TMZ.com Home

Safaree says he isn't worried about potentially running into his ex, Nicki Minaj, on the red carpet at the VMAs ... but he does have some advice for her.

We got the 'Love & Hip Hop' star Monday as he was heading to Radio City Music Hall in NYC to attend the MTV awards show when he took some clear shots at Nicki on the heels of their online beef ... not to mention all her other Twitter squabbles this week.

As we reported ... Safaree claimed Nicki once tried to stab him with a knife in 2014 -- she called him a liar. Nicki also called out Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner over the weekend for working together to push his album sales past hers on the charts.

Safaree's got some thoughts on that too ... pick your battles, Nick. And grow with the times.

Our guy also asks if he beefed up security to avoid any nasty run-ins with Nicki on the red carpet -- like MTV brass is already doing to accommodate the feuding exes -- but he insists he's only rolling deep as a result of his robbery earlier this year.

It's unclear if KiKi loves Drake -- but one thing's for sure ... he definitely loved one little girl's "KiKi Challenge," 'cause he made a point to visit her in Chicago.

Drake stopped by the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Monday to meet up with 11-year-old Sofia Sanchez -- who turned 11 on Saturday. Her birthday wish -- to meet Drizzy.

She got on Drake's radar after she posted an "In My Feelings" dance video ... weeks after undergoing open heart surgery and waiting for a heart transplant.

Sources close to the rapper tell us Drake saw the video and wanted to oblige, so he swung by the hospital to meet her.

We're told he spent an hour in her room and they talked about a lot ... from his music, her love of cheerleading and their shared interests (Bieber, owls, and basketball). They even touched on her GoFundMe page.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. has done an about-face and now says it will investigate allegations by a man that he was sexually assaulted by Asia Argento when he was 17 years old.

Several Sheriff's officials told TMZ Monday morning the department would ONLY investigate if the alleged victim -- now 22-year-old Jimmy Bennett -- came forward and filed a complaint. One official now tells us the media attention on the case has made them do an about-face.

Bennett claims when he was 17, Argento -- who became one of the first women in the #MeToo movement to accuse Harvey Weinstein of rape -- plied him with alcohol, performed oral sex on him and then got on top of him and had intercourse ... this according to documents obtained by the New York Times.

April Ryan is throwing some serious shade at Omarosa ... saying she never put pen to paper because she used a ghostwriter.

Ryan -- who has reported at the White House for more than 20 years -- bashes Omarosa for her secret recordings and being a backstabber.

April says her upcoming book, "Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House," unlike Omarosa's book, is the real deal.

As for bowing down to Trump before she broke ranks ... April says O shouldn't wait for invites to the church social anytime soon.

Andrea Bocelli's one tough son of a gun ... he's back to riding horses nearly a year after falling off one.

The famous Italian tenor got back on this beautiful stallion Monday on Miami Beach. The 59-year-old strapped on his riding boots but, equestrian be damned -- shorts and a T-shirt will do.

As we reported ... Andrea suffered a head injury last September while riding near Pisa, Italy. The fall was so scary he had to be airlifted to a hospital. Good news though -- a rep at the time told he us he was doing well after his hospital visit. Clearly the fall wasn't gonna deter him.

Asia Argento's got some nerve being the face of the #MeToo movement ... so says Harvey Weinstein's attorney.

The ex-studio mogul's attorney, Ben Brafman, tells TMZ "this development reveals a stunning level of hypocrisy by Asia Argento, one of the most vocal catalysts who sought to destroy Harvey Weinstein."

Brafman goes on to say, "What is perhaps most egregious, is the timing, which suggests that at the very same time Argento was working on her own secret settlement for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor, she was positioning herself at the forefront of those condemning Mr. Weinstein, despite the fact that her sexual relationship with Mr. Weinstein was between two consenting adults which lasted for more than four years."

As we reported ... Asia -- one of the first Weinstein accusers -- will NOT be investigated by the LAPD unless her alleged victim, Jimmy Bennett files a report.

Cardi B was friendly and talkative with our photog Monday ... UNTIL we brought up the Travis Scott /Nicki Minaj feud.

We got Cardi B at The London NYC hotel ahead of the VMAs ... and she confirmed our report, there will be no musical performance from the "Bodak Yellow" singer. She'll open the show with some sort of monologue or skit ... but that's it. She says she's a little under the weather ... and will only perform when she feels better.

Matt Barnes is gearing up for Baby #3 -- his model girlfriend is pregnant ... and we're told they're both stoked about it!

The recently retired NBA star has been dating Anansa Sims -- daughter of legendary supermodel Beverly Johnson, as reported by Bossip. Anansa is a pretty famous self-described plus-size model who's been featured in tons of fashion mags.

Sources tell us ... Anansa is due in December.

As for their relationship, we're told -- "They are both happy and their families and friends are super supportive."

One source close to Matt tells us, "She's just really sweet and brings out the best in him. It's a good pairing."

Anansa has three kids from a previous relationship with ex-football player David Patterson. Barnes has twins from his previous relationship with Gloria Govan.

Congrats!

A former 'Steve Harvey Show' actress abandoned her estranged husband after he suffered a stroke, and left him completely broke and on his ass ... according to the gent himself.

Wendy Raquel Robinson's estranged hubby, Marco Perkins, claims in divorce docs -- obtained by TMZ -- he needs Wendy to pay him significant spousal support when their divorce is all said and done 'cause she allegedly left him destitute after he had a stroke back in 2015.

Marco says he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle while married to Wendy, and is asking a judge to make her cough up at least $10,000 a month so he can maintain that life -- adding that she can afford it, since he believes her monthly income is in the ballpark of $200k/month.

