Controversial S#!T

The NYPD rookie who was caught on video giving a lap dance to a married lieutenant at a holiday party is super emotional, apologizing to the lieutenant's wife and also saying if she were a man who did something similar it wouldn't be nearly as big a deal.

Vera Mekuli tells TMZ ... she hasn't spoken to the lieutenant since the party and hasn't been comfortable showing up at her precinct. She says her fellow officers at the station have been pretty understanding, allowing her to work from home. She wants to eventually return to the station house and then go back to duty on the streets.

The dance went down last week in a bar in Yonkers. The 26-year-old had only had worked at the 44th Precinct for 4 months before the incident. She says she had no idea the lieutenant was hitched and even apologized to him for the position he's now in.

Vera says she's often the life of the party and believes she can be 2 different people -- buttoned up at work and loads of fun off duty. She says she did the lap dance as a dare as the party was winding down.

She tells us she's so embarrassed she hasn't left her house since the video surfaced. Really sad, because she's really shaken to her core over this ... and for her, it was just a fun moment at a Christmas party.

A woman committed the cardinal sin in the wedding world -- she apparently looked better than the bride, and says that's why she became persona non grata at the ceremony.

Alena Yildiz from Germany shared her story ... "My close friend uninvited me to her wedding because she thought I looked too good in the dress she chose for me," immodestly adding, "Still took some fire pics in it though."

Now here's the thing ... it ain't the usual ugly bridesmaid's dress, so what gives? Yildiz opened up to Insider, saying she's being treated differently from the other bridesmaids ... "all of our other friends wore extravagant dresses as well, but she only had a problem with me."

We'd call it a humble brag, but the fact is ... she pulls off the look in spectacular fashion!

Yildiz claims the bride was honest and insecure, saying the dress was "too attention-grabbing." She thinks it's all the bride's screw-up ... if she thought the dress would be too sexy on any of the 6 bridesmaids, she should have chosen an uglier garment ... certainly not one with a thigh-high slit.

BTW ... the friendship between Lildiz and the bride is kaput ... "It made me feel like I had no value to her as a friend."

LeBron James is playing his hand on COVID, or at least it seems this way ... suggesting we've gotten a little crazy with panic over contracting the virus.

LeBron posted a meme called "Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man" ... featuring 3 Spidies -- one representing COVID, another representing the flu and the third repping the common cold.

When you break it down ... it seems LeBron is shading the NBA for protocols that have sidelined a bunch of players -- even some who have tested negative -- and canceled a number of games.

The Lakers have benched head coach Frank Vogel, along with Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Avery Bradley, Malik Monk and Austin Reaves ... all because of its COVID rules. There's a big game set for this weekend -- Lakers vs. Nets -- but Kevin Durant is out because of COVID protocols.

You'll recall ... LeBron played his cards close to the vest for a fairly long time before finally acknowledging back in September he was vaccinated, but he made it clear -- he wouldn't pressure other players to get jabbed, saying, "That's not my job."

Brett Favre says, at most, there are only 4 NFL QBs who have ever played better than Aaron Rodgers ... telling TMZ Sports the Packers star is a top-5 signal-caller of all time.

The Green Bay legend made the claim just days after Rodgers tied his Packers record for most passing TDs ... saying he thinks Aaron has just been that prolific in his 17-year career.

"You have to put Tom Brady and Joe Montana right at the top," Favre says. "And I think Aaron Rodgers falls in the top five."

Favre didn't elaborate on who the other two quarterbacks on the list would be ... but it's obviously high praise for Rodgers nonetheless.

A top-five ranking would mean Rodgers could be considered to be better than Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Dan Marino, John Elway, Troy Aikman, and a bevy of other Hall of Famers.

"I think Aaron should be in the top five," Favre said. "If he quit today, he's a top five guy."

Rodgers' resume is certainly deserving of the honor, he has a Super Bowl ring, 3 MVP trophies and he's been selected to 10 Pro Bowls.

The truck driver whose 110-year sentence outraged millions of Americans doesn't deserve ANY prison time at all, because the fatal crash was purely an accident ... according to justice reform activist Jason Flom.

Jason, who's on board of the Innocence Project, says Rogel Aguilera-Mederos getting such a severe sentence -- one even a Colorado prosecutor wants to be reviewed -- is purely about revenge, instead of justice.

