Controversial S#!T

One of John Singleton's baby mamas claims at least one of John's other baby mamas is out to get her, because she says they made a false child abuse claim against her out of sheer vengeance.

Rayvon Jones tells TMZ ... CPS came to her door recently, on the hunt to determine if she was abusing the couple's 1-year-old son, Seven.

Rayvon claims someone alleged she was smoking weed around Seven, who has respiratory problems. She says CPS investigated for several weeks, and it was torture.

We're told Rayvon was cleared by CPS ... but only after she was treated like a criminal, with social workers rooting around her house for evidence of abuse or neglect, and interrogating her friends and family.

Rayvon says she's convinced one of John's other baby mamas reported her to CPS ... and she thinks it's because they're jealous she was with the famous director when he died.

All told ... John fathered children with at least 5 different women.

Jeffrey Epstein, the man accused of horrific sex crimes against underage women, has killed himself behind bars.

Prison guards found him dead Saturday morning at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. This appears to have been his second attempt at taking his life. He was found unresponsive in his cell last month, and it appeared to be a suicide attempt.

A gurney was wheeled out of the facility at 7:30 AM Saturday and taken to a nearby hospital following an apparent 911 call reporting cardiac arrest ... this according to the NY Post.

There was a big development in the scandal Friday when legal docs became public, naming other prominent, private and public, individuals, including a senator and former cabinet member who were allegedly involved in Epstein's sexual exploits. Those people have denied involvement.

Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking. Some of his alleged victims were as young as 14. The alleged abuse occurred between 2002 and 2005. The site of the alleged abuse was Epstein's swanky Upper East Side townhouse, as well as his Palm Beach waterfront mansion.

His charges held a possible sentence of 45 years behind bars.

Epstein, a Wall Street investor, had rich and powerful friends, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey and many others.

Epstein took what became a hugely controversial plea deal back in 2008 in Florida. He pled guilty to prostitution-related felonies involving a 14-year-old girl and received an 18-month sentence and served 13 months. As you know, former labor Secretary Alexander Acosta resigned last month over the plea. He was U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Florida at the time and accepted the plea deal.

Epstein was taken into custody July 6 and denied bail.

Epstein was 66.

Joe Budden made waves this week by landing at number 3 on an all-time greatest rappers list that went viral -- but some other greats got snubbed big time ... so say Flo Rida.

We got the Florida-grown MC in NYC, where our camera guy asked what he made of a Top 50 list put out by some podcasters that pissed off the hip-hop community -- because they put JB at no. 3, only below Jay-Z and Nas ... and above A LOT of other artists.

Flo says he tries to stay away from rankings like this, since "best" is in the eye of the beholder ... and no one person is going to always agree.

That said, our photog puts homeboy on the spot and asks him to name a few rappers he considers to be the cream of the crop -- and he finally caves ... for him, it's Pac.

He also acknowledges Biggie and Eminem as probably needing to be higher on an all-time greatest list too -- they got relegated to no. 8 and 28, respectively -- considering their versatility and how influential they've been. Seems trailblazers are important to Flo.

Deepak Chopra says Marianne Williamson has all the qualities you should look for in a leader ... and that's why her presidential bid doesn't stand a chance.

The alternative medicine guru threw his support behind the Democratic candidate when we got him at LAX, praising her integrity and authenticity ... but Deepak says the political system is corrupt, and that's why Marianne doesn't stand a chance.

Deepak believes Marianne's views don't jive with today's political climate ... and even she recently told us traditional politicians and political pundits are trying to diminish her.

Deepak's written books with Marianne and says they're close friends and he knows she has the goods ... but he's convinced people are so cynical -- politicians so power hungry and divisive -- that she's just out of step. To his point, Williamson did not qualify for the next round of debates.

Some people are BIG MAD about the NBA 2K20 player ratings ... but the face of the mega-popular game series says the haters are WRONG!!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Ronnie Singh -- AKA Ronnie 2K -- about players like Jayson Tatum and others (as well as their fans) being upset with their ratings ... and he insists they hit 'em right on the money.

