Controversial S#!T

The man responsible for slaughtering 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store left no question ... his attack was racially motivated, as evidenced by the hateful messaging emblazoned on his gun.

18-year-old Payton Gendron descended on the Tops store with a black Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle littered with  racist language -- "N****" on its' barrel, "Here's your reparations," "Dylan Roof," "John Earnest" and "SYGAOWN."

"SYGAOWN" is an acronym for "Stop Your Genocide Against Our White Nations." As you probably know, Dylan Roof is the man who killed 9 black worshipers at a South Carolina Church. Earnest killed one woman and shot 3 others in 2019 at a synagogue in San Diego.

Starbucks in jumping into the Roe v. Wade fray by telling its employees the company will pay travel expenses for any staffer who has to travel more than 100 miles from home to get an abortion.

A Starbucks exec put it this way ... "Like many of you, I'm deeply concerned by the draft Supreme Court opinion related to the constitutional right to abortion that was first established by Roe v. Wade."

She went on ... "I know this is weighing on many of you, so let me be clear up front — regardless of what the Supreme Court ends up deciding, we will always ensure our partners have access to quality healthcare. And when actions impact your access to healthcare, we will work on a way to make sure you feel supported."

The coffee company pledged to its 240,000 employees it will cover all travel-related expenses "when accessing abortion or gender-affirming procedures."

Sasha Banks and Naomi -- WWE women's tag team champions -- reportedly walked out of "Monday Night Raw" last night after an argument with management about the creative direction of the show.

WWE issued a statement to TMZ Sports about the impromptu exit, saying, "During the broadcast, they walked into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis's office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk and walked out."

Officials from the promotion say when Banks and Naomi arrived at the arena they were made aware of their participation in the main event of 'Raw,' but allege both superstars claimed they were "uncomfortable" with who they were scheduled to wrestle.

It's unclear if the incident is part of an internal storyline. Though, WWE's statement makes it seem it was not part of the show, even writing, "Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract."

Sasha and Naomi were slated to be a part of a six-pack challenge match, where the winner would face Raw women's champion, Bianca Belair, in a match for the title. But, after they left the building, WWE was forced to pivot.

WWE quickly ran a segment backstage with Becky Lynch, former women's champion, where she said she witnessed Naomi and Sasha leave the arena. She then pleaded with on-screen official Adam Pearce for a title opportunity.

Becky Lynch fought Asuka in a singles match -- the new main event -- where she defeated her after spraying green mist in her face, and delivering a roundhouse kick.

As for Sasha and Naomi, PWInsider reports prior to leaving the arena, they met with Vince McMahon. Once it became clear WWE wasn't going to make the changes they wanted, they decided to skip the show.

Elon Musk says President Biden is a regular Ron Burgundy -- namely, the guy relies way too much on teleprompters ... so much so, in fact, that Elon thinks whoever runs it is in charge.

The Tesla chief and Twitter-owner-hopeful took a shot at JB this week on the 'All-In Podcast,' where he fielded a number of questions ranging from his attempt to buy the bird app, how he manages his keystone companies ... and also, what he thinks of politics in terms of red/blue.

On the latter issue, Elon made some cracks at 46's expense ... saying, "The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter. The path to power is the path to the teleprompter."

He wasn't done there ... Elon invoked the Will Ferrell flick, adding, "I do feel like if somebody were to accidentally lean on the teleprompter, it's going to be like 'Anchorman.'"

A few more parting shots at Biden and co. ... EM says that the current administration doesn't seem to get a lot done compared to the Trump days. That's not to say he's a fan of DT, per se, but apparently admired the people working behind the scenes on efficiency.

A Lyft driver wasn't about to allow a racist couple into his vehicle -- getting in a nasty back and forth with the two -- before ultimately giving them the boot.

According to the driver, the whole thing went down outside a bar called Fossils Last Stand in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. He says the ride was for a woman named "Jackie" who allegedly owns the bar.

