12:17 PM PT -- LeBron James just spoke in defense of Lisa Leslie -- saying Protect @LisaLeslie at all cost!"
UPDATE
He added, "You’re a real Superhero!! Sorry you had to [go] through that s*%#!!! We are our own worse enemies! #Mamba4Life"
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11:48 AM PT -- A rep for CBS News tells TMZ, "Gayle conducted a thoughtful, wide-ranging interview with Lisa Leslie about the legacy of Kobe Bryant. An excerpt was posted that did not reflect the nature and tone of the full interview. We are addressing the internal process that led to this and changes have already been made."
"I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry."
That's Gayle King going NUCLEAR on her own network, CBS, for releasing an interview clip with Kobe Bryant's good friend, Lisa Leslie, in which King asks about Kobe's rape case ... claiming CBS simply did her dirty.
Here's the deal ... earlier this week, CBS released a teaser clip from King's big interview with the WNBA star in which she asks if Bryant's legacy is "complicated" because of the 2003 sexual assault case.
.@WNBA legend @LisaLeslie told @GayleKing that Kobe Bryant's legacy is "not complicated" for her despite his 2003 rape accusation.
King received a TON of backlash online from people who claim the question was insensitive and inappropriate -- including 50 Cent and Vivica A. Fox.
In a video she made Thursday morning, Gayle admitted she's been reading the tidal wave of negative comments on social media and it's been driving her crazy!
"I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too,” King said.
She continued, "I am mortified. I am embarrassed and I am very angry."
"Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide-ranging interview -- totally taken out of context -- and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring. It’s jarring to me. I didn’t even know anything about it."
King says the sexual assault question was only a small part of a larger conversation about Kobe's life ... and she felt it WAS appropriate to ask that question at the time.
"We talked about that court case because that court case has also come up. And, I wanted to get Lisa’s take on it as a friend who knew him well, what she thought, where that should stand."
"It was very powerful when she looked me in the eye, as a member of the media, to say, 'It’s time for the media to leave it alone and to back off.'"
"I felt really good about the interview ... so, for the network to take the most salacious part when taken out of context, and put it up for people who didn’t see the whole interview, is very upsetting to me and that’s something I’m going to have to deal with them."
"There will be a very intense discussion about that."
Oscar Isaac is damn near closing the door on that galaxy far, far away -- strongly hinting he'll never play Poe Dameron again ... Disney "overlords" be damned.
The 'Star Wars' actor was outside The Mercer in NYC when he told us he's "probably not" going to return to his role as a commander in the Resistance's Starfighter Corps ... and his tone sounded even more definitive than that.
Oscar's not necessarily done anything to ingratiate himself with Disney -- the owners of the iconic film franchise -- since the release of the final movie in the third trilogy, 'The Rise of Skywalker.'
He came out shortly afterward and said "Disney overlords were not ready" to explore a "current-thinking love story" between his Poe character and the Finn character played by John Boyega ... despite claiming he tried to push things in that direction.
Many fans viewed Isaac's outspokenness as a sign he was done with 'Star Wars,' and based on what he told us ... seems their suspicions are confirmed.
Of course, Boyega had some rough moments with the Mouse House too -- losing his 'Skywalker' script, and then that laying pipe comment.
Donald Trump clearly doesn't have lines he will not cross, because he just questioned Nancy Pelosi's faith.
Trump was at The White House talking to a crowd of supporters about his impeachment acquittal when he launched on Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, calling them both horrible people, but that was just the beginning.
He scoffed at Pelosi's claim that she prays for him, but then he actually said he doesn't believe she prays at all.
That wasn't it ... before commenting on Pelosi's religious beliefs, he gleefully told the crowd he sat 4 seats away from Pelosi during the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday in D.C. and he talked trash on her and has no regrets.
Trump went on and on, praising people in the room and excoriating his opponents.
And, ICYMI, he claimed the whole Russia investigation was "bulls***."
