TMZ.com Home

Terrence Howard says his new podcast won't pull any punches ... 'cause he plans to take on big-time Hollywood media companies -- something he describes as a "studio's nightmare and every actor's wet dream."

The veteran actor tells TMZ ... he recently started recording a new podcast that pulls back the curtain on the entertainment industry, and intends to release it to the public in the near future.

Howard will speak on the powerful figures behind the scenes in H'wood. Specifically, he tells us he's going to address his ongoing legal battle with CAA, claiming the talent agency allegedly asked him to accept a lower salary while he worked on "Empire." He also says he has plenty to say about the bigwigs over at Disney and FOX.

Insider trading is rampant on Capitol Hill and there needs to be new laws on the books to level the playing field ... so says a trading app founder who would lose his business if a major change ever happened.

Chris Josephs runs Autopilot, a trading app that lets regular folks copy stock trades made by some of Congress' most prescient portfolios, and he joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to tell us why he's confident Congress is using insider information to make a killing on the stock market.

Nancy Pelosi and Marjorie Taylor Greene are some of the alleged insider traders, and Chris says politicians from both sides of the aisle love to profit off crises ... he says it happened when the housing bubble burst, when Covid hit ... and is ramping up again with President Trump flip-flopping on tariffs.

Tish Cyrus might’ve smoothed things over with her daughter Noah after the whole man-stealing speculation -- but let’s be real, it kinda feels like she’s tiptoeing on thin ice again!

Catch this clip -- Noah was talking all about her fiancé Pinkus on Tish’s "Sorry We’re Cyrus" podcast, but honestly? Mama bear sounded more obsessed with the guy than Noah did!

Tish was gushing over Pinkus -- maybe a little too much -- dropping "I love him" like it was nothing. Noah even straight-up said she was shook when she found out her mom had been name-dropping her man on the regular in past podcast episodes!

Haley Joel Osment caused a stir at the chair lift before his arrest at California's Mammoth Mountain resort earlier this month -- and we have it on video.

Check it out ... "The Sixth Sense" star -- who's notably wearing his helmet backward -- is lined up and ready to pop a squat on the lift, but there's one thing missing -- his snowboard! Footage shows a female crew member trying to reason with him and remove him from the line, but he's insistent on getting up the mountain even without his board to bring him back down.

Haley's fellow skiers and snowboarders begin to grow impatient, with some even heckling him to get out of there. He ignores their demands ... but turns around and shrugs them off -- seemingly perplexed by their anger.

Here’s something you’d never catch on the TMZ Celebrity Tour … Rob Lowe getting mistaken for John Stamos on another company's celeb bus ride -- and let's just say, he did NOT let it slide!

Rob dropped the awks moment on his IG this week -- strolling up to the Hollywood Beverly Hills Tours bus and asking the passengers for a live identity correction after the guide boldly misidentified him as the "Full House" star ... and while he tried to laugh it off, you can totally clock some low-key rage bubbling under that perfect smile!

While Rob and John are the same age and share that classic heartthrob aura, the passengers didn't miss a beat, they knew exactly who he was -- leaving the tour guide red-faced.

Eric Mabius made sure cops knew he'd been cast in law enforcement roles for tons of Hollywood productions before they threw handcuffs on him and stuffed him in the back of a squad car ... new police video shows.

In body cam footage, obtained by TMZ, Eric pulls the celeb card while being arrested for battery in Florida.

Eric's interacting with Nassau County sheriff's deputies outside a bar when he tells them, "You know what's so funny, I play characters like you in movies all the time. I do ... I get paid money."

Bill Maher is scoffing at the far left for slamming him over his visit to the White House ... to paraphrase Mark Antony, he feels he should not be buried, he should be praised!

Bill joined the "2 Angry Men" podcast with Harvey and Mark Geragos, and made it clear ... he spoke truth to power when he broke bread with 47.

As for his evaluation of Trump -- that he was charming, jovial and even self-effacing -- Bill laughed at his critics, wondering if they wanted him to lie. As he said, what's the option -- pulling a Gretchen Whitmer, where she covered her face when a photog snapped a shot in the Oval Office?

Akon is happily joining the country music boom ... but unlike other rappers, he plans on re-recording his whole discography -- and giving people that honky-tonk twang!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Akon in NYC this week out signing autographs, and he tells us with a straight face he's been lining up country features for the last 5 years to remake his tracks -- and claims it's happening soon!!!

Akon is one of the rare artists who's achieved mega success on both the artist and executive fronts ... a compilation of his classics could totally be a Billboard winner.

Jesus can't take the wheel of one Louisiana bus -- 'cause it was blown sky high after the fuel tank ruptured and erupted ... and, the rapturous explosion was caught on video.

The incident went down in Shreveport, LA Wednesday ... with the Shreveport Fire Department releasing a statement claiming firefighters arrived on scene to find a SporTran bus burning -- with flames shooting out of the gas tank.

