Controversial S#!T

James Franco had no comment on President Trump's tweet about "mere allegations" ruining people's lives without due process -- which is fine, 'cause HBO did all the talking.

We got James Monday touching down at LAX, where he was covered up and in a hurry to get to his car. We asked if he agreed with the Trump attack on the #MeToo movement.

He doesn't say much here -- but, frankly, he didn't really need to. Trump's sentiment is not totally accurate. Fact is ... Franco is set to return to his starring role on Season 2 of HBO's hit show, "The Deuce" ... despite allegations of sexual misconduct.

He's been laying relatively low ever since being snubbed by the Oscars ... aside from some casual surfing he's been making part of his regular routine.

After relanding his major role on a critically acclaimed show, James might as well have just said ... what ruined life?

Vivica A. Fox raised her fist and emphatically let it be known -- "Black Panther" producers, Disney, could do wonders if it donates a big chunk of money to the African-American community.

We got Vivica Monday at LAX and she threw her support behind the Change.org petition for Marvel and Disney to invest 25% of the movie's proceeds back into the community. She says it's the right move, and could pay dividends for many years to come.

Not everyone's totally on board. We also got comedian Gary Owen, and he says it's not the studio's job to give away money. He has some advice for anyone signing the petition.

By the way, the guy who started the petition says the donation is the right thing to do, because Disney has marketed the movie almost exclusively to black moviegoers ... and it's done so in the middle of Black History Month.

Marlon Brando's son says his dad did NOT bang Richard Pryor ... even though Pryor's widow insists he did.

Marlon's oldest living son, Miko Brando, tells TMZ ... "The Marlon Brando family has heard the recent comments by Quincy Jones and we are disappointed that anyone would make such a wrongful comment about either Marlon Brando or Richard Pryor."

That's in sharp conflict with what Richard's widow, Jennifer Pryor, told us last week ... that the Brando/Pryor hookup DID go down, and Rich was fine with it.

You'll recall, Jennifer said Richard wasn't upset at all by Quincy's comments -- adding the comedian was always very open about his bisexuality, apparently having documented his experiences in diaries he kept.

Miko's gone to bat for his late father before -- most recently when the actor was accused of plotting a real rape during a movie scene. Heck, even Richard's own daughter, Rain Pryor, denied the love affair between the 2 stars in a now-deleted post ... saying Pryor had a relationship with a trans woman once ... but "Daddy did NOT have relations with Brando."

So who's truthin' and who's lyin'?

Jeremy Piven's girlfriend is lashing out at the #MeToo movement ... but her beef has nothing to do with victims or accusers and everything to do with her.

We got Liana Mendoza in Studio City on Sunday when she went off, mostly because dudes aren't drooling over her anymore. See, everything to do with her. Remember ... the Prez dumped on the movement over the weekend, saying mere allegations without due process are ruining lives.

Jeremy's said as much ... and sexual misconduct allegations levied against him -- coupled with his "innocent until proven guilty" defense -- hasn't seemed to hurt his game.

Exhibit A -- Liana.

Liana, however, has a completely different take on why the #MeToo movement is messing with her personally -- as in ... it now seems pointless to have gotten a boob job. She also breaks down what would happen if a random dude pulled out his junk in front of her.

Nicole Eggert says Scott Baio is blowing up her phone on the heels of her going to cops with sexual abuse allegations against him -- something he flatly denies -- and now she's rolling with security.

We got Nicole Sunday at the L.A. Farmer's Market, where she was flanked by some huge dudes who she says she hired to help protect her and her fam from Scott -- especially since she claims he's been harassing her on the phone as of late.

Nicole claims Scott's been hounding her and telling her to stop the public shaming and just talk to the cops -- which she did last week when she met with LAPD detectives and filed a police report.

Scott's rep tells TMZ he has not called Nicole -- not even once -- since she made her allegations. The rep says Scott received several hangup calls in which the ID of the caller appeared to be Scott's own number. The rep says, "Immediately after, he was contacted by an individual who gave him 24 hours to accept an unspecified offer which was characterized as 'help.'"

The rep goes on ... saying Scott immediately changed his number, adding, "We have significant evidence about the origin of these calls, and are bringing it to law enforcement Monday."

There's also this ... Nicole says there are more cast members that are also coming forward against Baio. Again, for the record ... he's completely denied her accusations.

5:06 PM PT -- Weinstein's lawyer, Ben Brafman, tells TMZ, "We believe that a fair investigation by Mr. Schneiderman will demonstrate that many of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are without merit. While Mr. Weinstein's behavior was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality, and at the end of the inquiry it will be clear that Harvey Weinstein promoted more women to key executive positions than any other industry leader and there was zero discrimination at either Miramax or TWC."

The statement goes on ... "If the purpose of the inquiry is to encourage reform throughout the film industry, Mr. Weinstein will embrace the investigation. If the purpose, however, is to scapegoat Mr. Weinstein, he will vigorously defend himself."

Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company are being sued by the New York attorney general for alleged civil rights violations in the workplace.

New York's AG, Eric Schneiderman, just filed suit against Harvey, his brother Bob Weinstein, and the entire Weinstein Co., alleging they violated the state's civil rights laws and NYC's human rights laws during the disgraced movie producer's time there.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Schneiderman says Harvey persistently sexually harassed female employees at TWC by personally creating a hostile work environment and demanding quid pro quo sexual favors for continued employment or career advancement.

He goes on to allege that Harvey used his position at TWC, as well as female employees and company resources, to serve his sexual interests with other women seeking employment or business opportunities with TWC.

Schneiderman also accuses TWC's human resources department of essentially being non-existent ... while going on to claim Bob and the rest of the board of directors were complicit in Harvey's operation by ignoring credible evidence presented to them time and again.