Dr. Drew's beyond fed up with the media coverage of the coronavirus because he believes it's majorly overblown and causing hysteria ... while another major threat's being ignored.
The doctor was outside Beauty & Essex restaurant in L.A. Wednesday night went he went off on the media for misreporting the coronavirus, and even worse ... failing to point out facts in order to alleviate some of the panic.
According to Dr. Drew -- who was leaving sports agent Darren Prince's 50th bday bash -- coronavirus should be reported as being widespread, BUT, much milder of a virus than everyone is freaking out about. As he points out, there are tens of thousands of people infected ... but only a few hundred deaths.
By comparison, roughly 60,000 people die from the flu each year in the U.S. alone ... and it can be as high as 646,000 on average worldwide!!!
So, it's safe to say Dr. Drew's right when he says influenza is way more of a killer than the coronavirus ... so you should get your flu shot. We know Dr. Oz agrees too.
To be fair, though ... Dr. Drew's numbers are a couple hundred short when it comes to coronavirus deaths. So far, 563 have died -- all but 2 in China -- and there's more than 28,000 cases across the globe.
Meghan and Harry want to keep the prying public at bay at their Canadian home, going to extreme measures to make it happen ... including cameras and tarps along the property.
TMZ has obtained photos of some new security features the Duke and Duchess of Sussex recently installed to ward off any curious peeping Toms who might wanna try to get a glimpse into their private life at their North Saanich villa on Vancouver Island.
The latest bells and whistles ... a giant tarp that's hanging in between trees, and at least one security camera along the beach, which we're told has a wandering lens. You might've also noticed the fence, the front gate cover and the Home Depot "No Trespassing" sign too.
Those have been there since they've moved in over the past couple of months, but we're told the camera and tree tarp are the most recent measures taken for privacy/security.
It's just another sign Meg and Har really don't want to be under the spotlight post-Megxit and will do just about anything to keep people away ... including pesky photogs. Remember, Meghan has already threatened to suemedia outlets for using pics taken of her and Archiehiking the Canadian woods. She was out in public though, not on her own grounds.
Looks like they want to avoid a repeat situation at home. Cabin fever, anyone?
Pablo Escobar's trusted hitman -- who confessed to killing more than 300 people -- has died, but not in a hail of bullets ... instead, he lost a battle with stomach cancer.
Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez -- widely known by his alias, Popeye -- died early Thursday at the National Cancer Institute in Bogota where he'd been receiving care. Popeye was hospitalized on New Year's Eve for esophageal cancer, according to prison officials.
He was ultimately transferred to the institute when the prison found out about his cancer diagnosis. Popeye had been behind bars for more than 20 years after confessing to the murders ... the majority of which came at Escobar's orders.
Popeye wrote a book in 2005 about his time in the Medellín Cartel: "Surviving Pablo Escobar: 'Popeye' The Hitman, 23 Years and 3 Months in Prison." He was released from prison in 2014 but was recaptured just 4 years later for a slew of other crimes, including extortion.
The hitman -- who once plotted the assassination of a former Colombian presidential candidate -- gained notoriety on YouTube spewing hate-filled rants and defending conservative political views. He had more than 1 million subscribers on his channel.
Common wants people to get off Jay-Z's back for revealing he was NOT protesting at the Super Bowl ... and instead, focus on the genuine good he's doing to help his community.
We got Common Wednesday at LAX and asked why he thought some critics were ripping Hova's explanation for sitting Sunday -- with Beyonce and Blue Ivy -- during the National Anthem. He says it was absolutely NOT a protest ... silent or otherwise.
Common tells us Jay's stuck between a rock and a hard place cause it's clear he's never gonna please the masses. But, he does offer a piece of advice to those who wanna shade Jay -- the man's work speaks for itself.
He says it should be clear the rapper/mogul has good intentions based on his efforts. For instance, Jay's Roc Nation produced one of the most diverse groups of artists to perform at the Super Bowl. He's also part of a passionate effort demanding prison reform due to deadly violence in Mississippi.