Shortly after SFD showed up, the bus blew up ... and, ya gotta check out the explosion 'cause it rocked the intersection -- flames billowing from its charred husk.

Multiple videos of Diddy beating up Cassie in a hotel hallway show "significant distortion" ... this according to a forensic video technician working for the rapper's team.

Conor McCourt -- a former New York City Police officer with years of experience analyzing video footage -- says in a sworn deposition that he has reviewed the clip CNN published, as well as another video of surveillance footage that was recorded on an iPhone 6 directly.

It's a bit confusing, but basically McCourt takes issue with both versions he's seen, first claiming the CNN vid appears sped up because it was converted from one file type to another in a process called "transcoding" ... which he claims adds, subtracts and duplicates frames.

9:42 AM PT -- Nathan Hochman just held a press conference detailing the reasons behind his latest motion to delay the resentencing hearing.

Mark Geragos fired back at Nathan Hochman by calling his decision to move the resentencing appalling ... adding he's "abused the victims" both privately and publicly.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is trying to kick the can down the road in the Menendez brothers' case ... filing a last-minute motion to push back Thursday's resentencing hearing.

Hochman filed the motion Wednesday night in L.A. County Superior Court to prevent today's much-anticipated hearing from going forward, arguing the court needs time to review the California parole board's risk assessment report for Erik and Lyle Menendez.

As you know, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the parole board back in February to conduct a risk assessment of the brothers before any clemency decision could be made.

Can you guess which famous model put her sexy silhouette on display in this eye-popping sexy shot? We'll tip you off with a few hints, but then it's on you to tie up the missing pieces 👙!

With nearly 5 million Instagram followers, she's definitely gathered her mega-following with her gorgeous looks and curvy assets #respect!

This Australian beauty enjoys traveling, and she's even been in some music videos for artists like Fai, Kanye West and Kevin Gates.

10:38 AM PT -- Next Generation Action Network president Dominique Alexander began the press conference several minutes after police sorted out the issue ... and he kicked things by ripping Jeff Metcalf for appearing uninvited. He called the man's behavior "inappropriate," and "a disrespect to the dignity of his son."

Alexander then went on to blast media members for spreading falsehoods about the Anthonys in wake of their son's arrest -- appearing to take the biggest issue with the family's GiveSendGo funds, which he was adamant nobody had access to until Wednesday.

Karmelo's mom, Kayla Hayes, then addressed reporters ... and emotionally pleaded for the threats and harassment she and her family have received to stop.

Alexander ultimately wrapped up the event by insisting this will be their last press conference until a trial for Karmelo begins.

Karmelo Anthony's family was slated to address the teen's murder charge at a news conference roughly an hour ago -- but they put a pause on the proceedings ... as the father of the boy who Anthony allegedly killed unexpectedly showed up to the event.

"American Idol" alum Doug Kiker -- who was known by the moniker "The Singing Garbage Man" -- died from an opioid overdose, TMZ has learned.

According to the City and County of Denver Medical Examiner's report obtained by TMZ, Doug died from the combined toxic effects of fentanyl, methadone, and amphetamines, with recent cocaine use -- and his death has been ruled an accident.

Kiker died last month, as confirmed to TMZ by his brother William and mother Joyce -- with his ex-fiancée, Valerie Cook, telling us she hates that her kids lost their father.

"Bernice" ... more like "BerNICE" 😍!

It's this gorgeous gal's 45th birthday, and we searched high and low for her sexiest shots -- which was easy to do, you can't keep your eyes off this hot bod!

As a businesswoman, social media star and model, she obvi takes her business seriously but when it comes to her looks, she turns it up even more ... keepin' that physique in tip-top shape!

With bikini shots like this, this hot mama gives a whole new meaning to the number 45 ... Cute, curvy and chic, Bernice's hot shots are hands down a BurGO!

9:54 AM PT -- A spokesperson for Universal Music Group tells TMZ ... "Drake, unquestionably one of the world's most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another. In Texas last November, his counsel instituted a legal proceeding with much fanfare and bluster. On Monday, they quietly dropped the case."

They continued ... "In New York in January, Drake's counsel filed a defamation lawsuit. Fearful of being sanctioned by the court for asserting false allegations, tonight they amended the complaint to withdraw them only to add more baseless allegations. Two weeks ago, his representatives celebrated a 'win': the granting of a routine discovery motion. That 'win' will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’

They concluded ... "Both the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and creative expression. Should his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success."

Drake says he has new ammo in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group ... and it's all because of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime show.

Champagne Papi just filed an amended complaint where he specifically mentions Kendrick's performance of "Not Like Us" at Super Bowl LIX.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Drake claims the show "assassinated" his character ... and he says Kendrick excluding the word "pedophile" from the lyrics backs up his claim that the song's content is defamatory.