TMZ.com Home

3:00 PM PT -- We got Jesse as he walked out of the courthouse, surrounded by his Mongol MC "brothers," and he made it clear he never tried to hide his membership in the organization ... even when he was in politics. As he put it, "I don't run from being a Mongol."

1:15 PM PT -- Prosecutors asked Jesse about the Mongols MC allegedly retaliating for the killings of members ... and he said he'd lose respect for them if they didn't. During cross-examination, he conceded every organization has "some bad apples."

On a lighter note, Jesse referred to himself as a "gringo biker" who was never harassed while riding around East L.A. -- noting Mongols membership is about 75% Latino and 25% white.

He's now completed his testimony.

Jesse Ventura has found himself smack-dab in the middle of a real-life "Sons of Anarchy" storyline ... as the feds try to nail a biker gang on racketeering and conspiracy charges.

The legendary pro wrestler and former Minnesota Governor appeared in an Orange County courtroom Wednesday to testify on behalf of the Southern California-based Mongols Motorcycle Club ... of which he's an inactive member.

He was called as an expert witness for gang members who were accused of murder, drug running, robbery, extortion and other crimes. Jesse said under oath when he was a member of the MC he never engaged in criminal activity. He testified he was never asked to commit crimes and never did.

Jesse went on to praise the MC. He stated that joining the Mongols in the '70s helped him transition from the military -- where he was a Navy Seal -- to civilian life, and gave him a "brotherhood to rely on."

Ventura worked his way up to a Sergeant-at-Arms during his short time in the club, before leaving in 1974 to pursue his wrestling career.

It's interesting timing ... we just spoke with Jesse Tuesday, and he told us he's seriously thinking about running for President in 2020 against Trump.

We would say his affiliation with this case might hurt his chances, but controversy and legal trouble didn't deter Trump, so ... let the race begin?

Originally Published -- 10:01 AM PST

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are handing over $25,000 to assist the family of Marcus Hyde, the couple's personal photographer who was horrifically injured in a car crash.

TMZ broke the story ... Marcus Hyde -- who has worked with Kim and Kanye around the world -- went plummeting over the side of a ravine in Malibu last month in his Mercedes. Hyde sustained serious head injuries, and has remained in a fight for his life ever since.

A GoFundMe was recently started for Hyde and his family to help with medical costs ... as the photog remains hospitalized.

On Wednesday, Kim and Kanye pledged $25k to the cause. We're told the couple chose to make their contribution public in hopes it will bring more attention to the page, and raise more money. The fundraiser originally had a goal of $10k ... so Kimye's donation will be a massive help.

Just before the crash, Hyde traveled with the family on their trip to Bali, shot pics of the Kardashian and Jenner sisters in their Victoria's Secret angel wings and was by Kanye's side during his album release in Wyoming.

Tekashi69 was in mortal danger just before he got arrested for racketeering charges, and the feds say they have the proof on tape.

The feds wiretapped several ex-members of Tekashi's crew and the transcript -- obtained by TMZ -- is pretty damming ... including a convo about "feeding" Tekashi after his appearance on "The Breakfast Club." Prosecutors believe "feed" means unloading bullets.

One of the taps was on Jamel Jones -- gang name, Mel Murda -- a former member of 6ix9ine's inner circle, who is now behind bars.

During the convo, Jones says, "[Tekashi] is trying to dry snitch at the same time, homie. But he keep saying, f*** Treway, f*** that n****, Treyway. Ain't no n****, Treway. F*** Treway."

Tekashi's former manager Kifano Jordan, aka Shotti, responds with laughter and says, "Imma feed him though."

TMZ broke the story ... Tekashi was busted earlier this month on racketeering charges and prosecutors believed Tekashi was in danger of getting shot. The transcripts -- which refer to Tekashi by his birth name, Daniel Hernandez -- seem to graphically describe the danger.

Tekashi's former crew members were also recorded saying how Tekashi tried to separate himself from the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods after firing his entire staff. The feds recorded an unnamed crew member saying, "That's cool. Now he gotta get violated."

Jones replied, "Yeah, super violated. Super duper. Ain't no much he could really do unless he run around with 100 armed securities all day."

Oscar De La Hoya says Dana White should "shut the f*ck up" and stop worrying about Golden Boy Promotions -- and focus on his own company.

That's just part of the fiery statement the boxing legend issued in response to Dana White calling him an irresponsible "cokehead" for allowing Chuck Liddell to fight last weekend.

Remember, White was PISSED -- claiming Oscar cared more about money than Liddell's health and said all sorts of terrible things about De La Hoya.

Now, Oscar has responded ... saying, "Dana is so small and threatened by our success with DAZN and now in MMA that he is bringing up news from a decade ago to try to stay relevant."