Those are just the things known to the public -- Common says there's a lot more Jay does outside the spotlight ... and that's why he's willing to take him at his word that he wasn't taking a stand.
Nicki Minaj needs to take a seat and get educated on what Rosa Parks went through -- then she'd think twice before dropping lyrics trivializing it ... that's how folks at the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development feel anyway, along with Rosa's nephew.
Anita Peek, Executive Director at the institute who worked closely with Parks prior to her passing, tells TMZ ... if Rosa were alive today, she'd be extremely hurt by Minaj taking her bus protest -- one of the most significant moments of the Civil Rights Movement -- and putting a negative spin on it for a song, even if she was just trying to be clever or funny.
Peek says there is absolutely nothing funny about segregation in America and suggests Nicki should have known better than to include lyrics people would consider disrespectful.
One of those people is William McCauley, Parks' nephew, who tells us ... "It was both heart breaking and disrespectful that Nicki Minaj would have a lyric in a song that can be used negatively when mentioning someone who provided her the freedoms that she has today."
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We broke the story ... Minaj maintains the line in her upcoming track called "Yikes" -- which says, "All you bitches Rosa Parks // Uh oh, get your ass up" -- was not intended to be disrespectful at all ... nor was the timing of its release.
Though Peek claims Rosa would not agree with Nicki, she says the legendary activist was all about positivity, so she wouldn't condemn the rapper ... she'd try to teach her.
In fact, Peek encourages Minaj to read up on the story of Rosa refusing to give up her seat to a white man ... and just how serious and dangerous of a situation it was for Parks.
She says once Nicki understands how much Rosa endured so her people could sit at the front of the bus -- as demonstrated in this famous photo re-creation -- she'd know why her song is so hurtful.
Dennis Rodman says he's heartbroken over Kobe Bryant's death -- calling the guy "a mini-Michael Jordan" -- but he tells TMZ Sports the NBA should NOT change its logo to honor him.
"That's a tough one," Rodman said outside of Staples Center on Tuesday ... "Kobe has the charisma for the signature of a logo, but I'm holding my vote on that one."
Of course, tons of people have been in favor of the change -- celebs from Snoop Dogg to Julian Edelman have tweeted their support for it -- and an online petition earned more than 3 MILLION signatures last week.
On top of that, Paul Pierce recently told us he's all for the league making Mamba the logo and retiring both of his jersey numbers.
But, Rodman says Jerry West has just meant too much to him and too much to the game to pull him off the Association's iconic trademark, telling us, "I'm a good friend of Jerry West."
"He's been a mentor of mine for a long, long time," Rodman says ... "[It should] stay the way it is."
Don't get it twisted ... Rodman says he's been torn up ever since he learned of Kobe's tragic helicopter crash on January 26 -- telling us KB was one of "the most" exciting and inspirational people "in the world."
"I love you, Kobe," Rodman said. "Rest in peace, baby. Love and respect, baby."
Bernie Madoffis too conniving to be let out of prison early and should continue rotting behind bars ... so says Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband.
As you know ... Bernie is begging a judge for mercy in the form of an early prison release, claiming he has terminal kidney failure and saying doctors are only giving him 18 months to live.
The Prince says Madoff should remain behind bars for at least another 16 months if the 18-month timeline is indeed legit because he feels an early release is too sweet a deal for the 81-year-old Ponzi schemer.
Easy to see why Frederic doesn't have any sympathy for Madoff ... he claims Bernie robbed his wife and his investment firm of about $10 million ... and says Zsa Zsa would want Madoff to rot in hell!!!
The Prince is pretty fired up about the whole prospect of Bernie getting out early ... and he's afraid Madoff could still do serious damage if he gets his wish.
Southern Methodist Univ.'s women's basketball coach Travis Mays told his players to kill themselves if they weren't willing to try harder ... this according to former team members.
