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9:09 AM PT -- A few key takeaways from Monday's hearing:

-- Spacey's legal team wants to get its hands on the alleged victim's actual phone because they believe they can extract messages they claim were already deleted, and excluded from the digital date the prosecution turned over.

-- Spacey's lawyers also want to get a hold of the alleged victim's mother's phone, because they believe that too could contain messages or information that could help Spacey's case.

-- The defense implored the judge to send the case to trial ASAP, as they believe the prosecution is inadequately prepared ... and filed charges prematurely without having their ducks in a row. Unfortunately for Kevin and co., that ain't gonna happen. The judge said the nature of the case and the juror selection process alone won't allow the trial to started until the fall, at best.

Kevin Spacey caught a lot of people by surprise Monday -- showing his face at a pretrial hearing in his groping case.

The disgraced actor is in a Massachusetts courthouse right now facing off with a judge in a pretrial hearing, which pertains to evidence his legal team has been trying to obtain from the prosecution team -- namely, cell phone data from the alleged victim.

Spacey's attorney gripes that the prosecution had access to the alleged victim's phone in late 2017 for about two weeks, and did not disclose that fact to the defense until very recently ... which Spacey's lawyer is pissed over. He believes there's exculpatory evidence on that phone that can help prove Spacey's innocence, and that the prosecution was purposely hiding it.

Even crazier ... Spacey's attorney claims that messages were deleted from the phone that made reference to the alleged victim's "frat boy" tendencies, and he was never made aware of that until now. He also says a lot of messages and screenshots on the guy's phone have been "cleansed" and deleted that could hurt their case. Long story short ... he's outraged.

KS has been a no-show for the majority of hearings in this case, so he surprised everyone by showing up suited and booted Monday morning. The last time he was in court was January, when he was arraigned in the case ... in which he pled not guilty. He popped up in L.A. a couple months later.

A former employee of R. Kelly told a grand jury the singer regularly recorded tapes of his sexual encounters with underage girls and kept them as trophies ... and they're now believed to be in the hands of the feds.

Sources directly connected to the case tell TMZ ... the ex-employee testified in front of a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois Thursday, and claims to have been in possession of multiple tapes in which the singer engages in sex acts with minors.

We're told the former employee told grand jurors R. Kelly paid a large sum of cash to the employee and in return, the employee handed a tape over to the singer. We're told somehow the tape in question ended up in the hands of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx.

Our sources say the ex-employee testified they gave the feds several other child sex tapes featuring Kelly.

We're told the former employee said R. Kelly's crew knew full well Kelly had a penchant for having sex with underage girls, but rather than blow the whistle on him, they actually helped the singer procure young girls.

R. Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, tells TMZ, "This seems to be the same claims that were made in the state case. We will address them in court."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois declined to comment.

As we've told you ... the federal grand jury in IL has heard testimony from alleged victims who say the singer and his camp transported them across state lines for sex when they were underage.

A Miley Cyrus fan got way too up close and personal with the singer as she and Liam Hemsworth were trying to leave their Barcelona hotel.

Miley and her husband were attempting to get to their car Sunday, but a huge crowd was gathered outside to get a glimpse of them -- and one fan managed to get his arm around Miley's neck.

Liam was walking just a couple of steps in front of Miley -- trying to clear a hole for her -- when the fan reached out, groped her hair and then yanked her closer by her neck, trying to kiss her.

You can see Miley push away and someone else reach in to shove the fan away.

Jenelle Evans and David Eason were threatened at their home moments after losing custody of their daughter ... when they received a white powder substance by mail.

According to a police report, obtained by TMZ, cops responded to Jenelle and David's North Carolina home back on May 15 to report the suspicious package. It appears cops responded to a 911 call made by David.

The couple reported the substance just moments after they lost custody of their 2-year-old daughter, Ensley. CPS removed her around 11:30 AM ... and cops responded for the white powder around noon. The case remains under investigation, and it's unclear if the powder was a real threat or a hoax.

As we've reported ... the ex-'Teen Mom' star and David also lost custody of 9-year-old Jace and 4-year-old Kaiser after a judge decided there were serious issues with the couple that put the children at risk.

