Controversial S#!T

Harvey Weinstein has gone under the knife in hopes of alleviating his severe back pain and is now recovering.

The disgraced studio mogul underwent what's called bilateral laminectomy surgery Thursday at an NYC hospital. We're told the procedure lasted around 3 hours. The surgery -- better known as decompression surgery -- enlarges the spinal canal to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.

As we reported ... Weinstein could barely walk on his own when he headed to court last week. He needed help from 2 handlers. He's also needed assistance from a walker. You'll recall Weinstein's lead attorney said earlier this week HW would undergo surgery while also slamming haters who accused Weinstein of attempting to play the sympathy card.

Pro hockey player Akim Aliu tells TMZ Sports the racism he was forced to endure over the years held him back from reaching his full potential ... and the proof is in the racist pictures.

You're looking at pics of Aliu at the 2011 Halloween party for the Colorado Eagles -- which, at the time, was the minor league affiliate for the Winnipeg Jets.

Aliu says when he arrived to the party, he was greeted by the team's equipment manager Tony Deynzer, who was dressed up as Aliu in blackface -- complete with a custom jersey sporting Aliu's nickname, "Dreamer."

"The hardest thing about that ... just how much planning went into that," Aliu tells us.

"He got my jersey made, so that means this was planned in advance."

Aliu says people at the party laughed at him -- and his instinct was to raise hell and cause a scene -- but he was new to the club and there were families at the party "so I tried to play it off as cool as possible."

A short time later, Aliu says he demanded to be traded to another club.

It's just one of the MANY examples of racism black players at all levels of hockey have been forced to deal with. Aliu recently made headlines after revealing NHL coach Bill Peters hurled the n-word during a locker room rant back in the day.

"It's been a tough road and obviously I’ve bumped into a lot of barriers with racism and discrimination," Aliu says.

"People don’t really understand how bad it is unless you’re on the inside of the hockey world, inside the hockey establishment. I’ve dealt with a lot. I think my career has faltered because of that."

Now, 30-year-old Aliu says he wants to help fix the racism issues affecting the sport he loves.

"I think there’s still been failure to agree to the fact that we have a systematic problem in the National Hockey League and in hockey in general. From grassroots, from Tykes to all the way up to the professional rank."

"I think [hockey officials] need to come together with minorities and people that have been affected by these issues, and talk to them, and get together and say, 'Hey, what did you guys experience? How do you feel about what’s going on? How do you feel about moving forward? What ideas do you have moving forward for us?"

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy's youngest daughter is going to college -- and kinda rubbing it in the face of her older sis, who's still undeclared after Mom's admissions scandal.

17-year-old Georgia Macy just updated her Instagram to say she's a future Vassar College student -- with her graduation year pegged as 2024. She also added a big ol' "VASSAR" logo to her IG story ... so it's pretty clear she is celebrating big-time.

Now, Georgia isn't the kid who got roped into the college admissions scandal earlier this year -- that was Felicity and Will's other daughter, Sophia Macy ... who's 19.

According to prosecutors, she was the one Felicity shelled out $15k to have her SAT test fixed to make sure she got a good score. Of course, Felicity pled guilty and did her time, brief though it was.

Since then, Sophia hasn't announced she's enrolled anywhere.

We have seen Sophia hitting the books lately, which could mean she's ramping up for a second shot at college. AKA ... the ol' college try.

For now ... congrats, Georgia!

R. Kelly's ex-wife is out to make it known she has nothing to do with the second installment of the 'Surviving' docuseries ... and has a list of reasons why she declined to participate.

Drea Kelly says the new official trailer for "Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning" is misleading to audiences ... because it makes it looks like she was involved.

That's because the trailer shows a clip of Drea from the original 'Surviving' docuseries that aired in early 2019 -- in which she had a substantial role -- and she's not happy about it.

Drea says she's been adamant about refusing to be part of the follow-up, but despite her requests to not be linked to it ... Lifetime did it anyway.

She says she got a lot of negative backlash from the public after the series aired, but on top of that, she has many grievances with the network and production company. She says her requests to not contact her kids and family members about 'Part II' were ignored, and there has been a general lack of support, security and aftercare for survivors who participated.

