Controversial S#!T

Pretty sure Roseanne Barr would rather be in a writers' room working on season 2 of her show, but instead she's got tons of time to smell roses ... and scowl.

Roseanne's retreated to her Salt Lake City home, and Thursday morning she was looking pretty down and out while clipping rosebuds. Gardening is probably a wiser pastime for her than tweeting ... considering that's what led to her hit ABC sitcom being canceled.

TMZ broke the story ... there's potential good news for her former coworkers. ABC wants to revive "Roseanne," but center it around Sara Gilbert's character.

The show revival could be announced this week. Of course, the new version wouldn't bear Roseanne's name.

Hope Solo says she's still furious after her domestic violence case was dropped -- claiming the whole ordeal damaged her personal life and career ... and she wants someone to pay.

Solo was arrested back in 2014 and charged with 2 counts of assault after allegedly beating up family members at a home in Kirkland, Washington. Cops said Solo appeared wasted and she went on a tirade, cussing out officers.

The case had been dismissed back in 2015 on procedural grounds, but prosecutors appealed and the decision was reversed.

But now, officials say key witnesses stopped cooperating and prosecutors felt Solo was unlikely to attack a family member again ... so they dropped the case.

Solo has now issued a statement saying, "I always knew this day would come but I never imagined it would take nearly four years."

"Any sense of relief and gratification is matched by frustration and disbelief knowing the great lengths the City of Kirkland and all involved went to in order to further their own interests. "

"The harm caused to me, my family and my career has been immeasurable and I intend to explore any and all legal remedies to hold those with no regard for the truth, fully accountable."

D.L. Hughley isn't giving President Trump an ounce of credit for letting Alice Johnson out of prison, 'cause he says it amounts to nothing more than sleight of hand.

We got the comedian leaving Mastro's in Bev Hills Wednesday night, and he says Trump commuting Johnson's sentence is essentially a Three-card Monte game ... all trick, no real results.

D.L. thinks Alice and her champion, Kim Kardashian, were simply a good photo op -- while Trump's still making other moves that fly in the face of real prison reform.

He might have a point about the big picture, but for her part ... Alice has expressed nothing but gratitude to Kim and Prez Trump since her release yesterday.

E-40 says an author ripped off his hit '90s song and slapped it on a novel, but he's giving the writer one chance to save himself from a 'Save a Hoe' lawsuit.

The rapper fired off a cease and desist letter to novelist, CJ Allen over his book, "Captain Save A Hoe." In the letter, E-40 says he has a trademark on his 1993 track, which covers merch, services and, most importantly, publications ... like "novel books in the fields of urban fiction."

Forty Fonzarelli says Allen's book infringes on his song's copyrights and confuses fans. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, a lawsuit will be filed if Allen doesn't scrap the novel and provide a full accounting of all money made off it.

We found out the author's currently in prison, but his wife doesn't think E-40 has a case. She tells us readers won't confuse the book's heroine -- a sexy woman in a cape with an "S" -- with the main character in 40's music vid, a guy in a shirt and cape with a "C."

She also claims the rapper's causing her husband financial harm and stress ... beyond the normal prison variety, we're guessing.

Kim Kardashian did good fighting for Alice Johnson's clemency, but at least one U.S. congressman thinks President Trump played celeb favorites and that has no place in the prison reform discussion.

We got Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee Wednesday on Capitol Hill, and he says there's a downside to Kim successfully lobbying Trump ... in the big picture. Cohen's afraid it will set a bad precedent for other harshly or wrongly convicted prisoners.

In other words, what happens if you're rotting in prison ... and don't have a celebrity who can get the President's ear fighting for your freedom?

Tekashi69 is distancing himself from any involvement in the attempted shooting of Chief Keef, and says Keef's got no one to blame ... but himself.

The Brooklyn rapper told us Wednesday, on "TMZ Live," Keef's a gangsta rapper who promotes violence ... and claimed that's the real reason he's getting heat on the streets. As we reported, shots were fired at Keef last weekend in NYC, but missed.

