TMZ.com Home

Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict's vicious hit on Jack Doyle has landed him a season-ending suspension ... the league announced on Monday.

Burfict -- who has a history of dirty plays -- was ejected from Sunday's game after hitting the Colts player with a helmet-to-helmet tackle.

The NFL handed down the severe punishment on Monday ... with VP of football operations saying in a letter to Burfict straight-up, “There were no mitigating circumstances on this play."

"Your contact was unnecessary, flagrant and should have been avoided. For your actions, you were penalized and disqualified from the game.”

The suspension is an NFL record for one violent play. Burfict has been suspended multiple times as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, which also contributed to the punishment.

“Following each of your previous rule violations, you were warned by me and each of the jointly-appointed appeal officers that future violations would result in escalated accountability measures. However, you have continued to flagrantly abuse rules designated to protect yourself and your opponents from unnecessary risk.”

“Your extensive history of rules violations is factored into this decision regarding accountability measures.”

The angry little bagel guy may have made a big mistake by pulling out of his "celebrity" fight at the last minute ... because the promoter's lawyered up and wants to hit him where it hurts, legally speaking.

Chris Morgan surprised everyone involved with his scheduled boxing event Saturday night in Atlantic City by announcing on Twitter hours before that he'd fooled them all ... and had no intention of showing up to get beat up.

We're told promoted Damon Feldman is PISSED about the ruse, and has retained an attorney to explore legal options to take against Bagel Guy.

Our sources say Morgan didn't give anyone a heads up on backing out, so Feldman and other promoters found out he wasn't coming when everyone else did ... which forced them to scramble to find a replacement.

Too Short is leaving the player life behind ... and moving forward with fatherhood!!!

Sources close to the "I'm a Player" rapper tell TMZ ... Too Short is a proud father, welcoming his first child into the world at the tender age of 53, and he's been keeping the news under wraps until now.

Our sources say Too Short's girlfriend, Sue, gave birth to their daughter back in December ... and they named their baby girl Yani Shaw.

Too Short is wasting no time introducing his daughter to the spotlight from an early age ... we're told he's already been shooting a documentary with Ray J and his manager, David Weintraub, and the film's all about raising their little girls in Hollywood.

Mama June's family hasn't given up on her ... despite the fact she seems done with them. The fam wants to grab just a couple minutes with the reality star in what can best be described as a Hail Mary.

Sources close to June tell us her sister, Joanne, has spearheaded an effort to get June away from her BF, Geno. The next step, they say, is getting June professional help she desperately needs for her addiction issues. They know ... unless Geno's out of the picture, it's all futile.

June and Geno were in court in Alabama Wednesday when Geno lashed out, shouting slurs at photogs. We spotted a film crew documenting Joanne's efforts to help her sister.

In our video from the parking lot, Geno hugs a woman -- that's Joanne -- and you see her follow June and Geno go to their car ... as she begs June to grab lunch and talk. It's all to no avail because June slams the door in Joanne's face.

Phil Collins is living proof his Not Dead Yet tour is an accurate measure of his physical well-being, because he's still kicking after taking a nasty backward fall.

Phil was performing at his Not Dead Yet Tour Sunday night at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC. In between songs, the 68-year-old singer walked over to a chair with an assist from a cane. He was eager to enjoy a front-row seat to his son's sick drum solo.

Problem was ... Phil's momentum took him backward. As you can see and hear in the video ... the audience gasped in shock while stage crew members ran over to help him up.

DaBaby's concert Saturday night got way out of hand, with a female fan getting knocked out cold by the rapper's hired muscle.

DaBaby was performing at the Free Water Block Party In New Orleans and things were going okay, until 30 minutes into his set, when he jumped into the crowd -- something he does at all of his concerts.

Apparently, this time around, the crowd got a little too aggressive for his security. You see a female fan run over to him, trying to get a photo.

LeBron James says the NCAA bill that CA governor Gavin Newsom just signed is going to change "countless" lives ... and he's praising the guy for coming on his show to put pen to paper.

Newsom joined LBJ on "The Shop" this week ... and put his signature on a law that will allow athletes at California universities to profit off their names and likenesses without penalty for the first time ever.

Of course ... the bill was STRONGLY opposed by NCAA officials, who said it would create an unfair advantage and blur the "distinction between college and professional athletes."

But, Newsom clearly disagreed ... and LeBron was fired up to help give him the platform to make the public signing.

NASCAR star Bubba Wallace looked like a jerk Sunday ... dousing a sick driver with a drink and calling him a "bitch" -- and it's all 'cause he thinks the dude intentionally wrecked him.

Here's the deal ... during Sunday's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Wallace ran into several issues with fellow driver Alex Bowman.

On Lap 1, Bowman hit Wallace ... and 25-year-old Wallace was so PISSED over the incident -- he allegedly flipped off Bowman for the next few laps of the race.

Then, on Lap 42 ... Bowman hit Wallace AGAIN -- this time spinning him out in a turn and causing his car to crash into a wall.

Wallace was CLEARLY heated over the move ... 'cause after the race, he sought out Bowman -- who was being tended to by NASCAR docs for dehydration -- and threw his drink in his face!!