Drea says she wants to reiterate -- "she has no involvement, did not approve any footage or stills of her likeness and is not actively promoting, nor consulting the follow-up series."

It's interesting because another notable person is featured in the new trailer -- Kelly accuser, Lisa Van Allen. However, she also told us herself she has nothing to do with 'Surviving Part II' because she's not pleased with how Lifetime has been handling the subject matter.

"Baker is like a joke, man."

That's ex-NFL star Orlando Scandrick going IN on Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield ... claiming he is a huge problem who's not for the league.

Scandrick -- who played 11 seasons in the NFL -- appeared on FS1's 'The Herd' and ripped the QB for the way he's handled himself on and off the field ever since he was drafted in 2018.

"Baker is like a joke, man. This guy has so much confidence and arrogance to have done nothing."

Scandrick continued ... "I don't know how [other players in the NFL] see him, but at the rate that he's going, I don't see how Baker is gonna play 8, 9, 10 years."

"He's an interception machine. He doesn't do anything but rub people the wrong way, and once the investment begins to become more than the return, then what happens?"

FYI, Mayfield has thrown a bunch of picks in 2019 -- 16 INTs with only 15 TDs this season ... the second most INTs this season behind Jameis Winston.

Scandrick was also critical of the way Mayfield spoke to the media after the Myles Garrett helmet incident -- when he condemned his teammate's actions on national television.

"That's Baker though. He calls out Myles Garrett, who's one of the best players on their team after he hits [Mason Rudolph] with a helmet when he could have taken the high road and just said, 'That's an unfortunate situation. We support Myles; it was unfortunate for Mason' and then just moved on."

Antonio Brown is going off -- again -- blasting everyone from Ben Roethlisberger to the "racist" NFL and even knocking the XFL in the process.

It all started with AB trying to point out the NFL's inconsistency when it comes to the way different players are treated in the wake of negative allegations.

Brown alludes to his former Pittsburgh Steelers teammate, Anthony Chickillo -- who was arrested this year for allegedly attacking his girlfriend.

Chickillo (who is white) was placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List and missed 2 games -- but was allowed to rejoin the team once prosecutors decided to drop the case.

The NFL is still actively investigating -- and Chickillo could face discipline in the future, but for now he's active and playing ... and AB is upset.

"Guess all mighty @nfl can hold players out against there will no criminal charges pending nothing but A Caucasian player gets a domestic go to jail still out there playing targeted hate against us everywhere my peeps."

Of course, Brown hasn't played since Week 2 as the NFL investigates rape allegations made by his former trainer, Britney Taylor.

The flaw in Brown's comparison is AB is a free agent and teams can sign him if they want -- but so far, no one wants to take the risk.

During his Wednesday morning Twitter sesh, Brown also addressed Ben Roethlisberger -- retweeting two people who brought up Ben's sexual assault cases.

AB didn't comment specifically on Ben's legal issues but did engage one critic who wrote, "Ab a real loser. Big Ben made that bum. Soon as Ben was done with him he was out the league."

Brown replied, "Check his stats before I came n I was done with that loser long time ago."

Yeesh.

When another person suggested AB should join the XFL, the WR shot that down hard too.

"No way," Brown wrote ... "they run the media they set me up clowns."

Rep. Karen Bass has bad news for President Trump if he wins a second term, and especially if the Democrats take back the Senate -- more impeachment, baby!!!

The U.S. congresswoman -- whose 37th district includes parts of L.A. -- was on "TMZ Live" Tuesday, shortly after the House announced the articles of impeachment. Dems in the House allege Trump abused his presidential power and obstructed justice, regarding the whole Ukraine thing.

Two questions we just had to get off our chest. First, if Trump wins reelection next year, does that definitively confirm the American people just don't give a crap about this?

Check out Bass' answer -- she's pretty optimistic about another opponent being able to win, and she's hoping her party can whip up national enthusiasm toward that cause.

