Controversial S#!T

Elon Musk pulled a move only Don Corleone himself could finagle -- his big-ticket offer to buy Twitter has reportedly gotten the green light ... with the deal coming in for a landing.

Reuters says Musk's $43 billion bid is poised to be accepted by Twitter's board Monday, and that an official announcement could be expected later in the day. Sounds like he didn't budge on his $54.20-per-share price -- and he's in the process of reeling them in right now.

There is, of course, the possibility that this thing could fall through ... but at the moment, all signs point to be EM becoming the new owner of the bird app -- ushering in a new regime.

As we reported ... there were rumblings of this coming to fruition over the weekend. Twitter and Musk had a sit-down on Sunday, which apparently went long into the wee hours of the morning. Word is ... the company was under major pressure from shareholders to sell.

Some of the stockholders wanted to see if Musk would go up in price ... but in the end, it seems they're ready to accept his original betting chip -- especially now that he's got the dough all secured. Elon ponied up the cash last week with the help of some outside partners.

There's a laundry list of goals Elon apparently wants to achieve with the takeover. Beyond addressing "free speech" problems he sees, EM has reportedly also talked about longer tweets, pivoting away from ads and getting rid of spam bots -- which he sees as a pest.

Elon has also talked about making Twitter's algorithm open source ... meaning we'd be able to see why things trend the way they do, and why exactly we're seeing certain tweets on our timeline versus others. Essentially ... more transparency on how Twitter operates internally.

Of course, him taking the company private might mean this becomes a subscription-based service ... especially if he's serious about putting a stop to advertisements. So, the question is ... are folks willing to pay for Twitter, which has been free up to this point???

One of DaBaby's first major legal cases is being discussed anew after a video capturing him fatally shooting someone surfaced online -- sparking a fierce debate about self-defense.

Rolling Stone published surveillance footage Sunday depicting a 2018 confrontation DaBaby was involved in at a Walmart out in his native North Carolina -- before he was super famous -- in which he shot and killed a man.

DB was eventually charged with carrying a concealed weapon for the shooting, but no murder charge.

DaBaby hasn't shied away from this case ... insisting from the jump he was acting in self-defense -- claiming the victim, 19-year-old Jaylin Craig, had pulled a gun ... and he feared for his and his family's life. He was with his GF and baby girl in the store.

RS suggests this video contradicts DaBaby's self-defense narrative, as he appears to be the aggressor in this situation -- at least based on what they posted. He charges at another man (not Craig) and the two get into a scuffle, with Craig monitoring on the outskirts.

Craig appears to reach for and even brandish what was later determined to be a gun on his person -- but RS says his grieving family insists he never would've had to resort to grabbing it if not for DB's aggressive behavior setting this whole thing in motion.

Frankly, it's unclear what exactly set all this off -- DB has claimed Craig and his pals were harassing and threatening him and his brood that night, which is why he went on the attack.

While Rolling Stone appears to be questioning DaBaby's story of protecting himself, others have seen this video and agreed ... he had every right to pull his own gun and fire once Craig pulled his, especially since he wasn't the one directly involved in the fistfight.

Of course, others say this video just proves DaBaby is a bad seed and apparently prone to violence ... something his own history since this incident seems to support, at least in some folks' eyes. As you know, he's been involved in countless physical altercations over the years.

Sharon Osbourne has had a year of ups and downs ... opening up about a 'horrendous' facelift that left her looking like a "f***** Cyclops" and why she went to an unconventional form of therapy.

The former 'The Talk' host talked a lot about her recent plastic surgery in an interview with The Sunday Times ... "I had a full facelift done in October and I looked like one of those f***** mummies that they wrap".

She wasn't done ... "It was horrendous I'm, like, you've got to be f***** joking. One eye was different to the other. I looked like a f***** Cyclops. I'm, like, "All I need is a hunchback."

Sharon says she wasn't the only one who was upset ... her hubby, Ozzy Osbourne, agreed and even offered to pay to fix it, no matter the price.

Now, months after the surgery, she says she's finally growing into her face. But, Sharon has had other things to worry about this past year.

As you know, Sharon left "The Talk" after defending her friend Piers Morgan who attacked Meghan Markle on his show. When we asked her about a possible return to the show, she said ... "I would never go back to that show because CBS sucks big time d**k."

Brad Fischetti, the last living member of LFO, isn't going to stop playing one of the band's hits even though its lyrics refer to now-canceled Abercrombie & Fitch, which was roasted in Netflix's latest doc ... and it's all about honoring his late bandmates.

Brad tells us he'll continue to perform the 1999 hit "Summer Girls" at his concerts ... as you'll recall, the chorus to LFO's song goes, "I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch ... I'd take her if I had one wish."

