Pastor to the stars John Gray III is reacting to Marvin Sapp's viral Church donation request -- telling ushers to close the doors until the congregation coughs up $40,000 -- and he says culture and context are key.
John tells TMZ ... Marvin is a good friend of his and he's seen a lot worse donation requests in other churches.
Pastor Gray says he understands why folks who weren't at the service are upset with the way Marvin went about raising money -- asking everyone in the crowd for $20 -- and he tells us why culture and context are being left out of the conversation in sole favor of optics.
Sexyy Red has a new pair of shoes ... and they're an expensive gift from a country singer she recently worked with.
TMZ obtained video of Sexyy Red being gifted a pair of $5,000 Christian Louboutin cowgirl boots ... courtesy of Caldwell.
Sexyy Red pulls up to their music video shoot for their collab, "Beer and Baddies," and Caldwell is waiting with the shoes in a gift box ... and he tells her he can be her "rich country baby daddy."
Sean Kingstonand his mother have been convicted in their federal wire fraud case.
The "Beautiful Girls" singer and his mom, Janice Turner, were found guilty Friday on all five charges they were facing.
Sean reportedly cried as the jury returned the guilty verdict ... and he told U.S. Marshalls to "protect my mother" as they remanded her into custody and took her away from the courtroom.
Resorts World casino in Las Vegas just got hit with a bad beat ... as the venue was fined $10.5 million in connection to a money laundering case involving a bookmaker who took thousands of bets for Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board dropped the news on Friday ... saying the two sides entered into a settlement over the "unsuitable methods of operation primarily resulting from activities at the licensed property by illegal bookmakers Matthew Bowyer and Damien LeForbes."
Along with the fine ... the Vegas location will be making changes to its executive leadership and implementing stricter protocols to prevent money laundering, but it will not have to admit or deny any of the allegations made against it.
Yella Beezy is back on the streets ... 'cause he made bail in the Texas murder case against him after his bond was reduced.
The rapper was released from custody Friday morning after posting a $750K bond ... about a week after he was arrested for allegedly intentionally and knowingly causing the death of Melvin Noble, AKA Mo3, who was shot to death in broad daylight on a Dallas highway in 2020.
While YB's bail was initially set at $2 million, a Texas judge lowered it Thursday at a bond reduction hearing.
Don't spit on "Hawk Tuah" girl's name in the crypto world, because she says the SEC's thorough investigation into her controversial meme coin is over, and she's walking away clean ... TMZ has learned.
Haliey Welch tells us, "For the past few months, I've been cooperating with all the authorities and attorneys, and finally, that work is complete."
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation after Haliey's meme coin, "$HAWK token," crashed in value after a rapid rise ... and left lots of investors -- many of them first-timers -- holding the bag.
JoJo Siwa’s getting a ton of backlash over her $900 "Dream Guest VIP" package experience ... but she never meant to make fans feel like roadies and turn them into unpaid staffers.
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Sources close to JoJo tell TMZ the VIP tour experience is all about making fans a part of the action and giving them some serious insight into how a tour is put together -- from getting a say in the night’s playlist to gaining backstage access while the crew sets up.
We're told the whole putting fans to work thing was never the plan -- but that's what people online latched onto, and have since been going in on JoJo.
Lauren Sanchez’s wedding to Jeff Bezos is the talk of the town, and frankly, the world -- and TMZ’s got some more exclusive deets, straight from her big brother!
TMZ caught up with Paul Sanchez outside a Home Depot Thursday, and he’s doubling down on what we all know -- Lauren and Jeff's wedding is gonna be huge. But, he takes it a step further, saying it's gonna be just as big as Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding to King Charles.
Catch the full video, 'cause Paul shared some deets on the venue, and the celebs he’s hoping to meet at this star-studded affair ... plus, what he's planning to gift his sis and bro-in-law-to-be, considering they already have it all.
Gospel singer and bishop Marvin Sapp is under fire for his unorthodox way of asking church members for donations ... because he's on video telling ushers to close the doors until a huge goal is met.
Resurfaced video from Marvin's sermon at the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World annual summer convention is going viral ... and folks are taking issue with Marvin's fundraising style.
In the clip, the gospel music legend-turned-preacher tells the ushers to close the doors until the 1,000 worshipers in the building donate $20 each.
Damon Dash is getting hit where it hurts -- in his pockets -- because he's been ordered to cough up several million dollars in a lawsuit filed by an old nemesis.
According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the movie and music producer was just hit with a $4 million default judgment in Josh Webber's defamation suit against him.
Webber filed the suit back in April 2024, claiming he lost out on a $4-million producing and directing gig because of some defamatory comments Damon made about him on a podcast.
Imagine being taught to shoot by Steph Curry, or throw a football by Tom Brady ... well that's exactly what happened for a boxing fan (and Crypto whale), who just got a one-on-one private boxing lesson from Floyd Mayweather!!
TMZ Sports has learned the 50-0 boxing pugilist took time out of his busy schedule to link up with Thai businessman (and reported billionaire) Acme Worawat, who is a huge fan of Floyd's,at TBE's Mayweather Fitness in Tribeca, NYC.
Our sources say the men are doing business together ... and the guys decided they wanted to get a workout in, so they hit up Mayweather's gym.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick misspoke when he commented about citizen reactions to the Trump administration's handling of Social Security -- at least, that’s what Georgia Rep. Rich McCormick seems to think.
Rich stopped by "TMZ Live" Monday and, while he’s giving Lutnick the benefit of the doubt, he thinks compassion is key when it comes to Social Security -- after all, it’s people’s own money coming back to them -- and they should never be denied their benefits.
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Secretary Lutnick said on a podcast last week that anyone who complains about delayed or missing Social Security payments is a "fraudster." Lutnick, who is a billionaire, said his 94-year-old mother-in-law would not call to complain if she didn't get her check this month, and explicitly said "whoever screams is the one stealing."
Fred Durstand Limp Bizkit are suing one of the biggest record companies in the world ... claiming they are getting royally screwed out of millions of dollars in royalties and other profits.
According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Fred and his band claim Universal Music Group has stiffed them on their share of royalties -- despite their music getting over 3 billion streams in the past two years alone.
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In the docs, Fred and Limp Bizkit claim UMG did not have any intention of ever paying them royalties and may be screwing tons of other artists out of streaming money.
12:25 PM -- Boosie Badazzis calling the Attorney General's legal threats "the ultimate betrayal" on Monday ... Boosie Bash 6 was first announced in 2024 and Caleb Wilson's hazing death happened a week before the show so capitalizing off the young man's death was NOT on his Bingo card.
ITS SAD FOR THIS LAWYERn FAMILY TO SAY I PROMOTED MY EVENT OFF SOMEONES PASSING‼️MY EVENT WAS PROMOTED ON EVENTBRITE SINCE NOV 14 .THIS INCIDENT HAPPENED A WEEK BEFORE MY EVENT WAS TO TAKE PLACE‼️HOW THE FUCK CAN I CAPITALIZE OFF SOMEONE DEATH FOR A CONCERT.”THAT AINT ME ““.A…
Boosie Badazz's attempt at a good deed isn't going unpunished ... after the parents of hazing victim Caleb Wilson denied him permission to create a scholarship in the student's honor!!!
The Louisiana rap star unveiled the scholarship plans during his 6th annual Boosie Bash Festival at Southern University ... a jam-packed weekend boosted by GloRilla, Sexyy Red, DaBaby, and a ton of festivities.
Boosie told local outlets about his plans to launch the Caleb Wilson Memorial Scholarship and even thanked Caleb's father for being a deciding factor when the event was facing cancelation.