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Ex-Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says giving owners a draft incentive to hire minorities is "like having Jim Crow laws" ... ripping the proposal as straight-up "offensive."

Remember, the NFL owners reportedly planned to vote on a proposal that would reward teams with a better 3rd round draft pick if they had hired a minority GM or coach.

While the proposal was tabled during the owners meetings on Tuesday, Lewis went off on the idea of giving teams an incentive to hire minorities in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

"It was offensive, definitely offensive," Lewis said. "It was like having Jim Crow laws."

As for compensating teams with draft picks? Lewis isn't happy with that, either.

"Draft picks are like gold. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. As a head coach, no one wants to be hired or put in that position."

Owners DID vote to expand the Rooney Rule to require teams to interview at least 2 minority candidates when hiring new coaches ... which Lewis says is a good thing.

"This will be a plus requiring more than one minority to be interviewed because it will cause them to take a deeper dive."

FYI -- there are currently 4 minority coaches and 2 minority GMs in the NFL, which is comprised of 32 total teams.

The L.A. County Coroner has identified the body found on L.A.'s Venice Beach as ex-WWE superstar Shad Gaspard ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The body was first seen on the beach by a citizen who called cops around 1:30 AM Wednesday ... according to our law enforcement sources. We're told officers responded and recovered the body right near Venice Pier.

A short time later, several people (we're told family members and close friends) gathered at the beach.

They were hugging, talking and crying. At one point, some of the people waded into the water.

The L.A. Fire Department held a news conference Wednesday morning, saying the body matches the description of Shad ... a 6'6" black male over 240 lbs.

As we first reported, he went missing on Sunday afternoon when a group of swimmers, including Shad and his son, Aryeh, got caught in a rip current south of the Pier.

Shad heroically told lifeguards to focus on getting his 10-year-old son to shore safely, but when they returned he'd gone under.

Police and Coast Guard boats and divers searched the rough water for nearly 2 days before suspending their efforts.

Shad loved hanging out at the beach, and less than 2 weeks ago he'd posted a heartwarming vid walking through the sand and surf with Aryeh. Shad wrote, "Love the life I built for my self and my family."

He was one-half of the popular WWE tag team, Cryme Time, along with his partner, JTG.

He was also a regular at the legendary Gold's Gym in Venice, and as we learned firsthand ... a truly great guy.

Shad is survived by his wife Siliana and their son.

He was 39.

RIP

A bizarre, racist video promoting Volkswagen's new Golf 8 made its way to the company's Instagram page ... so the German car company's saying sorry for what it calls an "insult to every decent person."

The ad -- which has been pulled, but not before spreading and being slammed on social media -- shows a black man being forced away from a parked VW by an oversized white hand ... before he gets flicked into a restaurant called Petit Colon.

That translates from French to the Little Colonist or Little Settler. It's also been pointed out as letters resolve on screen, at one point, they spell out a German word often used as a slur against black people. So yeah ... pretty freakin' racist.

A couple of company honchos -- head of sales and marketing Jürgen Stackmann and group head of diversity Elke Heitmüllerare -- are now on the apology tour. They acknowledge the racist content and say ... "We understand the public outrage at this. Because we're horrified, too."

They add ... "On behalf of Volkswagen AG, we apologize to the public at large for this film. And we apologize in particular to those who feel personally hurt by the racist content because of their own history."

Speaking of history, VW's isn't great when it comes to racism ... despite being the world's biggest automaker. In light of that, Stackmann and Heitmüllerare say ... "We're ashamed of [the ad] and cannot explain how it came about. All the more reason for us to make sure we clear this up."

A Domino's Pizza delivery guy who let his frustrations get the best of him and dropped a couple f-bombs on 2 teens who didn't tip their driver is now out of a job.

We broke the story ... the father of the 2 kids told us he let his daughter use his credit card to order some grub from Domino's, but when she signed for it, she mistakenly left the tip line blank. When the brother handed the driver the receipt, he was pissed ... and unloaded on him.

The dad tells TMZ ... he called Domino's that night and lodged a complaint ... the following day both the GM and owner of that franchise called to apologize to him and his kids.

On top of that, we're told the area supervisor and the store manager personally paid a visit to the family's home to deliver some gift cards for their trouble -- a $200 prepaid gift card for each teen, and a $100 Domino's gift card for the fam.

Not such a happy ending for the delivery driver though ... he got the ax.

The owner of the Domino's says the decision was made after reviewing the video and investigating the incident. The owner tells us ... "I am a small franchisee that is locally owned and operated, and we always strive to do what is right."

Megan Fox appears to be putting out mixed messages about her relationship status with Brian Austin Green -- her wedding ring's gone, but she's hanging on to something else of his.