"It's such a cool point of contention," Ronnie says. "Everybody's worried about their ratings. It's very cool that the NBA players care so much."

Tatum recently talked about his 85 rating, calling it "disrespectful" ... and other fans are saying LeBron James shouldn't be the highest rated player (tied with Kawhi Leonard at 97).

YouTube loser Brooke Houts still has the Doberman she allegedly abused on camera ... at least while LAPD investigates her for animal abuse.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Brooke has maintained custody of the dog -- for now -- because LAPD's Animal Cruelty Task Force determined the pooch is not in immediate danger.

As we first reported ... the Animal Cruelty Task Force launched an investigation after Brooke mistakenly uploaded video showing her shoving and berating her Doberman named Sphinx.

Our sources say the video itself does not show enough proof Sphinx is in immediate danger under Brooke's care, and that's why the dog has not yet been removed from the home. Of course, that could all change.

We're told LAPD could take the pup from Brooke once the investigation wraps ... if investigators determine she abused the pet.

Brooke issued a long-winded apology after the video surfaced and she caught tons of flak online ... saying it's too expensive to hire a trainer and claiming she's NOT a dog abuser.

Kid Rock's taking a shot at Taylor Swift's jump into acting by claiming she's down to trade sex acts for movie roles -- but it really looks like a pretty transparent political attack.

The staunch Donald Trump supporter woke up Friday morning and, much like POTUS, decided to go on the attack ... on Twitter. Kid said Taylor "wants to be a democrat because she want to be in movies ... period. And it looks like she will suck the door knob of Hollyweird to get there. Oldest move in the book. Good luck girl."

We're gonna take a scary leap into Kid Rock's head and presume he was responding to headlines about Taylor's reasoning for not endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016. In short ... she said she felt her endorsement would've been a liability for Hillary because both she and the candidate were being called snakes and liars at the time.

Kid, who famously visited Trump in the Oval Office back in 2017, clearly doesn't care about Taylor's explanation ... only that she's NOT backing his guy in the White House.

BTW ... Chrissy Teigen weighed in on Kid's rant and summed it up with two words:

President Trump claims he's cool with Colin Kaepernick getting back into the NFL, but adds it'll never happen because his nemesis doesn't have the right stuff to make it in the league.

The Prez was outside the White House Friday morning when a reporter asked if Kap should get an opportunity to play again. Trump's response initially seemed like a shocking endorsement ... until he bragged about knowing all the NFL owners, and said they're not signing Kaepernick because he sucks. We're paraphrasing, but watch the video.

Trump also addressed the concern millions of parents have right now -- students are about to go back to school on the heels of last weekend's mass shootings. He had one response, but said 2 different things.

POTUS said students have "nothing to fear," and should focus on their studies. Then, he decided to praise his administration and shade Barack Obama over the safety of the nation's schools.

Moments after saying students shouldn't be afraid, he added ... "That doesn't mean there's not going to be some crazy person."

Marvel is now in the crosshairs of a boycott over support for Donald Trump ... at least that's what Armie Hammer seems to want.

Armie just said, "Hey, while everyone seems to be on this Equinox thing, it might be a good time to mention that one of Trump's largest financial contributors is the chairman of Marvel Entertainment (Isaac Perlmutter) ... jussayin."

As you know, there's a big boycott afoot targeting Equinox, because the owner Stephen Ross is throwing a fundraiser Friday night for Trump. He's also contributed big money to DT.

Now, Armie's calling out Marvel, because its CEO Perlmutter is a huge financial backer of all things Trump. He contributed $1 million in 2016 to a Trump veterans fundraiser, and this year he contributed more than $500k to the RNC and the Trump re-election campaign.

If Hammer's call to action takes hold, it could have cataclysmic consequences for Stan Lee's creation. Marvel just announced its new slate of films and TV projects at Comic-Con, including "Black Widow," "The Eternals," "Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," "Thor: Love and Thunder."

