Controversial S#!T

Rich Paul's peers are coming to his defense in the wake of a new NCAA rule that seems to be aimed at him ... with NBA agent Daniel Hazan saying the NCAA is making a terrible mistake.

The NCAA's new rule -- dubbed the "Rich Paul Rule" -- is geared toward dissuading players from working with agents who don't have a bachelor's degree, among other requirements.

Long story short ... the NCAA says it will not allow players with remaining eligibility to return to college to play IF they establish a professional relationship with a non-degree holding agent.

The most famous NBA agent without a degree is Rich Paul, who represents everyone from LeBron James to Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons, John Wall ... you get the point.

Enter Hazan -- who at the beginning of his career was the youngest NBA agent to sign a client -- and currently reps a slate of pro ballers.

Not only does Hazan explain why the rule is bad for young agents, but says it will ultimately hurt the NCAA by driving players out of college basketball.

Hazan thinks young players will be more motivated to find other avenues to the NBA -- whether it's playing overseas or other semi-pro leagues in the U.S.

Remember, we just spoke with Al Harrington -- who's a part-owner of a pro team in Australia -- and he says he's gunning to recruit guys to plays for him INSTEAD of playing college ball because he'll cut fat ass checks that the NCAA refuses to do.

Hazan says he doesn't think the rule will last more than a year before the NCAA realizes its mistake.

Support is flooding in for 'Mr. Olympia' Shawn Rhoden ... as more than 12,000 fans are petitioning to allow him to defend his title in 2019 ... despite his ongoing rape case.

As we previously reported, Rhoden -- who goes by Flexatron -- has been charged with multiple felonies for allegedly raping a female bodybuilder during a hotel encounter back in Oct. 2018.

Rhoden has lawyered up and pled not guilty to all charges -- vowing to prove his innocence in court.

The honchos behind Mr. Olympia (American Media Inc.) announced that Rhoden will NOT be allowed to compete in any Mr. Olympia competitions (including Mr. Olympia 2019) until his case is resolved.

But, a large number of fans believe the decision is simply not fair -- claiming he should be considered innocent until proven guilty ... and allowed to defend his title.

In fact, more than 12,000 people signed a Change.org petition in the hopes of getting the Mr. Olympia competition to ALLOW Rhoden to compete.

The petition argues that the temporary ban is "absolutely unfair" and "would cost him a consequent loss of income."

"Even worst [sic], this decision from AMI (American Media Inc) goes against Human Rights and the presumption of Innocence which should consider Shawn Rhoden innocent until proven otherwise."

Rhoden is a superstar in the bodybuilding world ... with more than 1.6 million followers on Instagram.

New video obtained by TMZ Sports shows all of the drama that led up to an intense conversation between Marshawn Lynch and football camp moms ... and everything started with a hitting drill.

At Lynch's Fam 1st Family camp in the Seattle area on July 28 ... Lynch had the kids -- some as young as 9 years old -- line up to hit each other without pads.

The exercise got pretty violent, with several kids hitting each other hard ... and throwing each other to the ground.

It appears at some point during the drill, some of the kids had objections toward the workout ... because you can see in the vid, Lynch rounds up about a dozen of them and sent them to run laps.

As we previously reported, according to one of the camp moms, Stephanie Siva, Lynch used curse words while sending the kids to run ... which caused some of them to cry.

In our new video, you can see Siva confronting Lynch about it all on the field ... throwing her son's camp shirt directly at the feet of the former NFL superstar.

Lynch tries to speak with her ... and later, you can see the 32-year-old bolting from the field and sprinting up into the bleachers to try to calm things down with Siva and other outraged parents.

The parents and their kids eventually left the camp ... and in new video we obtained, you can see Lynch grab the mic to address everyone in the crowd over the incident.

"I wanted to say I apologize to the young lady that took off," Lynch said. "She's probably ran off already. But, that is no excuse for what I got going on on this field."

"When they on this field, they belong to me. But, as soon as I'm done, you can have them back. And you can do what you going to do."

Lynch went on to conclude his camp with a sprinting competition ... and it appears the event ended without further incident.

