Controversial S#!T

Rayshard Brooks' family and friends honored him Monday night during a moving memorial service in his Atlanta neighborhood.

The event in southwest ATL, which lasted about 4 hours and saw 300 to 400 people show up to pay their respects, was held about 10 minutes away from the Wendy's parking lot where cops shot and killed Rayshard.

The police even stopped by for a minute, but they left before stepping foot outside their squad car.

Rayshard's family wanted the service to be a very positive, peaceful event celebrating his 27 years on Earth ... and it was. Folks were drinking, hugging and generally having a good time, but the tears were still flowing.

Family, friends and neighbors took turns holding the megaphone and sharing stories about Rayshard ... including a heartfelt speech from his cousin, Jymaco Brooks.

Mourners lit candles in front of his portrait and released balloons into the air, while also leaving trinkets at the base of the painting.

The details of Breonna Taylor's killing are being swept under the rug and hidden from public view by top city officials like the mayor ... so says her family's legal team.

Attorneys repping Breonna's fam tell TMZ ... a hard deadline came and went Friday, at which point the Louisville Metro Police Department and the City itself -- at the direction of Mayor Greg Fischer -- were supposed to produce crucial docs pertaining to the investigation.

Specifically, we're told her lawyers asked for an official autopsy report, personnel files for the cops involved in her death, and the Mayor's internal communications about all this too.

Her legal team says NONE of the docs were produced as of Monday -- after over a month of stonewalling and what they characterize as a refusal to comply with their open records requests. The attorneys tell us they believe this is due to an attempt to cover up her death.

They do note the City tried claiming there was a misunderstanding in the back of forth of their requests -- but even after that, the attorneys say they still came up with only a few of the requested documents.

The team writes, "We intend to seek all sanctions available for these blatant and willful violations of CR 45 (a KY subpoena rule). Meanwhile, we present this information so that the public is able to see the lengths that the city will go to in order to withhold the truth and keep Tamika Palmer from learning the facts surrounding her daughter’s murder."

It's interesting ... Breonna's family attorneys are strongly echoing what Beyonce herself said in an open letter to Kentucky's Attorney General -- that the process has stalled, and that his office needed to take over ASAP, while committing to transparency along the way.

A trio of cops getting a bad taste in their mouths after downing Shake Shack milkshakes nearly became a flashpoint in the nationwide tensions between police and their communities ... but cooler heads are prevailing.

The burger joint was trending overnight because the 3 NYPD officers were hospitalized after complaining about a funny taste in the shakes they ordered at a lower Manhattan Shake Shack. They reportedly described the taste as bleach, and feared they'd been poisoned.

A letter was sent to members of different police unions making them aware of the sitch. In a since-deleted tweet, the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association straight-up said their boys in blue were "intentionally" poisoned.

The insinuation was cops can't even go for a shake now without being attacked by rogue citizens. Mind you, there was no evidence of that, but take it as a sign of how tense things are these days.

Welp ... an investigation was immediately launched overnight, and NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said Tuesday it was all much ado about nothing.

Harrison says, "After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by Shake Shack’s employees."

As for what exactly happened to the malts remains a mystery. The NY Post reports it appears to be a cleaning solution commonly used that wasn't rinsed off the machine enough.

The good news is all 3 cops were released from the hospital and are expected to make a full recovery -- and Shake Shack said it's committed to getting the full picture out.

Rayshard Brooks' family members say fake GoFundMe pages soliciting donations on their behalf have sprung up all over the crowd-sourcing site ... and they want 'em gone, immediately.

One of Rayshard's cousins, Decatur Redd, tells TMZ ... he and his other relatives have spotted a ton of fraudulent pages in recent days for Rayshard and/or "his family." He says it's a frustrating nuisance for the real family, because they've only approved one true GFM.

We're told Decatur reached out to GoFundMe to get these phony pages taken down, but hasn't heard back, so he's warning the public -- do NOT fall for these opportunistic rip-off pages.

