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Lawrence Wright -- the former Univ. of Florida football star who created the famous "Gator Bait" chant -- is urging school officials to reconsider the cheer's ban ... telling TMZ Sports it's not racist.

Back after the 1996 season, fresh off a national championship, Wright ingrained the chant in Gator fans' minds during a celebration ... and at nearly every UF event since, it had become a staple.

But, in a statement released by the school last week ... the University president said there will now be a ban on the chant over its racist ties -- effective immediately.

As for why ... if you're unfamiliar, the term "Gator Bait" was coined by white men who would take Black babies and use them as "bait" to draw out alligators on hunting expeditions. Horrible.

"Gator bait" was later used as a racial slur toward Black people for that reason.

In his statement, the school's president wrote, "there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase."

When we spoke with Wright about it all ... he told us he disagrees with the university's decision -- and is now trying to have a sitdown with the president to attempt to change his mind.

Wright says even though he's aware of the awful images associated with the "gator bait" term ... he claims his chant has absolutely nothing to do with that at all.

"We're only talking about collegiate things," Wright said.

Minnesota born actor Jason Behr was in his mid-20s when he landed the lead role of the super hot half-alien Max Evans in the early 2000s The WB science fiction television show "Roswell."

Jason Behr was cast alongside some awesome actors on the extraterrestrial drama including Brendan Fehr as Michael Guerin, Shiri Appleby as Liz Parker ... and of course Katherine Heigl as Isabel Evans.

Fun Fact: Behr can be spotted on the 2019 CW reboot "Roswell, New Mexico" ... but not as his same character Max ... that role now belongs to Nathan Parsons.

A Black Lives Matter protester allegedly took rubber bullets fired by LAPD officers right to the crotch, and he claims it caused him to lose a testicle. So, yeah ... he's suing.

Bradley Steyn -- a South African man who protested apartheid back in the day -- claims he was maimed by law enforcement during a May 30 George Floyd protest in L.A.'s Fairfax District.

He claims he witnessed police brutality, then became a victim himself when cops allegedly used batons to beat him in the chest ... before shooting him with rubber bullets at point-blank range.

Bradley claims he was hit in the inner thigh and genitals and has since suffered horrific pain and the loss of a testicle.

His attorney, Lisa Bloom, will hold a press conference with him in front of LAPD headquarters Thursday, where Bradley will speak on "the impact his beating and shooting has had on his life and family."

If you had 3 guesses to figure out who was behind the "Defund NASCAR" banner over the weekend ... what would you do with the other 2 guesses??

The lieutenant commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans -- yes, that's a thing -- is taking full responsibility for the Confederate flag that flew over Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

"During and before the start of the NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama, race, our plane flew a banner announcing a drive to 'defund NASCAR,'" Paul C. Gramling, Jr. told the Columbia Daily Herald.

The head of the SOCV says the group strongly believes NASCAR's new Confederate flag ban is simply unconstitutional ... and they're clearly very bothered by it.

"NASCAR's banning the display of the Confederate battle flag by its fans is nothing less than trampling upon Southerners' First Amendment Right of free expression,"

"This un-American act shall not go unchallenged."

May we add ... boohoo, crybabies?

Despite the backlash, NASCAR isn't budging on its ban -- which has been widely applauded by pro racers and athletes from all sports, including LeBron James.

Bubba Wallace had been leading the charge to remove Confederate flags from NASCAR -- saying it made Black people feel uncomfortable at races because of the connection with slavery.

"No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race," Wallace said.

"So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them."

"Gone with the Wind" is gone no more ... HBO Max is restoring the film to its library after a 2-week hiatus, but this time the streaming platform's adding a disclaimer.

The 1939 classic will return to HBO Max with historical context that includes 2 videos -- the first showing TCM host and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart talking about "why this 1939 epic drama should be viewed in its original form, contextualized, and discussed."

Stewart said in the intro video for the film, "Watching 'Gone with the Wind' can be uncomfortable. Even painful. Still, it is important that classic Hollywood films are available to us in their original form for viewing and discussion. They reflect the social context in which they were made, and invite viewers to reflect on their own values and beliefs when watching them now."