Secondly, we asked if Trump does win again -- and if Dems win enough seats to take control of the Senate -- would they try impeaching him again? It's allowed ... there's no double jeopardy in impeachment.

Nick Cannon's "The Invitation" is either a brilliant diss track Eminem can't possibly ignore -- or it's Nick's eulogy ... 'cause everyone thinks Em is about to destroy him.

Gotta hand it to Nick ... he pulled out every weapon in his arsenal for this one -- including dragging Eminem's ex-wife and daughter into his verses, and prison phone calls with Suge Knight talking smack about Em.

Suge suggests all of Detroit should give Eminem 24 hours to respond to Nick's diss track or kick him out of town. Again, a deeply personal shot against the "8 Mile" rapper.

On "The Invitation" -- which dropped Monday night -- Nick takes a homophobic shot at Em, rapping, "I heard your chauffeur got a video of you suckin' a c**k."

That did get Em to respond, on Twitter at least, where he demanded an apology ... from "Nicholas." It's a very Em response, and you can almost hear the birth of HIS response diss track.

This whole new beef is over the old Mariah beef that was reheated last week when Em rapped on a Fat Joe track about Mariah neutering Nick, and added, "I let her chop my balls off too before I lose to you, Nick."

Part of Nick's response in "The Invitation" goes ..."My baby mama killed you off a decade ago, You're still crying about it bitch, now who really the ho?"

Since last week, Nick's been trying -- almost daily -- to get Eminem to come on his MTV show, "Wild 'N Out," to settle the feud. Nick's diss track is just the latest, albeit well-produced, attempt to snare Em.

Whether or not Marshall does Nick's TV show, it seems certain he'll fire back with a track. Of course, 50 Cent's biased in this feud, but he more than hinted ... Nick should NOT want smoke with Em.

As far as who's winning this war right now? The internet seems to think it's Em, since #ripnickcannon was trending Tuesday morning.

Careful what you wish for?

Harvey Weinstein's lawyer has his back, and not just in court -- she's making it clear the disgraced studio mogul's NOT faking back pain for sympathy, and will actually need surgery.

Weinstein's lead attorney, Donna Rotunno, says Weinstein's back problems have gotten worse and he's scheduled to undergo surgery this week to fix the issue. The back issue, Rotunno says, stems from a serious car accident in August, which also resulted in a concussion.

Rotunno says Weinstein's been using a walker to assist him as his pain's increased. You'll recall, last week Weinstein could barely walk out of court without help from a couple of handlers. Weinstein was widely slammed for attempting to play the sympathy card.

But, Rotunno came out swinging ... slamming haters by saying, "I was dismayed to see all the press coverage incorrectly stating that Mr. Weinstein was trying to garner sympathy at his court appearance."

She went on, "Prior to entering the court, he wanted to leave the walker in the car, so it did not appear that he was looking for sympathy as he is not. The press surrounding his physical condition is mean spirited and false."

Steve Harvey and the Miss Universe crew might be trying to dodge blame for the Best Costume blunder, but Miss Malaysia's team is here to put it right back in their corner.

Elaine Daly -- the National Director of the Miss Malaysia org -- tells TMZ that their pageant title holder, Shweta Sekhon, and the rest of her team at MU Sunday night legitimately thought she'd won Best National Costume ... because we're told that's what they were led to believe by show runners, who allegedly never informed them of anything different..

Daly says Shweta was asked to go backstage and change into her National Costume to be showcased as "Best National Costume," which Steve was about to announce.

That's exactly what she did, and we're told Shweta even conducted interviews on the matter -- all under the assumption she was the actual winner. So when SH said Miss Phillipines had actually won, Daly says it's completely understandable why Shweta corrected him.

Fast-forward to Monday ... when we were told by a Miss Universe source that Steve hadn't actually screwed up -- Miss Philippines was the winner, and Shweta simply jumped the gun by assuming just because she was standing out there, she was the victor.

Well, Miss Malaysia's camp is calling BS on that. Daly says she tried clarifying the mix-up and got told by someone at Miss Universe that Shweta was just the production staff's choice for Best Costume -- Miss Phillippines won actual online voting -- but the Miss Universe people simply wanted to showcase her at the moment, 'cause they liked her outfit.