We reached out, and GoFundMe says it's aware of the situation, and keeping an eye out for fakes pages. From the looks of it, some of them have been deleted already.

It also looks like the legit page is amassing the majority of donations -- upwards of $105k and counting. The phonies have a small fraction of that, so it seems most of the public is hip to the game.

Decatur also told us he wants Garrett Rolfe, the now ex-cop who shot and killed Rayshard, to be charged with murder. He stopped short of saying what he deserved as punishment, telling us it'll be up to a judge if Rolfe gets charged and or convicted.

As far as the Wendy's getting burned to the ground ... Decatur says he doesn't condone it, but admits it felt cathartic when he saw video of it. He described it as a release ... almost like the start of his healing.

It goes without saying ... Rayshard's killing has hit Decatur incredibly hard -- he was seen openly weeping and had to be held back during Monday's emotional news conference.

The latest scene of protesters attempting to topple a statue -- this one of a Spanish conquistador -- exploded in violence when an armed civilian militia allegedly opened fire on a New Mexico protester.

The militia -- an extremist group called the New Mexico Civil Guard -- was standing guard Monday over a statue of Juan de Oñate in front of the Albuquerque Museum. A group of protesters had gathered with the goal of taking it down ... as we've seen happen recently in several cities.

At one point, witnesses told police that somebody swung a pickax at the base of the statue ... and that's when shots rang out and people were screaming someone had been shot.

The victim was hit by one bullet, and fellow protesters huddled around him as he was laid out on his stomach. Eventually, EMTs arrived to bring him to a hospital ... he was later listed as being in critical but stable condition.

As for the militia, those who were dumb enough to stick around came face-to-face with members of actual law enforcement -- who proceeded to take several of them into custody.

Tear gas and flashbangs were used to contain the situation and to detain the armed men -- whom cops say were disarmed by the time they were done with them. It's unclear if police caught the actual shooter ... and the FBI's already been looped into the investigation.

Remember, protesters successfully dismantled several statues of Civil War figures and Christopher Columbus within the last 2 weeks. All of those incidents went down peacefully ... meaning, no one attempted to protect the statues.

Different story now ... at least in New Mexico.

Roger Goodell says he wants Colin Kaepernick to get a chance to play again ... with the NFL commish putting his stamp of approval on bringing the QB back in the league.

Remember, Goodell recently admitted the league was wrong in how it handled the national anthem protests in 2016, but fell short of addressing Kap -- who hasn't played in the NFL since kneeling -- by name.

Goodell revealed his stance on Kap during ESPN's "The Return Of Sports" special Monday night ... saying, "If he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it's gonna take a team to make that decision."

"But, I welcome that, support a club making that decision, and encourage them to do that."

Goodell even says he'd like to work together with Kap on fixing social justice issues if he doesn't want to return to the field. However, we're told Kap very much wants to play in 2020.

"If his efforts are not on the field but continuing to work in this space, we welcome him to that table and to help us, guide us, help us make better decisions about the kinds of things that need to be done in the communities," Goodell said.

"We have invited him in before, and we want to make sure that everybody's welcome at that table, and trying to help us deal with some very complex, difficult issues, that have been around for a long time."

As we previously reported, Kap has been training nonstop in hopes of getting another shot in the NFL ... and Pete Carroll even said a team is interested.

Story developing ...

Oklahoma State star Chuba Hubbard -- one of the best college RBs in the country -- says he's boycotting the school after his coach was pictured wearing a shirt supporting a pro-Trump cable network.

Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy was spotted on a fishing trip last week wearing a shirt with the far-right, One America News Network (OAN) logo across his chest.

OAN has become a favorite of President Trump -- but they've been heavily criticized for pushing seemingly baseless conspiracy theories ... including the suggestion that a 75-year-old who was injured by police in Buffalo had connections to the ANTIFA. The man, who suffered serious injuries, denied the allegations through an attorney.