The host added, "The film’s treatment of this world through a lens of nostalgia denies the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacies of racial inequality."

The second video is an hour-long panel discussion to talk about the complicated legacy of the film ... filmed at the TCM Classic Film Festival in April 2019.

As we reported earlier this month ... HBO Max initially pulled the film after "12 Years a Slave" screenwriter John Ridley wrote an Op-Ed calling for its removal given the film puts slavery in a positive light. Just hours later, HBO Max said it would bring back the film but would add historical context and denounce its racist depictions.

"Gone With the Wind" scored 8 Oscars -- including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, who played Scarlett's house servant, Mammy.

Crump says Wednesday's indictments confirm what Ahmaud's father has been saying for months -- "that this was a lynching."

He adds ... "This is a significant step on the road to justice and while nothing will bring back Ahmaud's life, it is important that a Grand jury recognized his life had value and was wrongly and ruthlessly ended. We expect a trial will lead to the successful prosecution and sentences that reflect the heinous nature of this crime."

Lee Merritt, the attorney for Ahmaud's mom, Wanda, tells TMZ, "The family of Ahmaud Arbery is determined to see these men prosecuted, convicted and appropriately sentenced for the brutal hate crime that took Ahmaud’s life over four months ago.‬“

Ben Crump, the family's other attorney, calls the indictment "Monumental" in getting justice for Ahmaud.

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan have each been indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

The Cobb County D.A., Joyette Holmes, announced the indictment to reporters Wednesday in front of the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, GA. Although the defendants had been arrested for murder, the grand jury handed up the indictment ... formally charging them with the crimes.

Each defendant is facing 1 count of malice murder, 4 counts felony murder, 2 counts aggravated assault, 1 count false imprisonment and 1 count criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

In Georgia, murder charges typically go before a grand jury for indictment.

The 3 defendants have remained in custody since their arrests last month, and last appeared in court in early June for probable cause hearing ... where a judge concluded there is enough evidence to move forward with the case.

As we reported ... during that hearing, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation detective took the stand and testified he found NO evidence Ahmaud ever took anything from the construction site he walked through before he was shot and killed.

Remember, the elder McMichael, Gregory, had claimed he thought Arbery matched the description of a burglary suspect. Travis fired the fatal shots on February 23, during a struggle with Ahmaud ... that came after all 3 men chased him down.

Travis and Gregory were arrested and charged with murder May 8, and a judge ordered them held without bail. Bryan, who recorded the incident, was arrested 14 days later and slapped with charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Authorities allege Bryan had no right to stop or confine Arbery and Bryan was working with the McMichaels by repeatedly using his vehicle to trap Arbery.

The GBI detective who testified in the preliminary hearing also said Bryan told cops he heard Travis refer to Arbery as a "f***ing n****r" right after he shot him.

Alex Trebek dug deep into his pockets again to help a homeless shelter get a new facility off the ground -- more than doubling his previous donation for a very similar cause.

Ken Craft -- founder of Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission -- tells TMZ ... Alex handed over $500k of his own money to help Hope of the Valley with a brand new homeless shelter they're aiming to get built over the next year or so in the San Fernando Valley.

This new initiative is mega -- they're calling it Hope Central -- and we're told it'll be a 50,000-square-foot facility that'll house homeless seniors in the area. The team is currently scouting properties and will break ground in 2021 -- now, with much more ease thanks to Alex.

Now, bear in mind ... AT's latest donation comes on the heels of another generous move -- giving Hope of the Valley a $100k donation for another facility it's working on in North Hollywood.

We got pics of Alex and his wife, Jean, taking a stroll around the construction site Tuesday and touring the facility, which has a whole wing named after them. Specifically, the largest room in that building, the Alex and Jean Trebek Multi-Purpose Room, where people will eat and chill.

At some point in the day, Trebek and co. also toured another facility HOTV is building in Van Nuys -- and somewhere along the way, they were also seen hitting up a Home Depot nearby.