The first player to go public was ex-player Klara Bradshaw who wrote a blog post saying Mays was so upset with how the team was performing during a 2017-18 season practice, he said the following:
"If y'all don't want to get it together, if y'all don't get together and get connected, you might as well go and commit suicide."
Bradshaw -- who lost her father to suicide 2 years prior -- was so upset by the comment, a team trainer removed her from the workout.
The Dallas Morning News reports Mays -- a 1990 1st round pick in the NBA Draft -- later apologized to Bradshaw for the comment ... but other players also spoke out about the toxic culture surrounding his coaching style.
Ex-player McKenzie Adams recently tweeted the same 2017-18 season was "one of the most mentally traumatic experiences ever."
SMU's athletic director, Rick Hart, condemned Mays' comment to the Morning News, saying "It's absolutely a term that shouldn't be used in any capacity or any form."
Mays addressed the claim in a statement, saying, "It's one of those things where sometimes you can push. And it's our job to push people outside of their comfort zones."
"And sometimes you can say things, whether it's using the wrong verbiage or at the wrong time when you don't need to express some of that."
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts and needs help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
1:11 PM PT -- Meek's done with this back-and-forth 'cause he tweeted, "My girl is with me pregnant watching me tweet about my ex is very clownish...Ima exit" but not before making ooooooone last tweet to address one of Nicki's more serious allegations:
UPDATE
For clarification I don’t hit women and I won’t let my interviews be filled with question about her or any situation to do with her when I come out to do press for my new album! No devils tricks
Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill have taken their years-long beef to a whole new level -- or we should probably say a new LOW because they're both leveling disgusting, unproven allegations at each other.
It appears Nicki's fired the first shot ... going off on Meek after seeing that he liked a meme that took a shot at her hubby, Kenneth Petty. Mrs. Petty then posted on IG, calling Meek a clown and alleging he's a woman-beater. She wrote, "U do IT for likes. #TwitterFingers beat women, scared of men."
She made it a double-barrel social media attack by tweeting, "You beat your own sister and taped it. Spit on her & taped it. Kicked me in front [of] your mother and sent her to the hospital. Sucking drake d**k made u feel tough again. Move on."
There's no evidence to support any of those allegations.
It didn't take long for Meek to respond by roping Nicki's convict brother into the mudslinging. As we first reported, Jelani Maraj was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child, and just got 25 years to life.
Again, Meek's claims she knew about her bro's crimes and paid for his attorneys ... all unproven.
There's a lot more ... as the war of words continues, but you get the point.
As we've reported ... Nicki and Kenneth ran into Meek at a WeHo store last month. The confrontation nearly came to blows and an epic shouting match ensued.
So, the beef's been simmering since then. It's now on full boil. We've reached out to both camps for comment about the wave of unfounded allegations.
Jessica Simpson couldn't escape the wrath of animal rights activists incensed over her wearing fur.
The "Open Book" author was leaving Il Mulino restaurant in NYC after midnight when she was accosted by some anti-fur protesters who shouted out "animal abuser," "murderer" and "shame on you" as she hopped in her SUV.
One guy hammered his point home by screaming ... "What type of person would wear fur in 2020?!"
This wasn't Jessica's first run-in of the day with the angry activists. Earlier Tuesday night, her Barnes & Noble book signing event for her new memoir was crashed by a much larger group of anti-fur folks.
They began screaming and holding up their signs as Simpson came out to give a speech, forcing her to take cover for a couple minutes while security booted the protesters.
The good news for Jessica ... her fans stuck around, chanting her name, and she eventually came back out and talked about her book.
BTW ... if any of the animal rights activists look familiar, it's because this isn't their first rodeo. They've crashed events and confronted several other celebs for wearing fur ... like Kate Upton, Chrissy Teigen, Lil' Kim and Jennifer Lopez.
Nancy Pelosi took a page out of President Trump's playbook ... and then ripped it up, and now she's explained why.