"Boxing has entirely rejected him. And, MMA fighters are now realizing they don’t have to risk their lives just so he can get rich."

"Golden Boy and I are moving forward and are bigger than ever. Dana should shut the f*ck up and try to figure out how to save his own company."

The comment about DAZN is in reference to the $365 MILLION deal Oscar put together for Canelo Alvarez as part of a 5-year, 11 fight contract.

These guys clearly hate each other's guts -- and we're guessing this feud is far from over.

Here's something you don't see every day ... 2 movie stars riding bare-ass nekkid on a scooter -- but when ya do, it sure makes for a good day.

Sebastian Stan -- who plays Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier in the 'Avengers' flicks -- and Irish actress Denise Gough busted out their birthday suits Wednesday morning and hopped on the scooter to cruise through Athens. It's not a dare or a drunken escapade ... they're just filming for the upcoming movie, "Monday."

Check out the gallery ... Sebastian and Denise seem totally at ease riding in the nude. So, they're either great actors or kinda freaky. Or both. They're definitely not shy.

Khabib Nurmagomedov was such a VIP at the Paris St-Germaine soccer game in France on Wednesday .... he sat IN FRONT of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mick Jagger!

Check out the pic ... Leo and Mick -- trying to go incognito in baseball hats -- were spotted 1 row behind the UFC star as Neymar and PSG took on Liverpool at Parc des Princes.

Khabib was personally invited to the game by the team owners -- how cool is that?!

The only star who had better seats than Khabib was Didier Deschamps -- who coached Team France to a 2018 World Cup championship.

Khabib has been on a media tear lately -- meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

He also had a massive press conference in Russia this week where he once again called out Floyd Mayweather ... and talked about his MMA future.

Becky G claims she's getting left high and dry in a $525 MILLION water deal -- and she's pointing the finger directly at her former music producer, Dr. Luke, in a new lawsuit.

The core of this story is Core -- the bottled water company which is reportedly in the process of being bought out by Keurig Dr Pepper for half a BILLION dollars. Dr. Luke owns a significant piece of Core.

21-year-old Becky G has been pushing the brand on social media and in her music videos since she was a teenager -- but claims she only agreed because she felt if she didn't make Luke happy, he would "squash" her career.

"Dr. Luke made it clear both directly and implicitly that [her] ability to have a music career would be tied to [her] continuing involvement in promoting Core," Becky's lawsuit reads.

Becky says she feels Dr. Luke turned her into a "singing billboard" in the hopes of making the company culturally relevant ... and dangled the release of her album over her head to make her continue the promotion.

Becky claims she was eventually promised 50,000 shares of stock in the company -- but now that Core is about to cash out, the company is trying to slither out of the deal.

The singer has now sued Core -- claiming she should be paid the standard rate for a brand ambassador, which is anywhere from 20% to 50% of the company.

Do the math ... Becky wants between $105 mil and $262 mil (based on the $525 mil valuation).

Look, endorsement for equity deals can pay off HUGE -- just look at 50 Cent who reportedly sold his interest in Vitaminwater for between $60 million and $100 million after they got bought up by Coca-Cola back in the day.

Becky is not suing Dr. Luke personally -- just Core Nutrition -- but in the court docs filed by Ben Meiselas of Geragos and Geragos, she definitely paints him as the bad guy.

We reached out to Core and Dr. Luke for comment -- so far, no word back.

Your eyes are NOT deceiving you ... an artist has magnificently brought this Mac Miller photo to life with the stroke of a pen.

The artist is 20-year-old Danielle Franks -- aka Moe -- and she hails from Cornwall, England. Moe tells TMZ ... the drawing took her just over a month to complete using Cintiq 13HD on her iPad. It's basically pressure-sensitive stylus pen.

The drawing is based on a photo snapped by Todd Cole for the August issue of The Fader. Moe tells us one of her followers on Twitter asked her to draw that photo. She did ... and it's become a viral sensation.

Since she tweeted the drawing on Tuesday, it's gotten nearly HALF A MILLION likes and more than 100k retweets. And, get this ... Moe tells us she came THIS close to shuttering her website because she struggled to sell her art. But business has been booming since she tweeted the Mac drawing. So good, in fact, all proceeds from the drawing will go to the late rapper's foundation, The Mac Miller Circles Fund.

You can get your hands on a drawing -- printed on silk paper -- for around $40. Business has been so good ... celebs are now lining up to work with her, including Willow Smith.

Here's Genie Bouchard proving two legs are a helluva lot better than one tail ... 'cause she ditched her mermaid outfit for a tiny black bikini Wednesday -- and we're all grateful for it.