As for this latest donation, Ken tells us it brought him to tears. He also says the Trebeks told him they hoped it would spur others to donate/help out the homeless crisis.

Apparently, Alex and Jean feel society tends to write off people suffering from homelessness as nothing but drunks and addicts. They clearly don't feel that's the case though.

Cops in Georgia slammed a man to the ground while arresting him, and he says they broke his wrist -- problem is, they had the wrong guy and now he's suing for excessive force.

Antonio Smith claims he was unjustly roughed up and had his rights violated back in February by the Valdosta Police Department as officers attempted to arrest him.

Video of the incident shows cops approach Smith for reported suspicious activity at a Walgreens nearby, but he insists he was waiting at the Western Union for money from his sister.

As Smith begged cops to look into it further, another officer arrived and abruptly bear-hugged Smith from behind and told him to put his hands behind his back. He then violently body-slammed him and told Smith he was under arrest for a felony warrant.

Smith was screaming in pain and in his lawsuit claims his wrist was broken as officers held him down. The video shows the cops were clearly confused about who they were supposed to arrest ... and they realized Smith did NOT have a warrant out for his arrest.

According to the lawsuit ... the officer "treated him less than a human being." Smith claims once he was released, he still feared "additional ill-treatment" from the law enforcement around him, so he refused medical care.

Valdosta PD has released a statement admitting they made an error with the felony warrant, but insists Smith was the suspect reported for suspicious activity.

Police Chief Leslie Manahan says ... "We did have the right guy stopped that was causing the problem at Walgreens, it’s just unfortunate he was not the one with the felony warrants."

However, in the video and in the legal docs ... Smith claims he was not doing anything illegal -- just waiting for a wire transfer at Western Union.

Rep. Karen Bass is worried Americans will forget about police reform if another major event captures headlines, and she's encouraging the public to keep the pressure on politicians.

The U.S. Congresswoman for California's 37th District joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live," to talk about the police reform bill and the uphill battle to get it through the Republican-controlled Senate.

Bass said she fully expects the bill to get held up in Senate, and fears those delay tactics will kill the momentum created in recent weeks by Americans protesting for and demanding an overhaul of police departments.

The way the Congresswoman sees it ... the public has a very short attention span and if a hurricane or other major event goes down, she's afraid police reform will be knocked off the news cycle.

That's why she's imploring peaceful protests to continue nationwide -- she believes that's the only way lawmakers will act. And, if you're wondering what happens if the protests let up ... Bass says just look at what happened after the L.A. riots in response to the Rodney King verdicts.

Bella Hadid's time in quarantine did her body just fine ... and she's back in front of the camera to flaunt it.

The model hit the sand and took a dip in the water Wednesday in Corsica, posing in a tiny, black bikini as part of a sexy photo shoot on the Mediterranean island.

It's been a while since we've seen Bella working her craft ... but it doesn't look like she's missed a beat. Despite her wardrobe, we don't think Bella's hawking swimwear on this shoot -- check out the gallery 'cause it looks like the product is perfume.

After months of self-isolating -- and NOT gaining the COVID 19 lbs. like most of us -- she's apparently got the travel bug. Bella was also recently seen with her bestie, Hailey Bieber, aboard a yacht in Italy.

Neo, Trinity and whoever the hell Neil Patrick Harris is playing are plugging back into the "real world" for the 'Matrix 4' -- 'cause they're back on set, and cameras are rolling again.

Leading man Keanu Reeves along with his costar and on-screen lover, Carrie-Anne Moss, were both spotted in Berlin this week and presumably heading to their trailers, as they looked ready to get back into character and start filming, after several months off due to 'rona.

NPH was there too. He's one of the big names who was cast in the 3rd sequel ... still unclear what his role will be. Either way, dude seems geared up to kick ass and dodge bullets.

Now, the last time we saw Keanu and co. was earlier this year in San Francisco -- where the freedom fighters were revisiting another federal-looking, bank-ish type building ... reminiscent of the first flick when Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) was being held captive by the agents.

Speaking of him ... we haven't seen him on set yet. One person we HAVE seen time and again nearby -- KR's girlfriend, Alexandra Grant.

