Controversial S#!T

The 2 guys who took a crack at demolishing President Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star came face-to-face this weekend, and some wisdom was imparted ... TMZ has learned.

Austin Clay -- the latest Trump star vandal -- met up with his predecessor, James Otis, Saturday at the Polo Lounge inside the Beverly Hills Hotel to break bread (not concrete) over lunch. The meeting lasted about 2 hours, with 10-15 people total in attendance.

Sources who were present tell us James mostly talked to Austin about how to protect himself legally after being arrested last week for pummeling the star with a pickax -- much like James did in 2016. We're told James wanted to give Austin advice on how to navigate the criminal justice system for the best outcome, seeing how he's gone through it himself.

Aside from the heart-to-heart, we're told James and Austin really hit it off -- laughing in each other's company and posing for photo-ops together. Although James didn't end up paying for Austin's $20k bail, it looks like they're true kindred spirits in bashing 45.

As we reported ... Austin says he doesn't regret the bang-up job he did on Trump's star -- which will remain in place despite all the violence and vandalism it's seen in recent months.

Stormy Daniels' lawyer thinks Michael Cohen has more dirt to spill on President Trump, and he's forecasting a spanking ... the likes of which Donnie has never felt.

We got Michael Avenatti Saturday leaving Craig's in WeHo, where he was being followed by paps like your standard A-lister. He rattled off answers on the Cohen tapes -- one of which has already featured 45's voice -- and speculated on what's next for the Prez.

Mike says Cohen has turned the corner on his former client, and will probably leak more tapes in the days to come. In other words ... a second spanking for DT, according to him.

Donald Trump's Walk of Fame star has been a lightning rod for violence, but it's going to weather the storm and stay put because cops and the group that manages the Walk of Fame don't want it 86'd.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the LAPD has met with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and both orgs realize they're between a rock and a hard place. They know by keeping Trump's star front and center on the famed Blvd., it will be at the center of what has become a civil war between raging Trump and anti-Trump factions.

Here's the problem ... the Chamber and LAPD both agree it would be even worse to remove the star because that would embolden people to deface the stars of celebs they dislike.

So, the decision has been made to keep Trump's star in its place, knowing it will probably be destroyed again, and possibly again ... and again ... and again. Even worse, the Chamber and LAPD are keenly aware the warring factions will be using the star as a battleground.

As we reported, violence erupted Thursday night where protesters punched, kicked and otherwise abused their opponents.

LaVar Ball's new hoops league just got a HUGE endorsement, with Metta World Peace telling TMZ Sports he thinks the JBA is going to be taking players from the NCAA ... SOON!!

We got Metta out on the streets of Venice when he told us he's HIGHLY interested in Ball's basketball league ... telling us it has REAL potential.

"I think that's going to be a league that's going to be competing with NCAA pretty soon," World Peace tells us.

In fact ... Metta says if he wasn't so busy ballin' in the BIG3 -- he'd actually consider WORKING for the league!

Farrah Abraham says if you're looking for the real villain in "Teen Mom 2" star Jenelle Evans' gun incident ... you should start with the people who put the show on the air.

The 'Teen Mom' alum was leaving Mastro's in Bev Hills Friday night when asked about Jenelle's road rage video, and while she thinks what Evans did was wrong ... she believes MTV producers and its parent company, Viacom, are just as culpable for putting the cast in harm's way.

Farrah adds that Ryan Edwards' issues with drugs are another example of the production team being complicit in illegal behavior ... and wonders if their goal is to ruin lives.

Speaking of illegal acts ... Farrah also goes off on the latest Donald Trump Walk of Fame star vandal, saying he should be in jail and the haters need to get over it.

Sean Spicer's book signing got heated very quickly when a former classmate of his showed up to confront him ... and shouted out a serious n-word accusation in front of Sean's fans.

The former White House Press Secretary was signing copies of his new book 'The Briefing' in Middletown, Rhode Island Friday, when a man named Alex Lombard -- who attended prep school with Spicer -- accused him of trying to fight him when they were teens ... then claimed, "You called me a n***** first!"

The people waiting in line initially laughed at Lombard bringing up his past with Sean, but gasped and groaned at the n-word allegation. Lombard was then led out by security.

The vid by Newport Daily News doesn't catch Sean's reaction to the racial slur accusation.

David Spade had nice things to say about Roseanne ... that is until our photog asked if he'd ever work with her again.

We got David Friday night in WeHo leaving Craig's, and at first he was chatty ... how he opened for Roseanne back in the day, when neither was making any real money.

LeBron James has officially put Kid Ink's Clippers fandom on life support ... 'cause the L.A. rapper tells TMZ Sports he'd root for King James' Lakers in a playoff series with the Clippers!!

The 32-year-old has been all-in with the Clips since he was little ... telling us, "I ride for the underdog."

But, with LBJ in L.A. now ... Kid Ink's doing the unthinkable -- DUMPING HIS OLD TEAM!!

"I've always been riding for LeBron James since high school," he says.

Now ... Kid Ink's not fully ready to commit the L.A. treason ... telling us he atleast won't rock Lakers gear when he cheers on LeBron at Staples Center.

But, you gotta hear the dagger he inserts into Clip City's heart when we ask who he'd root for in a scenario where LeBron has the ball in closing time against the Clippers.

Jerry Jones' biggest star is going to bat for the Dallas Cowboys owner and his new hardline stance on the national anthem kneeling ... with Dak Prescott saying the anthem ain't the time or place to protest.

The QB addressed reporters at Cowboys camp Friday and said he's fine with Jerry's new rule that forces players to stand ... 'cause it's something he's always believed in himself.