The mailed threat is just the latest fallout since David brutally killed the family's French bulldog, Nugget. In addition to their custody issues, MTV fired Jenelle from "Teen Mom 2."

As we first reported ... the couple has said they'll go to therapy in an effort to regain custody of the kids.

Jay-Z's got something else to brag about -- he's the first hip-hop artist to be worth ... ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

Jay's net worth is officially in the 3-comma club, according to a new Forbes report that totaled all of his income from multiple business ventures and subtracted "a healthy amount to account for a superstar lifestyle."

When it's all said and done, here's a breakdown of the value of his stakes in the empire he's created:

-- $310 million for Armand de Brignac champagne

-- $220 mil in cash and investments, including a $70 million stake in Uber

-- $100 mil for D'Usse cognac

-- $100 mil for Tidal

-- $75 mil for Roc Nation

-- $75 mil for his music catalog

-- $70 mil art collection

-- $50 mil in real estate

Add it up ... and that's a cool billion. Needless to say, this doesn't include the net worth of his other half, Beyonce. The couple has been worth more than a billion combined for quite some time now.

Of course, Jay's claim as the first hip-hop billionaire could be contested by one Dr. Dre, who said he'd accomplished the feat way back in 2014 after his $3.2 billion deal with Apple.

Forbes said Dre jumped the gun though, and was only worth $800 million at the time.

Sorry, Dre ... looks like Jay runs this town.

Miles Teller is done filming "Top Gun: Maverick" ... so it's time for some serious R&R with his smoking hot GF.

Miles and his model GF, Keleigh Sperry, are vacationing in Maui giving EVERYONE a salty taste of the envy bug ... thanks to his chiseled bod and her flawless bikini figure. Miles is clearly keeping up his buff bod after pumping iron for the film. Ditto for the porn 'stash!!! Miles, of course, will play the son of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw.

Kylie Jenner had one of those moments all moms fear this weekend, but fortunately her little one is back home and doing fine.

Kylie revealed her Sunday was spent in the hospital with her daughter, Stormi, who she says suffered an allergic reaction. She described the scary incident, saying ... "Nothing else matters when these things happen. God bless all the moms with sick babies. I'm sending so much love and positive energy your way."

The good news is her 16-month-old baby with Travis Scott is "100% okay now" ... and she posted a pic of Stormi recovering and sleeping at home.

Stormi's medical scare clearly moved her mom ... Kylie shared a photo of the sun setting over her backyard with a child's play set and captioned it ... "blessed beyond words. thank you God. i believe in being reflection of what you'd like to receive. If you want love, give love. If you want success, wish success."

Donald Trump and Melania are finally greeting Queen Elizabeth in the UK ... and the pomp and circumstance is quite the show.

The Prez and First Lady arrived at Buckingham Palace Monday for lunch with the Queen and several other royals, including Prince Charles and Camilla. Trump will reportedly also mingle with Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry ... but NOT Meghan Markle, who's on maternity leave taking care of baby Archie.

Of course, it's quite possible Markle is simply avoiding the U.S. president, who she slammed and called "misogynistic" in 2016 when he was a candidate. Trump responded to news of her comments this weekend by saying ... "I didn't know that she was nasty."

POTUS also kicked off his trip to London by insulting the mayor, Sadiq Khan, on Twitter upon landing ... calling him a "stone cold loser" and saying he's "foolishly 'nasty' to the visiting President of the United States."

Remember, Trump was supposed to make this visit in February 2018, but canceled amid widespread protests in the UK.

It's all water under the London Bridge apparently, because QE2 rolled out the red carpet and the usual ceremonies ... including firing off cannons and a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Her Majesty will host a fancy dinner Monday night for the Trumps, which is expected to be accompanied by mass protests outside. Many protesters have already arrived.

"See you in the Bay, Aubrey ... You weren't talkin' tonight, were ya!?"

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson gave Drake an earful after the Warriors tied up the series in the NBA Finals on Sunday ... returning the epic trash talk the rap superstar delivered after Game 1.

The exchange was captured right as the Dubs were heading into the locker room after the game ... when someone called for them to come back because Drizzy was about to walk by.

