Controversial S#!T

Derek Chauvin -- the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd -- is a free man for now ... he just got released from behind bars as he awaits trial.

Chauvin was cut loose Wednesday from the Oak Park Heights prison in Minnesota after court records show he posted a non-cash $1 million bond backed by a place called A-Affordable Bail Bonds. His trial is currently scheduled for March.

Chauvin was the last of the 4 accused cops still in custody. As we reported, the other 3 -- Alexander Keung, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao -- were released some time ago, and are all seeking a change of venue ahead of their trials.

Chauvin faces the most severe charges out of the group -- he's been rung up for 2nd-degree murder, 3rd-degree murder and 2nd-degree manslaughter after leaving his knee on Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Kellyanne Conway confronted her daughter over her recent viral posts about COVID in their family (and at the White House), and based on this video ... we're thinking the teenager's in timeout.

Claudia Conway captured a loud face-off she had with her mom on TikTok, which was briefly posted to her account. It shows Claudia facing the camera, when Kellyanne enters the room off-camera and scolds her for spreading what she calls lies about their COVID diagnoses.

Kellyanne drops an F-bomb while Claudia tries explaining she was just sharing her interpretation. Nice try, Claudia ... but ma ain't buying it, and seems pretty furious here. Especially once she realizes Claudia is recording the whole thing!

A written statement was posted to Claudia's account -- saying she was sorry for the "uproar" her TikTok posts have caused in recent days ... going on to explain it wasn't her intent to mislead and clarifying she had no special insight into Trump's health.

Claudia further explained Kellyanne didn't lie about testing positive -- and announced she, Claudia, would be taking a break from social media while the family quarantines together.

Translation: Mom's making me do damage control, and I'm grounded.

Netflix is being dragged into a criminal courtroom in Texas over the controversial film, "Cuties" ... a film a grand jury believes shows young kids in sexual situations.

The grand jury in Tyler County, TX just handed up the indictment ... and according to the docs, Netflix is being charged with promotion of lewd visual material depicting children. By streaming "Cuties," Netflix allegedly promoted the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child younger than 18, appealing to the prurient interest in sex.

The criminal indictment -- a rare move against a company -- also says the movie offers no serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, and alleges the head honchos at Netflix recklessly authorized and/or tolerated its dissemination through its platform ... and, therefore, should be held accountable.

Critics have been very vocal about the controversial film -- some feel it encourages the sexual exploitation of pre-teens ... some have even used the word "pedophilia" to describe "Cuties."

The film is about a group of prepubescent girls who form a dance squad and practice moves they see in music videos. At one point, they even dress in revealing outfits and carry themselves like adults.

Ironically, the film's creators have said they intended the film to be a critique of the hypersexualization of kids ... but that message has been lost on many viewers.

There was a whole #CancelNetflix movement in the wake of the film's release. Netflix picked up the distribution rights after "Cuties" debuted at Sundance earlier this year.

If convicted, Netflix isn't going to prison. Most likely, the company would be forced to pay criminal fines, and possibly pull the movie from the platform.

Megan Thee Stallion's attack on Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron -- calling him a "sellout negro" -- won't draw him into a war of words, because he says his philosophy is ... sticks and stones.

AG Cameron went on 'Fox & Friends' Tuesday to respond to Meg's "Saturday Night Live" performance ... and he said the disparaging remarks she made about him are the same ones he's faced since college. He says it's nothing new, especially for a Black Republican.

ICYMI ... Meg name-checked Cameron during her gig ... comparing him to Black people who sold their own back into slavery -- and the wall behind her read at one point, "Daniel Cameron is No Different."

Cameron says he agrees with MTS's message of needing to protect Black women, but says as it pertains to Breonna Taylor's case -- he insists he did his job, and refuses to cave to the public narrative ... which is he fought to clear the involved officers off wrongdoing ... instead of prosecuting someone for killing Breonna.

He also said Meg's remarks don't hurt him, and only expose the intolerance the "tolerant left" claim to embrace.