The video is intense, you first see "Jackie" enter the vehicle, shocking the driver when she says, "You're like a white guy. You're like a normal guy, you speak English." The driver then let her know he was canceling the ride, telling her how inappropriate the comment was.

That's when the woman's male friend enters the picture, escalating things, and telling the driver he should punch him in the face.

The driver calls the couple racist, and in turn, the man calls the driver a "n*****-lover."

Patrick Beverley is getting blasted by current and former NBA hoopers after criticizing Chris Paul on TV this morning ... with Damian Lillard and Matt Barnes going in on the NBA vet.

Pat Bev ripped Paul -- aka the "Point God" -- on 'First Take' on Monday for his abysmal performance in Game 7 against the Mavericks, saying head coach Monty Williams should've benched the future HOF'er.

FYI, Paul scored 10 points in 30 minutes. The Suns got their doors blown off, losing 123-90 ... at home.

The criticism didn't sit well with Dame, who hit social media and wrote ... "Bra on TV acting like his word law. Speaking on private convos and praying on mfs downfall. This weird behavior smh 🤷🏽‍♂️ … I ain’t got a horse in the race."

Beverley, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, said he knew the Mavs would win yesterday because "aint nobody afraid of anybody over there in Phoenix, man."

"Everybody in the league knows that," he continued.

And, Dame wasn't the only person Bev rubbed the wrong way (today) ... Matt Barnes went in on PB on ESPN's 'NBA Today.'

"I feel like what Pat Beverley did today to Chris Paul was completely disrespectful and out of the line," Barnes said. "Pat Bev is talking like he's that guy. You're not that guy."

He continued ... "Chris Paul played terrible this year and his numbers are still better than your career numbers have ever been," Matt said, adding, "The disrespect needs to be checked."

Barnes was clearly not here for Pat Bev coming after CP3, a future NBA Hall of Famer, and feels next time he needs to be put in his place for coming at Paul -- a star in the league.

As for Pat Bev and CP3, this is just the latest drama in their long-standing rivalry. Remember, Beverley pushed Paul in the back during the Western Conference Finals last season.

Beverley served a one-game suspension for his actions, but ultimately seemed to squash the beef with Paul on social media, wishing CP3 good luck during the 2021 NBA Finals.

The black family targeted by a young white boy who showed up at their front door with a whip are afraid it could happen again ... telling us the cops never seized the weapon.

Dee and Carissa Nash -- who captured the shocking incident on their home surveillance -- joined "TMZ Live" Monday. They tell us the 9-year-old boy had been aggressive toward other kids recently, but had for the most part, not directly gone after their daughter.

Obviously, that changed ... when the boy showed up on their front doorstep with a whip, smacking the door and allegedly doing damage to their car.

The Nash family -- who lives just outside Dallas -- called the cops, but tell us officers never confiscated the whip, and wouldn't talk to the young boy directly without his dad present. When Dee decided to take matters into his own hands, and talk to the boy's dad, the man pulled a gun and fired a shot, leading to his arrest.

Travis Scott's comeback is officially in full effect -- the guy just hit the Billboard Music Awards, marking his first televised gig since the Astroworld tragedy.

The rapper performed "Mafia" and "Lost Forever" Sunday at the show, in a highly anticipated moment in the show. For TS standards, the performance was very tame, mostly centered in a small room on the stage. Diddy and French Montana intro'd Travis.

As for how he was received -- fans seemed to love it, and the crowd cheered as he was introduced, and was roaring when finished up.

TS has been creeping back into public life little by little these past few months -- he made his first full-blown public performance last week in Miami ... and has been doing small sets here and there throughout 2022.

Travis also performed at Zouk Nightclub Saturday night, where he joined resident DJ Zedd.

As you know ... he's due to headline a major festival in South America later this year, so there's no doubt that this appearance on a national award show helps in that regard.