Status: Pelosi stole some of the President's thunder when she played to the camera and tore up her copy of the State of the Union address. She said in a Congressional hallway following the address she did it because the speech was a pack of lies ... what she called "a manifesto of mistruths."
The evening was about as partisan as ever before on both sides ... with chants of "4 more years" from the Republicans and protests from the Democrats.
After the speech, reaction to Pelosi's move was swift and predictable. Former California Rep. Katie Hill was in DC and felt Trump got off easy -- Pelosi should have used the gavel on him.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz was outraged, calling Pelosi's move "pitiful" and "disgusting."
It was acrimonious from the get-go ... Trump blew off Pelosi's gesture to shake hands, and then she introduced him by simply acknowledging "the President of the United States." She did not hold to tradition and say, "I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States."
Jay-Z says he and Beyonce sitting through the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl was absolutely NOT a protest of any sort ... it was simply 2 moguls hard at work.
Jay was at Columbia University Tuesday and addressed the video TMZ Sports first posted Sunday ... showing Jay, Bey and Blue Ivy seated as Demi Lovato belted out the National Anthem. A Columbia professor asked him if he remained seated to "convey a signal," and Jay quickly replied, "It actually wasn't. Sorry."
He said Beyonce told him she was thinking what Demi must have been going through in the seconds before starting the Anthem, because, as Jay put it, Beyonce's "performed at the Super Bowl before, and I haven't."
He said they got to their seats and were laser-focused on Demi's performance, but from a business standpoint -- "We immediately jumped into artist mode."
Jay added, "I'm really just looking at the show. The mics start. Was it too low to start?" He went on to make the point he was concerned about the audio and all aspects of the show for a very good reason.
Remember, Jay-Z's Roc Nation is now producing ALL of the entertainment at Super Bowls as part of the deal Jay struck with the NFL last year. That included Demi's Anthem, Yolanda Adams singing "America the Beautiful" ... and the Halftime Show with Shakira and J Lo.
Jay said there was no need for a "silent protest" -- as some speculated they were doing -- because we were "making the biggest loudest protest of all" by selecting such a diverse group of artists to perform at the game.
He also joked about people thinking they had Blue Ivy in on the alleged protest -- saying, there's no way their 8-year-old could possibly play it cool ... especially on camera.
Also worth noting ... the Carters attend sporting events regularly -- Jay was a minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets -- and we're told they always stand for the Anthem. We found photos and video to back that up, including the 2017 NBA All-Star Game.
Sources close to the situation tell us Jay knew revealing the real reason he sat might spark new criticism from Colin Kaepernick supporters -- some of whom took Sunday's video as a sign Jay was backtracking on his "We've moved past kneeling" remark.
We're told he still opted to address it during the Columbia Q&A session because he didn't want anyone to misconstrue his actions.
Nicki Minaj teased a new song invoking Rosa Parks' name -- on the eve of the legendary civil rights icon's birthday -- but the Queen didn't plan to flex when she did and meant no disrespect either.
Sources connected to the femcee tell TMZ ... Nicki's aware of the heat she's been catching from folks after releasing a snippet of a track she's been working on called "Yikes" -- which includes the line, "All you bitches Rosa Parks // Uh oh, get your ass up."
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Some people found it humorous, but lots of others didn't ... and actually thought it was a slap in the face of a civil rights legend, who would've turned 107 Tuesday.
Fact is ... we're told Nicki was NOT in any way, shape or form attempting to diss the great Mrs. Parks -- she was just using her in what she thought was a clever metaphor aimed at her haters. It's about as simple as that ... our sources say it wasn't a slight at all.
As for the date -- again, right before Rosa's born day -- we're told Nicki didn't arrange that on purpose. It was a coincidence and in hindsight ... we're told maybe bad timing. Our sources say Nicki was excited to give her fans new tunes, and everything came together by chance.
We're told Nicki would never undermine the work Rosa did, and she hopes her fans know that too.