"Schitt's Creek" co-creator and star Dan Levy is pissed with Comedy Central ... claiming the network's execs in India censored a gay kiss to promote the show over there.

Levy blasted the network Tuesday but he did more than that -- he also brought receipts ... an edited video promoting season 5 in India that did NOT show the kiss that DID go down between his character and Dustin Mulligan's character.

Check out the video ... Dan posted a scene from season 5 that shows the cast playing spin the bottle. Mulligan's character goes to kiss Levy's character, but the kiss appears to be edited ... while a shot of 2 women kissing was left in the clip.

Dan ripped Comedy Central, tweeting ... "This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message. #loveislove." This is deeply personal for Levy, who is gay in real life and plays one of the first openly pansexual characters depicted on TV.

We've reached out to Comedy Central for comment, so far no word back.

A peaceful vigil for Jonathan Price -- an unarmed Black man shot to death by a cop in Texas -- erupted in mayhem when an armed white man showed up and clashed with protesters.

The tense confrontation went down late Monday night in Wolfe City, Texas ... where Price was fatally shot Saturday at a gas station by Wolfe City PD officer Shaun David Lucas.

After a prayer vigil, a white man arrived at the site with a large semi-automatic weapon ... and was confronted by people at the vigil, including Black Lives Matter supporters.

Though several of the people tried to separate the armed man from angry crowd, emotions boiled over into shouting and charging at him ... though it doesn't look like he was ever physically attacked. Thankfully, he also never fired his weapon.

Police arrived on the scene minutes later, and despite calls from the crowd to have him arrested for pointing his weapon at them ... the man was allowed to leave after a long talk with officers. As far as we can tell, no arrests were made.

The vigil for Jonathan comes after Texas Rangers say he was shot and killed Saturday night by Officer Lucas who responded to a call for a domestic disturbance.

The Rangers say Price was involved in the disturbance and Lucas tried to detain him, but he “resisted in a non-threatening posture and began walking away.” Lucas then deployed his Taser and fired his gun and shot Price, who was reportedly unarmed. He died at a nearby hospital.

Jonathan's family says he was actually trying to break up a fight between a man and a woman at the gas station, and claim there's video showing Lucus' shooting was unjustified.

The Texas Rangers say a “preliminary investigation indicates that the actions of Officer Lucas were not objectionably reasonable."

Kanye West isn't a top choice on the Presidential ticket in Cali -- but the reason he's been tapped to be VP to someone else is all about an attempt to screw Joe Biden.

You mighta heard Kanye will be a Vice Presidential candidate in the Golden State, the running mate alongside a guy named Rocky De La Fuente ... who's running for Prez from the American Independent Party. The AIP admits choosing Ye as Veep was an anti-Dems strategy.

Markham Robinson -- Vice Chairman of the AIP -- tells TMZ party leaders nominated Kanye to be on the ticket with De La Fuente at their state convention in late August ... and no, they did NOT run it by KW or RDLF for that matter. That's just how the AIP does it.

Anyway, Robinson says Kanye was right up their alley as far as political views -- but also, they thought he was perfect to help siphon votes from CA Dems, plus "Never Trump" Republicans. There's more of the former in California, so this move clearly has Biden in mind.

If you're wondering how De La Fuente feels about all this ... he's not all that happy about the process of choosing Ye, but accepts the way it worked out in the end and wants to make of the most of it at the polls. He tells us Ye's popular with voters in the 18-25 demographic, and even though he acknowledges he won't win CA ... he's hoping for a strong third place.

Here's the fatal flaw in the plan ... California is a winner-take-all state when it comes to Electoral College votes.  The winner gets all 55 votes, and there's no chance Trump's gonna win in the Golden State.  So putting Ye on the ballot won't affect anything.

Between De La Fuente and Kanye each running in several other states as the top-dog candidate -- it'll be interesting to see how their combined forces play on the West Coast.

"Saturday Night Live" came back with a flurry Saturday night, with a strong measure of social justice ... calling out Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, playing audio saying he's no different than "the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery."

