Controversial S#!T

Donald Trump says Colin Kaepernick would have been A LOT better off if he would have just "honored" the American flag and stood for the national anthem.

Trump didn't mention Kaep by name during his rally in Michigan on Friday -- but it's obvious he was talking about the QB, who remains unemployed.

"We defend our flag and we honor our flag," Trump said ... "and if others honored our flag, they'd be a lot better off wouldn't they?"

The crowd roared and Trump continued ... "We put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance and we stand for the national anthem."

Again, the crowd went wild.

Stop riding Kanye West for supporting Donald Trump ... that's the message NBA star Iman Shumpert has for all the haters coming after the rapper this week.

FYI, Shumpert has a Kanye connection -- his wife, Teyana Taylor, is signed to West's G.O.O.D. Music record label and has an album coming out this summer.

So, with the backlash against West in full swing ... we wanted to know where Shumpert stood.

"I'm a Kanye fan," Shumpert said.

"Long before meeting my wife and knowing the relationship to Ye that she has as far as being signed, I have always walked with him throughout the commotion that he makes."

Shumpert says he's cool with Kanye wearing the MAGA hat -- and says it doesn't mean Kanye agrees with EVERYTHING Trump has to say.

He also really liked Kanye's freestyle with Harvey Levin.

There's more ... Shumpert also talked to us about his reality show "Teyana and Iman" (airs Monday night on VH1) and told us why his family has an edge on the Kardashians!

Kanye West has upset Chicago, but if he really wants to help the city, he can start by calling out President Trump instead of being his pal ... so says one city official.

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Chicago's 35th Ward Alderman, tells TMZ his people are extremely disappointed in the rapper, and although they've always had his back ... they can't defend his support of Trump.

Ramirez-Rosa calls Kanye's recent public support of Trump "reprehensible" ... and blasts him for supporting a Prez who he feels has brought a lot of harm upon people of color.

The Alderman says Kanye can make it up to them, though ... by meeting face-to-face with people in his city who are being hurt by Trump and reconnecting with his hometown.

LeBron James has two very big wins coming in the near future ... 'cause according to Chris "Kid" Reid, LBJ is going to kill it doing the new 'House Party' movie ... and raise the trophy as an NBA champ.

We got Kid leaving Craig's in L.A. and of course wanted to know what his take on LeBron's production company rebooting Kid 'N Play's classic teen comedy for a brand new audience.

"LeBron and his people are in control, so I trust them."

That's not the only thing Kid trusts LeBron with, because when we asked Chris if he thought Meek Mill's good mojo would lead the 76ers to an NBA title, he said nah 'cause LeBron's got that, too.

"LeBron all day. LeBron knows how to do the Kid 'N Play, so I'm always gonna roll with LeBron."

Kid ain't lying -- LeBron did the dance in a State Farm spot and nailed it.

As for his NBA prediction? Not so sure about that one ...

Tom Brokaw's current and former colleagues at NBC, including Rachel Maddow, are coming out strong in his defense against sexual harassment allegations.

Maddow, Maria Shriver and longtime NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell -- along with 61 other women -- all signed the letter stating, "Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect."

According to the letter, the women are anchors, directors, executives, personal assistants and technical staff who've worked with Tom over 4 decades. They added, "He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers."

Josh Allen will get a chance to prove he's not a racist idiot when he gets to Buffalo Bills training camp -- so says Bills legend Fred Jackson, who thinks the players will forgive Allen's teenage tweets.

Of course, Allen has already apologized for dropping the n-word on Twitter when he was a teenager. It also came out he tweeted about A.J. McCarron's wife ... awkward since they're teammates now.

But Jackson -- who played for the Bills from 2006 to 2014 -- says the players will "let the past be the past and move forward."

"It's something that you just put in the back of your mind and don't even worry about it."

Easier said than done, though, right?!

As for Jackson, the recently retired running back -- and Bills' 3rd all-time leading rusher -- says he just completed a broadcasting boot camp and hopes to transition to the booth.

Robert Shapiro knows a thing or two about defending guilty clients -- sorry, O.J. -- but he says no one could have successfully defended Bill Cosby.

We got the famous lawyer Thursday night leaving Avra restaurant in Bev Hills, and he thinks the 5 women who testified about Cosby's M.O. sealed his fate.

He also thinks it was super stupid of Cosby to go off on prosecutors after the verdict ... because the judge has yet to sentence him.

Tom Brokaw is being accused of making inappropriate and unwanted advances ... on 2 female co-workers in separate incidents in the 1990s.

One of the women, Linda Vester, claims the veteran broadcast journalist and former anchor of NBC Nightly News sexually harassed her while she was a reporter for NBC on "Weekend Today" in 1994 ... according to a report by The Washington Post.

Vester claims he asked her to have a drink with him, she replied "I only drink milk and cookies" ... and Brokaw later called her room around 3 AM and told her to order the milk and cookies because he was coming over.

She then says he showed up uninvited and attempted to force a kiss on her, jerking her head towards his, but she resisted ... then he left.

The second woman -- who chose to remain anonymous -- says she was a former PA at NBC News when he took her hands and put them under his jacket against his chest. He then invited her to his office later on ... insinuating he wanted to give her more than job advice.

She says she left the company shortly thereafter.

Nancy Grace says Bill Cosby's conviction on sexual assault charges is a long time coming -- and he needs to go to prison ... and immediately.

