Controversial S#!T

Tennis superstar Naomi Osaka has reversed course -- and WILL resume playing a major tournament on Friday after initially opting out in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting.

Earlier this week, the 22-year-old champ announced she would no longer participate in the Western & Southern Open semi-finals match, scheduled for Thursday.

At the time, Osaka explained ... "Before I am an athlete, I am a black woman. And, as a black woman, I feel as though there are much more important matters at hand that need immediate attention, rather than watching me play tennis."

"I don't expect anything drastic to happen with me not playing, but if I can get a conversation started in a majority white sport I consider that a step in the right direction."

After her statement, Osaka says she spoke with reps for the WTA and USTA -- and has decided to resume playing,

"As you know, I pulled out of the tournament yesterday in support of racial injustice and continued police violence," Osaka said in a statement Thursday.

"I was (and am) ready and prepared to concede the match to my opponent. However, after my announcement and lengthy consultation with the WTA and USTA, I have agreed at their request to play on Friday."

"They offered to postpone all matches until Friday and in my mind that brings more attention to the movement."

Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth went on a disgusting rant in 2018, suggesting that 5 arrested suspects -- all Black -- were "not worth saving" and should be locked up for life ... all over a retail theft and car chase incident.

Sheriff Beth -- who's in the public spotlight following the shooting of Jacob Blake and subsequent riots in Kenosha that led to 2 people being killed -- used the phrase "these people" multiple times as he described how he believed they should be "warehoused" ... so as not to allow the men to procreate.

The Sheriff went on to say it's time to stop being politically correct -- and though he specifically claimed race was not a factor -- he insisted "these people" should be put away for good.

Later in his speech, Beth said ... "In this country, in this community, in this state, we have to get to the point where we will no longer put up with the garbage people that fill our communities. They are a cancer to our society."

The case that got Beth so riled up was a retail theft in a mall that led to a car chase and a 2-car crash. At the time, Beth said he was so angered because the suspects hit another car being driven by a 16-year-old who just got his license ... though nobody was seriously injured.

The 5 suspects, aged 16 to 23, were all from Milwaukee and were all charged with felony retail theft and obstruction.

Beth addressed the media Wednesday following a deadly night in Kenosha, in which 2 protesters were shot and killed by an armed suspect. Cops later arrested 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse in connection with the incident.

The Sheriff suggested Rittenhouse was part of a group of people who asked to be deputized in order to help police patrol the area, something Beth said he wouldn't do because of the liability and chaos it can cause ... as evidenced by what happened Tuesday night.

Jacob Blake's children who witnessed him being shot are understandably shaken to the core -- and the process of healing will begin sooner than later ... TMZ has learned.

Jacob's uncle, Justin Blake, tells us the three kids who saw their dad shot 7 times in the back are in desperate need of professional help, and the family is already looking for an appropriate therapist or team of therapists.

So far, Justin says they've reviewed two services which make sense for them, and they'll decide as a family which route to go in a matter of days. Fact is ... the kids are extremely emotional, and waiting will only exacerbate the situation.

The kids haven't visited their dad since the shooting, because the family says it would be too traumatic. As for FaceTiming their father, we're told it hasn't happened yet ... even that would be too difficult for the kids to handle. The only ones who've seen Jacob in person thus far are his own parents.

Jacob's children -- including the other three -- are all being cared for by his relatives.

Jacob's father says the 3 children are scarred for life after what they've been through. Remember, they were no more than a few feet away inside the car when a cop unloaded at least seven rounds into their dad's back. Jacob is now paralyzed from the waist down, though hopefully, it's not permanent.

Barack Obama says he "commends" the NBA players who participated in Wednesday's "boycott" -- saying they're setting a great example for the rest of the country.

"I commend the players on the [Milwaukee Bucks] for standing up for what they believe in, coaches like [Doc Rivers], and the NBA and WNBA for setting an example," Obama said.

"It’s going to take all our institutions to stand up for our values."

The Milwaukee Bucks were the first team to refuse to take the court for their playoff game Wednesday -- saying they were still so upset over the shooting of Jacob Blake, they wanted to send a message to the rest of the country.

