Controversial S#!T

T.I. isn't just lifting the boycott on Houston's Restaurant, he's going to help the company with diversity training to ensure African-American customers never face racism there again.

We broke the story ... Tip placed a boycott on the Houston's Restaurant chain last year after several alleged incidents of discrimination against African-American customers. The rapper's held several meetings with Houston's execs since then to address the issues, and officially nixed the boycott last week.

Ricky Williams is taking the high road with the college coach who refused to recruit players from Colorado due to weed laws ... praising the guy for sticking up for his beliefs.

Yeah, that's right. Ricky Williams -- the self-proclaimed "high guy" -- is defending an anti-weed college baseball coach.

ICYMI -- Mike Jeffcoat WAS the coach at Texas Wesleyan University until an email he wrote to a recruit bashing marijuana laws in Colorado went viral. He was fired shortly thereafter.

T.I. has gone from the negotiating table to the dinner table at Houston's ... because he believes there's no need for a boycott anymore since the restaurant is no longer -- as he alleged -- racist.

Sources close to Tip tell us he's had several meetings with execs of the Atlanta-area restaurant since October -- when he first imposed the boycott ... this after a number of African-Americans complained the chain was reluctant to seat them.

Waka Flocka's mom Deb Antney helped pushed the boycott back in October after someone claimed they went to the Houston's in Atlanta with a large party of African Americans and they were refused service as they watched a large party of Caucasians seated comfortably.

We're told the restaurant assured T.I. there will be NO racial discrimination in seating customers. T.I. felt the dress code had the effect of discriminating against African-Americans, and the restaurant has assured him the code will be less strict.

7:25 AM PT -- Oath Inc. -- which owns AOL -- has canceled the Oshry sisters' YouTube show, "The Morning Breath," and is launching an investigation into the latest revelations about the family.

The 'Girl With No Job' might soon be the Girl With No Followers -- 'cause the viral sensation is apologizing for old racist tweets ... and a familial connection to Pamela Geller.

Claudia Oshry Soffer posted an apology video Wednesday after years-old anti-Muslim tweets about Obama surfaced -- this on the heels of being outed as one of Geller's daughters.

If you're unfamiliar, Geller is an incredibly controversial right wing activist who's known for peddling anti-Muslim rhetoric ... and who strongly supports Trump. Until now, it wasn't known that Claudia and her other 3 Instagram-famous sisters were tied to the woman.

Claudia didn't address her ties to her mother in her apology video, but distanced herself from her mother's views in a statement, saying ... "We want to be clear to our audience and fans that our political and cultural beliefs are not anti-Muslim or anti-anyone. Our views are separate from our mother’s."

A student who survived the Florida shooting says he's happy George Clooney and Scooter Braun are super involved with their cause -- in fact, he says the more, the merrier.

Dimitri Hoth -- a student survivor at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High -- has a clear view of the upcoming March for Our Lives rally in D.C. He wants celebs front and center, because they have the key to the most powerful engine of change -- social media.

TMZ broke the story ... Scooter and George are deeply embedded in organizing the event for MFOL, but have stayed out of the spotlight to avoid blurring the students' message.

It's a student effort, but he says famous people, including vocal supporters Oprah and Jimmy Fallon, will be warmly received.

Don't expect Warren G to campaign for Stacey Dash in her run for Congress ... because he doesn't think she's fit to rep his hometown.

The West Coast hip-hop legend and Long Beach native tells us it's nothing personal -- he admits he doesn't know Stacey -- but he believes she lacks the strong connection to the community she'll be expected to represent.

Or as he puts it ... "You can't have somebody that don't understand the struggle of what it is in all of these neighborhoods."

Dash filed paperwork to run for a seat in California's 44th district, which includes Carson, Compton and North LB ... even though she grew up on the opposite side of the country in the Bronx.

Warren leaves the door open for Stacey, though, saying she probably means well and can take steps to improve her merit ... but it's definitely not a vote of confidence.

The Golden State Warriors did NOT visit the White House during their trip to D.C. -- instead, they worked with kids in the community ... and the move is getting praised by a republican senator.

We spoke with John Thune [R-SD] who commended the NBA stars for taking local students to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

"I just think that they are a bunch of athletes who see themselves also serving the greater cause and I'm glad that they're willing to do that."

"They're willing to help people who are less fortunate than they are and maybe haven't had the breaks in life that they've had."

Of course, the topic of athletes and activism has been all over the news -- after Fox News host Laura Ingraham told LeBron James and Kevin Durant to "shut up and dribble" after they criticized Donald Trump.

By the way, Sen. Thune is a pretty good basketball player himself -- and had a reputation for being the BEST hooping politician in D.C. So, what's his advice for guarding Barack Obama?

Check out the clip ...

Senator Cory Booker is stunned that Congressman Don Young tried pitching the Holocaust as a serious defense for arming teachers ... calling the pro-gun notion "outrageous."

We got the senator from New Jersey on Wednesday in D.C. and asked him what he thought of Rep. Young suggesting the Holocaust wouldn't have happened if Jews had their own guns.

Booker admits he hadn't heard the remarks or seen the video himself -- but says it doesn't take a genius to know the idea is historically inaccurate and highly offensive. Uh, ya think?

Donald Trump Jr. is facing a Manhattan judge ... he showed up for jury duty Wednesday, and there's a chance -- slim, we think -- he could be selected to serve as a juror.