We spoke to the former prosecutor and TV host on the heels of Cosby being found guilty Thursday on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault -- for which he's facing up to 30 years in prison.

Nancy's not sure he'll get the full 30 years, which would amount to a life sentence since Cosby's 80 years old, but she says it doesn't matter. Hard time is necessary in his case.

1:15 PM PT -- Cosby's been ordered to remain in his home until sentencing.

11:18 AM PT -- Multiple people in the courtroom claim Cosby lashed out after prosecutors asked he be taken into custody immediately because he owns a private plane and could flee. Cosby shouted, "He doesn't have a private plane, you a**hole!"

Cosby was released on a $1 million bail.

Bill Cosby's retrial for sexual assault has just ended, and the jury found the once legendary TV dad guilty on all 3 counts of aggravated indecent assault.

The jury of 7 men and 5 women deliberated a full day before reaching their verdict and finding Cosby guilty of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004 at his home.

The 80-year-old faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for each charge.

The verdict comes after the jurors spent 13 days in the courtroom hearing lawyers' arguments and testimony from witnesses, including Constand and 5 other women who claim they were also drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby.

That wasn't enough, though, because on Wednesday the jurors asked for the legal definition of consent. The judge said Pennsylvania law did not provide a definition ... it was essentially left up to the sensibility of jurors.

Cosby's attorneys attacked Constand by portraying her as a liar who tried to frame him to make money ... while prosecutors called out the attack as the reason sex crime victims are afraid to come forward.

Prosecutor Kristen Feden also blasted Cosby for smirking while she talked about his accusers, saying ... "He's laughing like it's funny, but there’s absolutely nothing funny about them being stripped of their capacity to consent.”

As we reported ... Cosby's June 2017 trial ended in a mistrial because the jury then had 2 not guilty holdouts.

The head of the NFL Players Association says NFL owners only care about one thing -- money.

DeMaurice Smith -- executive director of the NFLPA -- was speaking at George Washington University when the issue of Colin Kaepernick and his kneeling demonstration came up.

Smith pointed to the fact Kaep hasn't been hired and said his unemployment shows how players and owners have completely different priorities, according to the GW Times.

"You have Colin fighting for the things he was fighting for, and to tie a loop on it, none of the owners are ever going to be involved in that," Smith said.

"They don’t care. The owners don’t care about anything but money."

Macy Gray tried to say goodbye to Kanye West, and she choked -- but rather than walk away and stumble ... she's reaching out to him with her own customized take on his MAGA ball cap.

The singer-songwriter posted a photo late Wednesday of herself rocking a red "Make Kanye Great Again" hat -- a clear response to Kanye's polarizing headwear choice Wednesday while hanging with some music execs.

Kanye's bold declaration of love for the Prez -- as he plotted out the release plans for his new albums -- ignited the Internet and prompted some of his celeb pals, like Snoop Dogg, Janelle Monae and John Legend, to post thinly-veiled criticisms.

'RHOA' star Marlo Hampton is calling BS on Kim Zolciak, saying she is 100 percent racist for saying NeNe Leakes lives in a “roach nest," even if Kim denies it.

We spoke to Marlo after Sunday's 'RHOA' reunion show, where most of the cast ganged up on Zolciak for the "roach" comment. Marlo says, in the black community, roaches are synonymous with poverty and imply you're living in the projects, which is a far cry from NeNe's gorgeous Atlanta-area home ... and Kim should've put two and two together.

Kim vehemently denied she was being racist, and was caught on camera calling racism today "bulls**t" because of social media. She also said she felt attacked by five African-American women on the show.

Everyone who thinks Kanye West's red MAGA hat photo also features a man flashing an alt-right symbol needs to chill, because it's not true.

The man giving the OK sign -- which many believe is a gesture used by the alt-right or white supremacists -- is YouTube's Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen ... but it's not even an OK sign to him.

A rep for YouTube tells us ... Cohen's gesture is meant to represent the company he founded -- 300 Entertainment -- and nothing more. He's also done it several times before.

As we reported ... Kanye's been on the Trump Train Wednesday, sending out several tweets about his love for the Prez, including the provocative selfie with Cohen and Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music.

"American Idol" voters don't like voting for minorities, and the show's most recent elimination round proves it, according to Marcio Donaldson, one of the guys who got booted.

Marcio wasn't voted into the Top 10 Tuesday night, and believes minorities have it harder on the show ... because America tends to vote white. Sounds harsh, but he says the show's record stands for itself when it comes to minorities winning 'Idol.'

On the reboot, judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie picked 4 of the top 10 finalists from a pool of 8 who didn't make the cut with viewers. Almost everyone in the bottom eight was a minority.

Charlamagne Tha God's officially NOT on board with Kanye West making a run for the White House, because he says the last thing America needs is another Celebrity-in-Chief.

We got "The Breakfast Club" co-host leaving Barnes & Noble in NYC Wednesday, and asked him about Kanye crowning Charlamagne "The New Oprah." The compliment comes on the heels of Charlamagne sitting down with Ye last week ... but CTG told us why he's rejecting that comparison.

He's also got a strong message for everyone calling him after Kanye said someone's offering $10 mil for his interview with Charlamagne.

As for Yeezy publicly embracing Trump and talking about his own run for Prez ... Charlamagne had a lot of praise for Kanye the rapper ... but definitely NOT for Kanye the politician.

By the way -- we got CTG on the way out of a book signing for his "Black Privilege" -- he might not want to be Oprah, but he's already a NYT Best Seller.