"I never protest during the anthem and I don’t think that’s the time or venue to do so," Dak said.

"The game of football has always brought me such at peace and I think it does the same for a lot of people playing the game, watching the game and a lot of people that have any impact of the game."

"So, when you bring such a controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game … it takes away. It takes away from the joy and to the love that football brings a lot of people."

Don't get it twisted ... Dak says he's all for fighting the battle against social injustices in America -- he's just ready to take a different step than kneeling during the anthem.

President Trump's nemesis and his firstborn son ... within feet of each other at the same airport gate! D.C.'s a small town, but Robert Mueller and Donald Trump Jr. just took it to a new level.

The near collision went down Friday morning in Reagan National Airport ... according to Politico Playbook, which first posted this amazing pic. DTJ on his phone, anxiously standing at the gate, waiting to begin boarding -- while Mueller's sitting in the gate area reading a newspaper. Perhaps reading a review of his work?

We don't know that they got on the same flight -- they were in a waiting area to catch shuttle buses to other gates -- but that would've been awesome.

Roseanne's moving on from saying sorry after her latest attempt didn't go so well, and has a message for people who don't appreciate her jokes -- 'F**k off."

We spoke with Roseanne Friday -- after her TV apology to Valerie Jarrett ended with a diss on Jarrett's haircut -- and asked if her "joke" was distracting from other points she made on Sean Hannity's show Thursday night.

Roseanne's response -- "They hate jokes. They should f**k off."

As for whether she's going to lay off Jarrett now ... she tells us we'll have to wait and see.

Roseanne also spoke with Rabbi Shmuley more about being ousted from her ABC show ... and says the real tragedy is she had noble plans for Season 2 ... including hiring African-American writers.

As we reported ... Barr claims ABC fired her because she supports Donald Trump, and tells the Rabbi she was constantly outnumbered on "Roseanne" by a bunch of Trump-haters.

50 Cent's going with the ole "everyone's doing it, Mom" explanation for why he posted a screengrab from 'Love and Hip Hop' star Teairra Mari's sex tape.

Fiddy filed his response to Teairra's revenge porn lawsuit, and in the docs he says the image he posted -- showing Teairra with ejaculate on her face -- was already all over the Internet when he reposted it. He says the fact others beat him to the punch protects him legally.

As for Teairra's argument he went beyond a basic repost by applying a black & white filter "to highlight the color contrast of the semen" ... 50 says even if that's true, he didn't change the nature of the photo.

50 also echoes a statement the judge made last month -- that the photo doesn't fall under revenge porn because it doesn't show genitals or a sexual act in progress. In flagrante delicto, in Latin.

Roseanne Barr took a crack at an on-air apology to Valerie Jarrett for posting a racist tweet about her, but it didn't go too well ... especially at the very end.

Roseanne was speaking on Sean Hannity's show Thursday night about her notorious tweet and the fallout that came after, when Hannity gave her a chance to look at the camera and say sorry to Jarrett.

Barr used the opportunity to drop a sort of half-apology, but even that was better than how she decided to wrap it up -- by insulting Valerie's haircut.

Roseanne's TV appearance comes after she's been hard at work with her son to create her own content, with the mission being -- ironically -- to get her unfiltered and true story out there -- not the media's.

As you know ... Roseanne's hit ABC show was canned after she compared Valerie to an ape on Twitter. She's tried to excuse it away -- first by blaming Ambien, then by claiming she thought "the bitch was white" -- while also alleging ABC really fired her because she's a Donald Trump supporter.

ABC has since revived "Roseanne" with a reboot/spin-off centered around the Conner family ... but without Roseanne, of course.

The latest man to take a pickax to Donald Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star says he was so fed up with the President he had to let it all out, and despite getting arrested ... he's happy he did.

Austin Clay tells TMZ ... POTUS' treatment of immigrant families was the spark that set him off, and taking it out on Trump's star seemed like the perfect way to send a message.

It's unclear if Trump got the message, but Clay and his GF say his pickax attack caught the eye of a couple celebs ... including noted Trump foe Robert De Niro.

As we reported, Clay was arrested after destroying the star around 3 AM Wednesday and calling the cops on himself. OG Trump star vandal, James Otis, offered to pay his $20k bail ... but Austin tells us he was released this morning after someone else did. He didn't say who.

Glenn Close seems conflicted about the firing of director James Gunn over his offensive tweets, but she has some advice for him when it comes to social media.

We got the legendary actress Thursday outside a BUILD Series event in NYC for her upcoming movie "The Wife" ... and asked her about Disney's decision to fire Gunn. She worked with him when she played Nova Prime in "Guardians of the Galaxy."

She deflected on whether she supports Disney's move, and instead said Gunn, and others, should take a different approach before clicking "tweet" or "share."

Sacha Baron Cohen is unfairly making the citizens of Kingman, Arizona look like a bunch of backwater racists ... according to the city's mayor.

Mayor Monica Gates tells us last week's episode of "Who Is America?" is total BS because she doesn't think it was even shot in her city. She says she doesn't recognize the venue or any of the people in the room.

The segment was supremely unflattering to Kingman -- a disguised Sacha told the roomful of citizens the world's largest mosque outside of the Middle East was going to be built there. The reaction ranged from hilarious to scarily racist ... not only against Muslims.

As for the people in the room NOT being legit Kingman residents? Some of the people who got duped sounded off afterward, and we checked the names that were public -- they DO live there.

Check out why Mayor Gates says there's no need for a new mosque in her city, anyway. It's not what you think.