That's when KD and Klay went IN on the 6 God ... calling him a "bum ass" and saying the win over the Raptors was "light work."

"It's alright, it's okay, we still got more games to play," KD added.

Drake -- who got all up in Draymond Green's face after the Raps took Game 1 -- surprisingly handled the trash talk really well, hitting them back with "You squeezed that [win], by the way."

Game 3 is on Wednesday ... so Drake's got a few days to come up with a better comeback.

Nicolas Cage and Erika Koike do divorce quickly too!

Three months after the exes tied the knot in a spur of the moment Las Vegas wedding ... they are officially divorced. According to court records, the judge in Clark County, NV granted their divorce on Friday, May 31.

Remember, Nic had filed for an annulment of the marriage -- 4 days after their "I dos" -- claiming the union was based on fraud, because Erika didn't disclose a couple little things: her criminal history and her relationship with another person.

The marriage was rocky almost immediately. Hours after the March 23 wedding they were fighting very publicly near the valet at the Bellagio.

We also got pics of them in a heated argument moments prior to getting married.

Erika opposed Nic's move to annul, and a month later filed docs saying the marriage was not only totally legit, but also that she wanted spousal support -- for 4 days of marriage.

Based on the docs, it seems Nic failed to score the annulment, and settled for a good old fashioned divorce. It's unclear if Erika is getting support. We've got calls into Nic's reps.

Bottom line is they're both single and ready to mingle. Hopefully not anywhere near a Vegas chapel.

Zak Bagans has been forced to shut down his haunted rocking chair exhibit ... and the devil may have made him do it.

The "Ghost Adventures" star tells TMZ ... the exhibit's closure at his famous Haunted Museum in Vegas comes on the heels of several people experiencing paranormal activity on May 28 ... opening night of the exhibit and a month after buying the "Devil's Rocking Chair." The chair has ties to famed paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren and the notorious "Devil Made Me Do It" case.

Check out the vid ... we're told the frightening episode started 20 minutes before the first tour group visited. Zak and a friend noticed the door to the chair's room slowly creak open all by itself. Zak also says a light focused on the chair went out when a power cord was mysteriously yanked out of the wall.

Two hours later, he says a woman collapsed, began bawling and asked, "Why is this happening to me?" Shortly thereafter, she fell unconscious ... according to Zak, who adds the woman was upstairs, directly above the rocking chair exhibit.

Later, Zak says 5 of his tour guides throughout the museum started crying uncontrollably.

After just a few tours on opening night, Zak says the stress was too much and forced him to shut down altogether for the night. For now, Zak says the haunted rocking chair exhibit is closed until further notice.

As we first reported ... Zak dropped $67k for the chair. It's the focal point to the horror book believed to be the plot of "The Conjuring 3," with Vera Farmiga returning as Lorraine Warren.

We know who won't be there when and if Zak reopens the chair exhibit, and that's his pal, Post Malone.

Multiple NBA teams have had high-level conversations about doing away with the term "owner" over the past year -- and at least two teams have already made the switch, TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told the conversations essentially center around the idea that the term, owner -- in a league where the majority of the players are black -- feels racially insensitive.

Several high-ranking sources from multiple teams tell us people have been talking about the issue for a while but it gained steam in late 2018 when Draymond Green appeared on LeBron James' show, "The Shop," and argued against teams using the term.

"You shouldn't say owner," Green said ... noting the title should be changed to either CEO, Chairman or something like Majority Shareholder.

During the show, Jon Stewart agreed and explained, "When your product is purely the labor of people then owner sounds like something that is of a feudal nature."

Around the time that episode aired, the Philadelphia 76ers made the decision to change their titles from Owners to Managing Partners and 76ers Co-owners are now called Limited Partners.

In Los Angeles, Steve Ballmer -- who was billed as Owner for the first couple of years after he took over the Clippers -- is now listed as Chairman on the team's website. It appears that change occurred in early 2018.

Several teams are still using the term owner -- and we're told there's no real pressure coming from the NBA to change their titles.