The tennis superstar has been over in Necker Island for the week ... splashin' around in paradise -- mostly in barely-there bathing suits.

But, today ... Genie broke out a mermaid's tail -- and while she looked smokin' hot in it -- when she bailed on the fit ... the pool she was in definitely got a little bit hotter.

Genie's over on Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands for a tennis pro-am ... but you'll have to excuse us for not payin' attention to the action on the court.

Seriously ... can you blame us?!?!

Kevin Hart is firing back at critics who slammed his decision to throw his son a "Cowboys and Indians" party on Thanksgiving, because the comedian doesn't see anything racially insensitive about it.

Kevin weighed in on the controversy on his SiriusXM show "Straight from the Hart," shutting down critics who felt the Native American-inspired clothing was culturally inappropriate and offensive.

Kevin says the backlash is "dumb s**t," because it shows "how stupid our world is becoming with opinions."

Kevin says there was nothing malicious about the theme -- as he points out, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins played on national TV the same day -- and the idea came from movies and games that have been around for years. He says kids played "Cowboys and Indians" when he was growing up, so he disagrees with people who think the outfits perpetuated racial slurs.

As for his NFL defense ... Kevin's ignoring the fact many people have issues with the Washington DC team's name.

The party controversy started on Thanksgiving, when Kevin's wife Eniko posted an Instagram picture from Kenzo's first birthday bash, showing attendees dressed in traditional Native American garb. Many of Kevin and Eniko's followers called it shameful and ignorant.

Casey Kasem's daughter says his widow is throwing out bogus claims to try to discredit her family ... and thwart their efforts to get justice for his 2014 death.

Julie Kasem tells TMZ ... Jean Kasem's recent allegations -- that members of the Church of Scientology and Casey's kids conspired to kill the radio legend for his money -- are blatant lies she's using to take the heat off herself.

Julie admits her sister, Kerri, is a Scientologist, but says it doesn't matter ... because Scientology has absolutely nothing to do with the case. She then doubles down on her belief that Jean's elder abuse contributed to her dad's death.

She also insists no money she or her siblings have received from their father went to Scientology, as Jean has also claimed.

If you don't know ... police in Washington opened an investigation into Kasem's death last month at the request of Jean. As we reported ... they already filed a wrongful death suit against Jean in 2015.

Casey's children claim Jean removed him from an assisted living facility in California and took him on a 7-day journey all over the Western U.S. ... but when they returned, he had a massive bedsore that was deeply infected. The suit alleges Casey died as the result of a staph infection, UTI, and sepsis ... all brought on by Jean's neglect.

Jean's adamantly denied doing anything to harm her husband before he died. We got her outside the courthouse Wednesday, and she doubled down on her claims against the kids, and her ongoing legal battle for the estate. She's asking to be the executor of Casey's will ... but no decision has been made on that yet.

If Tekashi69 had access to his cell phone in prison, he'd see there's practically only one rapper everyone is listening to Wednesday on their way to work ... and it's him.

Despite a federal indictment that could get him locked up for life ... the Brooklyn rapper DOMINATED the charts less than 24 hours after his album, "Dummy Boy" dropped. We checked ... and 4 of Tekashi's tracks were in the top 5 on iTunes.

He rounded out the top 10 with tracks landing at No. 8 and 9.

Tekashi's whole album is also topping the charts, and he's getting residual success too. His mixtape "Day 69" -- released earlier this year -- has re-emerged at No. 51 on the chart.

"Dummy Boy" is also killing it on Amazon where it's top-paid digital album. What's amazing is all this comes on the heels of a snag in his distribution deal that delayed the record's release.

The success is really paying off for 6ix9ine's old label too. D!zzy from ScumGang Records tells TMZ ... they secured publishing rights on "Dummy Boy." The album was first supposed to drop with 10k Projects -- who fronted a ton of cash for the project -- but was switched to ScumGang last minute.

Tekashi talked a lot of trash on ScumGang this year, but we're guessing all this dough rolling in should help squash that beef -- and for what it's worth -- 10kP will get a refund for the cash they fronted.

It's interesting ... Tekashi's been embroiled in serious legal trouble for more than a year, yet top artists like Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, A Boogie and Tory Lanez are still lining up to work with him -- even if there's a very real risk of a drive-by shooting.

David Charvet claims former Team USA soccer star Jermaine Jones has been stalking him and threatening him with a GUN over the FALSE belief that he's having sex with Jermaine's wife ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We broke the story ... Charvet filed a request for a restraining order against Jones after the soccer star went on a social media tirade last week and publicly accused him of being a homewrecker.

Now, we've learned the request was GRANTED after Charvet painted a very frightening picture of how Jones has been terrorizing him privately.