Hubbard -- who was projected to be an early-round NFL draft pick in April before deciding to return to school for his red-shirt junior season -- was so furious with his coach's wardrobe choice, he's now threatening to cut ties with the University.

"I will not stand for this," Hubbard tweeted. "This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it’s unacceptable."

"I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE."

Hubbard's teammate, Amen Ogbongbemiga, cosigned his tweet ... saying "I stand with him!"

And ex-Cowboys star Justice Hill added, "OSU Athletics and University need major change. 100% support brotha."

Not only did Gundy wear merch in support of OAN, he also praised the network for its "refreshing" coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in April.

"There's no commentary. There's no opinions on this. There's no left. There's no right. They just reported the news," Gundy said.

Coach has yet to comment on the shirt or the boycott.

As for OAN, John Oliver recently dedicated an entire episode of his show to dissecting the network.

At least 2 L.A. drivers were NOT down to go around protesters marching for Black Lives Matter and Pride -- instead, they went right through them, hitting pedestrians.

Two different cars were seen driving through demonstrators Sunday. First up, some maniac in a BMW SUV on Hollywood Blvd ... who came in kinda hot and then slowed as he or she approached a crowd blocking the road. However, they refused to come to a complete stop, or even attempt to go around ... and rammed right through at least 2 marchers.

One victim was dragged along on top of the hood before getting thrown off, and another man was knocked down. The psycho sped off and got away, but it sounds like someone caught the license plate, and we're told police are searching for the driver.

Meanwhile, in WeHo ... there was another driver who didn't quite do the ramming that the Hollywood lunatic above got away with. But still, she crept through protesters blocking her path, and they let her know they weren't too pleased with her impeding.

Terrell Owens is adamant he experienced "systemic racism" in the NFL during his time with the San Francisco 49ers ... and he seems to be pointing the finger at coach Steve Mariucci.

The 46-year-old Hall of Famer was explaining to TMZ Sports why he believes he was "blackballed" from the league 9 years ago ... when he made the bombshell allegation.

"I could've still continued to play but because I was outspoken, because of who I was, I wasn't allowed the opportunity."

"Because I was outspoken. Because of who I was and because of some of the coaches that said things behind closed doors and got in the ears of these owners, that's why I wasn't able to really continue on with my career."

"To me, that was systemic racism. I experienced it when I was in San Francisco under coach Mariucci. I experienced it. Trust me, I experienced it."

When asked, Owens wouldn't get into specifics -- but says his reputation suffered as a result of what happened during his time in SF.

"There's a lot of media that portray me a certain way to where now even people think I'm this bad person. That I'm a character, I'm selfish, all these things. But, at the end of the day, I knew who I was and I just kept moving forward."

We reached out to Steve Mariucci to see if he would address TO's allegations but so far, no word back.

"My wife, my family have been attacked and abused on social media. It’s just heartbreaking.”

That's the reaction NASCAR truck series driver Ray Ciccarelli says he's received since he threatened to quit over the sport's confederate flag ban ... and now, he just wants it to all stop.

The 50-year-old gave a lengthy interview to TobyChristie.com shortly after his infamous Facebook post ... saying he believes all of his comments were "misconstrued."

Specifically, Ray says he does NOT necessarily support the confederate flag ... he just supports people being allowed to fly whatever flag they want at races.

"In no way shape or form was I defending the Confederate flag," he said. "Everything I was saying was the fact that I understand both sides' feelings toward the flag."

"My viewpoint, all I was trying to say is how do you take [the flag] from one group and help support the group that it offends and then what do you do to the group that you took it from? Now, they get outraged."

Ray says his comments on kneeling during the national anthem were also twisted a bit ... saying he has NO issue with protestors there as well.

Ciccarelli claims he just has a problem with NASCAR implementing rules on both matters "out of left field."

"I had seen the news thing come through referring to, NASCAR now allows you to kneel during the anthem, It just irritated me some,” Ciccarelli said. “I believe in standing for the national anthem, and I believe that if you want to kneel during the anthem, you should kneel."

