Controversial S#!T

11:08 PM PT -- Ribeiro's attorney, David Hecht, is downplaying the clip, telling us, "On numerous occasions, Mr. Ribeiro has commented on his inspiration for the dance. In the clip, Mr. Ribeiro used the word “stole” in jest. He did not use the word 'stole' in the legal sense."

He continues, "In his words, it was Ribeiro's (a professional dancer's) interpretation of what a white person looks like when they dance. That describes a copyrightable choreographic work."

Alfonso Ribeiro's past just bit him in the ass in his Fortnite lawsuit -- because he ADMITTED he stole the very same Carlton Dance moves he's suing over ... and the confession is on camera!

Here's the deal ... Ribeiro is suing the massive video game -- along with NBA 2K -- claiming they ripped off his signature moves without paying him a cent.

In his lawsuit, Alfonso claims he created the dance and is currently in the process of copyrighting it.

The problem for Ribeiro -- April 23, 2012 -- the day he looked into a TMZ camera and explained how he "stole" the moves from Courteney Cox and Eddie Murphy!

Alfonso says decades ago he was tasked with creating a dance for 'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' -- and essentially wanted his character to dance like a super white person.

So, he thought to himself, "I know exactly -- I'm going to steal it!"

Seriously, Alfonso walked us through how he took Cox's moves from the Bruce Springsteen "Dancing in the Dark" video and meshed it with Eddie's famous "White Man Dance" -- and voila, Carlton Dance!

The question now ... can you successfully sue someone for stealing something you admitted you stole yourself?

A New York State Senator just joined the ranks of disgusting Twitter trolls by telling a woman to kill herself ... because she ID'd him as the alleged culprit of a parking violation.

Sen. Kevin Parker, who represents NY's 21st District, nastily fired back at Candice Giove Tuesday after she accused him of misusing a parking placard. BTW -- Candice is the Deputy Communications Director of the NYS Senate.

Candice said she did some digging when a Twitter user complained that an "arrogant scofflaw" from the NY Senate was blocking a bike lane with his car ... claiming it was placard abuse.

Giove fingered Parker as the illegal parking perp, to which he replied ... "Kill yourself!"

Candice was incredulous by the Senator's comment, but of course ... he deleted the tweet and apologized shortly afterward. Parker wrote ... "I sincerely apologize. I used a poor choice of words. Suicide is a serious thing and and should not be made light of."

However, he's continuing to go after Giove, reportedly calling her an internet troll and tweeting that she's "on the wrong side of history for every important issue facing New York State!"

Nick Cannon says he has no doubt the NFL's random drug testing of Eric Reid before and after games is the league's way of messing with the DB ... saying, "It's f*cked up."

Reid was randomly selected to pee in a cup for the 7th time this season after the Panthers' loss to the Saints on Monday night ... and the dude was pissed about it afterward.

"I've been here 11 weeks, I've been drug tested seven times. That has to be statistically impossible. I'm not a mathematician, but there's no way that's right."

Enter Cannon ... who tells TMZ Sports he "absolutely" thinks the tests are the NFL's way of getting back at Reid for supporting Colin Kaepernick in his kneeling protests.

"I think it's f*cked up," the actor said outside of Ace of Diamonds.

For his part ... Eric says he'll be using the tests as part of his collusion case against the NFL.

The other side of the coin ... the drug testing is conducted by an independent company hired jointly by the NFL and the NFL Player's Association. Point being, the players had some control over which company is administering the tests.

LeBron James and his wife had an interesting couples dinner date Monday -- hitting up an NYC steakhouse with Carmelo Anthony and La La ... and fueling rumors Melo's coming to the Lakers.

Remember, we spoke with John Salley a few days ago and he implied he had some inside information about Melo coming to the Lakers before the NBA All-Star break in February.

So, when we saw these pics of Melo and Bron leaving Quality Italian steakhouse in midtown ... made us think Salley's intel might be pretty solid!!

Of course, LeBron and Melo have been friends for years -- so, maybe they just wanted some quality meat and wine ... but hey, maybe there was some shop talk too!

The Lakers are in NYC to play the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.

The other interesting thing about the dinner ... Melo and La La seem to be in a pretty good place.

Back in October, La La told People she and Melo were still figuring out their relationship after separating in 2017 ... but noted, "We're good."

Les Moonves will NOT get his enormous, $120 MILLION severance package, because the CBS Board of Directors has determined they had a right to fire him for cause ... and specifically, sexual misconduct.