Megan was performing her song, "Savage," when suddenly you hear the sounds of gunshots. She stops singing and says ... “We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women, because at the end of the day we need our Black women,” Megan goes on ... “We need to protect our Black men and stand up for our Black men, because at the end of the day, we’re tired of seeing hashtags of our Black men."

The cold open was hysterical ... lampooning Tuesday's debate with Jim Carrey as Biden and, of course, Alec Baldwin as the Prez. Beck Bennett had the unenviable task of playing moderator Chris Wallace. He had a funny/ominous line ... "Just to ensure this is the worst presidential debate in history, I'd like to close with white supremacy."

The most hilarious part of the open ... Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, who made it clear, there's an endgame to all of this.

The season 46 premiere returned after a 4-month hiatus. There was a small, masked studio audience -- those seats were filled by first responders.

The cast did not hold back telling jokes about the latest -- Trump's coronavirus diagnosis. Colin Jost and Michael Che yukked it up about the irony of it all, as Michael wished Trump a lengthy recovery.

Colin said there was a major scramble to address the developments over the last 72 hours ... “This news was a lot for us to process a day before we came back on the air after four months off,” Jost went on ... “It’s been very weird to see all these people who clearly hate Trump come out and say ‘We wish him well.’ I think a lot of them are just guilty that their first wish came true.”

Chris Rock hosted, and had a hilarious line ... “The elephant in the room, President Trump’s in the hospital from COVID. And, I just want to say, my heart goes out to COVID."

Shoe designer Salehe Bembury got stopped by police in Beverly Hills after shopping at the store where he works ... and he thinks it reeks of racial profiling.

Bembury -- VP of Sneakers and Men's Footwear at Versace -- shared video Thursday night of his encounter with 2 Bev Hills cops ... which he called frightening and unjustified.

The cops allegedly stopped and searched Salehe after he left the Versace store with a bag of goods he purchased. He suggests he got hassled because he's Black, but one of the officers in the vid denies that and says Bembury's changing the story.

After checking his ID and determining he had a clean record, the officers let him go. Salehe later claimed he had just left the store and was walking to his car when a patrol car pulled up. He says it was startling, especially because the cops quickly jumped out and confronted him ... over jaywalking.

Bembury claims he told the cops he wasn't aware he had jaywalked, but they stopped him, patted him down and took his phone. That's when he says he asked to have his phone back to record the incident.

Bembury insists he did nothing to warrant the police harassing him -- despite the cops claiming otherwise.

We've reached out to Beverly Hills PD ... no word back yet.

The Grand Jury audio in the Breonna Taylor case reveals important information about the central issue in the case -- whether the Grand Jurors were adequately informed about whether cops identified themselves before breaching the door to Breonna's apartment.

According to the audio, a police lieutenant testified one of the neighbors did NOT hear police identify themselves. It's unclear why the neighbor didn't testify in person before the grand jury. We know there were 12 neighbors in all who said they did NOT hear the cops ID themselves.

Another cop testified one neighbor DID hear the cops announce who they were before entering the apartment. The key -- what about the 12 who didn't hear it?

This is critical because if police did not identify themselves, then Breonna's boyfriend had every right to fire a shot, and cops couldn't use self-defense as a justification for shooting in the apartment.

Cops say they announced themselves as law enforcement before entering Breonna's apartment, according to the testimony we've heard so far. It's about 20 hours of audio, and we're continuing to going through it.

Police Lt. Shawn Hoover said in an interview, recorded the same day Breonna was shot, cops knocked on the door and announced themselves as police before waiting another 10 or 15 seconds to repeat the announcement.

Hoover said cops waited another 45 to 60 seconds before approaching again and breaching the door -- and, as you've heard, cops had a "no-knock" warrant, but Cameron later said police did ID themselves.

Taylor family attorney Ben Crump says his team has spoken to the 12 witnesses who claim cops did not announce before the raid.

As we reported ... Cameron announced earlier this week he would release the recording after an anonymous grand juror filed a motion asking a judge to allow the grand jurors to go public.

The juror who filed the unusual request blasted Cameron for hanging the grand jury out to dry when he announced the indictment of ex-cop Brett Hankison.