President Trump's oldest reported to the New York County Criminal Court building -- and it was pretty obvious someone in the First Family was there. Secret Service is swarming around the building, and there's a huge line to enter the courthouse ... most likely due to increased security with a Trump in the house.

We called his office, and we were told he's "happy to be there."

According to the NY Post ... Junior was selected for a jury panel, along with about 80 other potential jurors, in an attempted robbery case.

George Clooney and Scooter Braun are secretly working behind the scenes for the March for Our Lives campaign ... and TMZ knows this all because we wanted to find out how many MFOL t-shirts were sold.

One of our producers emailed members of the campaign triggered by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. She wanted to know how many sweatshirts, t-shirts and other merch items have been sold to raise money for the upcoming marches -- in particular, the march in Washington to ban assault rifles and end gun violence.

We were told over 22,000 items have been sold, but our producer wanted to know more, and she was referred to a woman who is running the fundraising campaign. Turns out ... the woman works for Scooter Braun.

After more digging, we found out Scooter is deeply involved in the fundraising efforts but was determined not to take the spotlight away from the students, so he used one of his employees for cover. As you know, Scooter organized the Manchester charity event for the victims of the Ariana Grande concert bombing.

We also found out Clooney, who donated $500k to March For Our Lives, is actively working behind the scenes to provide various forms of help. And sources at MFOL tell us Clooney is the one who started the behind-the-scenes work and recruited Braun and others.

We're assuming they've done all this on the QT because they feel it would diminish the impact of the movement if celebrities appear to be running the show -- the students are the ones changing hearts and minds and it's important it stays that way.

Clooney tells TMZ, "Amal and I fully support the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. We've donated money to help pay for their march. But the march and all of the activities surrounding this movement belong to the young people across the country."

Charles Barkley says college basketball is still GREAT because it helps black kids get a free college education -- and he dismisses the NCAA recruiting scandals as a few bad apples.

"The NCAA has some issues," Barkley told Adam Glyn in NYC ... "but what about all those kids who got to go to college for free?!"

"There's a few guys who are corrupt, I understand that. But, I always look at the big picture."

"I want all them young black kids getting their free education!"

The NCAA has been under fire recently after several high-profile players and programs were allegedly involved in schemes to pay players ... sometimes the payments reached 6 figures.

As for how Barkley would fix the system -- he says it's not as simple as just saying, "Pay the athletes."

"I don't know how to pay 'em. Who do you pay? Do you pay the basketball team? You pay the football team? You pay the girls teams? It's not that simple."

Ne-Yo's wife says people got pissed over her comments about her son's hair because some folks still don't like seeing mixed-race couples.

We got Crystal Smith Tuesday at LAX and asked her to weigh in on the backlash she received for saying her kid wasn't blessed with her "Hawaiian silky" hair.

Crystal seems to think the real reason so many IG users sounded off is 'cause a lot of them don't like when black men date outside their race, even though Crystal's part black.

The point is probably moot, though. Crystal says she'll do whatever she feels is best for her child, regardless of what others think. She's also clapping back with a business move.

Dan Rather's not buying President Trump rushing into the Florida high school to stop the mass shooter -- he says history shows that's just not his style.

We got the legendary CBS anchor in NYC Tuesday, and asked him to assess Trump's claim -- "I really believe I'd run in there, even if I didn't have a weapon." Rather started to say he wants to be respectful of the office of the Presidency ... then dropped a BIG ol' but.

He says Trump had a chance to stand up and show his bravery during the Vietnam War, but "ducked" it. Dan does acknowledge that was a long time ago, and the Prez could have changed.

Some of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High are planning on using their newfound star power to get their gun control message out ... through a good page-turner.

Sources tell TMZ that at least two of the outspoken survivors have been in talks with publishers for book deals. The deals haven't been inked ... the students are in the meeting phase with book honchos.

We're also told that some of the students have been getting help from high-profile publicists to field requests and schedule media appearances. A lot of these kids have been all over the news lately, so it'd make sense they're not handling all these bookings solo.

According to our sources ... the point of this publicity push is to get their message across loud and clear -- real gun control is needed now, and they're insistent in bringing about change. One downside ... the kids haven't really had a chance to properly grieve.

As for book money ... we're not sure how much a deal would net the 2 survivors. We're told they'd likely donate the cash to March for Our Lives ... which is taking place in D.C. next month.

Donald Trump's s***hole comment could be coming back to haunt him in a big/little way ... toys!

A Florida-based graphic designer named Gaynor Evans-Wilson just filed a trademark application in hopes of locking down "S***hole President" with an eye for playthings and figurines. She's also got a specific image picked out for her mini Trump, pursed lips and all.

There's already a website featuring Evans-Wilson's Trump doll design, where it says you can purchase one now. It's weird though ... it doesn't seem like you actually get to a checkout page just yet. Maybe they're waiting for the trademark to fully go through.

Vic Mensa says he can see right through President Trump, and insists arming teachers to deter school shootings isn't a real game plan ... it's just a distraction from the assault weapons issue.

The Chicago rapper was in WeHo Monday when we asked him about the President's suggestion teachers should be packing heat, and Vic's convinced it's "not a real logical solution."

He believes Trump floated that idea as an NRA-sponsored ploy, and fixing the issue is a lot simpler than people make it out to be. He also reminded us, as a licensed gun owner -- who's facing a weapons charge -- he's all about the 2nd Amendment.