Anthony Scaramucci thinks Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly needs to leave The White House STAT if he lied to the Prez and the people about Rob Porter.

We got The Mooch Sunday at LAX and he couldn't have been clearer ... if the Axios report is accurate -- that Kelly covered up domestic abuse allegations against key aide Porter -- then he should throw in the towel.

Kellyanne Conway insists President Trump was not attacking the #MeToo movement when he tweeted there has been a rush to judgment against some of the people accused of sexual misconduct.

Conway says Trump's tweet had nothing to do with Rob Porter either ... the aide who resigned after his 2 ex-wives accused him of physical and emotional abuse.

Kellyanne says Trump has been falsely accused by women in the past, suggesting he's especially sensitive to these allegations as a result.

Fact is ... TWO of Trump's aides have resigned this week on the heels of domestic abuse allegations, and his tweet came out soon after.

Cardi B isn't letting death threats from the Crips block her from a 6-figure payday over NBA All-Star Weekend -- it's all part of street life, as far as she's concerned.

Sources close to Cardi tell TMZ ... she's sticking to her 3 scheduled appearances next week in L.A. -- including one with her fiance, Offset, and his Migos mates -- and she has no fear of gang retaliation.

As we reported, the nightclubs hosting her events are beefing up, but Cardi's viewing everything as business as usual. We're told she's reminding everyone on her team -- from record company execs on down -- she's from the streets, so nobody's stopping her bankroll.

Our source says Cardi had no idea her use of the word "Flue" on IG would upset so many people, and that's why she deleted it, but that's the ONLY thing she's changing. After all, we're told there's around $250k on the table for the weekend.

James Franco went into LAX head down Friday, in no mood to talk to photogs or fans.

James and girlfriend Isabel Pakzad looked super serious as they entered the terminal. James clutched his guitar case as they walked to security.

As you know, Franco was snubbed by the Academy ... pretty clearly a response to sexual harassment allegations. He snagged a Best Actor Golden Globe, but on the heels of that win several women came out with stories that seemed to torpedo his chances during awards season.

Unclear where he and his girlfriend went, but it's a safe bet he won't be coming back to L.A. for the Oscars in a few weeks.

Logan Paul is in deep you-know-what -- YouTube announced Friday it's suspending ads to his channel, and we've learned several unannounced projects are also coming to a screeching halt.

Our sources at YouTube tell us Logan's suicide forest video weeks ago triggered a stop order on several projects that had yet to be revealed. Industry sources are telling us his "Airplane Mode" film is one of the projects on hold.

This adds insult to the financial injury Logan was already facing with ads suspended after he posted more disturbing videos ... including tasering 2 dead rats.

Paris Hilton thinks Steve Aoki is all wrong when he rails that there are no female DJs.

We got the DJ/entrepreneur and fiance Chris Zylka Thursday at LAX and asked about Aoki's gripe that there's no gender equality in the EDM world, but Paris quickly schooled us on some of the best female DJs in the game.

Kate Upton's calling for wholesale changes at Guess, and suggests the company's problems go far beyond co-founder Paul Marciano.

We got Kate Thursday leaving Nello in NYC and she did NOT rule out working with Guess again, but she's got some big caveats. On the heels of her bombshell allegation Marciano groped her breasts, thighs and forcibly kissed her back in 2010 -- she's now adding there are others who need to be 86'd.

Paul has denied Kate's claims, but she's now saying there's a culture at Guess that won't change until its co-founder takes a hike.

Upton also has some words for Jennifer Lopez and any women still on the roster.

You'll recall, J Lo was the guest of honor at a Guess launch party thrown just hours after Kate started hinting on social media about her Marciano allegations.

Donald Trump claims he's doing a better job than President Obama was on this day in 2010 ... and he wants everybody to know about it.

An email sent to Trump supporters from 45's website Thursday reads, "President Trump has a stronger approval rating (48%) today than Barack Obama (44%) did in 2010 on this same day. But we bet you won't hear it from the media."

In addition to the message, Trump asks his supporters to take a poll rating his job performance to, "make sure the media KNOWS the American people are fully behind President Trump."

It's unclear exactly where Trump got his approval numbers from ... but with poll options like, "Great, Good, Okay and other" it makes it pretty tough for 45 to fail.

Quentin Tarantino is issuing a mea culpa after old comments he made live on the air about Roman Polanski's child rape victim were met with rage.

Tarantino issued a statement Thursday, apologizing to Polanski's then-13-year-old victim, Samantha Geimer, after a 2003 interview with Howard Stern surfaced, during which he said the sex was "not rape" ... and that Geimer "wanted to have it."

Geimer addressed the controversy Tuesday, saying Tarantino's comments were "wrong" and "I bet he knows it."

In his apology, obtained by Indiewire, Tarantino responded, saying he's sorry for his "cavalier remarks." He also explicitly acknowledges Geimer "WAS raped by Roman Polanski" ... adding he "incorrectly played devil's advocate for the sake of being provocative."

Tarantino adds ... "So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect. I am sorry Samantha."

Logan Paul is teaching millions of his young followers to be cruel to animals with his dead rat taser video -- this according to PETA, which now wants the clip yanked.

Lisa Lange -- PETA's Senior Vice President -- tells TMZ that the video posted this week showing Logan repeatedly firing a taser at a dead rat is repulsive, adding that it's clear he hasn't learned his lesson from the suicide forest debacle.

Lange says PETA is also calling on YouTube to take Logan's clip down entirely, explaining ... "This sort of content has no place on YouTube or anywhere else, as it could desensitize young people to cruelty to animals." She adds ... "PETA is calling on the platform to remove it."

As you'll recall ... Logan's catching a new wave of backlash for his latest stunt. He tases the dead rat, lifts it from the string, and tases it again once it's in the trash. Safe to say, people are pissed.