Other teams followed suit -- and the league eventually announced all of Wednesday's playoff games had been postponed.

Of course, Obama's message to the NBA and its players is much different than the message the current U.S. President has delivered to the league recently.

Donald Trump has repeatedly bashed NBA players and owners -- including LeBron James -- for the way it's dealing with the social justice issues in America.

Trump has said he will boycott the league if players continue to kneel for the national anthem -- something he considers to be disrespectful to the flag and the military.

Porsha Williams will have a new storyline on the upcoming 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' series ... her activism and arrests protesting Breonna Taylor's death will be heavily featured.

Production sources tell TMZ ... producers want to shine a light on Porsha's fight for social justice as much as possible in the new season, because Bravo knows viewers would be riveted by Porsha's commitment to racial justice.

As we reported ... Porsha was arrested in July during a Breonna Taylor protest outside the home of Kentucky's Attorney General, with cops hauling her off Daniel Cameron's front lawn in zip ties. She was hit with a felony charge, which was later dropped.

Porsha was arrested again Wednesday at another Louisville protest demanding justice for Breonna.

Our sources say there were no 'RHOA' camera crews on the ground when Porsha was busted -- the pandemic made it impossible to send a crew. Producers will rely on raw cellphone footage to tell her story.

The Wisconsin cop who fired seven shots into the back of Jacob Blake has been identified as officer Rusten Sheskey ... as more details from the case were just released.

The shooting is being investigated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, and an initial account of Sunday's incident fingers Sheskey as the trigger man.

According to the DOJ ... Kenosha Police Department officers were dispatched to a residence after a female caller reported her boyfriend was there when he was not supposed to be.

During the incident, the DOJ says police attempted to arrest Jacob and used a taser to try and stop him, but it didn't work.

The DOJ then describes what you've already seen on video ... Jacob walked around his vehicle, opened the driver's side door and leaned forward as Officer Sheskey held onto Blake's shirt and fired 7 shots into his back.

As we reported ... Jacob's family says he is paralyzed from the waist down and will need a miracle to walk again.

The DOJ says Jacob told he had a knife in his possession, but DCI agents recovered a knife from the driver's side floorboard in Blake's car.  In other words, it wasn't even close to Jacob when he was shot in the back 7 times. The DOJ says no other weapons were found in Jacob's car.

Kenny Smith just walked off the set of "Inside the NBA" in a show of solidarity with the NBA players who are boycotting Wednesday's playoff games.

"As a black man, as a former player ... I think its best for me to support the players and just not be here tonight," Smith said.

Smith then unplugged his mic and walked off the set -- leaving co-hosts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Ernie Johnson to finish the show without him.

Before he left, Smith explained his decision this way ...

"Right now, my head is like ready to explode," Smith said about the aftermath of the Jacob Blake police shooting in Wisconsin.

Smith says he can't stop thinking about the incident and the surrounding issues -- whether it's in the car or in the broadcast studio -- and he felt a strong compulsion to take some sort of action.

After he walked off, Ernie Johnson said he respects Kenny's decision ... and they continued on with the show.

55-year-old Smith won 2 NBA titles during his 10 year career and has become a key member of the "Inside the NBA" team, the most popular basketball show on TV.

As we previously reported, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to take the court for Game 5 of their playoff series with the Orlando Magic. Other NBA teams followed suit.

The Milwaukee Bucks are boycotting their playoff game against the Orlando Magic Wednesday ... electing to not take the court in protest after the Jacob Blake shooting.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and his teammates did not participate in pre-game warm-ups before their scheduled Game 5 matchup in the NBA bubble ... staying put in the locker room.

Of course, Blake was shot in the back 7 times by a police officer during an incident in Kenosha on Sunday ... about 45 minutes from Milwaukee.

The news was just made official minutes ago -- with the team announcing they will not play on Wednesday at all.

Bucks player George Hill issued a short statement saying, "We’re tired of the killings and the injustice."

Bucks exec Alex Lasry has also weighed in ...

"Some things are bigger than basketball," Lasry said.

"The stand taken today by the players and org. shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen."

"I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change."