Frankly, that makes no sense. Obviously, one would naturally put two and two together and assume the girl on stage was the one Steve was talking about ... which is what Daly explained to us as well, as that's how it came off to them (and the rest of the world).

Adding insult to injury ... we're told the Miss Malaysia team is pretty devastated by the faux pas, as they say they've never won a thing at Miss Universe. Get it together, y'all.

The NFL has launched an investigation into the New England Patriots over allegations a team staffer illegally recorded the Cincinnati Bengals sidelines during Sunday's game.

Of course, the Patriots were at home playing the Chiefs on Sunday -- but the team claims they sent a video crew to FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland to shoot a behind-the-scenes segment on a team scout during the Browns vs. the Bengals game.

FYI, the Patriots are playing the Bengals next week ... which is why the scout was there in the first place.

But, a Bengals team official believes there may have something fishy going on -- and reported a possible incident to the NFL, which is now investigating.

ESPN's Adam Schefter says the Patriots were credentialed by the Browns (the home team) to shoot that day for a segment called "Do Your Job" which spotlights key Patriots staffers behind the scenes.

Schefter says a team official for the Bengals saw the videographer -- who was wearing a Pats shirt -- and reported it to the league.

The NFL confiscated the video, according to Schefter and they're currently reviewing the footage to see if there was an attempt to spy.

Earlier today, a reporter asked Bengals head coach Zac Taylor about the incident -- and while he didn't say much, Taylor confirmed a league probe into the matter.

"I'm aware that there was an incident but the league is investigating it, so I've got no comment," Taylor explained.

The Patriots, for their part, tell Schefter there was nothing scandalous about the incident -- suggesting it was just a misunderstanding.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says the Patriots got pre-game permission from the Browns to shoot but they didn't inform the NFL until after the segment was in the can. That could be why the Bengals weren't in the loop and may have suspected other intentions.

Of course, the Patriots have gotten in HUGE trouble in the past for videotaping another NFL team -- remember SpyGate?

That took place in 2007 when the Patriots illegally recorded NY Jets defensive coaches during a Sept. 2007 game.

Bill Belichick was fined $500k, the Pats were fined $250k and the team was docked a 1st round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Ex-NBA player Guerschon Yabusele -- who now plays professionally in China -- was fined by the CBA this weekend for not looking at the Chinese flag during the national anthem.

... but Yabusele insists he was NOT trying to disrespect anyone.

The 23-year-old French baller -- who played 2 seasons with the Boston Celtics -- was fined $1,400 and given a "serious warning" for not meeting the league's requirements for anthem etiquette before the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings' game against the Zhejiang Golden Bulls.

Of course, showing any sort of disrespect to the national anthem has major consequences in China -- a law was passed in 2017 that made it a crime, which carries a maximum 3-year jail sentence.

It's also in the Chinese Basketball Association handbook that players must look at the flag during the "March of the Volunteers."

But, Yabusele says he wasn't trying to make any sort of political statement -- he reportedly clarified in a statement on social media that he was praying during the anthem.

"I have the same routine, I've been doing this my whole career and I wanted to apologize for the people that took it Personnal [sic] because it was not my point," Yabusele said.

"I will show my respect during the Chinese national anthem and keep my head up for now on, Love you guys."

Obviously, this isn't the first major issue with China and basketball this year -- the Houston Rockets were essentially blackballed there after GM Daryl Morey tweeted out support for Hong Kong.

A marathon runner who smacked a female reporter's butt live on-air during a race has been banned for LIFE ... this after the woman called the guy's actions "violating" and "objectifying."

The slap all went down Saturday at the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run in Savannah, Georgia where WSAV-TV's Alex Bozarjian was reporting live from the starting line area.

While she was on air giving details about the run ... a man jogged up behind her, slapped her on the butt and bolted off.

You can see in the video, Alex was not happy AT ALL with the guy ... and later said of the incident, "You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me."

"No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better."

Race officials promised to find the guy and punish him ... and less than 24 hours later -- they did just that.