6ix9ine insists the violence isn't coming from him ... and claims he's never even shot a gun.

But, you've gotta see his reaction to all the violence around him lately. Tekashi says it's just part of life for rappers, and ditto for fans. And then -- because the Keef beef isn't enough -- he hurled a shot at J. Cole and his fans!

Pamela Anderson says she might pull a Kim Kardashian and ask President Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

We got Pam Wednesday in NYC as reports surfaced that the Prez was prepping to grant clemency to several prisoners. So, with Pam being a huge advocate for her friend Assange, we asked if she'd go to Trump to clear Assange's name in the U.S. -- even though he hasn't been charged with a crime here, yet.

Pam says it would be "the smartest move" -- not sure if she meant her visiting Trump, or Trump pardoning Assange.

Of course, this comes on the heels of Kim Kardashian successfully lobbying POTUS to release Alice Marie Johnson ... so, makes sense Pam could be feeling empowered.

After all, Pam's been going to bat for Assange, saying he's a misunderstood soul ... not a criminal hacker. We suspect the President would be more likely to show mercy on a grandmother who got a life sentence for a first time, nonviolent offense.

John Goodman's looking like he means business ... as in the "Roseanne" reboot business.

John was out in New Orleans Tuesday, and was spotted on a call that seemed more serious than lighthearted -- and ya gotta wonder if that's ABC or "Roseanne" producers on the line.

As we previously reported, Goodman is "very interested" in being a part of a second "Roseanne" reboot ... which we're told will be centered around Sara Gilbert's character, Darlene, instead of Roseanne Barr. All of this is the fallout from the show being immediately canceled after Barr took a racially-charged shot on Twitter at a former Obama aid.

Now that producer Tom Werner's gotten involved in negotiations to relaunch the show ... we're told an announcement could come as soon as this week.

Mira Sorvino says Harvey Weinstein's wasting precious time and money -- taxpayers' money -- with his "not guilty" plea ... because he's guilty as sin and everyone knows it.

We got Mira in NYC Wednesday outside NBC, and asked what she thought of his arraignment this week. Remember, Mira says Weinstein sexually harassed her multiple times while she was acting in his films back in the '90s.

Mira's said she won't feel at peace until Weinstein's convicted, and it's clear in this clip ... she wants a quicker path to that end -- so, his not guilty plea ain't sitting well with her.

We know this ... Mira's dad, Paul Sorvino, might be the only person who wants Weinstein to pay more than her.

Henry Winkler was fired up about Miss America right before he went to cast his ballot in the California primaries ... and ended up having even more reason to get ticked off.

We got the Fonz Tuesday as he was leaving e. Baldi in Bev Hills, and asked what he thought of the famed competition doing away with its swimsuit portion. He built up a lot of hype ... only to tell us how he really feels -- and the truth is, he had bigger fish to fry.

Moments after this clip, Henry got some bad news.

Turns out he was among the nearly 120,000 L.A. County residents whose names were left off the voter rolls at their polling place.

Bill Belichick sure as hell doesn't want to talk about his good friend, Donald Trump -- and shut down reporters when he was asked about the drama surrounding the Eagles' White House visit.

Remember, Belichick and Trump are tight ... in fact, Trump just appointed him to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

Plus, Belichick famously wrote Trump a congratulatory letter right before the election -- a letter Trump read onstage at a major event.

So, when Belichick faced reporters at Patriots training camp on Tuesday ... the media wanted to know how he felt about the way Trump was handling the Eagles situation and the NFL's new national anthem rules.

Guess what ... Belichick deflected and deflected.

He did sorta address the Tom Brady drama after his QB blew off Pats voluntary workouts.

"I've always had a good relationship with Tom," Belichick insisted.

LeBron James has settled the Michael Jordan debate ... at least, in his own head ... because he just publicly deemed HIMSELF as the greatest basketball player of all time.