A&F's shady work behind the scenes has recently been exposed by Netflix's docufilm, "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch" ... which features former employees revealing a toxic workplace that emphasized thin, white beautiful people as their vision of "All-American."

Brad's goal with anything he does with the band is to honor his lifelong friends and band members Devin Lima and Rich Cronin.

TMZ broke both stories ... the other two members of LFO both passed away from battles with leukemia - Rich Cronin in 2010 and Devin Lima in 2018. Brad, the last remaining member, has done his best to keep their memory alive.

Keke Palmer says she politely declined to take a photo with an overzealous fan -- but even when the message was clear ... still had her personal space violated.

The actress detailed an upsetting story on social media Saturday, describing how a girl kept pressing her for a pic ... but apparently wouldn't take no for an answer, and hit record instead when she got denied.

To that KP writes, "No means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex. I was at the bar the other day and this girl asked me three times for a picture and I told her three times nicely that I did not want take one with her. She still preceded to film me against my will."

She adds, "If I went off on her I would’ve been wrong, so I just nervously laughed while my privacy was invaded upon." Unfortunately for celebs, this is true -- if you're out in public, you're fair game for anyone with a camera ... even if it feels invasive, like this clearly did.

Keke further addressed it on IG ... "Clearly I’m still upset about it cause I hated that I smiled, but that is my defense mechanism to laugh or joke in an uncomfortable situation and it misleads people every time. Literally I could be wanting to scream, and on the outside I’m still performing. The fact that I tell people no at all is therapeutic progress for me lbvs."

She goes on to explain boundaries are hard for people who defer to people-pleasing or who don't want to steer into conflict -- which she says isn't a good practice, but a real struggle.

Here's the fascinating thing about this ... Keke has very publicly dealt with this exact sort of issue before, albeit in a much more insidious setting -- at least based on what she claimed.

You'll recall ... she accused Trey Songz of "sexual intimidation" after he allegedly coerced her to be in a music video of his against her will -- to the point she claims she had to hide in a closet from him ... something Trey later downplayed and seemingly denied on social media.

Elon Musk has ruffled feathers by comparing Bill Gates to an emoji addressing transgender people -- and it all seems to stem from a back-and-forth they had that left Elon pissed.

The Tesla chief tweeted an insult at the Microsoft co-founder Friday, posting a side-by-side photo of BG next to an emoji of a pregnant man ... a new one that was recently rolled out to be more inclusive to trans men. Elon's caption ... "in case u need to lose a b***r fast."

He followed up by jokingly tweeting a picture of cloaked figures coming together in a circle and writing, "shadow ban council reviewing tweet …" seemingly aware his OG tweet might be seen as offensive. It's also undoubtedly connected to his current bid to buy Twitter.

Of course, some were confused about the shot in the first place ... but leaked texts between Elon and Bill seem to paint a clearer picture about what's going on.

No word on when this convo happened, but Elon himself confirmed the texts are legit ... saying they'd apparently been leaked to the NYT by friends of friends. He adds, "I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret."

If you peep the texts, it shows Elon and Bill going back and forth ... apparently trying to set up a meeting of some sort -- one in which BG wanted to talk philanthropy and climate change. Before that, though, Elon asked him straight up ... you shorting my company, bro?

Elon's angry that Bill's betting against Tesla's stock ... placing a major wager that the price will dip. Elon also argues that Tesla is doing a lot to mitigate climate change by investing in sustainable energy, so he sees Bill's position as hypocritical here.

Steve Martin has just about all of the internet going to bat for him against millennials who apparently don't find the humor in one of his most famous 'SNL' sketches ... King Tut!

Here's the deal ... SM's trending because somebody reposted and recirculated his famously goofy Egyptian-themed dance that he performed on the late-night program, on which he made regular appearances in the '70s. Yesterday marked the 44th anniversary of its debut.

While people were piling on with praise at first, it seems, one person (and perhaps more) asked a simple question ... where the heck is the funny in this thing???

As one 20-or-30-something notes ... "I'm sure my parents found this hilarious in the 70's but I honestly dont get it. He's doing a funny dance and voice but there isn't really a *bit* that my Millenial (sic) brain can parse." Their tweet is now taking off ... in a bad way.

Tons of people are coming out in defense of Steve against this person's perception of his comedy chops -- or lack thereof, in their eyes -- by rightly explaining he was a pioneer and kickstarted an entire wave of legendary standups that emerged in the late '70s and '80s through his wacky style ... which was more showmanship than actual traditional punchlines.

The King Tut dance, they explain, is just one example ... also, context matters too. There was a huge museum exhibit of the young pharaoh being dragged across the U.S. back then ... and it permeated the airwaves. So, Steve's satire here isn't lost on those who remember.

