Controversial S#!T

Nicki Minaj says she can't in her right conscience perform in Saudi Arabia later this month, so she's dropping out of the event ... due to personal concerns about human rights violations there.

The rapper made the announcement Tuesday, saying ... "After careful reflection I have decided to no longer move forward with my scheduled concert at Jeddah World Fest."

She added, "While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression."

Nicki was set to hit the stage there on July 18, but groups like the the Human Rights Foundation and others lobbied her to pull out in protest of the country's restrictive laws.

Women were only recently allowed to drive and attend sporting events in stadiums, but gender segregation is still a thing in Saudi Arabia. Same sex relations are also outlawed there.

Nike's stocks going up ever so slightly -- which just so happened on the heels of the Betsy Ross controversy -- has absolutely nothing to do with Colin Kaepernick ... so says Ted Cruz.

The Texas senator shut down any notion that Kap sent Nike's market value soaring in the wake of the footwear company yanking its planned Betsy Ross shoe at the ex-QB's behest, because he says there's a much simpler explanation ... a booming economy. 

There's no way of knowing for sure what effect, if any, Kap's involvement might've had -- but we do know anytime his name gets brought up next to the Swoosh ... they do well. 

As far as what Ted makes of the whole situation, he elaborates on what he tweeted this weekend ... when he said he wouldn't buy anymore of the only tennis shoe he's ever owned.

Check it out ... doesn't sound like Teddy's ready to start burning his Nikes quite yet, but he does bemoan the fact the great American company has become politicized .... and in a direction opposite his own views.

Soccer icon Michelle Akers says it's absurd to compare the U.S. Women's National Team to the men for 3 reasons: the women make less, have less marketing money ... and still win wayyy more!

The two-time World Cup champ joined us on "TMZ Live" and says the U.S. Women should be paid at least as much as the men, if not MORE, because they've been dominating the sport on a global scale for decades, while the men's team is in a different universe ... just struggling to get into the World Cup tournament most years.  

As you know ... the U.S. Women beat the Netherlands 2-0 Sunday to bring home their fourth World Cup title, sparking a huge debate about equal pay. The women will reportedly bank $260k per player for their big win, while the men would have raked in $1.1 million each if they'd won the whole thing.

Check out the clip ... Michelle not only rails against the huge pay gap, but adds the U.S. Soccer Federation should pour more cash into promoting the women. It's just a smarter investment than the men's team. 

No offense guys, but it's hard to argue with her today. 

D'Angelo Russell went joyriding in a luxury whip before signing his massive, $117 million deal with the Warriors ... taking a crazy expensive Ferrari out for brunch ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

Just hours before inking his reported 4-year deal with the Dubs on Sunday, DLo hit up Toast Bakery in L.A. with his folks ... and the dude knew how to make an exit, hopping in the passenger seat of the Rari and riding off down the street.

We fired off a bunch of questions -- if he had a message for the Brooklyn Nets after dealing him to the Dubs, if he's the newest Splash Brother, if the Warriors were still the team to beat in the NBA ... but the All-Star guard let the wheels do the talking.

No word on the exact year and type of this particular Ferrari ... but given the price tag of similar models, it's gotta be worth a quarter million dollars AT LEAST.

Michael Blackson's got a pretty flip response to a black music and art festival charging white people twice as much to attend -- he says this is how it should be for everything.

The comedian's just joking, of course, when we got him leaving Penthouse Nightclub in WeHo Sunday night, but his roast of Detroit's AfroFuture Fest didn't stop there. He tells us it's obviously not right for the festival to make ticket prices higher for white people, but he uses another word for white people -- the "C" word. But, not THAT one. Watch.

In case you missed it ... Blackson's making light of a situation many people didn't find funny at all over the weekend -- the fest hosted by AfroFuture Youth was offering an early bird ticket price of $10 for people of color, but $20 for "NONPOC."

It was met with serious backlash, and rapper Tiny Jag pulled out of the music festival saying the race-based ticket pricing does not reflect her views.

AfroFuture has since decided to make ticket prices equal, claiming it was "For the safety of our community, family, elders who received threats from white supremacists, & youth who were subjected to seeing racist comments on our IG pg."

Snoop Dogg says it's about damn time Team USA women's soccer team got paid like the "sorry ass f*cking men" ... saying our champions are getting the shaft. 

After Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and the rest of the U.S. Women's National Team beat up the Netherlands to win our 4th World Cup, Snoop Dogg fired up his IG to go off on the pay disparity. 

In his video, Snoop is referencing a report that said the U.S. women's soccer players only made $90,000 per player in bonus money for reaching the quarterfinals ... while the men would have made $500k for reaching the same stage. 

After winning the whole thing, the U.S. women's team will reportedly walk away with $260k per player ... while the men would have banked $1.1 mil each. 

Snoop is furious with the pay gap -- noting they're the BEST in the world at what they do ... while the U.S. men didn't even qualify for the World Cup in 2018. 

"The sorry ass f*cking men from the U.S. soccer team, they ain't ever won sh*t, ain't gonna ever win sh*t, can't get out the f*cking first round," Snoop said. 

"Man, PAY THEM LADIES!"

Snoop added, "The women should be getting $500k per athlete. Snoop Dogg says so."

Obviously, his numbers are a little off ... but you get the point. 

Faith Evans and Stevie J are presenting a united front against all the buzz there's trouble in their marriage -- but the jury's still out based on palpable tension between them in New Orleans.

Faith and Stevie were leaving the Essence Festival Sunday when our guy asked 'em if there's really trouble in paradise ... as they approach their 1-year anniversary.

Rumors their marriage hit the rocks started swirling after the couple unfollowed each other on Instagram. Faith has since followed him back but Stevie hasn't. Adding fuel to the fire ... Stevie's cryptic string of tweets, from "Drunk people always speak their truth," and "Ones insecurities can damage them" to "All that glitters ain't gold" and "Cherish what you love just know nothing will last forever."

For what it's worth ... Faith's Instagram profile pic features the couple and Stevie's been posting videos and pics with her and praising her talent.

But, watch the video -- Stevie tries his best to show they're solid, and Faith coyly says don't believe what you hear. 

Michelle Obama says she had to fight past a barrage of criticism on her way to the White House, which she attributes to the mountain black women must climb to become beloved.

The former First Lady was talking to Gayle King Saturday night at the Essence Festival, and opened up about how she dealt with being labeled an "angry black woman" in the early days of Barack's first presidential campaign ... as well as flak she caught while in office.

Michelle says folks love her and her hubby now that they're civilians, but for a while there ... she says folks from both sides of the aisle were trying to take her out by the knees, politically speaking, because she was seen as an asset for Barack ... and a threat to rivals.

She puts it like this, "The best way to do it (attack me) was to focus on the one thing they knew people were afraid of, (which) was the strength of a black woman." 

Michelle certainly received her fair share of scrutiny right from the jump. During a speech she gave at a gala in Atlanta back in '08, a Clinton supporter said, "Her speech was very long and inappropriate for that occasion." 

Here's a piece of that speech, which was later described by a journalist as leaving some feeling that she had been "condescending, preaching to a group of achievers about the need to achieve." 

Michelle was also lambasted at times for bucking White House tradition, or for being too flashy ... sometimes even upstaging the President -- like in '09 when she wore a sleeveless Narciso Rodriguez dress during Barack's State of the Union address. 

She talks about that too with Gayle, saying people would say she was "emasculating" Barack. In short, the list of examples goes on and on ... and Michelle hasn't forgotten. 

Colin Kaepernick isn't just an athlete with a platform -- "he's the spokesperson for the black culture" ... so says rapper Trinidad James. 

After Kaepernick reached out to Nike with concerns about their Betsy Ross Flag shoe, Trinidad says the culture immediately got behind Colin because they trust him as a leader. 

Trinidad -- the guy behind the hit "All Gold Everything" -- essentially explains why he believes Kaepernick's activism comes from a good place ... and that's why so many people are on board with his movement. 

As we previously reported, Nike felt Kap had a point with his objection to the Betsy Ross shoe (he claimed the 13-star flag has been co-opted by white nationalist groups) and pulled the kicks from stores. 

Several politicians have now gotten involved -- with people like Ted Cruz calling for a Nike boycott.

Luke Walton admits he did meet up with the woman accusing him of sexual assault in a Santa Monica hotel room ... but the Sacramento Kings head coach says she's lying about what went down.

In new legal docs obtained by TMZ Sports ... Walton claims his accuser, Kelli Tennant, was the person who initiated their meet-up, but he is adamant their encounter was "platonic" and nothing sexual even occurred.

In the docs, Walton claims when he was a Warriors coach, Tennant drove to meet him at a hotel the team was staying at while in town to play the Lakers, something she initiated.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Kelli filed a lawsuit back in April claiming Walton sexually assaulted her and forced himself on her in his hotel room. 

Now, Walton is pushing back against many of her claims from her lawsuit ... he says he did NOT write a foreword for her book, says he was NOT her broadcasting mentor and says there was NO sexual assault when she dropped off her book at his hotel. 

In the docs, Walton claims Tennant never complained to him or anyone else, including law enforcement, about any aspect of the visit that she initiated ... and he points out she waited nearly 5 years to file her complaint.

The heat Nike is taking over the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick and the Betsy Ross Flag Shoe is having another effect ... enhancing the brand's appeal to investors. 

Nike shares are surging in the wake of the company's decision to recall its special Betsy Ross Flag Air Max 1 USA sneakers after Kaepernick complained the 13-star flag design was offensive because it's been co-opted by several white nationalist groups. 

Since Nike pulled the plug on the sneakers following Kaepernick's objections earlier this week, Nike shares have seen a 2 percent increase since Tuesday, adding nearly $3 BILLION to the shoe giant's market value. 

Friday afternoon, trading Nike shares were up slightly to $86.62 and the company's market value is now $136.38 billion.

The stock surge looks a lot like what Kevin O'Leary predicted a few days ago ... the "Shark Tank" investor told us Nike is taking advantage of the controversy with a firestorm of free marketing. 

USA soccer star Alex Morgan is upset that people are upset with her for daring to be brash after her team defeated England in the World Cup and she pretended to sip a cup of tea.

Morgan just said, "I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports," adding, "to feel like we have to be humble in our successes and have to celebrate, but not too much or in a limited fashion. You see men celebrating all over the world in big tournaments, grabbing their sacks or whatever it is. And when I look at sipping a cup of tea, I am a little taken aback by the criticism." 

Alex went on to say her gesture was in-part an homage to "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner, who famously offers opinions on Instagram stories and ends with the phrase, "And that's the tea" as she sips from a cup.

The women's team -- which can we say is awesome -- is famous for their play and their after-play, notably Megan Rapinoe's comments that she's not at all interested in trekking to The White House to visit Donald Trump. 

A 70-year-old marathon runner who was just disqualified for cheating in the L.A. Marathon back in March was found dead in the Los Angeles River.

Dr. Frank Meza, a retired physician, told his wife he was going for a run and that's the last time he was seen. His body was found Thursday morning in the River lying in shallow water.

Dr. Meza was distraught over the cheating allegation ... he had set a Marathon record for his age class -- 2 hours, 53 minutes, 10 seconds in the March Marathon, but officials became suspicious. Officials found video and eyewitnesses who said he had left the course and reentered from a different location.  

L.A. Marathon Officials officially disqualified Dr. Meza Monday ... 3 days before his death.

Dr. Meza acknowledged he left the course, but only to find a bathroom.

His wife said running was extremely important to Dr. Meza and he strongly denied the cheating allegation.

It wasn't the first time Meza was accused of cutting corners.  He had twice been disqualified from the Sacramento Marathon after authorities determined he cut the course.  He was banned from participating in that marathon.

Jenelle Evans is out of the reality TV biz -- and also the raising kids biz, temporarily -- but that doesn't mean her cosmetics biz wasn't thriving amid all of her family drama.

Sources tell TMZ ... Jenelle's beauty line, JE Cosmetics, has been movin' and shakin' behind-the-scenes despite all the chaos going on in her life. Specifically, we're told she's been in talks with several different cosmetic suppliers for over a year to relaunch and rebrand the line she first started in 2017. The new line is set to take off on Sept. 7.

Jenelle's been teasing her cosmetics comeback on social media, and it looks like she's expanding her products beyond lipsticks and eyelashes. 

There's more ... aside from the deals Jenelle has already inked with various vendors and suppliers, we're told she continues to pique interest from big wigs in the beauty game.

Our sources say one major fashion company has already partnered with her to do a joint collaboration/release -- which we're told will coincide with the JE rollout. 

As for why Jenelle is still drawing so much attention -- especially after losing custody of her kids, and David Eason killing the family dog -- we're told her suitors think she's still marketable in a business capacity. 

Talk about rewriting history ... our President just explained how the Revolutionary Army took over JFK ... AIRPORT!!!

POTUS was in the middle of his speech Thursday when  he started to talk about the U.S. Army's success during its storied history. It started okay, as Trump took everyone back to 1775 ... "The continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis at Yorktown." Then, the huge OOPS.

And, then he re-crafted historical facts and, for sure, technology with this ... "Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over airports, it did everything it had to do and at Ft. McHenry under the rocket's red glare had nothing but victory."

Here's what's bizarre ... it seems 45 didn't stray from the teleprompter -- is it possible??? Critics pounced with astonishment, maybe mixed with a little secret delight.   

50 Cent tried shaming his former label mate, Young Buck, for once posing with Lil Nas X, but Buck's not falling for 50's homophobic antics.

Sources close to the former G-Unit MC tell TMZ ... Buck's photo with LNX -- which was posted back in June, well before Nas X came out -- wasn't meant to be anything more than fan appreciation. We're told Buck wanted to give the young rapper props for his newfound success. It wasn't a tease for a collab or anything. 

However, Fiddy decided to use Lil Nas' coming out as a chance to attack Buck. He reposted Buck's pic with the caption ... "New young Buck (Fresh Out the Barn) ft Little Nas X 🔥Coming July 4."

We're told Buck is unfazed by 50 Cent's attempt to diss and troll. Fact is, it's kinda old at this point, and Buck feels he's simply trying to drag him over a bogus contract from years ago.