Controversial S#!T

Two UCLA women's soccer players took a knee during the national anthem before their game Thursday ... and the school tells TMZ Sports its coach is still fully in support of their protests.

Defenders Kennedy Faulknor and Kaiya McCullough -- along with 2 others on the sideline -- dropped to a knee at midfield during the song ahead of their clash with LMU. The pic was captured by Fred J. Robledo.

The women have been demonstrating since last season -- and clearly haven't been dissuaded by the constant attacks on kneelers by people like President Donald Trump, who has constantly called for harsh penalties on those who don't stand for the anthem.

But, UCLA head coach Amanda Cromwell has publicly supported the players from the jump.

"It's about supporting the cause of racial justice and equality in the world," the coach said to the Pac-12 Networks last fall.

"I love that our team is socially active. We're politically active and we support them across the board."

You'll remember, Colin Kaepernick started the movement back in 2016 -- but the Bruins joined in the protest shortly after Donald Trump called the kneeling NFLers "sons of bitches" in 2017.

Norm Macdonald is setting the record straight on his controversial take on the #MeToo movement, and also about the Down syndrome crack he made to Howard Stern.

Norm went on "The View" Thursday and said the #MeToo situation was a clear case of being taken out of context. When he said he was happy the movement was "slowing down," he was referring to his friend Chris Hardwick. Norm said that sort of he-said, she-said situation -- with a single allegation -- is one reason not to take every accusers word over the accused.

The former 'SNL' star also cleared up why he expressed sympathy for Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr ... and says, in full context, he did NOT take a shot at their victims.

Meghan Markle is a royal, so you could forgive her for being high maintenance when it comes to picking an ensemble, but designer Jason Wu says she's easy like Sunday morning when it comes to fashion.

We got Jason Wednesday at LAX ... and he tells us Meghan simply picked out a dress from his upcoming spring collection to wear to a charity concert in London.

There's been speculation Meghan might be pregnant based on the fit of that dress, but Jason says he isn't privy to that royal secret ... IF it's true.

The royal clothing budget for Meghan, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton has reportedly increased by $2 million to a whopping $6.5 mil -- which certainly doesn't sound low maintenance, but Jason says that ain't on Meghan.

Meghan is a fashion icon now and has been compared to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

Di famously poured over fabrics and designs in Kensington Palace -- but Jason says Meghan's just not that picky. Everyone's different.

The social media firestorm over Henry Cavill's fate in the next installment of 'Superman' turns out to be an invented conflict ... TMZ has learned.

Sources in the know tell TMZ, there's no real discussion over the main role because there's no active 'Superman' project. It's true ... Cavill has felt he was underpaid for the role and that's an issue, as is what some say was an underwhelming performance.

We're told if and when the next 'Superman' project is greenlit, Cavill along with others would be in play. If, for example, a director felt he was the perfect guy for the role, he could end up with another cape assuming he and the studio could come to terms.

Cavill posted a video Wednesday insinuating the door is not closed.

Eminem isn't sure how he's gonna fire back at Machine Gun Kelly in their heated feud -- but he is making one thing crystal clear ... MGK needs to "shut the f*** up."

In an interview with Sway, Em says he wants to "destroy" MGK but he doesn't want to make Kelly bigger by giving him attention or extra publicity.

It's a little too late for that.

Shady took a deep dive into his beef with MGK ... saying it all started 6 years ago when MGK sent a tweet saying Eminem's 16-year-old daughter, Hailie, was "hot as f***" ... and ignited again when Kelly took a direct shot at Em on a collab with Tech N9ne.

Eminem feels like he's being forced to respond to MGK's diss track, "Rap Devil," and says the entire situation is "f***ing weird."

Eminem is wary of firing back at Kelly ... 'cause that will open the gates to more beef with "every f***ing body" he dissed on his new album, "Kamikaze."

9/14 -- Revolve issued an apology, saying, "We messed up big. We are SO SORRY for hurting and offending you." They go on to say they have canceled the line and are donating $20k to Girls Write Now -- the charity that was going to benefit from sales of the sweatshirt.

Lena Dunham is backing up the bus over Revolve ... saying the company essentially stabbed her in the back when it put her "Fat is not Beautiful" sweatshirt on a skinny white chick.

Lena says she had teamed with Revolve to roll out the shirts which read, "Fat is not beautiful it's an excuse." She says the intent was to reclaim the hateful phrases Internet trolls use -- a la rappers using the n-word.