Charvet claims he met Jones and his wife because their kids played together in L.A.

Charvet claims Jones and his wife, Sarah, have been separated for about 2 months -- and in November, Jones began blaming Charvet for the split ... and began sending him nasty text messages.

"Next time I see you me and you will clear all that sh*t ... Man I f*cking have a problem with you."

Charvet claims Jones later sent him threats stating he would "punch me in the face but for the fact that he would go to jail for that."

During the recent fires in California, Charvet says he evacuated -- but Jones stalked him and threatened to come find him at the place he was staying.

Charvet says Jones also sent him text messages of a recently purchased AR-15 assault rifle with a message to stay away and watch out.

Charvet says Jones' wife Sarah found the AR-15 rifle unlocked in Jermaine's closet -- and when she confronted him about the situation, he made more threatening comments.

Another scary moment went down on Nov. 23, when Jones drove to Charvet's gated community and attempted to get to David's home, according to the documents. Security turned him away but David was so scared he filed a police report.

Charvet says, "I am in tremendous fear for my safety that he will stop at nothing to find me, continue to stalk me and carry through with his combative and threatening behavior."

In his court docs, David falsely claims Jones had contacted TMZ to "pass a story that I was having an affair with his wife." Jermaine NEVER contacted TMZ. We learned of Jermaine's claims through his social media posts.

Charvet wants to make it clear in the court docs he's NOT having a sexual relationship with Sarah Jones -- "We are not romantically or sexually involved in any way whatsoever, we are simply friends."

The judge granted Charvet's request for a restraining order and Jones must stay 100 yards away from the actor at all times.

As we previously reported, Jones -- who was a star for Team USA in the 2014 World Cup -- had posted a picture of Charvet on Instagram with a devil over his face last week ... with messages accusing the actor of ruining his family.

Ariana Grande is putting on a brave face, somehow finding a way to soldier on after the huge upheaval in her life -- the loss of her beloved ... ponytail.

AG proudly rocked her new shorter 'do Tuesday night in L.A. while out for sushi dinner with her big bro, Frankie. Her fans were shocked last week when Ariana posted a pic revealing she'd chopped her famously long locks -- but this is the first time we've seen the cut in public.

Honestly, it doesn't look all that short. Definitely shortER, but looks like there's still enough to make a ponytail if she wanted.

The big question now ... which style will we see when her highly-anticipated music video for "Thank U, Next" comes out. As we first reported, it's gonna drop on Friday.

It's Priyanka Chopra's world and Nick Jonas is not just living in it ... he's living it up.

Nick and Priyanka were decked out in traditional Indian suits in her hometown of Mumbai Wednesday as they kicked off pre-wedding festivities. Priyanka wore an embroidered pastel blue suit and Nick sported a pink kurta.

They were outside Priyanka's parents' house as they headed to a puja -- think prayer service.

The couple's reportedly getting married this coming weekend in Jodhpur ... which is about a 12-hour drive outside of New Delhi. Nick's been 100 percent committed to following Indian traditions leading up to the big day. Remember ... the couple had a roka ceremony at their engagement party.

They're both "all in" -- bindis and all -- as the countdown continues.

Tekashi 6ix9ine has 99 problems, and one of them is allegedly pilfering a pile of money from Fashion Nova only to double cross the company on his new album, "Dummy Boy."

Tekashi's album "Dummy Boy" dropped Tuesday ... and one of the highlights is the track "MAMA," which features Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. The lyrics include, "Splish splash apple bottoms make that ass phat." It's catchy, but it has messed up a deal with Fashion Nova.

Record company sources tell us Tekashi inked a 6-figure deal with the clothing company, to include branding in his music video -- and according to the deal the lyric in question was supposed to go this way --  "Splish splash Fashion Nova make that ass phat."

Fashion Nova maybe naively believed Tekashi would deliver, so they gave him the entire amount up front. At first, it seemed things were hunky-dory, because the teaser to the track that Tekashi posted on Instagram included the Fashion Nova lyric.

Fashion Nova believed its deal with Tekashi was solid during the shooting of the music video for the song, which was derailed by a real shooting. And, check out the pic we got ... Fashion Nova is emblazoned on the screen with those phat asses.

Now we come to how Fashion Nova got screwed. The music video never got finished, and it's not going to be completed now that Tekashi is in custody. As for the song itself, when it was released the lyric was changed so the reference to Fashion Nova was deleted and replaced by Apple Bottoms.

As for why it was changed ... a source tells us Nicki Minaj was enraged because Cardi B has hooked up with Fashion Nova for a new clothing line, so she asked Tekashi to 86 the brand from the song and he obliged.