Another controversial artist that hit the stage Sunday ... Morgan Wallen. He performed two songs earlier in the show, and he too got a decent reaction from the audience.

A mass shooting in Buffalo is being investigated as a hate crime after a man is alleged to have gunned down at least 10 people in cold blood ... all of which was live streamed.

18-year-old Payton Gendron was taken into custody Saturday and is now being questioned by the FBI ... this after he allegedly went on a shooting rampage at a Tops Friendly Market grocery store with what appears to be a semi-automatic weapon, leaving nearly a dozen people dead, most of whom were Black -- according to authorities in the area.

Officials say Gendron drove a long distance to arrive in this particular neighborhood -- which is predominantly African-American. He's believed to be from Conklin, NY ... some 200 miles away. Reports say he also posted a manifesto, declaring himself a white supremacist.

The most terrifying aspect of this ... the shooter appears to have been live streaming the entire ordeal, which was up on Twitch for a while ... and which was captured and circulated.

In video showing him driving to the supermarket, you hear a man -- who's decked out in tactical gear, it seems -- say something to the effect of "you just gotta go for it." He then pulls up right in front of the entrance, parks his car ... and hops out to start shooting.

Cops swarmed in upon reports of a mass shooting, Gendron was eventually apprehended ... and onlookers took in the bloody aftermath he allegedly left behind as he was being cuffed.

Other screenshots show what was going on inside ... allegedly depicting the gunman going around and firing on people at close range. His Twitch page was active during this, and it appears people were in fact tuning in and maybe even commenting as it unfolded.

Buffalo's mayor, Byron Brown, called it an "unimaginable nightmare" ... and the Erie County Sheriff John Garcia was even more forceful -- calling the onslaught "pure evil" and a "straight up racially motivated hate crime." All city and county leaders strongly disavowed the violence, and sent thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims.

All in all, 10 are reported as dead so far ... and an additional 3 are injured. There are reports that an armed security guard opened fire on the guy, but the shooter was wearing body armor ... who then fired upon and killed the guard in return.

R. Kelly's legacy is being fiercely debated amid new Kendrick Lamar lyrics that touch on the now-disgraced/convicted R&B legend -- question being ... did he make good music???

That's what Twitter's arguing about right now, this after somebody apparently responded to one of Kenny's new songs on his album, 'Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers,' in which he suggests his SO hypocritically still listens to Kelly's music -- despite, well, everything.

Here's the original tweet from Thursday that set this whole convo off -- the user writes, "I wish y’all would stop saying everybody listens to R. kelly music secretly like no we don’t 😭😭😭 i promise you the music isn’t that good."

They went on to add ... "And if you gotta listen to it in secret that means you know it’s wrong so like where are we going from here."

The track apparently referenced is "We Cry Together," featuring Taylour Paige in a heated rap argument with Kendrick. At one point, she says ... "You the reason Harvey Weinstein had to see his conclusion //You the reason R. Kelly can't recognize that he's abusive."

To that, Ken responds in the song ... "Man, shut the f*** up, we all know you still playin' his music // Said I'm tired of these emotional-ass, ungrateful-ass bitches // Fake innocent, fake feminist, stop pretendin' // Y'all sentiments ain't realer than what you defendin'."

Back to the tweet ... tons of people responded by saying that denying R. Kelly made "good" music is absurd -- frankly, the guy has the accolades and the writing/producing credits to prove it, objectively. Fact is, yeah -- R. Kelly was without a doubt a bona fide hit-maker.

There's no shortage of stars he's written/produced for and/or with (or in many cases, all 3) -- the list consists of names like Aaliyah, B2K, Diddy, Toni Braxton, Lady Gaga, Sparkle, Maxwell, MICHAEL JACKSON, Nick Cannon, Ginuwine, The Isley Bros., WHITNEY HOUSTON, Usher, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Pitbull, Justin Bieber  ... and many more.