The actress made an appearance Wednesday on a live stream hosted by home decor guru, Colin Wayne, who's the CEO of Redline Steel ... which recently partnered with Megan to plug their company and this $2 million Memorial Day giveaway she was hired to promote.

Her online gig was quite telling ... for a couple reasons.

For one, Megan wasn't wearing a wedding ring on camera -- mind you, this chat went down very shortly after Machine Gun Kelly released his new music video, which shows Megan and MGK in intimate scenes. Colin even congratulated her on it.

Reality is, Megan hasn't been wearing her ring for at least a week or two, and ditto for Brian. The weirder moment came when Colin asked her to show off some of her own Redline goodies ... so, she picked up a custom family tree with "GREEN" stenciled at the bottom.

MF referred to it as her "family name" -- going on to add that she's got one with her kids' names carved in it too. It was kind of an awkward moment, considering BAG himself all but confirmed they're dunzo just 24 hours earlier.

She probably ordered those trinkets in better times, but, at least publicly, Megan's not disavowing her estranged husband's last name. Not yet, anyway.

Roddy Ricch really is ballin' now ... along with his crew cause he hooked 'em up with some diamond-studded championship rings to celebrate his first-ever Grammy win.

The 21-year-old Compton MC will soon get his hands on these incredibly-baller rings produced by none other than Hollywood's favorite celebrity jeweler, Elliot Eliantte. We're told Roddy ordered 7 rings for him and his crew. Eliantte's been working on the bling for the past few months and he just finished them, so Roddy will soon have them delivered.

All in all ... we're told the rings are worth a whopping $250k. But, gotta give the kid some credit, celebrate big after a monumental win. As you probably know by now ... Roddy brought home a Grammy back in January after winning Best Rap Performance for "Racks in the Middle." The track featured Nipsey Hussle and Hit-Boy.

Aldon Smith says he's not worried about rust in his NFL comeback -- telling TMZ Sports he feels young, healthy and "blessed by God."

The 30-year-old pass-rusher was reinstated by the NFL after 5 years out of pro football due to several off-the-field issues including arrests stemming from substance abuse.

But, Smith -- a former 1st All-Pro -- says he's now clean and sober and focused on football. In fact, he's been busting his ass in L.A. with Jay Glazer and recently signed a 1-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys.

Some people would be concerned about readjusting to the speed of the NFL after 5 years off ... but Aldon says he's not sweating it at all.

"God has blessed me with talent," Smith tells us ... " And, one of the talents is my natural gift to play ball, to be an athlete."

"So, I still feel young. I don’t have the mileage on my body. I still feel great when I go to the gym. I still feel young and fresh. So, if anything, I’m looking forward to what I’m going to be able to do out there."

When asked if he thinks he has another 19.5 sack season in him -- the same numbers he posted back in 2012 -- Smith was confident about that, too!

"I’m an overall better person [than I was back then]," Smith says.

"I got 20 sacks ... 19.5 ... I say 20 because it was 20. But, I was able to play at a high level with a lot of other things going on in my life.  With how life is for me now, I’m just looking forward to seeing what I can do."

Before this little lady in a lego ride was building a career as a smoking hot actress and riding around on the streets of Hollywood she was just another sweet little girl going for a spin in Spokane, Washington.

Although this pint-sized princess has done a lot of growing to become a 22-year-old star ... she still has been able to hold onto her light-brown locks and perfect complexion.

Now that this wheely cute kid has lego of her good-girl image she's landed roles on shows like "Euphoria," "Handmaid's Tale" and "Sharp Objects."

Little Richard's family, friends and former band members gathered for the icon's graveside funeral -- a surprisingly low-key and private service for the legendary showman.

Little Richard, or Richard Wayne Penniman to those close to him, was buried Wednesday at the Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama.

The trailblazing rock 'n' roll star's niece, opera singer Brandie Sutton, sang during his service. Dr. Carlton P. Byrd delivered a eulogy, and Richard's family spokesman David Person gave some closing remarks before he was laid to rest.

As we reported ... Little Richard died earlier this month at his Tennessee home, surrounded by his brother, sister and son. His bass guitarist, Charles Glenn, told us Richard had been sick for a couple months before he passed.

The singer, of course, is known for his enormous influence over the rock 'n' roll genre, with insanely popular hits like "Tutti-Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally." The Beatles have credited him as an inspiration, and Richard paved the way for acts like James Brown, The Rolling Stones and even Michael Jackson further down the road.

As for his connection to Huntsville, he attended Oakwood University and studied theology on campus after he'd already become a rising music star. He also recorded many of his hits in Alabama.

Little Richard was 87.

Kendall Jenner's finally putting the Fyre Festival fiasco behind her ... she's agreed to fork over some of the money she was paid to promote the colossally disastrous event.

Jenner's agreed to pay $90k to the trustee in the Fyre Festival bankruptcy case after the trustee sued to recoup the dough for the festival's creditors who got screwed.