"It just kind of triggered me, because we’re being told you can’t kneel, now you can kneel. It just set me off."

Ciccarelli says he's hopeful his clarification on his comments will get critics off his back, saying, "This was a very educational learning experience."

Charles Barkley says it would be "stupid" to cancel the remainder of the NBA season ... saying players wouldn't just miss out on cash, but they'd also lose their platform.

"I think it will be stupid to not play for 2 reasons," Barkley said on ESPN's "Get Up!"

"Number 1, if they don't play, they're gonna be 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' for the rest of the year."

Barkley says LeBron James is one of the most famous athletes on the planet, but without the NBA season, "he won't be visible anywhere. So, it's out of sight out of mind."

Number 2 ... Barkley says players could be using their fat NBA paychecks to continue to help the cause.

"They're gonna lose billions of dollars that the players could use to go into their own communities and do some great stuff. So, it's not good on any part."

As we previously reported, Stephen Jackson came out strong against continuing the season -- saying it will take away the media focus from the Black Lives Matter movement.

Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard recently came out with similar statements to Jackson. And, Monday morning, Barkley addressed those players as well.

Stephen Jackson is imploring NBA players to NOT return to action this season ... saying a basketball comeback would hurt the Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for social justice.

"Now ain't the time to be playing basketball, y'all," the former NBA star said. "Now ain't the time."

Jackson was friends with George Floyd and has become a very influential voice in the media since Floyd was killed.

"Playing basketball is going to do one thing: take all the attention off the task at hand right now and what we fighting for."

Jackson says the NBA season -- which is currently set to tip off next month in a "bubble environment" in Orlando -- would dominate the headlines ... and push away all the progress national protests have made in the wake of George Floyd's death last month.

"Nobody's going to be talking about getting justice for all these senseless murders by the police," he said. "And, nobody's going to be focusing on the task at hand, bro."

Several players are already in Jackson's corner ... Nets star Kyrie Irving and Lakers stud Dwight Howard have both said this past week they don't want to come back.

In fact, Howard said straight-up, "No Basketball 'til we get things resolved."

Of course, others want to see the season go forward ... the league's biggest star -- and Howard's teammate -- LeBron James, has said consistently he's ready for a comeback ASAP.

And, Clippers guard Patrick Beverly backed him in a tweet Sunday, writing, "Hoopers say what y’all want. If @KingJames said he hooping. We all hooping. Not Personal only BUSINESS"

But, Jackson doubled down in another video message to players Sunday ... saying, "Our moment is now."

Sammy Sosa still won't do it -- he will NOT admit to taking PEDs during that legendary '98 season ... but admits he's made his peace with God.

51-year-old Sosa sat down with ESPN for its new 30 for 30 "Long Gone Summer" and was pressed on if he'll ever "come clean" about his alleged PED use during the famous Home Run Chase, as Chicago Cubs owners have long hoped he will.

Sosa cracked a smirk and said, "What do they want about me when pretty much everyone in that era did it?"

When pressed again, Sosa laughed uncomfortably and added, "I'm a very happy person, my friend. I'm good, I'm happy. Know what I mean?"

"There is about 4 or 5 [players from that PED era], maybe more than that, in the Hall of Fame. So, am I the one to blame?"

It was pointed out in the doc, Sosa has denied using steroids and other PEDs in the past -- even doing so before congress in 2005.

Reporter Paul Sullivan pointed out ... "there is no smoking gun" to prove Sosa did cheat.

"The only proof is the New York Times story about the leaked voluntary drug test. But, even that one, who's seen it except the NYT guy?"

Still ... COME ON!!!

Even 56-year-old Mark McGwire has come clean about taking PEDs ... and says in the new doc, "I regret doing it."

But, not Sammy. He's digging in his heels.

"A lot of people say different things, different opinions but I can say to you, what Mark and I did in '98 was incredible."

"Doesn't matter if we're never going to make it to the Hall of Fame, but that's okay."