But, she says that all backfired when the clothing company "presented the sweatshirts on thin white women." Lena says that destroyed any attempt to reclaim the phrase because ... well, now it just seems mean. She's right. It ain't a great look.

The backlash was immediate, and even though plus-size model Tess Holiday seemed to laugh it off -- Revolve pulled the ad featuring the skinny white model ... then started the damage control. It says it's donating $20k to a young women's charity.

By the way, the sweatshirt cost $168 and had already sold out by the time the ad was pulled.

We haven't seen a clothing retail PR disaster this big since way back in early 2018 ... when H&M pulled this racist "monkey" business.

President Trump is prepping for Hurricane Florence by boasting about his sparkling record fighting super storms -- especially in Puerto Rico, where he insists less than 100 died, and NOT 3,000.

As Florence's winds started whipping the Carolinas' Outer Banks, 45 recalled Hurricane Maria's devastation in P.R., saying ... "AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much." He tweeted that it was only later that Democrats inflated the death toll to "really large numbers, like 3000" just to make him look bad.

You'll recall, Trump triumphantly arrived on the island a month after Maria ... and touted the fact there were only "16 people certified" dead. He also joyously tossed paper towels to a crowd of residents.

POTUS seems to be forgetting the fact there was almost ZERO electricity or clean water on the island for several months -- factors that increased deaths according to several investigative reports. Last month, Puerto Rico released an official death toll of 2,975.

But, the President might have revealed the true root of his Puerto Rico beef yesterday on Twitter.

He ripped the Mayor of San Juan for allegedly playing the political game. In any event, he vows the government is ready for whatever Florence brings to the Carolinas.

A letter Madonna penned about her infamous appearance on David Letterman's show in the '90s is up for grabs, and the rant is likely to fetch big $$$.

Boston-based auction house RR Auction is putting Madge's handwritten note from May 1994 on the auction block at the end of the month. What's puzzling ... she apparently published the letter on her fansite ICON, but no one took notice.

As for what the letter said ... she wrote about "how sexist the world we live in really is" following her disastrous appearance on 'The Late Show,' when she dropped the f-bomb 14 times in an excruciatingly awkward interview with David Letterman. It made censorship history.

She rants in the letter that, had Andrew Dice Clay or Snoop gone on the show and done something similar, "no one would have given a f***."

She goes on ... "In this country you are not allowed to be a girl, look good, have a point of view and have a good time all at once. Need I say more."

The auctioneers say they expect the letter will fetch $2k-$3k ... but we know the drill. If the bidding gets hot, it will go way higher.

The stars are aligning with Cynthia Nixon in her bid to become the next governor of New York.

Lee Daniels, Marisa Tomei, and Aaron Sorkin are just some of the MANY celebs who cut checks totaling thousands of dollars ... this according to the NY State Board of Elections Campaign Finance Disclosure records.

The list is impressive:

-- Daniels $5,000

-- Tomei $1,500

-- Sorkin $1,000

-- "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star $5,000

-- 'SATC' costume designer Patricia Field $7,000

-- Sigourney Weaver $1,000

-- Christian Siriano $1,000

Alec Baldwin donated a whopping $16k back in July and TMZ can now report he cut Nixon's campaign another $5k check on Aug. 31.

Chelsea Handler is another repeat contributor ... first with $1k in June and again in July with $1,500. John Slattery, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Paulson, Andy Cohen, Edie Falco, Debra Messing and Rosie O'Donnell are other celebs who are rallying behind Nixon.

BTW ... Nixon's raised nearly $2.5M in 2018, but her rival, incumbent Andrew Cuomo, is way ahead with more than $12M in donations. Super BTW -- 'cause we know you're wondering -- T.I. is a big Nixon fan (even though he has no idea who she is), but he hasn't put his money where his mouth is. At least not yet.

Fat Joe tells us Donald Trump is 'delusional' and prays Hurricane Florence doesn't ravage the mainland like Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico ... 'cause he says the President already bungled the response to one devastating storm.

We got Fat Joe Wednesday boarding a flight from Reagan National ... and the rapper tells our photog he's counting the minutes until Trump leaves The White House.

Fat Joe goes full throttle ... calling out 45 for not knowing Puerto Ricans are American citizens and blaming Trump for the nearly 3,000 deaths on the island in the wake of last year's hurricane.

