CBS

Hugh Hefner was ahead of his time, but not because he put hot women in centerfolds -- and that's what Les Moonves and Randy Jackson will remember about him.

We got the CBS honcho leaving Craig's Wednesday night in WeHo, and Les had seriously high praise for Hefner. You know that running joke, "I only read Playboy for the articles"? Les says there's a lot of truth behind it, and for good reason.

As we reported ... Hefner died peacefully at his home. He revolutionized the magazine biz -- partly with Playboy's famous photos, but also by attracting amazing writers.

CBS honcho Les Moonves is calling #FakeNews on Donald Trump -- saying the President's claims that NFL ratings are "way down" are just wrong.

"All I know is our ratings were up 4% this weekend for the NFL," Moonves told TMZ Sports while leaving Craig's in L.A. with his wife, Julie Chen.

(To clarify, the CBS PR dept. says, "Strong NFL ON CBS ratings for week 3, Up +4% overall vs last year.")

Moonves added, "The NFL is still the best thing on television."

Of course, Trump has tweeted out a different story over the past few days -- saying there is a "tremendous backlash against the NFL and its players" and proclaiming "ratings for NFL football are way down."

Clearly, CBS and Trump are not seeing eye to eye.

Rachel Reilly and Meg Maley are walking contradictions -- on the one hand, they say a man pulling unwanted butt poking's a big deal ... but a woman doing it just ain't.

We got the ex-"Big Brother" stars Wednesday in WeHo and asked about Jessica Graf going around and checking her roommates' oil by sneak poking their buttholes and vaginas ... what some consider sexual assault.

Rachel -- who won season 13 of 'BB' -- doles out some twisted logic ... it's no big deal since they're roommates and it's just a game. But she has a qualifier ... if a man does it to a woman it's a whole different Oprah.

We also got CBS honcho Les Moonves out at Craig's Wednesday night, and he pled ignorance ... which puts him in the doghouse with wife Julie Chen!

"Big Brother" Season 2 housemate Will Kirby thinks Jessica Graf has crossed the line by sticking her finger up the butts of fellow castmates, and it's time to say goodbye to her.

We got Will Wednesday outside an OfficeMax in L.A. when he not only said Jessica committed assault, he then trained the camera on his 7-year-old son, Cash, who echoed his dad's sentiment.

As we reported, Jessica has already oil-checked several housemates, but so far CBS has been mum on the incidents.

Les Moonves has as much interest in landing the first O.J. Simpson interview as he does in having his tongue nailed to a table -- ZERO.

The CBS honcho was leaving Craig's Tuesday night when we asked if he's gunning for that first sit-down after Simpson's released from prison. He'll be out on parole as early as October 1, and it's anticipated he could get as much as $1 million for the interview.

"Big Brother" is about to explode with a racist controversy ... if houseguest Paul Abrahamian follows through with plans to dress in black face to mock a fellow houseguest ... who is black.

Paul hatched his plot over the weekend -- fans watching the live feed watched him whisper to other houseguests, who are white, about dressing in dark leggings and "blackface." Later, he instead used the term "black mask."

Paul's had beef with Dominique on the show because they've accused each other of pulling double-crosses. While discussing his plan for revenge, Paul said he was trying to look like a snake ... because that's what he's called her, and vice versa.

Whether it's blackface or black mask ... many fans are pissed for the obvious reasons: going after a black houseguest is racially insensitive at best -- or intentionally racist, at worst.

Unclear if Paul will go through with his plan or if producers will step in, and tell him to 86 the whole idea. We've reached out to CBS ... no word back yet.

First off, James Brown is awesome -- this guy rules.

So, when we saw him out in NYC on Wednesday, we had to ask about his newest CBS Sports colleague, Tony Romo -- and if he had any advice for the ex-QB on how not to suck in the broadcast booth.

That's when James -- with that legendary voice -- told us why Romo has a secret weapon that will make it almost impossible for him to fail.

CBS honcho Les Moonves is predictably down with the FCC's decision to back off Stephen Colbert over his blow job Trump joke.

We got Les leaving Craig's in WeHo Thursday night and he was standing behind his man ... not surprising because Colbert has been #1 with a bullet by attacking the Prez on a nightly basis.

You'll recall, the FCC opened an investigation after Colbert unloaded on Trump, saying, "The only thing your mouth is good for is being Vladimir Putin's cock holster."

#lastlaugh

The NFL Players Association is "looking into" the statements made by Gisele about Tom Brady suffering a concussion last year that was not reported in NFL injury reports.