As you probably know, Aguilera-Mederos was found guilty on 27 charges for the fiery interstate crash caused by his 18-wheeler smashing into multiple cars. 4 people were killed and more than a dozen more seriously injured.

Still, when Jason joined us Thursday on "TMZ Live" he said, "If I were the governor I would sentence him to community service.”

His reasoning is Aguilera-Mederos had no intent to harm anyone that fateful day in 2019 -- the truck driver said his brakes had failed, and there was nothing he could do to avoid the tragedy.

The judge seemed to believe him, and after giving him 110 years -- the minimum under Colorado law -- said, "If I had the discretion, it would not be my sentence."

More than 4 million people, including Kim Kardashian, signed a petition for the case to be reconsidered. Jason says the justice system is flawed -- "Doubling down on the tragedy by destroying this young man’s life -- I believe he is a father as well -- how does that serve anybody’s best interest?"

James Franco admitting he slept with students at his acting school is a total sham, designed to make it look like he's apologizing when he really isn't ... at least according to the attorneys who sued him over the sexual misconduct.

Franco seemed to spill his guts during a SiriusXM interview this week, telling Jess Cagle ... "Look I'll admit I did sleep with students. I didn't sleep with anybody in that particular class, but over the course of my teaching I did sleep with students, and that was wrong."

It's also BS, if you ask attorneys at 2 different law firms -- Valli Kane & Vagnini, LLP and Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, LLP -- which filed lawsuits on behalf of students, including Sarah Tither-Kaplan, who'd attended Studio 4 ... Franco's school.

A rep for the firms tells us, "In addition to being blind about power dynamics, Franco is completely insensitive to, and still apparently does not care about, the immense pain and suffering he put his victims through with this sham of an acting school.

During the interview, Franco denied having any "master plan" to have sex with students -- he claims he had no role in selecting them for his class, and didn't start the school intending to bed his students ... and that's infuriating to women like Tither-Kaplan.

Her lawyers' statement continues, "It is unbelievable that even after agreeing to a settlement he continues to downplay the survivors’ experiences and ignore their pain, despite acknowledging he had no business starting such a school in the first place."

As for why Franco's coming forward now ... 10 months after he settled the class action lawsuit for $2.2 million, and nearly 4 years after the women first came forward -- the attorneys believe the interview was intentionally timed to avoid making headlines.

Rachel Bush -- wife of Bills star Jordan Poyer -- is furious her husband didn't make the Pro Bowl this season ... going on a rant and calling for the NFL to change its ways.

"Said it last year, going to say it again lol," Bush said on Twitter. "Pro Bowl should have the PROS in it."

"Enough of this voting nonsense."

Currently, coaches, players and fans get to vote for the Pro Bowl. Each group counts for 1/3 of the votes.

With that being said, you can have the best stats and still not get in. For example, Poyer has 5 interceptions -- currently tied 4th in the league -- and 60 solo tackles.

That's more than Tyrann Mathieu's 3 interceptions and 51 tackles -- but he was selected for the Pro Bowl.

"Jordan and Micah [Hyde] are the best," Rachel added. "Simple facts. Can’t argue with stats. FIVE picks. Top graded coverage. Give me a damn break."

Bush also points out that Buffalo has one of the best defenses in the league -- and yet, not one Bills player made the Pro Bowl.

"#1 defense in the NFL and not a single defensive player from the Bills in the dang Pro Bowl," Bush says, "How is that a pro bowl then?"

Tesla is under fire and under federal investigation for a feature that allows riders to play video games while driving.

On Wednesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shared docs that say the video games that appear on the dashboard touchscreen are supposed to be for passengers -- hence its name "Passenger Play" -- but there is nothing stopping drivers from playing while the car's moving.

According to the investigation docs, this feature became available to drivers back in December of 2020 ... but before it only worked if the car was in park.

Well-known YouTuber AndrewSchrock made a video sharing this unique feature and playing all the video games in his Tesla ... you can see that he did have to wear his seatbelt, in order to play the video games. But ... despite precautions like this one, Tesla has gotten a lot of backlash over the safety concerns of its cars.

The high-tech vehicles known as "self-driving" cars have gotten criticism for features that allow drivers to slow down, speed up and switch lanes without even touching the wheel ... basically, without even having to be in the car!

Tesla insists that it intends for drivers to stay safe and keep their hands on the wheel, even when these features are on ... but their track record hasn't been all clean.

A man was ejected from an AEW Dynamite event on Wednesday ... after he held up a transphobic sign at openly transgender wrestler Nyla Rose.

The AEW star was involved in a match with Ruby Soho at the North Carolina event ... when broadcast cameras caught a fan pointing the offensive poster at Rose.

"Nyla Rose is that guy's dad," the sign read.

FYI ... in 2019, Rose made history when she inked her deal with AEW, becoming the first openly transgender wrestler to sign with a major U.S. wrestling promotion.

Rose was clearly offended by the sign -- cameras caught her flipping off the fan mid-match ... and her wife wrote on her social media page that she was outraged over it all.

Thankfully, according to Rose's wife and reporters on the scene, the fan was promptly removed once security was made aware of it.

"To everyone wondering," Nyla's wife wrote, "The a**hole has been removed from the venue."

We've reached out to AEW for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen this kind of insensitive behavior at an AEW promotion before -- just last month, a fan called openly gay wrestler Anthony Bowens a homophobic slur during one of his matches.

We spoke with Bowens shortly after the incident, and he condemned the awful hate speech, but said he believed it all to be an isolated incident.

"Wheel of Fortune" fans can rest easy knowing all their outrage toward how one contestant's show ended has actually paid off ... in the form of a new Audi!

If you missed it, a woman named Charlene made it to the final round and caught a nice break when the standard "RSTLNE" and her guessed letters "GDHI" nearly filled out the entire puzzle.

The winning phrase was, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD." At first, Charlene guessed, "CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARD," but when that was wrong, she shouted out "CHOOSING THE RIGHT" before taking a 4-5 second pause and yelling out "WORD!"

The crowd thought she had won, but Pat Sajak delivered the tough news ... telling her she took too long to say the word "Word," and that the phrase needed to have been said all at once to be a winner. It was then revealed Charlene lost out on a $40,000 Audi Q3.

Lucky for Charlene, both "WoF" and the people at Audi took notice of her blunder ... and Charlene is getting an Audi after all!

Super conservative Congressman Madison Cawthorn is consciously uncoupling after only 8 months of marriage, and the divorce has political overtones.

Cawthorn and Cristina Bayardelle Cawthorn said in a joint statement, they made the "enormously difficult decision" ... citing the boilerplate irreconcilable differences.

Cawthorn wrote, "When Cristina and I were engaged, I was not a member of Congress. I felt called to serve and we both agreed that I should run. Our victory was unprecedented, but overnight our lives changed."

He went on ... "That change has been both hectic and difficult, it's neither the pace nor the lifestyle we had planned for."

The marriage had a quick beginning as well as ending ... he said he knew he wanted to marry her just months after they started dating.

It sounds like there was trouble almost from the get-go... saying, "From the outset, we committed to make things work, to fight for our marriage, and seek counsel for balancing the enormity of such a transition in life." The word "fight" seems relevant here.

During their engagement, Cawthorn was accused of sexually harassing a number of women during his college years -- he has denied the allegations.

A Colorado district attorney wants a judge to review the 110-year sentence of the truck driver who killed 4 people in a massive freeway wreck ... after millions of people -- including Kim Kardashian -- signed a petition opposing the stiff punishment.

Alexis King, D.A. for Colorado's First Judicial District, filed the motion Tuesday for a hearing to reconsider the sentencing. She mentioned that it was the "desire" of both living victims and families of those who died in the crash.

In April 2019, 26-year-old Rogel Aguilera-Mederos was driving a semi-truck in Lakewood, CO when the brakes went out and he slammed into traffic, killing 4 people.

He was found guilty of 27 criminal charges in October -- and earlier this month he was sentenced to the minimum under Colorado law ... 110 years.

You read that right, it's the minimum, because Aguilera-Mederos must serve multiple sentences -- for the 4 deaths and 16 other injured victims -- consecutively and not concurrently.

Aguilera-Mederos says the tragedy was a terrible accident ... and he has gotten the support of millions in a petition -- making this case very controversial. Kim chimed in, recently posting about the 26-year-old and calling on the Colorado governor to "do the right thing".

Earlier this month, Aguilera-Mederos gave an emotional statement ... saying "my life has been very difficult, sad, depressing, terrible since April 25, 2019." He continued, "I know it has been hard and heartbreaking for everyone involved."