Kat Graham wants to see a major twist in the DC cinematic universe ... telling us it's time for a minority to play Superman.

We got Kat Wednesday at LAX ... and the 'Vampire Diaries' actress said it's time to break the mold and have a black, Latino or Asian actor do the Man of Steel thing.

Kat gives us her A-list for the role. As we told you, there's a report Henry Cavill is hanging up the blue tights and red cape.

Asia Argento isn't hiding anymore ... she's showing her face in public for the first time since Jimmy Bennett's claim she sexually assaulted him when he was 17.

The Italian actress resurfaced on the streets of Rome, going out for a ride with her director pal, Giovanni Veronesi, last weekend. The agency that shot the photos says they went to a house party overnight ... and Veronesi dropped her off at home the next day.

Asia made little attempt to go undercover -- no hat pulled down over her face, just a pair of shades -- despite the allegations Bennett is now making about their sexual encounter.

TMZ broke the story ... sources told us Bennett would be sitting down with the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. to tell his story after Argento's lawyer, Mark Heller, issued a statement questioning Bennett's character and motives.

Argento initially denied ever having a sexual relationship with Bennett, but text messages and a photo obtained by TMZ debunked her claim. Her lawyer says she wasn't lying though, insisting that a one-time encounter doesn't amount to a relationship.

Don Cheadle isn't buying the Herald Sun's explanation for its Serena Williams cartoon one bit ... telling TMZ Sports the newspaper DEFINITELY knows the drawing is racist as hell.

"I don't believe them," the 'Avengers' actor says.

"They have their own history of racism -- they know what that cartoon means."

The paper doubled down on Mark Knight's drawing -- the one depicting Serena with exaggerated lips, hair and nose after her U.S. Open outburst -- reprinting the piece Wednesday and claiming the world is too sensitive.

Cheadle couldn't believe it when we got him out at LAX ... saying he sees no humor or satire in the "art" at all.

"It's incredibly tone deaf," he says.

Norm Macdonald is succeeding in making things worse for himself -- fresh off attacking the #MeToo movement, he cracked a joke, of sorts, about Down syndrome.

The comedian was on "The Howard Stern Show" Wednesday talking about the backlash he got for his stance on Louis C.K., Roseanne and #MeToo. He attempted to walk back his comments by saying ... "You'd have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry" for victims of harassment.

He doubled down by saying Down syndrome is "my new word."

Norm also told Howard he hates doing interviews -- especially in print -- because he has to answer questions he doesn't want to. He then added ... "I'm a f**king dumb guy."

As we reported ... Norm told The Hollywood Reporter he's glad the #MeToo movement has "slowed down," and expressed sympathy for C.K. and Roseanne because their careers have been ruined by their scandals. He later issued an apology, saying ... "If my words sounded like I was minimizing the pain that their victims feel to this day, I am deeply sorry."

Rev. Jesse Jackson has a message for all the Colin Kaepernick haters -- Tim Tebow took a knee too ... and nobody had a problem with that!

We got Jesse leaving Reagan International Airport this week when he used the ex-Heisman Trophy winner to explain what he believes is the hypocrisy surrounding the outrage directed at Kaepernick.

"It's interesting that when Tim Tebow took a knee, it was accepted," Jesse tells TMZ Sports.

"Kaepernick takes a knee and he's rejected. Both of them took a knee in protest of what they believed in. One was religion. One was for justice. Okay."

Remember ... Tim used to take knees prior to every game -- albeit not DURING the national anthem -- and it was so widely praised, a social media meme came of it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson sees nothin' wrong with a little puff and smoke emitting from Elon Musk, 'cause he says the guy is this generation's Thomas Edison.

America's favorite astrophysicist was signing autographs Tuesday in NYC after his appearance on Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show,' when our photog asked his thoughts on all the flak Elon's catching after toking up on Joe Rogan's podcast last week.

Neil cut our guy off and let it be known where he stands ... LEAVE THE CAT ALONE! Of course, he prefaces his answer by saying Elon needs to follow SEC regulations -- ya know, since Tesla's a publicly traded company and all -- but, aside from that ... let the genius burn a bit.

Elon gets some high praise from Neil here, calling him the "best game in town" and the best thing we've had since Tommy E in the 1800s. Rather than criticize, Neil thinks folks should embrace what Elon can do for the country (and the world) ... bud or no bud.