"I have a peace with God. I'm happy. I've got my family. I've got my granddaughter, I'm good. but I believe what Mark and I did in 98, definitely, we shocked the world and I do not think something like that will happen again."

As for McGwire, he called his use of PEDs "stupid" -- but claims he only really used 'em to help recover from injuries ... not for the added power boost.

McGwire finished that season with 70 home runs. Sosa finished with 66.

A cop in Long Island appears to have purposefully blocked the path of a protester who was following him ... just so his buddies could pounce on the guy and arrest him.

The wild scene played out in East Meadow Saturday, where a bunch of protesters were being followed/escorted by local police ... at least some of whom were Nassau County officers, per reports. At one point, one of the protesters starts tagging alongside one of the cops up ahead, keeping in step with him momentarily ... and then attempting to pass him from behind.

The policeman notices this and abruptly stops in his tracks, so that the guy runs into him and makes slight, incidental contact. What happens next is insane ... a full-blown takedown.

It's crazy, 'cause you can see the officer almost signal to the others that he was touched  ... and the rest of them swarm in and rough the dude up as they detain him. You can see at least one officer has his knee on the guy too as his fellow protesters shriek in terror.

Some eyewitnesses say the officers had their knee on this man's neck -- although it's hard to say for certain from the angle of this video.

Now, Nassau County police officials have responded to this incident ... and they say the disorderly conduct arrest of this man and two others was necessary. They go on to say that this protester specifically was "moving across lanes of traffic," which is what spurred the arrest.

Their response might get even further scrutiny, however, because New York Attorney General, Letitia James, reportedly responded to the video on Twitter, saying she wanted it looked into.

San Bernardino Police gunned down what's been described as a homeless man, who they say waved what might have been a handgun at them ... but it's not clear if he was actually armed.

The shooting occurred Saturday night at a gas station, where cops were responding to reports of a man brandishing a gun on the premises. When they showed up, cops say the guy was still carrying what appeared to them to be a firearm, and refused to put it down.

In bystander video, you can hear the officers giving the order ... and seconds later, they fire multiple rounds. The man was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. It's unclear what made the cops shoot, but SBPD released an image seemingly hinting at the reason.

They put up this photo, which they say shows the suspect pointing what was perceived as a possible weapon at the officers. Interestingly, though, SBPD has not yet confirmed if a gun was in fact found.

Witnesses on scene told the L.A. Times they'd seen the guy there earlier in the day rummaging through trash cans and panhandling. A cashier at the Circle K across the street says she believes the police mistook a flashlight he had as a gun, adding he was harmless.

Beyonce is shining a light on Breonna Taylor's case ... calling on Kentucky's top prosecutor to bring charges against the cops who killed her during a "no-knock" search warrant in March.

The pop star penned and posted an open letter on her site Sunday to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, highlighting the fact that while a new law has been passed in her name banning the use of no-knock warrants ... her family has still not received true justice.

She says it plainly, writing ... "Three months have passed -- and zero arrests have been made, and no officers have been fired. The LMPD's investigation was turned over to your office, and yet all of the officers involved in the shooting remain employed by the LMPD."

Beyonce adds, "Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison must be held accountable for their actions." They're the ones who busted into her apartment -- believing it was being used to house drugs -- and opened fire upon her and her boyfriend inside ... unloading 20 rounds, eight of which struck and ultimately killed Breonna.

The three officers were put on administrative leave -- the case is still under investigation.

Bey ends her letter with a list of demands for AG Cameron, saying she and the community want to see criminal charges brought against the three men, transparency in the investigation and subsequent prosecution of them, and then calls for a separate investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department's handling of the case from the jump.

Beyonce caps it off with a heartfelt plea ... "Don't let this case fall into the pattern of no action after a terrible tragedy. With every death of a Black person at the hands of the police, there are two real tragedies: the death itself, and the inaction and delays that follow it. This is your chance to end that pattern. Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers."