons says he will absolutely attend Roof's execution by lethal injection ... in hopes the killer experiences God's forgiveness in the moments before he dies.

Simmons' father was one of the 9 victims Roof shot in cold blood inside Emanuel AME Church -- so, the amount of restraint and grace he shows here is extraordinary.

Sylvester Stallone's daughters dropped the mic after they were -- perhaps foolishly -- compared to the Kardashians.

We caught up with the girls -- Scarlet, Sistine and Sophia -- out with their mom, Jennifer Flavin, Wednesday at LAX, where our photog asked if there's any chance of a reality show. Check it out ... they're definitely NOT trying to keep up with you-know-who.

Gilbert Arenas is gunning for his ex-wife in court for repeating an STD claim about him that already cost her $110k ... TMZ has learned.

The ex-NBA star filed a defamation lawsuit against Laura Govan, as well as her attorney, Maya Shulman, over a December blog post about the longstanding war between the exes. In the post, Shulman said Laura was "stating a fact" when she accused Gilbert of giving her an STD.

As we reported, Gilbert won a hefty defamation judgement against Laura over that very allegation. In the new suit, he says Laura and her attorney clearly didn't learn their lesson -- and the December comment constitutes another instance of smearing his good name.

He says Shulman dug her own grave when she issued a retraction -- in the comments section of the blog -- admitting she doesn't "know any 'fact' that supports" Laura's STD claims. Gilbert says it proves she knowingly made a false statement.

He adds the retraction didn't come until 2 weeks later, and was NOT prominent on the site. He's suing both women for damages.

Kim Kardashian says the coast is now clear because cops in France have nabbed a bunch of people who allegedly robbed her ... so she's off to Dubai.

Kim breezed through LAX with Scott Disick and 4 security guards for the 16 hour flight.

"Gears of War" took a former football player/wrestler and turned him into "Cole Train"-- a central character in the game -- and then stiffed him royally.

Lenwood Hamilton claims he was going about his life last January when his son's friend showed him the video game, and he was flabbergasted ... he says "Cole Train" was simply him.

So, Hamilton did what any red-blooded American would do ... sued. According to the docs ... the physical appearances are almost identical, "Cole Train" is the only black character, they both wear derby hats, wrist bands and have a front gold tooth.

Hamilton goes on ... he believes they somehow imitated his voice and implanted it in "Cole Train." In fact, Hamilton says he hired a forensic voice examiner to compare his voice to CT, and they're indistinguishable.

It gets even weirder ... Hamilton is also suing Lester Speight, aka Terry Tate: Office Linebacker from vintage Reebok commercials, who's credited with the voice-over and portrayal of "Cole Train."

Hamilton says Speight used to work with his wrestling company and they talked about creating a video game character. Translation: Speight stole his idea and passed it off to the makers of "Gears of War."

Hamilton is suing for sales and profits, and that's a lot. The game's been super successful since 2006.

Blac Youngsta admits leaving the strippers at Ace of Diamonds high and dry in the tip department, but says it's their fault for wearing cheap-ass lingerie and not getting naked.

The Memphis rapper fired back at the AoD ladies ... who've been very vocal about Youngsta and his crew leaving zero dollars for services rendered on the stage Monday night.

He's pissed at the club for paying him "crumbs" for his appearance, but says the bigger issue is strippers with bullet wounds ... who don't strip at all.

Blac Youngsta's rebuttal to the pissed off AoD dancers is brutal ... yet entertaining.

File Under: Extremely Rich People Problems!

Magic Johnson says he borrowed $850,000 in fancy jewelry for his wife for their big 25th wedding anniversary last year ... only to get completely ripped off by the jeweler.

It's all part of a new lawsuit Johnson filed against Gina Amir Atelier ... a Bev Hills jewelry business that Johnson refers to as a "thieves den."

Long story short ... Johnson says the store took a $250k deposit so he could use 2 pieces of jewelry -- a gold and platinum ring covered in diamonds and a HUGE platinum necklace with 101 white diamonds.

Johnson says his wife, Cookie, wore the stuff and brought it back unharmed a week later -- but the store never returned his $250k deposit.

He claims the jewelers "conspired to defraud" him all along and says they used him as a "personal ATM." He's suing to get back his $250k.

Don't ever dare question Chris Hardwick's memory when it comes to Bobby Brown's song from "Ghostbusters II."

Chris and wife Lydia Hearst were leaving the Marie Claire Image Makers party at Catch when he noticed one of the paps wearing a "Ghostbusters" t-shirt.

Watch what happens -- this is just too hot to handle.

Do NOT believe the hype on Blac Youngsta's stacks of cash ... so say the strippers who didn't get a dime from him at L.A.'s Ace of Diamonds.

AoD dancers Tokyo and Ari Safari sounded off on getting stiffed by the Memphis rapper who famously flaunts piles of hundos on social media. After Monday night they're now dismissing him as nothing more than a "gimmick."

It's that simple, but it sounds so much worse when you see it straight from the mouths of angry strippers -- who want this rant to be a warning to any other rappers who get onstage with them.

You're on notice, cheap bastards.

Howie Mandel -- maybe the most famous germaphobe -- is calling BS on Donald Trump's claim he's one too ... because it just doesn't make sense in this particular alleged situation.

Howie explained why fearing germs is not a good alibi for the alleged sexual act detailed in the totally unconfirmed Russian dossier. Even if it were legit ... the Prez-elect's excuse just doesn't add up.

Still, he thinks Trump's press conference is doing great things for the germophobic community. Howie might even have a new slogan for him.

Richard Carpenter has filed a lawsuit against 2 music companies he claims ripped him off in the royalties over Carpenters tunes, and he's brought Karen into the legal action as well.

Richard and Karen Carpenter's estate claim Universal Music Group and A&M Records have shut them out of profits for iTunes and other online sales distributors.

It's a whole new world out there with digital downloads, and Richard claims Universal and A&M are not giving artists their fair cut. He goes on to say the courts have agreed with him -- notably in a case involving Eminem -- and now he says it's time to pay up.

Richard and Karen's estate have crunched the numbers, and they want more than $2 million.

Floyd Mayweather is NOT calling the shots in the Soulja Boy vs. Chris Brown fight and has NO SAY in where it will go down ... this according to Soulja's personal fight promoter, Wack 100.

Wack isn't just Soulja's promoter -- he also manages Game and Ray J and is extremely well-connected in the West Coast gang scene ... especially with the Piru Bloods, the organization of which Chris and Soulja claim to be members.

Wack says he heard Mayweather dispute the location of the fight during an appearance on ESPN's "First Take" ... but says the boxer was straight-up wrong when he shot down Dubai.

Wack says the fight is a "West Coast thing" and, while he's got love for Mayweather, explains that Floyd is just "a guy from Michigan who lives in Vegas."

Kim Kardashian's robbers have strong ties to the illegal diamond trade in Belgium and now the country's federal police force is on what is probably a futile hunt to track down the bling.

Sources with knowledge of Belgium's "black market" for diamonds tell us several men arrested for the Paris robbery have ties to the market. There's a diamond district in Antwerp and shady jewelry shops do business just outside the perimeter ... that's likely where Kim's jewelry ended up.

Law enforcement sources in Belgium tell us their federal police force is investigating, but our sources say ... since more than 3 months have passed it'll be next to impossible to get the bling back. Stuff on the illegal market just moves around too quickly.