James Franco is speaking out at length for the first time since a wave of sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him -- saying he's spent the last few years working on himself -- and making one thing clear ... he's still got love for Seth Rogen.

Franco spoke with SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Podcast" Wednesday, and talked everything from the allegations to his career and his fallout with Rogen.

If you hadn't heard ... Seth said in an interview this year he had no plans to work with Franco in light of the allegations made against his former friend. To that, James told Jess, "Of course, it was hurtful in context, but I get it, you know, he had to answer for me cause I was silent."

Rogen's comments seemed to really sit with Franco, given how close the two were, "We didn't have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator."

While the pair don't have any projects lined up for the future, they've starred in massive movies together, including "Pineapple Express," "The Interview," "Sausage Party" and "The Disaster Artist."

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley -- who said he'd rather die than get the vaccine -- tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday ... and is expected to miss at least 10 days before returning to the team.

The news became official just minutes ago ... with the Bills placing Beasley on the COVID-19/Reserve list.

Beasley -- who is unvaccinated, obviously -- returned a positive test, and is now sidelined for the Bills' big game against the Patriots.

Of course, Cole has been as passionate as they come on his decision to not get the jab -- back in June, Beasley went on a social media rant ... calling out everyone from the NFLPA to fans on Twitter.

"Hi, I'm Cole Beasley and I'm not vaccinated!" the 32-year-old said at the time. "I will be outside doing what I do. I'll be out in the public. If you're scared of me then steer clear or get vaccinated. Point. Blank. Period."

"I may die of Covid, but I’d rather die actually living."

Beasley's decision to not get vaccinated even drew criticism from Mavs owner, Mark Cuban, who pled with the slot wideout to get vaxxed for the sake of everyone else.

"Cole's a good guy, but, you know, getting vaccinated isn't just about you, it's about everybody else as well," Cuban said.

Despite Cuban's advice, Cole -- who already had to quarantine earlier this summer after coming into close contact with a trainer who tested positive for the virus -- doesn't seem like he's changing his mind anytime soon.

'The 1619 Project' is celebrated, debated and, for some, hated ... and that's partly why its creator has written a couple of sequels, of sorts -- works she's urging her most fervent critics to simply read before tearing it apart.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, who developed '1619' for the NYT, has turned her long-form journalistic endeavor from a magazine series into a book collection ... and she came on "TMZ Live" to dissect why she thinks the concept alone pisses off so many, especially on the right.

If you're unfamiliar, '1619' theorizes our nation's foundation traces back to that year -- instead of 1776 -- when African slaves were first brought here, and explains how the slave trade continued to impact American politics and economics for centuries.

Now, back to the original question ... what is it that makes people so angry that it influences them inside voting booths???

In NHJ's eyes, their fury pretty much boils down to propaganda, and oftentimes, ignorance ... much in the same way critical race theory is often confused or mischaracterized by people who have no sense of what it really is. Something that was on display during Virginia's gubernatorial race this year.

Nikole says the strongest critics of the 1619 Project often haven't even read it -- so they don't understand what they're arguing against. But, if they'd simply absorb the material, they'd probably learn something valuable ... even if they walked away still disagreeing, an outcome she says she'd accept, knowing it was at least considered.

Her latest books, "The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story" and "The 1619 Project: Born on the Water" are already on the NYT Bestsellers List.

Blac Youngsta is either clueless or he's gonna have a wave of hate coming his way from Young Dolph fans after posing next to a tomb with the late rapper's name on it in a new music video.

Youngsta -- who was a known enemy of Dolph -- released the video for his song "Im Assuming" Monday, filmed almost entirely in a cemetery. While it's very brief, around the 1-minute-mark of the video, you see the last name Thornton on the tomb he's rapping in front of ... Dolph's real name was Adolph Thornton Jr.

While the song's lyrics don't seem to directly talk about Dolph's death, they're certainly violent -- "I been a street n**** that murder s*** ... I'm on the verge, 'bout to purge with the young n*****. They stackin' bodies."

Blac Youngsta and Young Dolph had a very nasty history, back in 2017 BY turned himself in to cops investigating a Dolph shooting in Charlotte ... and he was also named a person of interest when Dolph was shot in L.A. later that year.

Charges against BY in the Charlotte case -- where more than 100 rounds were fired into an SUV Dolph was traveling in -- were dropped for lack of evidence.