Those moves follow the enormous success of "Avengers: End Game," which broke all box office records and has to date corralled $2.8 BILLION.

And, get this ... most Marvel movies and TV shows shoot at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, which is co-owned by Dan Cathy, the CEO of Chick-fil-A. So, it's kinda a three strikes thing.

ESPN has postponed its broadcast of a shooter-style video game tournament that was scheduled to air this weekend ... in light of the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.

The Apex Legends Battle Royale game -- which has a Teen rating -- is huge in the gaming community and is Fortnite's biggest competitor in the genre. It has "cartoonish" characters that use weapons to eliminate opponents.

The network was planning to air footage from the EXP Invitational at the X Games that was held on August 2 ... but our sources confirm it's been pushed back "out of respect for the victims and all those impacted in the immediate aftermath of the shootings."

Of course, President Trump partly blamed video games for the 2 mass shootings in Ohio and Texas -- where at least 31 people were killed -- in a speech at the White House on Monday.

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

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

President Trump's haters might not wanna hear this, but he's not special -- he's just ONE member of a group of "thugs" and "gangsters" destroying the world ... according to Deepak Chopra.

The alternative medicine guru, who's normally all about peace and love, was pretty fired up about the state of our nation when we saw him Thursday at LAX. We asked him what Americans can do to heal after last weekend's mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.

He isn't wasting time getting philosophical -- instead he's unloading on Trump and several other world leaders. Just watch ... this ain't your father's Deepak. THIS guy is fed up.

Carmelo Anthony wanted to play for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup ... but team organizers REJECTED the NBA superstar out of fear he could be a "distraction."

Yeah ... Jerry Colangelo seriously said that about the 3-time gold medalist and all-time leading scorer in Team USA history.

The Team USA hoops managing director says Melo expressed interest in playing in the upcoming international tourney (set to begin later this month) but Jerry says he wanted the team to go in a different direction.

“I love Carmelo,” Colangelo told Sports Illustrated. “He made a great contribution. He was a very good international player."

"But for where we are and what we’re doing, that conceivably could have been a distraction. I understand why the request was made. He’s trying to reestablish himself. I think that has to be done in the [NBA].”

It's a questionable decision to turn Melo away ... considering the biggest names on the USA roster -- from Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Love to James Harden and Dame Lillard -- have opted to sit this one out.

USA will be repped by young stars like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum and De'Aaron Fox ...as well as Celtics superstar Kemba Walker who tells us he will NOT be dropping out.

Shawn Rhoden isn't letting his rape case get in the way of his training ... the 2018 Mr. Olympia hit the legendary Gold's Gym in L.A. this week -- and thanked all his fans for their support.

The 44-year-old bodybuilder is accused of raping a female bodybuilder at a Utah hotel back in October 2018 ... but he's adamantly denied the allegations, pleading not guilty in court and releasing several denial statements.

But, the guys that run the Mr. Olympia contest have barred Rhoden from competing in the 2019 tournament regardless, saying they were breaking off their relationship with the superstar until his case played out in the court system.

Rhoden fans have started a change.org petition to get the Mr. Olympia honchos to change their mind, and more than 17,000 people have already signed it.

Rhoden clearly appreciates the love ... because after we got him getting in a lift in at The Mecca in Venice -- he shouted out his supporters and gave us a bunch of thumbs ups.

Rhoden also says he has yet to hear from the Mr. Olympia competition since the petition has gained traction.

By the way, the gym we spotted Rhoden at is one of the most legendary in the country ... some of the greatest bodybuilders ever -- including Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime -- have pumped iron there.

Dog the Bounty Hunter just got a sweet, sweet offer -- $430,000 to fly to Dubai and make a speech, and if that sounds too good to be true ... that's only because it's really a total ripoff.