After Gisele appeared on "CBS This Morning" and told Charlie Rose about Tom's secret history of concussions ... we reached out to the NFLPA for comment.

We were told, "Right now, we have no official statement, but we are looking into."

Gisele's comments have sparked all sorts of questions -- with people wondering if Tom or the Patriots intentionally hid the information from the NFL so Tom wouldn't have to miss game time.

We've also reached out to Tom and the Patriots for comment -- so far, no official comments from either camp.

Tom Brady suffered a football-related concussion last year that nobody knew about -- and he secretly gets concussions all the time -- so says his wife, Gisele.

The supermodel appeared on "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday and expressed frustration with Tom's health ... particularly the brain injuries he suffers on the field.

"Football ... like he had a concussion last year," Gisele said.

"I mean he has concussions pretty much every [year] ... I mean, we don't talk about. But he does have concussions."

This could be a big deal ... considering Brady was not listed on the NFL injury list for a concussion once in 2016. It begs the question ... was the injury covered up to keep him on the field?

In the NFL, if a player is diagnosed with a concussion during a game, he is NOT allowed to return to the field for the remainder of that game. He may return the following week at the discretion of his doctor.

"I don’t really think it’s a healthy thing for your body to go through like, through that kind of aggression like, all the time–that cannot be healthy for you, right?"

"I mean I’m planning on having him be healthy and do a lot of fun things when we’re like 100, I hope."

Tony Gonzalez says he was NOT forced out at CBS to make room for the new guy, Tony Romo -- telling TMZ Sports the decision to leave was HIS and his alone.

The future Hall of Fame tight end spent 3 seasons on "The NFL Today" (and was pretty good) only to announce he was leaving the show back in March.

A few days later, CBS announced Romo was joining the network as a live game broadcaster -- replacing Phil Simms who will take over for Gonzalez on "The NFL Today."

So ... was Tony G pushed out??

Gonzalez is adamant the answer is 'No' -- and gives a pretty solid explanation about his career choice.

Well, that was fast!!

Tony Romo has already picked his new home -- and it's CBS.

Tuesday morning, news broke that Romo was leaving football to pursue a career as a broadcaster -- with multiple networks battling to sign the ex-Cowboys star.

Well now, Romo has picked CBS, according to Sports Business Daily ... where he's set to replace Phil Simms as the lead game analyst.

Hollywood is hiring way more Muslim actors than ever before ... and President Trump might very well be the one to thank.

Industry sources tell TMZ there's been a big uptick in the number of roles for Muslim actors this pilot season, and that TV networks are pushing for more Muslim-American story lines in primetime.

For example ... Omar Metwally (CBS), Mouzam Makkar (NBC), Zainab Johnson (ABC), Adeel Akhtar (FOX) and Hasan Minhaj (Netflix) ... are all starring in pilots right now.

Sue Obeidi, the director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Hollywood, says studios and production companies are reaching out to her group to consult on accurate plots.

She adds ... rather than just casting someone who might look Middle Eastern or Arabic, networks are pushing for actual Muslims to play Muslim characters. As opposed to the infamous casting of Jake Gyllenhaal in 'Prince of Persia.'

Sources at one of TV's biggest casting agencies say the demand has been on the rise since Trump announced his presidential bid.

As for why? The timing makes it seem obvious -- Hollywood power players, most of whom are vehemently anti-Trump, are pushing back against what they see as his exclusionary policies.

CBS Honcho Les Moonves is coming to the rescue of all NFL fans sick of the games taking longer than a presidential term to finish ... promising the games WILL be shorter and telling us how.

NFL ratings took a dip last season ... with some fans complaining the length of the games is a factor in why they're changing the station.

CBS has been a part of discussions with the league about how to speed things up, and when we got Les -- the president of the network -- out at Craig's in L.A., he told us how they're gonna do it.

CBS honcho Les Moonves reportedly makes $60 MILLION per year!!!!

And even HE thinks $500,000 for Tom Brady's Super Bowl jersey is an INSANE number.

Interesting thing is Les would probably be a real contender to buy the jersey if it's ever recovered and put up for sale ... he's a huge Patriots fan who loves Tom Brady.

Oprah Winfrey has the keys to the kingdom at CBS, because the big boss says so.

Les Moonves was leaving Madeo in WeHo Thursday night when we asked about Oprah's increased presence on CBS. She's becoming a special correspondent on "60 Minutes," she did a primetime special recently and she pops up on other shows as well.

Mr. M made it clear ... if Oprah has an idea for a show, it gets on his air -- period.