In a statement from the Savannah Sports Council, they said they identified the man and banned him from future events FOR LIFE -- saying, "We will not tolerate behavior like this at a Savannah Sports Council event."

The org added, "Enmarket and the Savannah Sports Council take this matter extremely seriously and fully condemn this individual’s actions."

The Peloton controversy might be big laughs for 'SNL' -- but the guy who plays the husband in that ad is pissed, because while everyone else is laughing ... he's flooded with hate mail.

Sean Hunter was out in Hermosa Beach, CA Saturday night .. after he'd seen 'SNL' take not one, but two shots at the Peloton spot that seemed to urge men to buy the exercise bike for their wives for Christmas. You can tell in the video ... Sean's still in his feelings over all the backlash.

If ya missed it, Colin Jost took a direct shot during the Weekend Update segment, calling the ad sexist ... but added a really funny punchline. Sean says the joke was "frustrating" to him.

He added 'SNL' was "reinforcing that that's what people are thinking about it. I don't feel that way. That's not the truth about the commercial at all."

Sean says he's in no mood to laugh about the commercial yet, because of what keeps popping up on his social media.

Interestingly, he said he WAS entertained by the Aviation Gin ad his costar, Monica Ruiz, did ... which clearly poked fun at the theory Sean was playing an emotionally abusive husband in the spot.

As for getting his own Peloton? Sean, whose day job is being an elementary school teacher, sure seemed to be in the market earlier on Saturday. He was checking out a ride in an L.A. Peloton store.

Apparently, he was just window shopping -- or looking for some publicity -- because he explained why there won't be one under his tree this year.

His 2019 season's a bust ... but Antonio Brown will "probably" wind up in the Hall of Fame anyway, so says Andre Reed who tells TMZ Sports he's pulling for the embattled WR.

"I'm sure what's been going on the last year and a half ... it's gonna be a little bit of a damper. But, you can't take away whats he's done in the league, the impact he's had on the league and what he's done."

AB's on-the-field resume is insane ... 841 catches, 11,263 receiving yards, 75 TDs, 7x Pro Bowler, 4x All-Pro.

Off the field ... well, 2019 has been a problem. He's been accused of sexual assault, harassing a sexual misconduct accuser, illegally recording a conversation with Raiders coach Jon Gruden and more.

Brown has denied the sexual assault allegations and says the sexual misconduct claims are BS. The NFL is currently investigating.

But, Reed -- who's already in the Hall of Fame -- says when it comes to football, Brown's greatness can't be denied.

"AB is a great receiver. Whatever is going on with him right now, it's up to him to figure it out, to get himself back on track to get back into the league."

"I'm not going to speculate on all things he has been doing but obviously he's a great talent. Will be a Hall of Famer someday? Probably."

Oh, if you're wondering why Reed is wearing that terrible sweater ... IT'S FOR A REALLY GOOD CAUSE!!"

"My 2ND annual ugly sweater golf tournament in San Diego benefiting the Andre Reed Foundation and Read With Reed literacy program!"

FaZe Banks tells TMZ Sports that Jarvis' Fortnite ban is real -- saying there's NO CHANCE the kid plays the game again ... but he says the 17-year-old is still in good spirits regardless!!

"Jarvis is doing really good, man," Banks says. "He's holding in there."

As we previously reported, Jarvis was hit with a perma-suspension after he was caught using Aimbots during a recreational game that he streamed on his ultra-popular YouTube channel.

Essentially, Jarvis was cheating by illegally hacking the game so his guns could auto-focus on his opponents.

Turns out, Fortnite officials were SUPER pissed over the incident ... and gave him the boot from the game FOR LIFE!!!

Banks -- the founder of the clan Jarvis is a part of -- had previously told us there was at least some hope Jarvis could eventually be "freed" from the punishment.

But, Banks changed his tune when we got him out in L.A. last week ... saying, "The chances of him playing Fortnite are zero."

Good news, though ... Banks says the door is open for Jarvis to at least make SOME kind of Fortnite content in the future -- despite not being able to play it anymore.