Of course, this doesn't even touch his own personal list of hits that were wildly popular when released -- not the least of which includes 'Ignition (Remix),' 'Bump n' Grind,' 'Step in the Name of Love,' 'I Believe I Can Fly,' and countless others.

What this seems to boil down to is ... can two things be true at once, and more importantly -- can we separate the art from the artist? If so, there's simply no way anyone could argue R. Kelly didn't make good music in his heyday ... and yes, he has also done terrible things.

Melania Trump is back on our airwaves, and one of the first things she did since her hubby left office was take shots at Dr. Jill Biden ... over none other than a magazine appearance.

The former First Lady did an interview with "Fox & Friends," and she was asked about how she might've been treated by the media versus how President Biden's wife is currently being received ... and they brought up the fact that DJB graced the cover of Vogue last year.

You might recall ... Jill was featured as the lead story for their August issue, and the cover was released a couple months before that. The subhead read, "A First Lady for All of Us."

Welp, MT has some thoughts -- and her takeaway sentiment is ... the media picks and chooses who they want to celebrate (even in the exact same post), and apparently did so here since Melania never made it on Vogue's cover ... nor was she asked.

Melania suggests an agenda might be at play with decisions like these -- and she also says ordinary folks can see it clear as day. The point is emphasized by the interviewer pointing out that Kamala Harris made it on the cover before being sworn in, and Michelle Obama got tapped several times as First Lady when Barack was in office.

The interviewer also points out that Melania, objectively, would've made for a great cover story -- aside from being FLOTUS, she has extensive experience in fashion and business.

Despite some seeing this as sour grapes on Melania's part, she insists she had better things to do during her run than be on the cover of Vogue -- but if we're being honest, she likely would've jumped at the opportunity.

A little white boy came storming over to the home of a Black family in Texas with a whip in hand and a beating in mind, it seems, and the whole thing was captured on video.

This is wild ... the Ring footage was taken from the front porch of Dee and Carissa Nash's home near Dallas, and it shows what they claim is a neighbor's kid from nearby coming over in a fury, allegedly in search of their 9-year-old daughter -- and making his presence known.

As you can see ... the young boy, who can't be more than 7 or 8 himself, bangs on the front door with his free hand -- and then takes some cracks at it with his whipping hand.

Carissa then opens the door and chastises the boy, telling him to get off her property and threatening to call the police. It appears the kid scrams after that. Sadly, the confrontation wasn't over just yet -- further video shows them facing off with the boy's purported father.

Dee handles this chat, and right off the bat ... it ain't pretty. The man is denying culpability and demanding to see evidence -- according to the Nashes, this boy allegedly scratched their car after Carissa told him to beat it -- and both Nash parents offer to show him.

However, it doesn't appear the guy's truly interested ... he tells 'em to get off his property and makes a big fuss about a plant that Dee may or may not have been stepping on.

The Nashes also claim the man who answered the door had a gun on him, and that he seemed poised to use it. According to reports, the police were in fact called over this -- and this guy was apparently arrested and booked on charges of deadly conduct.

The father has been named in some outlets, and we've confirmed a man by that name was arrested Friday/bonded out ... but the details are still hazy, and it's unclear if it's the guy depicted here. Kaufman County Sheriff's Office refused to release more info until Monday.

Lori Harvey is the latest celeb to get dragged through the mud for detailing her weight-loss journey -- which serves as just another lesson for the rich and famous ... don't say anything.

The model and influencer hopped on TikTok recently to outline a diet/exercise regimen she went on to lose a ton of weight -- upwards of 15 pounds, and perhaps more, she explains -- which she says she gained after first getting with Michael B. Jordan.

In wanting to share some knowledge ... LH spills the tea, but it completely backfired. She says she's been doing Pilates consistently for the past year or so -- but when she was in weight-loss mode, she was doing more than just that ... including lots of cardio.