Cameron insisted a grand jury is meant to be a secretive body, but relented it's "apparent that the public interest in this case isn't going to allow that to happen."

He added ... "Once the public listens to the recording, they will see that over the course of two-and-a-half days, our team presented a thorough and complete case to the Grand Jury."

Of course, the very next day the Kentucky AG admitted he never recommended the grand jury indict either of the 2 officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor. Instead, he said the case he presented to the grand jury is that the officers were justified in firing their weapons because Breonna's boyfriend had fired first at them.

All new wrinkle to the old saga of President Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame getting destroyed -- this time cops are blaming a superhero, a not-so-jolly giant green one.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ...a man dressed as the Incredible Hulk showed up around Friday around 5 AM and took a pickaxe to Donald's star ... completely destroying it beyond recognition.

The man who says he destroyed Trump's star, James Otis, tells TMZ ... he didn't know Trump had coronavirus when he took a pickaxe to the star.

Our sources say a felony vandalism report was taken after the star was left with more than $5,000 in damage. Nobody's been arrested and police are still investigating. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rana Ghadban tells TMZ ... "Any star, which is vandalized or destroyed, no matter which honoree it belongs to will be replaced by the Hollywood Historic Trust, a non-profit, non-partisan group."

Seriously, they've gotta have replacing this thing down to a science by now.

Ghadban added, "When people are angry with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California State landmark. Our democracy is based on respect for the law. People can make a real difference by voting and not destroying public property.”

The star, of course, has been a lightning rod for bad vibes toward Trump ... from vandalism to even all-out brawls. As we've reported, the star was most recently messed with back in June after someone used black spray paint and completely blacked it out. Someone also left behind a bag of poop on top of the star.

Nearly a year ago, someone spray-painted Trump's name in broad daylight. Over the years, the star's also been jackhammered and someone else took a pickaxe to it. Even George Lopez fake peed on the star back in July 2018.

President Trump is finally saying the words he failed to say at the first presidential debate -- "I condemn all white supremacists."

Trump called in to his friend Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night to talk about his performance at the first debate vs. Joe Biden ... and try to put the Proud Boys controversy to rest.

He said, "Let me be clear again -- I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists. I condemn the Proud Boys." Trump re-insisted he doesn't know much about the Proud Boys hate group ... but he's against what they do.

This, of course, is in stark contrast to his response 48 hours earlier when debate moderator Chris Wallace asked him to denounce white supremacy. Instead, he told the Proud Boys to "Stand back, and stand by."

On Wednesday, while talking to the press at The White House about the outrage he caused, he denied knowledge of the Proud Boys and again danced around a flat-out denouncement of white supremacy.

Interestingly, when Trump spoke to Hannity it was about 6:30 PM PT -- 90 minutes after we'd learned his aide, Hope Hicks, tested positive for COVID-19, but before his test results were back. He did discuss having to go into quarantine, but only after addressing the debate and white supremacy.

Melania Trump fumed during a secretly-recorded conversation, railing on the criticism President Trump received over separating mothers from their children at the border and expressing extreme frustration about the way the "liberal media" treats her and her husband.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Melania's former aide and former best friend, Linda Tripped her, recording their conversation without the First Lady's knowledge. Melania was venting about the attacks she fielded over separating mothers and kids at the border, saying, "Give me a f***ing break!"  She went on, "Where they were saying anything when Obama did that?"

The First Lady talked about her trip to the border and how she was thwarted in reuniting a child with the mother ... "I was trying to get the kid reunited with the mom. I didn't have a chance -- needs to go through the process and through the law." She says the press would not cover her efforts, saying, "They would not do the story because they, they, they are against us, because they're the liberal media." And, then she said ... "Yeah, if I [go] to Fox, they will do the story. I don't want to go to Fox."

And, then there's Saint Nick. In the recording, first played on CNN, Melania says, "Where I am, I put, I'm working like my ass off at Christmas stuff that you know, who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff and decoration. But, I need to do it, right?"