What's interesting ... Draymond's team -- the Golden State Warriors -- still lists Joe Lacob as the owner of that team.

We reached out to the NBA ... and a spokesperson for the league provided us the following statement.

Ray J is making a major investment in his new legal marijuana biz ... and he's kicking off his very own weed venture by hawking joints named after -- who else -- himself!!!

Our Ray J sources tell TMZ ... he's already poured in $5,000,000 to fire up a cannabis company in Cali, and the first rollout will feature pre-rolled joints, dubbed, "Ray Jay's."

As you see in the video, Ray J ain't playing around when it comes to his plants ... he's already got a greenhouse stocked with rows and rows of dank, and the flowers look like the stickiest of the icky!!!

The company is called William Ray LA, and Ray J's assembling a top-notch gang of ganja experts specializing in growing, branding and marketing herb ... and he's going to put his stamp on the biz with his own personal knowledge and expertise. See, smoking pot has tons of benefits!!!!

Ray's manager, David Weintraub, tells us the company's aim will focus on non-traditional marketing strategies in media, music and entertainment.

Sativas and indicas aren't the only things Ray J is hawking ... his enterprise will also offer services to other growing companies looking to expand their reach. Ray J has big plans to expand throughout the country.

Ray J and Mary J ... now that's a vibe.

The stars of VH1's "Black Ink Crew: Chicago" allegedly beat the hell out of a guest at a party for their show ... and now the dude's fighting back with a lawsuit.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Ronnie Spates claims he was viciously attacked by 'Black Ink' stars Ryan Henry, Van Johnson, Don Brumfield and Junior Diaz during a December bash in Chicago ... and he says the reality show's production company wanted a fight to break out to make better TV.

Spates claims he was an invited guest minding his own business at the party when Henry, Johnson, Brumfield and Diaz began kicking the crap out of him. He says the brutal beatdown left him licking serious wounds.

Spates claims show producers fueled the party with loads of booze and actively sought to encourage situations that would lead to conflict, verbal spats and physical altercations ... just so they could create explosive content.

TMZ broke the story ... cops were called to the party after it allegedly got violent. Our law enforcement sources say Junior Diaz was accused of sucker punching a guest, presumably Spates. Police say when they arrived at the scene, they found Spates bleeding from the mouth and disoriented, and he was taken to a hospital for stitches.

Spates is suing the reality stars and Big Fish Entertainment over the incident ... and he's seeking a big payday.

This little girl was a cute and stylish little baller before a superhero role changed her life. The superhero itself made history as the first series about an out gay superhero character with an out character donning the famous costume. Before nailing this role ... this youngster was an Australian model who cut her teeth on MTV Australia. She later landed on "Australia's Next Top Model" but really made her mark in the acting world on Netflix's hit series "Orange is the New Black."

She's also got some strong pipes ... releasing her first single in 2012.

One of the men who was wrongfully convicted as part of the Central Park Five says karma's a bitch for ex-prosecutor Linda Fairstein, who's getting crucified on social media in the wake of a new show about the case and its aftermath.

Raymond Santana -- who was one of the teenagers arrested, prosecuted and eventually convicted in connection to the brutal 1989 rape and beating of a female jogger -- tells TMZ ... the online movement to #CancelLindaFairstein and boycott her books is warranted.

Fans have taken to Instagram and other platforms, calling for retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to remove Fairstein's book collection from their shelves on the heels of Netflix's new series, "When They See Us" -- which covers the how the case was handled by Fairstein and others, as well as how it impacted Raymond and the rest of the so-called CP5.

He believes Fairstein -- who became a successful author of mysteries and children's books -- is facing her comeuppance right now, which he takes no issue with. In fact, he says it quite bluntly ... "Even if it's 30 years later, she has to pay for her crime."

Fairstein was head of the Sex Crimes Unit for the D.A.'s Office, and she reportedly got confessions from the boys under duress and pressure from police. All 5 men were eventually fully exonerated in 2002, despite having spent years behind bars.

Raymond also takes a jab at the many reporters and civilians who were quick to label them as criminals before a trial got underway, including Donald Trump ... who called for their execution in a newspaper ad that circulated quickly after the crime.