The Board just said, "We have determined that there are grounds to terminate for cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of Company policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful failure to cooperate fully with the Company's investigation."

The Board went on to say, "Mr. Moonves will not receive any severance payment from the Company."

Twelve women accused Moonves of various forms of sexual misconduct, including engaging in forced oral sex in his office in a 1995 meeting. Another woman claims she was "on call" for oral sex as part of her job.

Moonves has maintained any sexual encounter was consensual.

Moonves resigned his post as CEO of CBS back in September. His wife, Julie Chen, also stepped down from "The Talk" at the same time. She has, however, kept her role as host of "Big Brother" and "Celebrity Big Brother."

Colin Kaepernick will return to an NFL field tonight ... because his friend and brother in protest, Eric Reid, is honoring Kaep by wearing cleats with the embattled QB's picture on 'em.

The Panthers take on the Saints on "Monday Night Football" and Carolina's DB gave fans a look at the "My Cause, My Cleats" spikes he'll wear, featuring a kneeling Kaep and members of the Black Panthers.

The image of Kaepernick is from a famous photo where Kaep and then-49ers teammate, Reid took a knee together during the 2016 season.

Reid included a caption on the image, explaining where his heart is, and why he felt the need to honor the guys involved.

"It’s a tribute to the history of protest, centered around the quote 'if not us, who? If not now, when?' meaning we all benefit and stand on the shoulders of those giants who decided their moment was best used for the sake of the people."

"And it’s always the right time to do what’s right. No different from you using your moment to take a knee. It also has the 10 point platform of Colin’s Know Your Rights Camp.”

Kaepernick himself has already weighed in on the footwear, saying, "My brother @E_Reid35 coming with the heat tonight!"

Kaep's been out of the league since 2016, and Reid's been one of his fiercest supporters, joining Colin not only in his kneeling protest, but in his collusion lawsuit against the league.

It's clear that support isn't gonna stop, and on one of the biggest platforms in sports he's making a statement.

Actress Jenifer Lewis says Donald Trump has done horrendous things to our country, including breaking the law, and she's not down for any deals that would let him evade prosecution.

We got the "Black-ish" star on "TMZ Live" and asked her about a scenario that, frankly, is possible. What if prosecutors squarely put it to the President -- if you resign from office, we won't prosecute you or your family?

Lewis is appalled at that prospect, essentially calling Donald Trump a mentally ill criminal who doesn't deserve any deals when it comes to prosecution.

There's always that one person shouting out song requests at concerts, but one heckler took it too far and totally PISSED OFF Aaron Lewis ... so the singer started lighting up the guy and hitting him where it hurts.

We've obtained video of the Staind frontman going off on a "f*cking rude" guest during his solo set Sunday night at 8 Seconds Saloon in Indianapolis ... and it's a pretty wild scene. You see Aaron onstage, dropping tons of f-bombs and telling the crowd to give the "bald motherf*cker" a taste of his own medicine.

Aaron's performing his solo country set on The Sinner Tour, and we're told the heckler kept interrupting songs by yelling out names of other tracks. As you can see, Aaron had enough and went nuclear after the 3rd interruption.

Pete Davidson refused to see Ariana Grande when she rushed to 30 Rock to comfort him over the weekend ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to Pete and NBC tell us, Pete alerted his security to hold his ex-fiancee at bay when she arrived at the building. We're told Pete knew Ariana was on her way, because she was calling friends after he posted what looked like a suicide note. Ariana told friends she was rushing over to NBC, and they dropped a dime on her and gave Pete the heads-up.

As TMZ reported, Pete's alarming post read, "i really don't want to be on this earth anymore. i'm doing my best to stay here for you but i actually don't know how much longer i can last."

Our sources tell us his defense of Kanye triggered the ominous post. Pete had made fun of Kanye's mental illness last October on 'SNL's' Weekend Update. But recently he jumped to Kanye's defense, and supporters of Ye attacked Pete on social media, calling him a hypocrite.

Coincidence that Colts linebacker Darius Leonard was drug tested after single-handedly wrecking the Dallas Cowboys offense on Sunday?

He thinks not ...

The rookie superstar logged 11 tackled and broke up 2 passes in Indy's 23-0 route of America's Team -- and after the game, Leonard says the NFL selected him to pee into a cup.

"NFL this can't be a coincidence," the 2nd round draft pick posted on social media.