There also appears to be another convo happening on the outskirts of this King Tut clip -- namely, folks who are allegedly up in arms because of ... cultural appropriation.

Frankly, we can't find a single tweet expressing this position whatsoever -- Twitter's algorithm stinks when it comes to finding the initial outrage being cited -- but in any case, some say they're seeing that argument being floated ... and there, too, Steve fans are shutting it down.

Indeed, we're not about to apply the 2022 lens to Steve and his material some 40 years later. And, more importantly, no one in their right mind would try to "cancel" him now.

But, on the issue of whether he's actually funny or not -- either in his standup heyday or in movies thereafter -- well, it seems the answer depends on who you ask ... generationally.

Travis Scott is back making music after the Astroworld tragedy.

Travis is featured on the new Future song "Hold That Heat." In the music vid, you see Travis, Future and producer Southside ... Travis sang the chorus ... "Hold that, hold that heater [aka gun]."

Travis and Future also share a joint during the song. And, there's the striptease, courtesy of a woman wearing not a lot.

There's no reference to the tragedy at the Houston festival back in November, where 10 people died. Travis has been laying low for the most part since then, performing at a Coachella after-party recently and hitting up SoFi for a game, but other than that he's kept his head low.

As we reported, Travis is being sued by a number of people who were at the festival, as well as families of those who died. The lawsuits could take years to either settle or litigate, so it's unclear how Travis will manage his career around it.

Bill Maher went in hard on Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, for "demagoguing" the culture war issue over LGBTQ+ mentions in schools.

The "Real Time" host railed on DeSantis for the draconian action he took against Disney World, yanking their tax status and independence because the Mouse House took a stand against the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

Bill said he has every reason to hate Disney -- after all, they fired him for comments he made on "Politically Incorrect" -- a bonehead move, given the name of the show, right?

Nevertheless, Bill feels sorry for Disney because they seem to be in a no-win situation ... the left hated them when they didn't take a stand on the bill, and now they've taken a stand and the right hates them. As Bill said, Disney's initial response ... "We just make fairies and elves, riding teacups" ... and that triggered the left. Now that they won't donate to political campaigns of those who support the bill ... well, the right went nuts.

Atlantic writer, Caitlin Flanagan, said she hates the way Disney waffled, imploring the company to "have a backbone." Conservative, Mary Katharine Ham, took a different stance ... "The key might be neutrality on these big culture war issues."

DMC doesn't get the big fuss over Jack Harlow's success ... because good music is always gonna do well on the charts, no matter who you are.

We talked to DMC leaving NBC Studios in New York, and the 57-year-old rapper sounds a bit confused, no doubt due to all the autographs he's signing ... but he offers up a good point about a musician's color being irrelevant.

He's calling Jack's haters out for being ignorant, saying creative outlets, like music, should be used to bring others together and make the community a better place ... not to tear each other apart.

As you know, Jack's new single "First Class" recently hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 ... Top Dawg Entertainment President Terrence "Punch" Henderson sparked a debate on Twitter by saying Black artists have to be more awesome than their white counterparts to make it big.

The debate came up on Tuesday's episode of "TMZ Hip Hop" ... as DJ Hed and Rodney Rikai challenged each other on what's really fueling the Kentucky-born rapper’s rise to the top.

There's a new entry into the debate about whether Jack Harlow benefits from hip hop's version of affirmative action -- and David Banner says there's not much of a debate!!!

TMZ Hip Hop pulled up on the "Cadillac On 22's" rapper Friday at LAX, and picked his scholarly brain regarding the hot topic: Jack and his latest single "First Class" are on top of the Billboard Hot 100, and there are plenty of rap pundits who feel the only reason he got there is because he's white, and the majority rules in America.

Count Banner as one of those pundits. The former Mississippi teacher turned rapper told us being white is an advantage in all aspects of life, all around the world and hip hop is no different.

DB goes even deeper in the clip, claiming white people who denounce racism know they secretly benefit from it ... aka white guilt. He's confident even Jack would agree with that.

According to Billboard, "First Class" had the biggest single week of streams since rap juggernauts Drake, Future and Young Thug released the "Certified Lover Boy" hit, "Way 2 Sexy" in September 2021.

Blac Chyna's mom, Tokyo Toni, says she wasn't talking about the judge in her daughter's trial when she said, "I'm going to get that judge" ... she says it was all about Kris Jenner.

We got TT in Woodland Hills Thursday and asked her about her alleged threat, which she made Tuesday on Instagram Live.

Tokyo says she wasn't really talking about the judge, it was for Kris ... and when our photog pressed, she explained she views Kris as the judge because she feels Kris rules over all of the Kardashians.