We broke the story ... Marco filed for divorce last week after 15 years together with Wendy. They have no minor children.

This just in ... LESTER HOLT CAN SING!

The "NBC Nightly News" anchor got out from behind the desk Sunday night and took center stage at the Hill Country BBQ joint in NYC to sing his face off -- and it's pretty good!

Holt channeled his inner Bill Withers and belted out the 1977 hit "Lovely Day" with his band, The Rough Cuts.

The whole thing went pretty smoothly -- but Lester definitely loses some cool points for having to check his lyrics sheet a few times during the set. Come on man, it's a classic!!!

Asia Argento will not go under the microscope of cops for the alleged sexual assault involving a 17-year-old ... law enforcement sources tell TMZ.

Argento settled with Jimmy Bennett for $380k for an incident that went down at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina del Rey, CA ... this according to the NYT. The paper cites documents showing when Jimmy was 17, Argento gave him alcohol, kissed him, pushed him on the bed, performed oral sex on him and then climbed on top of him to have intercourse.

Argento did not ask for an NDA because, as one of the first Harvey Weinstein rape accusers, she felt confidentiality documents protected the bad guy. Instead she bought the copyright to a photo of the 2 of them in the hotel bed wearing nothing on top. He also gave up his right to civilly sue her.

We're told the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. will only investigate sex crimes if the alleged victim comes forward and complains. A source from the Sheriff's Dept. told us if Bennett were still a minor and they learned of the incident in the media they would open an investigation, but since he's now 22 they will not.

Well, Jon Gruden hates Tom Cruise movies.

The Oakland Raiders coach was asked about his reported $100 million deal with the team -- and while trying to explain his high salary ... he randomly took a shot at Tom Cruise.

Here's the quote from his interview with Peter King ...

"I’m not making $100 million, just so you know. Well, I never thought Tom Cruise, never thought his movies were any good but he’s making plenty of money."

Weird and random Tom Cruise shot -- but alas, there's more.

"There’s a lot of things that I don’t understand. No disrespect to Tom Cruise. I’m sure he’s a great actor. But you know what? You just go about your life as hard as you can. You try to find something you love and you do the best you can at it."

No word on why Jon dragged Tom Cruise into the conversation -- maybe he finally got around to seeing "Rock of Ages" or "The Mummy" ... both trash.

But what Gruden's clearly forgetting in his weird Tom Cruise rant is "Top Gun" and "Jerry Maguire" and "Jack Reacher" (the first one) was actually pretty solid.

And several people in this office are adamant the new 'Mission Impossible' movie was "f**king awesome" and they're actually mad at Gruden for throwing shade.

By the way, Jon Gruden had a cameo in "DRAFT DAY" -- THE WORST FOOTBALL MOVIE EVER MADE!!!

Aerosmith will be the closing act for the 2018 VMAs this week -- and it might very well give us a glimpse of what's to come in Vegas.

Sources close to the band tell us Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and co. are taking the stage Monday night at Radio City Music Hall in NYC to close out MTV's award show. We're told they're going to be performing their smash hit "Walk This Way."

We got the band out in NYC Monday ... and each member seemed to drop hints at a possible collab for their performance.

Considering the size of the venue, it'll be the perfect warm-up for Aerosmith ... the band's got a Vegas residency coming up. As we reported ... the band announced they'll be hitting the strip next Spring and putting on 18 shows at the MGM Grand Park Theater ... which seats 5,200 people.

RCMH seats more people -- a skosh over 6,000 -- but is significantly smaller in square footage. All in all ... we're guessing it'll be good practice for the Boys from Boston on a smaller stage than what they're normally used to. Might as well get it in early and often.

Also noteworthy ... Aerosmith had a pretty epic opening performance at the VMAs in 1999, where they also played "Walk This Way" ... but had some help from Kid Rock and Run-D.M.C.

Question: What's black and white and red all over?

Answer: Ed Sheeran and Don McLean performing 'Vincent' together. And it's beautiful.

The two got together to perform the song as part of a fundraiser in the Pacific Palisades for UCLA Health and Teen Cancer America ... but before they hit the stage, they got together for a private rehearsal.

Sheeran brought the guitar -- and his finest red cargo shorts -- and strummed away while he and Don took turns with the verses.

72-year-old McLean was clearly impressed with his 27-year-old duet partner -- saying, "Ed is a quick study...turned out great"

Billy Bush is willing to fork over spousal support, but he wants his estranged wife to budge when it comes to custody of their 2 minor kids.

In new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Billy says he wants joint physical and legal custody of their 13 and 17-year-old daughters. Billy's estranged wife, Sydney Davis, had wanted joint legal and primary physical custody, so it seems a battle may be brewing on that front.

As far as spousal support, Sydney requested it and Billy didn't fight it.

TMZ broke the story ... Sydney filed legal docs to end the marriage last month, citing irreconcilable differences.

Lisa Marie Presley won't have to pay her estranged hubby spousal support ... 'cause the postnuptial agreement they signed in 2007 says she doesn't have to pony up a penny and it's ironclad.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the judge said the agreement Michael Lockwood signed in 2007 -- after they married in 2006 -- is legit. Michael gave up his right to spousal support, something they've been at war over for the last week.

Even though Michael testified he had NOT read the postnup when he signed it, the court ruled signing it on the advice of his attorney holds up because it means he understood what he was signing based on what his lawyer was telling him.

This is just the latest in Lisa and Michael's divorce war. She was ordered back in February to pay him $100k in legal fees.