Kyrie Irving says he's never trusted his old teammates with hitting clutch baskets ... admitting he's always "felt like I was the best option" until he joined Kevin Durant in Brooklyn.

So ... LeBron, what's good?!?

The NBA superstar joined KD's "The Boardroom" podcast this week to discuss teaming up on the Nets ... and the dude pretty much shaded the hell out of King James in the process.

The question was -- 10 seconds left in a close game, who takes the final shot?? Kyrie said it goes to the hot hand ... and then dropped this:

"One thing I've always been comfortable with is I felt like I was the best option on every team I've played for down the stretch," Uncle Drew said.

"This is the first time in my career where I can be like ... 'that motherf**ker can make that shot, too!"

Now, Kyrie DID hit the dagger 3 pointer in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals to help the Cleveland Cavaliers win their first title in franchise history ... but LBJ has hit his fair share of clutch shots throughout his career.

It's no secret Kyrie demanded out of Cleveland and wanted do his thing away from LeBron ... but now it seems he didn't think the 4-time MVP was a killer in the clutch.

There's more ... Kyrie also talked about his new coach, Steve Nash ... saying he doesn't really see him as a "head coach" ... and thinks the team of KD, Nash, assistant Jacque Vaughn and himself as being head coaches by committee.

KD agreed ... saying "It's a collaborative effort."

"I beat the ever-living f*** out of him."

Those were the words reportedly spoken by a Louisiana State trooper implicated in a Black man's death ... according to a recording that's just surfaced.

The audio -- captured by a police body cam mic -- is a 27-second clip featuring Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth recalling the May 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene in Louisiana.

The Associated Press, which first obtained the audio, says that's Hollingsworth saying he choked Greene, and at least 3 cops were wrestling with Greene while he was handcuffed and bleeding ... until "all of a sudden he just went limp."

Greene's death, which Louisiana troopers initially said was caused by a car crash at the end of a pursuit, is now the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.

The audio was part of a phone conversation between Hollingsworth and a colleague, according to the AP. Hollingsworth died last week in a car accident.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for Greene's family, is now calling on authorities to release the full body cam footage of Greene's interaction with state troopers.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters last week footage of Greene’s arrest would be released to the public at the conclusion of federal and state investigations.

A Black woman arrested by an Aurora, CO police officer was cuffed, hogtied and thrown in a patrol car ... where she rode upside down, begging for help for 20 minutes, as she feared she would die.

The disturbing video shows 28-year-old Shataean Kelly being arrested on Aug. 27, 2019 on charges resulting from a fight. After Officer Levi Huffine cuffs her and puts her in the back of the patrol car, he claims she tried to escape by grabbing the door handles. Huffine then decides, "I'm going to hobble her" ... tying her handcuffed hands to her feet ... also known as hogtying.

While on the backseat, Kelly unloaded insult after insult on the cop, clearly feeling she should not have been arrested. But, the situation turned much scarier for her when she slipped off the backseat headfirst onto the floor with her legs up in the air.

Almost immediately she started pleading for her life, fearing she might break her neck or her arms ... or suffocate. At one point she sadly whimpered, "This is some slavery s**t," and "How many times I gotta beg you master?"

Aurora PD is releasing the footage because Huffine was fired in February over the incident, and is appealing his termination.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson points out that the backseat door handles are inoperable and she believes Huffine was "punishing" Kelly.

Chief Wilson says she believes this was a form of torture by the officer, and adds he's lucky Kelly didn't die of asphyxiation, "Because he would be -- in my opinion -- in an orange jumpsuit right now" if she had.

Despite Kelly repeatedly screaming, "Please don't let me die back here" ... Huffine never replied or stopped the vehicle to move her into a safer position. Kelly at one point is heard saying, "I never felt so much racism in my life."

All criminal charges against Kelly were eventually dropped, and Huffine's termination appeal is under review.

It should be noted ... this incident occurred just 3 days after the Elijah McClain incident in Aurora on Aug. 24, 2019, during which he was allegedly placed in a chokehold by police and sedated by paramedics.