"Everybody else gone home after the game," Leonard said ... "Last one in here. Got a drug test. Once again! Once again after a game! Got a drug test. Still stuck in here, an hour and a half after the game."

Good news for Darius ... he's yet to fail one of the tests.

Lil Pump gave his fans a preview of his new track ... and enraged a bunch of people in the process with a racist gesture mocking Asians.

The rapper posted this video Sunday previewing "Butterfly Doors" and he's getting skewered for the lyrics. He raps, "Butterfly door, they call me Yao Ming cause my eyes real low. Ching Chong." Pump then makes a racist gesture similar to what got a Houston Astros player suspended by MLB for 5 games.

Pump's video has amassed more than 2.5 million views and Asians are fuming ... flooding Pump's comments section in Chinese, demanding he "Apologize to us."

Others wrote, "Kiss my ass" and "Why are you so confident about your disgusting songs and gestures?Oh man, I think I need to wash my ears after listening [to] your f***ing words as a great Asian."

Pump was getting blasted on Twitter too. One person replied to the video saying, "I was gonna say this could be a banger until I heard the ching chong yikes."

Birdman has a message for anyone bashing Jacquees for claiming he's the best R&B has to offer ... shut the hell up and respect the king!!!

Sources close to Birdman tell TMZ ... the music mogul is firmly backing Jacquees' claim to the throne, and anyone disputing that notion needs to stop hating and bow down.

As you know ... Jacquees started a huge debate when he declared himself the best R&B artist of his era, a statement that's spawned tons of backlash and outrage.

People across the music industry started weighing in on the topic ... with Charlamagne Tha God emphatically telling us the crown still belongs to Chris Brown and Miguel.

Birdman, Jacquees' label head, had largely remained silent on the matter ... until now. We're told the Cash Money honcho loves the fact Jacquees made such a bold statement and feels it's about time his artist told the world what's really good.

Jacquees was happy to re-crown himself as the reigning King of R&B -- even in front of rhythm and blues royalty like Keith Sweat ... who bit his tongue around the youngin'.

We got Keith backstage Saturday at the V-103 Winterfest concert at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, where we asked him to confirm definitively ... he is THE King of R&B, right? Keith?? Don't leave us hangin', man!!! Get this ... he denies any such title.

Luckily, Jacquees wasn't too far away and scurried on over to chime in on the debate (again) that's been raging for about a week now. He doubles down ... saying he's this generation's KoR&B, and got very specific with the age demographic.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox is blasting President Trump for lacking love or compassion and insists POTUS is the reason why a 7-year-old migrant girl died at the hands of Border Patrol.

We got Vicente leaving Avra in Beverly Hills, where we asked him about the little girl from Guatemala who died of dehydration and exhaustion while in custody of Customs and Border Protection. The child -- part of a group of 163 people who were seeking asylum -- had not eaten or had any water for several days before suffering seizures and ultimately dying.

Fox straight-up lays blame at the feet of Trump ... saying the CBP certainly bears responsibility but adds, there's zero doubt its marching orders to show zero compassion come from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Prada just pulled a bonehead blunder that a lot of people are calling racist.

The high-end Manhattan shop put this purse in its window with a Sambo-like doll attached. People went nuts on social media once the image was posted. Some felt it resembled a Sambo figure ... others say it resembled a monkey and some felt it was a cross between the two.

It's pretty incredible that the folks at Prada were this tone-deaf because it's hard to imagine how they didn't see the wave of criticism that would befall them.

The company issued a statement Friday saying it "abhors racist imagery." It went on to say the figure was meant as "fantasy charms." It's clearly a bad fantasy.

We have a winner in Travis Scott and Tekashi69's battle for the top of the album charts -- and Billboard says it's Travis ... but admits it was ridiculously close.

A spokesperson for Billboard tells TMZ ... "In a historically close race, after a rigorous review of the process and the methodology by which the No. 1 ranking on last week’s Billboard 200 album chart was awarded to Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld,’ we concluded that no correction was warranted.”

You'll recall ... Travis' album was named #1 for the last week in November, but then Nielsen -- which compiles the sales data for Billboard -- said there was some discrepancy that it believed opened the door for Tekashi's "Dummy Boy" to take the top spot.

In essence ... they demanded a recount.

Now, Billboard says there was no need for the recount, and is going with the original data.

Bottom line ... Tekashi loses again. As if his federal indictment and jailing wasn't bad enough.