Then, the true secret comes out -- Lori says she went on a calorie deficit, taking in just 1,200 or so during this period, she adds, and it's here where she's catching a ton of flak.

Many are criticizing her for promoting what they consider unhealthy crash dieting methods ... which folks argue is actually hurtful for normies who might follow Lori's lead, seeing how many followers/fans she has and how influential she is.

There's also some chiming in about society's fear of fat, claiming that Hollywood is obsessed with a warped and unrealistic body image that also does a lot of harm to society at large.

You'll recall ... Kim Kardashian was also blasted, of late, for announcing she dropped 16 pounds in a matter of two weeks just to fit into the Marilyn Monroe dress for the Met Gala.

While it's unclear how fast Lori lost his weight, she's receiving the same reception -- but funny enough, it appears just as many people are defending her ... arguing she simply answered a question her fans wanted to know, and that this diet worked for her specifically.

It looks like Lori predicted this, because she followed up on her video with a comment ... essentially saying this plan worked for her, and that she's not necessarily encouraging others to do the same ... as everyone's body and nutrition needs are vastly different.

Diddy has hopped on the newest train in pop culture ... the one canceling cancel culture.

Diddy said, "As a music family, none of us are saints; none of us are without things that happen to them in life," he told Billboard.

The mogul is exec producing and hosting the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, and he's squarely behind the org's decision to invite Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen to perform.

Diddy went on ... "So one of the things I'm doing directly is uncanceling the canceled. That's breaking news because people haven't been about uncanceling. But canceling is a trend that needs to stop."

Diddy was insistent on Scott taking the stage ... "I said, 'My brother Travis Scott has to perform.'"

He added ... "Travis went through a tragedy; Morgan [hurled the n-word] while talking to his boy. People make mistakes. Now we're moving on with love and respect for everybody that was hurt or affected. It's time to forgive."

Wallen was canceled from several awards shows last year after the incident, including the American Music Awards, but sales of his music actually rose during that period.

As for Travis ... he was sidelined for months after the Astroworld tragedy, but he's back performing and will do so in front of 100,000 people at the Primavera Sound festival later this year.

Bill Maher had one of his best guests EVER on "Real Time" Friday night ... Rod Stewart, and the timing of the sit-down is crazy.

Rod kicked off his world tour Friday night, performing at Caesars Palace in Vegas, but there he was on Bill's L.A. set just hours before his performance.

Rod is one of the coolest cats in the music biz, and that was on full display with BM. He talked about not ever wanting to be late for his concerts ... unusual for rock stars.

He also said he and the Queen have something in common, and gotta say, he's not wrong.

A couple of surprising things ... did you know Rod wrote "Maggie May," "Tonight's The Night," "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" "Hot Legs," and "You Wear It Well."

Also, his Vegas concert runs for 1 and a half hours, and Rod normally goes over 2 hours but that's Caesar's rule. And, Bill mentioned something that was shocking ... when The Beatles performed, it lasted only 25 minutes.

A recently-married man was just found guilty on 4 of 5 charges -- including sexually assaulting one of his wife's bridesmaids -- but says he'll appeal.

According to local reports, Daniel Carney allegedly forced himself on the bridesmaid after a pre-wedding celebration in Delaware. WFMZ says jurors were shown surveillance video Tuesday which helped to corroborate the bridesmaid's account of what happened.

The woman claims she passed out after drinking too much, and was woken by Carney biting and groping her. She says she lost consciousness again, but when she woke up he was on top of her.

Another outlet, WNEP, says it was the groom's new wife who found the two together in the shower.

There were also texts Carney allegedly sent to the woman after the incident where he begged her to take a Plan B, saying, "We never did do it but would you consider taking plan b to make damn certain just in case? There is almost no chance but still. Please tell me yes I'm begging you."

In all, Carney was found guilty on 4 charges -- including attempted sexual assault and simple assault -- they acquitted him on a charge of attempted rape.