Obviously, this will have huge ramifications -- the team is reportedly facing millions of dollars in fines for missing the game. But, they clearly feel the social justice statement is worth it.

ESPN's Bobby Marks says the fine could be as high as $5 million if the NBA chooses to enforce it.

Both the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics have also discussed boycotting their playoff game on Thursday.

Unclear if the Bucks' move will embolden them to stay off the court.

Of course, Bucks player Sterling Brown was victim of police brutality back in 2018 when he was tased by cops while outside of a Walgreens in Milwaukee while on a first date.

Cops had accused him of parking in a handicap space ... and things escalated from there.

Video showed officers taking Brown to the ground and tasing him -- despite the fact he never resisted or seemed to pose a threat.

Brown says he was offered a $400,000 settlement in exchange for his silence on the matter -- but he refused, saying, "I can't be quiet."

The police chief later issued an apology to Brown.

Rudy Giuliani just went scorched-earth on Doc Rivers -- claiming his emotional speech about the Jacob Blake shooting is loaded with BS.

The former NYC mayor took serious issue with the Clippers coach during a call Wednesday on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" on Fox News Radio ... and he didn't hold back.

"What Doc is doing is seriously misleading the African-American community," Giuliani said ... "It's a con job the Democrats have played on them for 60 years."

Rudy was particularly upset about Doc's claim that Black people love America, but "this country does not love us back."

"That's a totally ridiculous statement about loving this country," Giuliani said.

"Look, the danger of getting shot by a cop is about one-tenth of one percent. The danger of being shot and killed by another black is about 99%."

"So, for every 8 or 10 people that are shot by cops every year, 7,000 are killed by other black men. So, hey Doc, how about we deal with that?! And stop blaming it on the cops."

Rudy acknowledged cops "make a mistake once in a while" but says the bigger issue is, "Why are they in your neighborhood ten times more than anybody else's neighborhood? 'Cause they don't like you or because you're killing each other ten times more than anybody else and they're trying to protect the innocent victims that your people are killing?!"

Giuliani claims he has "the right" to speak on the matter because "nobody saved more black lives than I did when I reduced homicide [in NYC] by 65% [when I was mayor]."

Pete Buttigieg says he was floored to see President Trump use the military as prop to help him get re-elected.

We talked to the former Democratic presidential candidate Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and he talked about how hurtful it was for him -- an Afghanistan war vet -- to see the 2 military men open the doors for Trump during what some are calling a stunt -- swearing people in as American citizens as part of the show.

A White House official skirted the issue, saying the campaign only capitalized on what was already a planned WH event. But, this wasn't on Trump's public schedule, so ...

Mayor Pete had some props for Melania Trump and her speech ... problem is, according to PB, she could not have been talking about her husband.

Kinda funny ... he says he'd like to meet the guy Melania was talking about.

The so-called rifle-toting "vigilante" in Kenosha seemed pretty chummy with law enforcement before his alleged shooting spree -- receiving water and even praise from cops ... which could explain a lot.

The guy, Kyle Rittenhouse, who was seen firing rounds at protesters in the street Monday night appears to be part of an extremist militia group that set up shop at a few places in town, including some sort of car dealership ... where a cameraman caught him on film before the madness erupted.

You clearly see it's the same guy with the backward hat -- he's standing guard at the facility with another rifle-bearing man ... and they both say they're locals doing their duty.

Shortly afterward, the camera catches a few armored police vehicles rolling by and seemingly telling the militia group to scram, specifically telling them to move south. However, the cops don't let these boys leave without some replenishment first ... as in a few water bottles.

Check it out ... you see the "vigilante" in question run over and interact with some officers to retrieve some water for the crew -- and you even hear a cop say they appreciate what these guys are doing. Hard to say if they were actually teamed up in a concerted effort to ward off would-be looters, but the cops certainly sanctioned this set-up, unofficially at best.

This connects to later that same night ... when the same man -- who allegedly shot at multiple people, and killed two -- ran up to and eventually past these same armored vehicles, and wasn't stopped or apprehended. If anything, they seemed to recognize him.