We've reached out to Lynch's camp, but so far, no official comment on the situation.

By the way, we've included the entire, uncut 20-minute video essentially showing the whole camp -- from the drill to the conflict to the apology ... so you can see it all start to finish without edits.

The person who shot the footage (and providing commentary) was a parent who was attending the event and NOT a TMZ staffer.

Nipsey Hussle's clothing store in South L.A. has been getting a bad rap in the press at the hands of the L.A. City Attorney's Office ... so claims the late rapper's business partner.

L.A. businessman David Gross -- who's a co-owner of the strip mall in the Crenshaw District, where Nipsey's Marathon Clothing store is located -- is alleging the City Attorney's Office was running a smear campaign against the property in an ongoing, months-long effort to get them the hell out.

Gross says he received the letter in February of this year -- which he claims the City Attorney's staff leaked to the New York Times -- alleging the strip mall is a hot spot for gang activity and crime, and that the city can force him out if he doesn't nip it in the bud.

Nipsey's biz partner says the City Attorney's Office has wanted Nip and his comrades out of the area since day one -- and has stopped at nothing to accomplish that ... even after the MC's death.

As we reported ... the LAPD and L.A. City Attorney's Office was investigating gang activity in the area around Nipsey's store, which has been a long-standing problem.

In fact, the LAPD was set to meet Hussle a day after he was gunned down, to discuss ways to curb gang violence in his hood.

Gross writes, "The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office was trying to end us. Literally. They wanted to expel The Marathon Store from Slauson Plaza." He adds, "No doubt, if Nipsey was alive they’d still be stalking it, after doggedly pursuing him, his brother, his team and his businesses for damn near a decade. To no avail."

He follows by saying that once the City Attorney's Office realized he was partners with Nipsey and co. ... cops were sicced on him, and the resulting bad press has torpedoed other business deals of his. Gross says another bad article about Marathon Clothing is forthcoming, and he wanted to get ahead of it.

As for what's happening now -- sources connected to Nipsey's camp tell TMZ that city officials have continued to visit the store as recently as 2 weeks ago to resolve this issue -- namely, that the Marathon Store plaza has continued to attract crime and gangs. Gross tells TMZ the City wanted him to post "No Loitering" signs in the strip mall, but he felt that would be a license for cops to harass patrons.

Congressman Adam Kinzinger is having an epiphany after the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton -- saying it's time to change some gun laws, and time to say screw partisan politics.

The GOP lawmaker from Illinois was on "TMZ Live" Tuesday to discuss last weekend's domestic terrorism -- resulting in 31 deaths -- and why it compelled him to do an about-face on 2 key points on gun control. He's now supporting universal background checks -- a House measure he voted against earlier this year -- and raising the gun purchasing age from 18 to 21.

Kinzinger says he's fully aware his new views could potentially hurt him politically, but he doesn't care. Just as importantly, he strongly believes there's a way for Democrats and Republicans to come together on this issue.

You've gotta see what Kinzinger is proposing because, honestly, it's refreshing to hear from anyone in Washington, DC.

Kinzinger makes no bones about it ... he's sick and tired of partisan politics when it comes to preventing future mass shootings.

Metta World Peace says people don't want to see him in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame ... despite the fact that he, and other NBA greats agree that he TOTALLY deserves it.

MWP sat down with Van Lathan on 'The Red Pill Podcast' when Lathan asked if the former Defensive Player Of The Year felt he deserves to be in the Hall.

"Off my defense, definitely."

Metta, who made the NBA all-defensive team 4 times and was an All-American in college, said it's not just him who believe he's one of the best ever ... some of the best ever believe it too.

"When you get Reggie Miller saying, 'He's the best defender ever.' You get Kobe saying, 'He's the best defender ever on the wing.' Michael Jordan [praised me] early on in my career, it's documented."

Despite all that love, Metta says people don't want him enshrined ... and he knows why.

"A lot of people don't wanna see me in that Hall of Fame. I never really was afraid to speak my mind. I never submitted to being that corporate person. I never gave a f*ck. So, It's gonna be hard to get in."

