CNN

The Game has some strong advice for all those judging LaVar Ball's parenting tactics -- DON'T -- 'cause he says whatever the Ball family leader decides to do, it's in the best interest of his kids.

TMZ Sports spoke with the Compton rapper at Ace of Diamonds in West Hollywood about LaVar pulling LiAngelo outta UCLA ... and Game says no matter how he personally feels about the move, LaVar's doing what he thinks is best for his sons.

LaVar Ball says the punishment UCLA dropped on his son, LiAngelo, is worse than him going to jail ... saying the school shouldn't "hang him on a cross" over one mistake.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... LaVar is pulling LiAngelo from UCLA due to the school's decision to indefinitely suspend his son. The Ball family patriarch now tells CNN's Chris Cuomo the decision wasn't just his and, in fact, Gelo agreed with the call.

LaVar says Gelo trusted him to make the decision because ... he was gonna be 1 and done -- leaving UCLA after one season, and then heading to the NBA or Europe.

LaVar says there's no reconsidering -- the decision's done.

LiAngelo -- along with LaVar -- also appeared on the Today show ... and talked about shoplifting in China, getting caught by the cops, and spending time in Chinese jail.

CNN political analyst Angela Rye is getting flooded with menacing threats, and she says it began after she started dating Common ... TMZ has learned.

According to court docs, Rye said she's received annoying, harassing and threatening messages on her phone, social media and email. She says they were just annoying and derogatory at first, but got scary when the sender got specific.

Angela and Common reportedly became a thing over the summer -- and cops say some of the messages referenced locations they visited that were not publicized. Then on August 5, Rye got an email that included the following: "Yr dumb dead ass gonna be found in a river" and "Let me catch ya ass I'm put the paws on ya."

LAPD obtained search warrants to dig through the sender's social media. They have his or her screen name, and we're told the Threat Management division is on the case.

Andy Cohen's stoked about co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve show with his pal, Anderson Cooper, this year, but has severe amnesia about the comedian who had the gig before him.

The 'Watch What Happens Live' host was at LAX when he told us he and Anderson are already prepping for their 4-hour spectacular. He got really quiet though when we asked if he'd talked to Kathy Griffin -- who CNN fired from the NYE show after the Trump beheading photo debacle.

Andy's response was hilarious -- unless you're Kathy. Remember, she called Anderson "spineless" when he publicly called her out over the Trump thing. It seems Andy's holding a grudge.

If you never saw that classic Mariah response to someone asking her about J Lo, just watch ... Andy does a dead-on impression.

Don Lemon's as ready as he can be for nuclear war, but it seems sort of pointless ... because he's not even on his own list of who'll make it out alive.

Our photog got the "CNN Tonight" host at LAX Thursday and asked if his network prepares them for the world going nuclear -- who knew? It does ... sort of.

Don says CNN holds training classes every couple of years and the office is stocked with survival packs.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders went on the attack over "fake news" -- citing the CNN debacle -- then got raked over the coals by a White House reporter.

The Deputy White House Press Secretary chastised CNN over its retracted story ... which connected a Trump aide to a Russian investment fund. She started attacking the media in general too, and that's when The Sentinel reporter Brian Karem went off.

Piers Morgan's not bashing CNN for going after huge ratings with stories about President Trump and Russia, but thinks their Prez-bashing is dangerous journalism ... and led to embarrassment.

Piers, Editor-at-Large of Dailymail.com, tells TMZ he's not surprised CNN is now in trouble over an undercover vid coming out suggesting its Trump/Russia coverage is BS ... because they've been pushing the narrative too hard for too long.

This video clip is swirling around ... showing a CNN supervising producer saying the network's coverage of the Russia/Trump investigation is "mostly bulls***" but it's being covered to death for ratings.

John Bonifield, CNN's supervising producer of the network's health unit, is caught on undercover video saying the network is getting great ratings from trying to tie the Trump Administration to the Russian interference in the election.

Bonifield says CNN doesn't have the goods, but it's nonstop coverage is all about attracting viewers.

The video was produced by James O'Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, a super conservative blog.

Don Lemon is torn over Megyn Kelly's controversial interview with radio host Alex Jones -- but ultimately seems to think he's not worth the airtime.

We got the CNN anchor at LAX and asked what he thought about the backlash against Megyn for interviewing the Infowars host ... who's theorized the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.

Some parents of victims are blasting Megyn, and lobbying NBC to yank the interview. Don, at first, had Megyn's back ... saying sometimes journalists have to go to "dark places."

On a personal level though ... Don dismisses Jones as a total phony who doesn't deserve a platform.

Larry King's not down with everyone piling on Kathy Griffin for her Trump beheading photo fiasco ... especially his old bosses at CNN.

Larry, formerly Mr. CNN, took the network to task Thursday at LAX. He admits his friend Kathy's photo was in "terrible taste" ... but believes it didn't rise to the level of a fireable offense.

He believes her apology should've been enough for CNN to let it go. It's also very clear Larry's pining for the old days at CNN when someone else had the reins.

One of Fox News' most outspoken Donald Trump supporters is giving major props to CNN for firing Kathy Griffin.

We got Judge Jeanine Pirro Wednesday in NYC, where she told us CNN firing Kathy over her Trump beheading stunt was supremely appropriate -- adding Kathy's lucky if she's not facing criminal charges.

Most people agree with Jeanine -- normalizing violence toward the President is wrong, no matter which Prez is in the Oval.

It's Kathy Griffin who's been cut off ... by CNN, because she was just fired by the network, which means she will not ring in 2018 with Anderson Cooper.

The network is reacting to the photo of Kathy holding a bloody, beheaded image of Donald Trump. Her apology clearly wasn't enough for CNN.

As we reported, Anderson Cooper also lashed out at his former co-host and friend, saying, "For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."

Griffin did the New Year's Eve special since 2007.

Don Lemon firmly believes President Trump is the reason Greg Gianforte body slammed a reporter -- and he flipped out on the air when someone dared to disagree with him.

Lemon had a panel on his show Wednesday night, and immediately stated HIS take on the Montana politician ... and clearly expected/wanted political commentator Paris Dennard to agree.

When Paris stood his ground ... Lemon went into such an attack mode, it's downright ironic.

At least this was just a verbal body slam.

Don Lemon is out there again ... this time he decided to have someone stick a needle in his ear during CNN's live NYE broadcast.

The CNN anchor was in New Orleans, and just before midnight, some dude with a mask did the dirty work. It's painful to watch.

CNN'S political commentator Angela Rye has major beef with TSA after a pat down she says went way over the line of decency, and might even be criminal.

Angela came on "TMZ Live" to explain why she ended up in tears after the incident in the Detroit airport, telling us the agent did much more than the "backhanded pat down" she was supposed to do. Angela insists the female agent touched her genitals ... multiple times.

Video of the incident -- recorded by a police officer -- shows Angela recoil when the agent appeared to go up her dress. It's clear she was very upset at the end.

For its part, TSA says its investigating to make sure protocol was followed.

CNN political commentator Ana Navarro went nuts when a pro-Trump panelist asked her to stop using the word "pussy."

Navarro was referring to now-famous remarks Trump made to Billy Bush, when one of the panelists tried schooling her.