Here's the deal ... LeBron is on the cover of the new NBA 2K19 20th anniversary edition video game ... and was asked to personally select words that describe him to be included in the cover art.

He chose words like "King," "Strive for Greatness" and "Equality" ... and also, "G.O.A.T."

Interesting ... considering the never-ending debates between LBJ and MJ.

Also, the timing sucks ... since LeBron's Cavs are down 2-0 in the NBA Finals (remember, MJ has 6 rings, LBJ only has 3).

One more thing ... the players who have graced the past 2 covers (and 4 out of the last 5) of NBA 2K have left their teams and moved on.

ABC wants to move forward with a second reboot of "Roseanne" and we're told an announcement could be imminent.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... network executives kicked negotiations into third gear when Tom Werner, who produced "Roseanne" through his company Carsey-Werner, got involved over the weekend in direct talks with top network brass. His involvement has all but sealed the deal.

Our sources say the network's fine tuning last-minute details ... particularly around Roseanne, who was not only the face of the show, but also served as an executive producer.

TMZ broke the story ... ABC has been exploring the possibility of rebranding the show and focus on Sara Gilbert's character, Darlene. John Goodman is "very interested" ... as is the rest of the cast and crew.

There is a possible snag. Although ABC seems to have good cause to fire Roseanne as both the star and Executive Producer, the network may be contractually bound to pay her a fee or back end or both for her participation in creating the show. ABC, of course, could argue it's now a different show.

We were told ABC was desperately trying to salvage the jobs of those affected by ABC's swift decision to axe the show ... but there's reason for optimism ... especially for crew members who passed on other jobs in town, believing Season 2 was a go.

And now it is ... albeit a rebranded version. We're told an announcement could come as early as this week.

If game really does recognize game ... bet the house on LiAngelo Ball getting drafted later this month ... 'cause a top NBA draft prospect says Lonzo's bro is "for sure" getting picked.

Collin Sexton -- the stud point guard from Alabama -- is widely viewed as one of the 10-or-so best players available in the NBA draft pool ... and when we caught up with him in West Hollywood, he says there isn't a doubt in his mind 'Gelo will be picked right along with him on June 21.

"He's a good player," Sexton told us. "He can shoot it. He can shoot it real good. He'll wind up at a team for sure."

FYI ... Collin isn't just bein' nice for the camera. He played against 'Gelo last year during the Ballislife All-American Game -- alongside future pros Trae Young and Mo Bamba -- and Ball went for a cool 13 points and three boards on his team.

Iran's dictator went off on Israel by calling it a "malignant cancerous tumor" ... but Israel took the pop culture route and responded with an EPIC "Mean Girls" GIF.

A Twitter account believed to belong to the Ayatollah tweeted to its nearly 500k followers, saying Iran's stance against Israel is the same as always. The Ayatollah spewed a bunch of political stuff -- we'll spare you the details -- but what caught our attention was the Embassy of Israel's official Twitter account clapping back.

BURRRRRRRRN!!! Dialing up the classic 2004 chick flick for the clapback heard 'round the world? Not something you see everyday. Politics. Gotta love it.

The Ayatollah doesn't have many fans in Hollywood. As we reported ... "Shahs of Sunset" star Reza Farahan wished death to the Iranian dictator and his family last month after the reality star shockingly said he agreed with Trump's decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal.

NOOOOO!!!!!

Serena Williams' highly-anticipated showdown with Maria Sharapova at the French Open ain't happening on Monday ... after Serena pulled out of the match due to an injury.

It's a total bummer for the tennis world ... which has waited 2 years for the superstars to face off after Sharapova served a 15-month suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.

For the record -- Williams OWNS Sharapova on the court. She's won 18 straight against the cheating Russian and has a 19-2 record overall against her.

We were particularly stoked for this match to watch a post-pregnancy Serena deliver karmic tennis justice to a PED user.

As for the injury, Serena says she's got a nagging pectoral issue that wouldn't allow her to serve properly.