Sure enough, she was there in Berlin as well ... laughing it up with Keanu and some of the crew members. It would appear they're still going strong after making their red carpet debut late last year.

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie is not having it after one of his songs was played at President Trump's rallies ... and he's telling the campaign to kick rocks.

Brendon went off on the Prez and his campaign after one of his most famous tracks -- the 2018 hit "High Hopes" -- was used at Trump's campaign rally Tuesday in Phoenix. Brendon quickly took to Twitter to unleash on the campaign before lashing out at Trump personally ... labeling him a "monster" who "represents nothing we stand for."

In a follow-up tweet ... Brendon added a link to the nonpartisan org HeadCount, which uses "the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy." The org's mission is to reach young people and music fans and inform them and empower them.

The song was also famously used by Mayor Pete Buttigieg during his run for president. BTW, this isn't the first time Brendon's spoken out against Trump. Back in 2018, Brendon didn't mince words when he told a British magazine Trump is "a f***ing asshole" who is "encroaching on people's rights."

Brendon's just the latest artist to tell Trump's campaign to stop playing their music. Most recently, Tom Petty's family members asked the campaign to stop playing "I Won't Back Down" after it was played at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Walmart's under fire for selling All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter gear on its websites ... but the company says a third party seller's to blame, and it's looking into it.

The outrage began to spread Tuesday on social media, when people noticed the Walmart Canada site was featuring a black, All Lives Matter t-shirt and some other Lives Matter slogan gear along with its Black Lives Matter items.

Walmart Canada responded to the criticism by saying, "This item is sold and shipped by a third party seller. We've forwarded your comments to the appropriate department to look into further. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Of course, this didn't stop customers from firing their own complaints, saying the availability of these items goes against the Black Lives Matter movement and the items are dogwhistles to those who really don't want to end racism and police brutality.

The company later added in a statement, "We stand against any form of racism or discrimination. We promote listening, seeking to understand and embracing individual differences." It says it's reviewing its third-party marketplace items to make sure they comply with its terms and conditions.

Several All Lives Matter t-shirts are also available on Walmart's U.S. site, being sold by a company called Old Glory.

When the Minneapolis City Council vowed to disband its police department, everyone wondered how they'd fill the void -- well, a group called the Minnesota Freedom Riders might play a huge part.

During the immediate unrest after George Floyd was killed, citizen patrols organized across the city as trust in the police force plummeted. This included the Freedom Riders, who describe themselves as a group of individuals who banded together for a common cause -- protecting their community.

A spokesperson for the group of 45 volunteers tells TMZ ... they rotate patrolling northern Minneapolis. The men, mostly African-American, are licensed to openly carry handguns and/or assault rifles, and have regular weekly meetings to discuss their operation. We're told each patrolman's hours vary on the needs of their community.

And, so far ... there's a lot of positive info to report about the Freedom Riders' initiative.

For starters ... the Minneapolis PD has been receptive to it. We're told the Riders communicate with cops on a daily basis to share intel on community dealings and advise on what the police should handle.

On the flip side ... we're told the PD asks the group to assist on more neighborly matters requiring more trust -- like speaking with community members concerned about white supremacy groups -- along with handling "lesser crimes."

As the group puts it ... the Freedom Riders are NOT looking to replace the police -- they want to continue working as partners.

The group has also proven successful in thwarting violence in the recent weeks of unrest. During the riots, the Riders were able to prevent looting and structure fires in all of northern Minneapolis. They say their presence has also resulted in a reduction in street and gun violence.

Along with having police support, the Riders also have the support of the Minneapolis NAACP ... whose President Leslie Redmond tells us, "I'm working in an individual capacity to help start this separate entity."

She's launched a GoFundMe -- which has raised $20k so far -- to support the group's efforts in the community. We're told the money goes toward equipment, training, insurance, furthering education for the patrolmen and events for kids in the community.

As you may know, Minneapolis public schools and the University of Minnesota have cut ties with the Minneapolis PD, so there's a major void that needs to be filled with the "community-based safety" suggested by the City Council.