Here's the thing, though, the six-figure check is very real ... and Dog could cash it, but then he'd really be screwed. His literary agent, Alan Nevins at Renaissance Talent, tells us the dough was delivered Wednesday morning to his office by FedEx, and it immediately set off all sorts of alarms.

We're told this all started last month when Alan got an email, seemingly from the office of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan -- the real Deputy Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates -- offering to pay Dog a handsome fee to speak at an economic empowerment convention for small business owners on August 31.

They sent a contract that was very sophisticated -- with all the proper clauses regarding travel, taxes and indemnity -- so both sides agreed to follow up and see where it all led. Dog joked to Alan that if it turned out to be fake, maybe he could help break up a money laundering scheme.

Sure enough ... things got sketchy after they negotiated a fee and signed the deal. First off, all communication was by email -- the foundation claimed that was due to the 11-hour time difference between L.A. to UAE.

Then there's the website for the alleged event -- mansourfoundation.org -- which looks very real, and even allows you to make donations. However, only by snail mail or email ... NO credit cards. Alan thought that was weird and tells us he called the host hotel listed on the website, only to find out no such event was going down there.

Another red flag came when organizers in "Dubai" told Alan they'd had trouble wiring funds to the bank where he has his business account, so they asked for his personal account at a different bank.

Dog and Alan knew it wasn't real at that point, and decided to walk away -- but lo and behold the live check arrived. The catch was organizers asked Dog to donate $250k of the funds back to the organization.

Alan says he did some research, calling the Portland bank that issued the check and the Portland construction company -- Benson Industries -- that allegedly wrote it. Both are real! Alan says the bank confirmed it's an active account, but wouldn't say for whom. Benson told him they had no knowledge of any such check being cut.

Federal and local law enforcement sources tell us this scam is like the new Nigerian Prince letter ... except with much higher dollar amounts to target rich celebs. We're told, a rash of celebs have been hit up lately -- and if Dog had deposited the check, the funds would have vanished a few days later. So, if he'd sent back the $250k, it would've come out of his own pocket.

YouTube loser Brooke Houts beat, shoved and spit on her Doberman -- and it's all captured on a gut-wrenching piece of footage she accidentally uploaded for the world to see.

Fair warning, the clip will definitely upset all animal lovers ... or anyone with a heart.

In the shocking video, you see Brooke hitting the poor pooch, named Sphinx, multiple times ... yelling at him and forcefully shoving him to the ground ... all in the name of recording an animal prank video for her YouTube channel.

Brooke apparently uploaded the abusive clip by mistake ... before posting the final cut of the prank, which isn't even funny or all that original.

As you can imagine, Brooke is catching TONS OF HEAT ... and she's already issued a lengthy apology, claiming she's not an animal abuser -- despite what you're seeing in the video.

Brooke says ... "I am NOT a dog abuser or animal abuser in any way, shape, or form. Anyone who has witnessed or heard true animal abuse will be able to clearly see that. My dog, in no way, shape, or form was hurt by any action that I displayed in this video." She also claims it's too expensive to hire a trainer for him.

Colin Kaepernick is still busting his ass to get back in the NFL ... the ex-49ers superstar just posted a workout video -- and it's INTENSE.

The video shows Kap getting after it in the weight room -- there's push-ups, bench presses, rows, tricep pull-downs and dips ... the guy is CLEARLY still in fantastic shape.

And, with the NFL season starting ... it's obvious Kaepernick wants people to know that despite a settlement in his collusion case with the NFL -- he's still working to make a roster.

In fact, the video starts with the number 889 -- the amount of days Kaepernick says he has been "denied" a job in the league.

Of course, the 31-year-old last played in the NFL in 2016 when he was San Francisco's quarterback ... but he claims controversial kneeling protests during the national anthem forced him to be blackballed from the league.

By the way, Houston Texans backup quarterback AJ McCarron suffered a thumb injury this week and the team is reportedly looking to sign a quarterback for camp ASAP.

Clearly, Kap is hoping to get the call.