Joey Fatone's pulling back the curtain on how to survive "The Masked Singer" -- take a chill pill. Sounds simple, but just watch ... it's far from it!

We got Joey out at LAX and had to get his take on how to endure the elaborate costumes the 'Masked' contestants wear on the hit FOX series. As you know by now, Joey was the popular Rabbit singer during season one, and eventually finished in fourth place.

For future contestants, Joey says one thing that's inevitable is the constant sweating because they're in the costume for up to an hour at a time. So, don't sweat the sweat.

Even something as simple, normally, as taking a bathroom break becomes a great adventure. Joey says the whole experience created some very morbid thoughts in his head -- but overcoming his claustrophobia is the only thing that saved him.

Vanes Martirosyan -- a stud boxer who just fought Gennady Golovkin last year -- was arrested earlier this month and cops suspect he headbutted his wife.

TMZ Sports has learned 33-year-old Martirosyan -- a middleweight with a career record of 36-4 -- got into an argument with his wife in their Glendale-area home on Sept. 15.

Our law enforcement sources say the altercation started as a verbal fight ... but then things took a violent turn.

We're told the 5-foot-11, 175-pound boxer allegedly grabbed his wife by the arm and is believed to have headbutted her square in the face.

We're told she was able to flee the home ... and after cops showed up to the scene, they found her with a bruise on her arm and a messed-up nose.

It's unclear if this smiley girl grew up with a cousin named Seth or if she wore pink every Wednesday while growing up, but she definitely spent a lot of time in Allentown, Pennsylvania before hitting it big time in Hollywood.

Her mother was an occupational therapist and father a pharmacist. She started modeling when she was 11 and began acting in high school productions. She made it big in a screenplay by Tina Fey. She burst to stardom after landing the lead role in "Mamma Mia!" ... starring alongside Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth.

Air Drake is about to see some real-life liftoff from the public, 'cause the Sacramento Kings are gonna be using Drizzy's jumbo jet this week for a long trip to India.

The Kings announced some last-minute flight arrangements this weekend, saying owner Vivek Ranadive -- who's Indian-American -- got in touch with Drake's camp and cut a deal to have the players and a bunch of the coaching staff fly in his $200 million Boeing 767 jet.

They'll be in the air for 20-plus hours starting Monday, and seeing how this would be among the first preseason games of the year -- the Kings face the Pacers in Mumbai Friday and Saturday -- it looks like Vivek wanted to send his team over in style. Well, he nailed it.

People who stay talking about missing the "old Kanye" might wanna listen to this -- 'cause Mr. West was in NYC dropping bars like it was 2004 again ahead of his album drop.

Ye was in Jamaica, Queens Sunday at The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York, where he put on his weekly service with the help of the local congregation there -- and at one point, the MC did what he arguably does best (besides making music) ... spittin' rhymes!

Check it out ... Kanye joyfully rapped with the help of the choir behind him, and it sounds like the man was flowing from off the top. A pure freestyle, in other words.

He had the whole church rockin' with him too as he got everyone to put their hands up, jamming along to the music before eventually stepping back and letting another guy -- who looks like he might've been the pastor for the day -- take center stage again.

BTW, Ye had some talented company with him too. Word on the ground is Akon, Swizz Beatz and Alexander Wang were all in the building. So was Kim, North and Jonathan Cheban.

Robert De Niro obviously had A LOT more to say about the possible impeachment of President Trump, going on a CNN morning show and dropping f-bombs from the sky.

The actor was on Brian Stelter's "Reliable Sources" Sunday morning as a special guest, where he was asked about the impeachment inquiry opened against DT this past week ... and where he thinks things will go from here. Similar to our question, of course.

You'll recall ... we asked Bob just Saturday about this issue, and he somewhat surprised us by saying he'd actually rather have Mike Pence in office ... if it meant getting Donnie out.

Welp, RDN expanded on that a little with the CNN host ... making a pretty serious claim that he believes POTUS demonstrates "crazy" behavior, and he seemed to mean it literally. Stelter asked him if he was saying "crazy" in a medical sense, and Bob said possibly.

Bruce Springsteen seems stoked to see Jennifer Lopez and Shakira at the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show -- but, interestingly, he's not yearning for some good ol' rock 'n' roll.

We got the Boss Sunday in NYC, where we asked what he thought of the pop duo being announced as the headliners for Super Bowl LIV in February ... and he told us he thought they'd put on a fabulous show come halftime. He's a big fan of theirs, apparently.

Then, our photog asked an interesting question -- in light of Bruce's epic Halftime Show back in 2009, does he think Roger Goodell and co. are pivoting way too hard toward pop music ... and snubbing classic rock acts in the process for the big stage?

Aaron Carter might finally be gun-free, but he never said anything about giving up tattoos ... his face now being exhibit A of exactly that.

The singer debuted a new tat over the weekend, which is plastered right on the side of his mug ... taking up a massive section, which almost runs up to his forehead. The tattoo depicts what looks a lot like Medusa -- the Greek monster with snakes for hair.

He also has the word "Love" scribbled across the top of his cheek -- very Post Malone-like, right? It's unclear who commissioned the new ink, but Aaron documented a good portion of the process on his social media ... and seemed to be in good spirits about it.