In the lawsuit, the trustee claimed Kendall was paid $275k to promote Fyre on her Instagram account. The trustee claimed that money constituted a fraudulent transfer because she was paid to promote a festival the organizers could never pull off.

As we reported ... festival organizer, and now convicted felon, Billy McFarland hired a gang of models to hype up the 2017 event in the Bahamas. Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber and Emily Ratajkowski were among the other models he hired.

As you very well know by now ... the festival was an epic failure almost from the get-go. Tons of folks who desperately wanted to be seen at Fyre plunked down between $1,200 and $100,000 ... only to be forced to sleep in tents, or out on the beach, instead of the luxurious amenities McFarland bragged about. And, of course, let's not forget ... the food sucked too!!!

The judge has yet to sign off on the terms of Kendall's settlement.

Maybe there's something to that Old Testament ... on the heels of the coronavirus global pandemic, we now have locusts swarming the Middle East.

Biblical plagues for 500, Alex?

This disturbing video comes from the Middle East, where the insects are swarming on a highway so badly ... it's affecting visibility and bringing traffic to a near halt.

The ghastly sight -- of biblical proportions, some might say -- is scarily becoming a more common occurrence in the Middle East, South Asia and parts of eastern Africa ... where billions of the hungry locusts are threatening to cause famine.

These desert bugs feast on crops in the area and are leaving a trail of destruction and destroying food supplies. Food and health officials are worried the locusts -- along with the COVID-19 crisis -- could lead to more people starving to death.

In a prime example of horrible timing, the locusts are reportedly the worst they've been in decades in countries like Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia ... and are ravaging thousands of acres of crops in Yemen, Pakistan and India.

To get a clearer picture of how horrific the situation is ... officials reported a layer of dead locusts piled 6 inches high after an area was sprayed with pesticides.

Just a few days after Megan Fox's estranged hubby addressed marriage trouble rumors -- she's the star of Machine Gun Kelly's steamy new music video.

Yep, it's true ... Megan's in MGK's new vid for his song, ''Bloody Valentine,'' where he and she play some sort of a couple who seem to be cooped up in his crib -- and there's a whole lot of sexy outfits and partial nudity in bed to go around.

The video's very intimate, and MF sure seems comfy in Kelly's company here -- which makes sense, we suppose, since they've been hanging out a lot lately. Photos of them riding in Machine Gun Kelly's car surfaced this weekend, which raised a lot of eyebrows.

This is also tough to watch -- especially if you're Brian Austin Green -- considering Megan's gung-ho about this collab herself. She plugged it on her own IG as well.

Of course, Brian -- who Megan is still technically married to, with no current divorce filing -- dished on how they recently grew apart, and how Megan ended up meeting MGK in the first place. It was a sad tale ... he says he had a dream she became distant after returning home from a movie shoot with the guy, and it became reality.

The eagle has landed in D.C. for 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic, whose legal team is hoping they can get the President's ear ... and they even got their elevator pitch down to a tee.

Eric Love -- who's heading up the team of top-notch attorneys out of Fort Worth, TX -- came on ''TMZ Live'' Wednesday with a major update on their cross-country road trip down to the nation's capital, in hopes of receiving presidential pardon for Joe from Donald Trump.

He says they've finally arrived, and are out cruising the town parading their huge bus around ... ya know, the one with the piercing "PARDON JOE EXOTIC" wrap on both sides.

Anyway, that's not even the biggest news from their touching down -- Eric claims DT's aware of their presence. Citing his own sources, Eric says Trump and some of his fam know the dealio -- Secret Service does too, apparently -- but there's still no guarantee of getting a meeting with the guy at this point. Not to worry, though ... they're staying hopeful.

We also asked Eric to dish out a mock 30-second spiel on why Joe should get sprung. Watch ... sounds like Eric's gonna appeal to Trump's sense of being wronged and targeted.

MIKE TYSON IS ABSOLUTELY SHREDDED NOW!!!

The legendary boxer flaunted his bod in a topless workout vid Wednesday for the Chinese social media site Weibo ... and the 53-year-old is jacked!!!

Iron Mike showed off a set of six-pack abs, some chiseled pecs and some pumped-up biceps ... and, good lord!!!

Oh, and by the way, he also flashed his scary punching speed and power!!

The video is another clear attempt to gas up an upcoming charity fight that Mike's trying to set up (possibly with Evander Holyfield) ... but the body he's showing off is seriously wild.

What's even more impressive about this video is that Tyson had gained a significant amount of weight a few years back -- and just last year Tyson revealed he had stopped working out altogether.

So, the fact he could bounce back into this kind of shape while in his 50s -- it's pretty damn incredible.

Good luck to whoever agrees to that charity fight!!