Pulling out money from an ATM in a Texas suburb was all it took for this black man to be cornered and interrogated by white police officers, who thought he had too many credit cards.

The incident went down recently at a gas station in Burleson, a suburb of Fort Worth, and video shows one of the officers asking the man to prove the numerous cards in his wallet are his.

The guy explains he's in a rush to help his wife, whose car he says had broken down, but police make him slowly cycle through all the credit cards in his wallet so they can match the names on the cards to his ID.

The man wonders why cops are making a big fuss, and one officer tells him someone in the store thought he was acting suspiciously.

At one point, the officer outrageously asks the man how he ended up in the suburb and everything checks out in the end ... but now the guy is saying the entire interaction was racist.

Hard to argue.

We reached out to the Burleson Police Department ... so far, no word back.

Police in Texas slammed a man's forehead into a curb during a bloody arrest ... and cops also had an elbow and knee pinned on his head.

The violent altercation with cops in Beaumont, Texas was caught on camera, with bystanders screaming in horror as multiple police officers flip the man off his stomach, causing his head to smash into the concrete curb in the middle of a parking lot.

The man, whose name is Omar, claims he suffered a gruesome injury during the arrest -- a bloody gash above his right eye from the violent impact, a cut that required at least six staples.

The head slamming into the curb is alarming, and so are the elbow and knee pinning his face to the ground. It's only been 3 months since George Floyd's neck met a knee that ended his life.

We reached out to police in Beaumont ... so far, no word back.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Dr. Bernice King, is convinced that modern-day policing is structured after brutal slave tactics used for centuries in this country ... and needs to be completely uprooted if there's ever going to be progress.

Dr. King appeared Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and she says the shooting of Jacob Blake yet again proves Black lives don't matter to a majority of police officers in the U.S. If they did, we wouldn't see so much unhinged violence against them.

She says it's clear the systemic racism built into slavery is still alive and well today in how cops and the criminal justice system view African-Americans ... as bodies, as she puts it. It's not an easy thing to change either ... Dr. King makes that clear as well.

She adds it is crucial to keep our eye on the prize -- and part of that means keeping things peaceful. She discourages rioting and looting, just like her dad.

Speaking of him, she drops a quote of his that's just as timely now as ever .... and it basically gets to this point -- the longer we ignore this, the more it'll persist and worsen.

Police in America don't hesitate to shoot and kill Black people in a confrontation because they consistently get away with it ... that's what Jacob Blake's family lawyer, Ben Crump, thinks anyway.

The civil rights attorney -- who's also representing the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others -- is going to work for Blake now as well, after the 29-year-old father was shot in the back 7 times by a white cop in Kenosha, WI.

Crump tells us the family's been assured by the Governor's office that an independent and unbiased investigation into the shooting will be launched ... but he says Kenosha residents are understandably skeptical.

Crump cites a pattern of cops killing Black people -- not just in Kenosha, but throughout the history of the U.S. -- and facing zero consequences ... to the point where it's become totally normalized.

That's why, according to Crump, we continue to see white officers pulling the trigger on people of color ... even when they know everything is recorded these days.

Crump adds that this isn't just a police issue ... it's a cultural pattern of condoning mistreatment of Black people that starts at the top, and continues to manifest itself in what he refers to as the "intellectual justification of discrimination."

As you know, Blake's story is just the latest example of an unarmed Black person being shot or killed by cops. The alarming trend has finally sparked massive outrage and nationwide protests against police brutality and racism this summer.

Wisconsin looks like a war zone, or Tiananmen Square ... Black Lives Matter protesters defiantly blocked an armored truck in the streets, until cops unleashed tear gas.

The showdown went down Sunday night in Kenosha, where people were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake -- the unarmed Black man who was shot 7 times in the back by a white cop in an incident captured on video.

Some BLM protesters in this face-off are armed with assault rifles, and others are unarmed as they block the truck's path with a human chain ... but the real firepower rests in the hands of the sheriffs. The police have the armor, and the gas.

Protesters make their stand and send their message, but they know what's about to hit them ... tear gas, and a lot of it.

BTW ... tear gas has been banned in war since 1925, but it's often unleashed on American citizens for riot control. Go figure.