Peace last played in the NBA in 2017 -- so he's eligible for enshrinement in 2020 ... which will be here before you know it.

Al Harrington is now the part owner of an Australian pro basketball team -- and he's hoping to recruit major high school talent to skip college and play for him ... because he PAYS!!!

39-year-old Harrington, along with Josh Childress and Zach Randolph, have all purchased ownership stakes in the South East Melbourne Phoenix of Australia's NBL, the top pro league Down Under.

So, when we saw the former NBA star leaving Craig's on Monday night, we had to ask him why he decided to make the move.

"I always wanted to own a basketball team, brother ... I'm living my dream."

He then joked, "Sucks that I gotta go all the way to Australia to do it though!"

Then, Al got serious and raved about the league ... telling TMZ Sports he thinks it should be a better pipeline to the NBA than the current NCAA system.

In fact, when we asked Al how he planned to recruit some of the top prep players in the country to go to Australia instead of schools like Duke, Kentucky, Arizona, etc ... he had a compelling argument.

"Go to college for free ... or make $20,000 to $40,000 a month playing for me."

Sounds good to us!

Some major stars are already skipping college to play ball in Australia -- including LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton.

The question remains ... will the move help their NBA Draft stock and really make them more prepared for the Association?

Ben Simmons was NOT racially profiled or denied entry from a famous casino in Australia on Monday ... this according to a rep for the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

Remember, the 23-year-old NBA superstar -- who was raised in Australia -- made a video with several fellow men of color claiming they were hassled by casino security and ultimately denied entry because of their race.

"They didn’t let me in, or him or this guy. Wow, we got a long way to go," Simmons said while showing the Crown Casino security members who allegedly shut them down.

But now, a Crown spokeswoman says Simmons is simply not telling the truth -- and she's providing an explanation.

"Crown strenuously rejects reports that it discriminated against a group of visitors last night," the statement said.

"Crown's internal security policy requires our security officers to check identification of those persons they believe to be under the age of 25, this is an enhanced safeguard to ensure that no one under the age of 18 is permitted entry to the Casino Floor as required by Law."

"The group subsequently provided identification and were permitted entry. Crown is an inclusive workplace."

Crown's story is completely different than Ben's -- with the biggest part being they claim they ALLOWED Ben and his friends to enter the casino.

Meanwhile, Simmons has doubled down on his racism claims -- saying in a new statement Tuesday morning, "As you know an incident happened last night at Crown and my friends and I felt personally singled out."

He added, "No one likes to feel like this. I am very passionate about equality and I will always speak up even if it means having uncomfortable conversations."

Aaron Carter adopting dogs and allegedly selling them for a profit is NOT against the law -- but that doesn't mean it would be right ... according to the county of Los Angeles.

L.A. County Animal Care and Control tells TMZ ... IF Aaron is actually adopting dogs from around the area only to later flip them for cash, he wouldn't be committing any crimes by doing so. That said, it sounds like the LACACC frowns on the practice.

Lancaster Animal Care Shelter -- which is run by L.A. County -- says, "Our goal is to find each animal a forever home and when someone adopts, they become the legal adopter. His actions aren’t illegal and there have been no reports of him harming the animal." They add, "Unless, there is criminal activity going on, we are unable to ask for the adopter to return the dog."

We're told selling off rescue dogs is a moral issue in L.A. County, not a legal one, though.

You'll recall ... the animal shelter where Aaron adopted his English bulldog appeared to be concerned over allegations that Aaron was trying to sell it just a couple days after taking it home. They updated their Instagram with a flash warning of sorts, saying they were "working on this situation." Presumably, people were blowing them up about this.

Most private animal shelters require you, by contract, to return the animal if you no longer want it ... instead of selling it or even giving it away to someone else.

For the record, Aaron has flat-out denied any wrongdoing.

In fact, he doubled down with us ... reiterating that the IG Live video in which he's heard discussing selling the bulldog for $3,500 is simply a joke. Aaron did not clarify what exactly he was joking about though ... he sounded sincere in his vid.

Joke or not ... apparently it's no biggie out here in Hollywood.

Kanye West's plan to build a futuristic, egalitarian community that bridges low, middle and high-income housing has hit a major roadblock ... and it could result in the prototype homes being torn down.

TMZ broke the story ... Kanye had 4 dome-like prototype structures built on the 300 acres of land he owns in Calabasas. He hopes to create a whole community of new-age homes -- dome-like structures that break class barriers.

Here's the problem ... we've learned several neighbors have complained to the L.A. County Dept. of Public Works, and after inspectors came out to the property they determined the project violates the building code, and if Ye doesn't get the property permits by Sept. 15, the structures must be torn down.

Here's what we know. On July 18, one of the neighbors contacted the Dept. and said there was construction on the property late at night. An inspector came out and spoke with the site manager, who said the domes were part of a "production" and they were temporary structures. If they're temporary, building permits are not required.

The Dept. got another call from a neighbor a week ago, again complaining of construction noise. The inspector came out again, and saw the domes were sitting atop a concrete foundation. For that and several other reasons, the inspector determined the structures did not appear temporary.  As a result, plans and building permits are required, and Kanye and Co. never applied for them.

So, the Dept. of Public Works is now demanding that Kanye and Co. submit plans and get building permits within 45 days, or else. The "or else" -- tear them down.

A source close to Kanye tells TMZ ... the structures were always intended to be temporary, because they're simply prototypes. The source says they are in touch with the County and intend to comply with the requirements. And, the source adds, the concrete base was necessary to secure the structure for safety and structural reasons but will eventually be removed along with the structures.

UFC champ Kamaru Usman says fans hate Colby Covington so much, he's gotten THOUSANDS of messages begging him to actually KILL the UFC star when they square off in the Octagon.

"I have over thousands of messages on Instagram of people saying, 'Bro, you gotta kill this dude,'" Kamaru tells TMZ Sports ... "It's not, 'beat him.' It's 'Kill this guy. Kill him for us.'"

Usman thinks Colby has just rubbed people the wrong way with all of his outside-the-Octagon antics ... which includes trashing Brazilians as "filthy animals" and riding hard for Donald Trump.

"It not only rubs people the wrong way, it makes people wanna punch you in the face," Usman says ... "And, I'm talking women and children, grandmas! Not just fighters."

"He calls himself 'The People's Champ' but you can't be with the people because the people want to harm you! You have to walk around with security each and every where you go because they want to HARM you, not because they LOVE you."

Of course, Kamaru and Colby seem to be on a collision course to fight each other to unify the UFC welterweight title.

Kamaru says he REALLY wants to fight Colby before the end of the year -- and says their impending fight is simply "God's will."

The two have gone after each in public before -- we got video of Kamaru confronting Colby outside of a Vegas buffet back in March.

Kamaru swears the rivalry is real and not some pre-orchestrated stunt to sell their fight.

Tyron Woodley is demanding Colby Covington issues a public apology for cracking jokes about Matt Hughes' near-fatal train collision accident after his fight on Saturday ... calling Colby a "disgrace."

"That ain't funny," Tyron told us in a scathing attack aimed at the welterweight star ... "That ain't a joke. [Matt Hughes] is blessed to even be here, no matter how he got on the tracks."

Of course, Matt -- a UFC Hall of Famer -- was hospitalized in 2017 when a train struck his pickup truck in Illinois. Hughes suffered a serious brain injury in the crash and says he's "not the same person anymore."

So, when Colby took the mic after beating Robbie Lawler on Saturday and referenced Hughes, it really pissed off Woodley.

"Let’s talk about the lesson we learned tonight, it's a strong lesson that Robbie should have learned from his good buddy, Matt Hughes,” Covington in the post-fight interview ... "You stay off the tracks when the train is coming through, junior."

Woodley says Covington crossed a line that he shouldn't have -- and if he continues to make comments like that, there will be serious violent consequences.

There's more ... Tyron also says he was NOT impressed with Colby's victory over Lawler because Robbie didn't put up much of a fight and hasn't been a serious threat in the UFC in years.

Tyron says he texted Dana White after the fight to clown Colby -- saying, "I wanna f*ck him up so bad."

Woodley -- the former UFC welterweight champ -- says he believes he deserves to fight the winner of Colby vs. Kamaru Usman for a shot to get his title back ... and spells out why he deserves that chance.

Beto O'Rourke is sick and tired of being asked if President Trump is racist ... and now he's ripping into the media for asking about something he feels is blatantly obvious to everyone.

The former Congressman from Texas, Presidential candidate and El Paso native was on MSNBC Monday morning, and blew a gasket while conveying his frustration following 2 mass shootings that left at least 29 dead.

Beto didn't hold back, saying, "Anyone who is surprised is part of this problem right now, including members of the media who ask, 'Hey Beto, do you think the president is racist?' Well, Jesus Christ, of course he's racist! He's been racist from before Day 1 when he was questioning whether Barack Obama was born in the United States."

The ex-Congressman had also lashed out at the media on Sunday ... using even more colorful language.

Beto's rant comes just 2 days after the majority-Hispanic city he used to represent came under fire from the 21-year-old gunman who stormed into a crowded Walmart and killed at least 20 people. The suspect wrote an anti-immigrant manifesto that echoes Trump's language and views about immigrants.

For what it's worth ... Trump partly blamed the shooting on video games.

Beto, clearly, isn't trying to hear that.

Neil deGrasse Tyson wants you to know as sad as it is that we lost upwards of 30 people to mass shootings this weekend ... it's nothing compared to other causes of death.

The astrophysicist tweeted out some bizarre information Sunday after the back-to-back mass shootings in Ohio and Texas -- which have claimed 29 lives thus far, and injured dozens more -- basically saying ... mass shootings are a blip on the death spectrum.

He wrote, "In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose…500 to Medical errors 300 to the Flu 250 to Suicide 200 to Car Accidents 40 to Homicide via Handgun."

Neil followed up by saying, "Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data."

In essence, it seems like Neil is downplaying the significance of mass shootings ... suggesting that while it's horrible they happen, they're not nearly as much an epidemic as some of these other categories. Safe to say, dude's getting torn to shreds online for this.

Many people are calling his tweet callous, cruel and out of touch, especially since the Dayton shooting just happened less than 24 hours ago ... not to mention El Paso.

Others also pointed out that while these freak incidents are regular risks in any country, dying at the hands of a gun is becoming more and more uniquely American, and is not considered to fall within the realm of possibility day-to-day under regular circumstances.

That might be changing in today's America, but for now ... Neil seems to think folks are overreacting.

Spoiler alert ... they're not.

Post Malone is absolutely beside himself after getting the heartbreaking news about the mass shootings in his home state of Texas, and also in Ohio.

We got Post Sunday outside of NYC's Greenwich Hotel, where our camera guy broke it to him that a crazed gunman shot up a mall and a Walmart in El Paso this weekend -- which claimed 20 lives and injured numerous others.

Post, who is from the Dallas area, had been traveling internationally and didn't know about it. Check out the rapper's reaction ... it's clear he's having a difficult time processing the tragedy as he tries to come up with answers.

Our photog asks how people in El Paso can bounce back from this, and he says the people of Texas are strong and the folks just need to be there for each other at a time like this.

On how to possibly resolve this national epidemic, Post is a bit at a loss for words on that one -- as it's such a complicated issue.

Donald Trump believes video games are partly to blame for the mass shootings in America -- claiming the "glorification of violence" is desensitizing potential real-life killers.

POTUS just delivered a speech from the White House in the wake of 2 mass shootings over the weekend in Ohio and Texas ... where 29 people were killed by domestic terrorists.

During his speech Monday morning, Trump noted 3 things the government can do to address the threat ... one of which is do a better job of regulating video game violence.

"We must stop the glorification of violence in our society -- this includes the gruesome and grizzly video games that are now commonplace," Trump said.

"It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence."

"We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately."

Trump is clearly referring to ultra-popular games like Fortnite, Red Dead Redemption 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto ... where killing people is the point.

The issue with Trump's logic ... they have video games in other countries, right?