Here's the problem ... before she makes the threat, she references the fact that the judge -- the real one, not Kris -- threw her out of the courtroom. And, then she says "I'm gonna get that judge." So, it's a gigantic stretch to believe she was talking about Kris.

Tokyo tells us her daughter's legal team told her to chill out on social media as the trial continues, and Toni makes it sound like that won't be a problem because she claims she was never talking about the case, and was only taking shots at the Kardashians.

Cam Newton is finally opening up about his controversial comments about women ... insisting he's not sexist.

Nearly two weeks after Newton was captured on camera saying he believed a real woman is someone who, among other things, knows how to cook and "when to be quiet" ... he attempted to clarify the comments in a new video on his YouTube page.

Cam admitted that he should have expounded on the remarks so they were more inclusive and less abrasive ... explaining what he was trying to say was "you can't expect so much from a person and give so little."

"I should have said on top of what I also said and mentioned that not only should a woman know when to be quiet, a man also should know when to be quiet," he said.

Cam continued, "Whether it's being whatever you need to be as a human being -- man or female -- you should be that. And, I think not going into depth like I should have, cost me."

In the video, Newton repeated over and over again that he did not believe men are superior to women. He also insisted he's a great father and a good member of his community.

"I never wanted to demonize or to shrink the woman's power in America," Newton said.

As we reported, Cam was ripped for his initial comments -- athletes, journalists and fans all over called them incredibly offensive. In fact, Travis Kelce's girlfriend, Kayla Nicole, said Cam was a straight-up "bozo" for the remarks.

Kevin Federline is not too pleased about Britney Spears' latest salvo -- that he wouldn't see her when she was pregnant -- and his lawyer has delivered a not-so-veiled threat, saying her account is false.

Attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, was leaving Craig's Thursday night, when a photog asked about Brit's most recent post, where she says, "... geez my ex-husband wouldn't see me when I flew to New York with a baby inside me and Las Vegas when he was shooting a video!!!"

Kaplan called her out, saying her account "is completely the opposite of what's true, she knows that," adding this warning ... "She should be very careful about pursuing a dialogue that's based on revisionist history."

In case that threat was too oblique, Kaplan got more specific ... "That story about Kevin in Las Vegas and Britney is completely erroneous, and he's not going to stand by and let that story besmirch what he did and his support of her back in the day."

Mike Tyson seemed to lose his cool on a plane on Wednesday night ... repeatedly punching a man in the face after the guy had apparently annoyed him.

TMZ Sports has learned ... the incident all went down at around 10:30 PM PT as Tyson was slated to fly out of San Francisco International Airport to Florida.

A witness on the plane says as he and his friend were boarding Tyson's flight ... the boxing legend was initially cool with them and the other passengers.

The witness tells us Mike took a selfie with him ... and then was patient with his overly excited buddy, who kept trying to talk to the 55-year-old fighter as he sat behind him.

Eventually, though, we're told Tyson had enough of the guy behind him talking in his ear ... and told him to chill. When the guy didn't, that's when the witness says Tyson started to throw several punches at the man's face.

Video we obtained shows Tyson throwing a flurry of blows at the man, which you can see bloodied the passenger's forehead. The witness says Mike walked off the plane just seconds later.

We're told the man who was punched received medical attention and then went to the police over the incident. We've reached out to cops for comment, but so far, no word back yet.

We've also reached out to JetBlue and Tyson's camp for comment on the incident as well, but no word back yet there either.

Novak Djokovic is condemning the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from competing at Wimbledon due to the war in Ukraine ... calling the move flat out "crazy."

The Serbian tennis star spoke out against Wimbledon's decision to prevent tennis athletes from Russia and Belarus (a strong ally of Russia) from playing in the high-profile tournament on Wednesday ... saying it was the wrong move.

"I will always condemn war," Djokovic said. "I will never support war, being myself a child of war. I know how much emotional trauma it leaves. In Serbia, we all know what happened in 1999. In the Balkans, we have had many wars in recent history."

"However, I cannot support the decision of Wimbledon. I think it is crazy," he added.

The world's #1-ranked tennis player went on to say, "When politics interfere with sport, the result is not good."

As we previously reported, the All England Club dropped the bombshell news saying it was their responsibility to play their part in limiting Russia's global influence ... electing to keep Russian and Belarusian players from competing.

"In the circumstances of such unjustified and unprecedented military aggression, it would be unacceptable for the Russian regime to derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships," the official statement read.

"It is, therefore, our intention, with deep regret, to decline entries from Russian and Belarusian players to The Championships 2022."

It's been nearly two months since Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin, violently launched an aggressive war against Ukraine.