Controversial S#!T

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.

Elon Musk is nothing if unpredictable, so he was true to form in a stunning announcement ... he's putting the brakes on the Twitter deal, and the reaction is telling.

Elon just said he's putting a temporary hold on his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, and the stock tanked in pre-market trading -- down 25%. The reaction is interesting ... if the prevailing view was against Elon buying Twitter, you'd think the stock might have gone up, or at least remained stable.

As for why Elon's putting the brakes on the deal ... he says he wants to make sure spam and other bogus accounts represent less than 5% of the 229 million users on the platform.

There are other theories ... this may be his way of pulling out of the deal entirely, but that's typically not the way he rolls. The other play would be to make the folks at Twitter nervous that he's pulling out and then he would swoop back in and offers less than the $44 billion.

Brittney Griner will remain in custody in Russia for at least another month ... a judge just denied her request for house arrest, forcing her to stay in jail for another 30 days.

The 31-year-old WNBA superstar appeared in a Russian courtroom on Friday morning with the hopes of getting out of jail ... but her attorney told the Associated Press that did not happen.

The attorney, Alexander Boikov, did say, though, that because of the short nature of the custody extension ... he did believe a trial in Griner's case might be coming soon.

Griner wore an orange sweatshirt to Friday's hearing, and left the courtroom with a hood up over her head. In photos of her leaving her appearance, you can see she was wearing cuffs on her wrists.

As we reported, Griner has been in custody in Russia since February -- after she allegedly had hash oil in her luggage at an airport.

She's now had her requests for house arrest denied at least two times by judges as her pre-trial detention has dragged on.

United States officials, meanwhile, have classified her as "wrongfully detained" ... and are attempting to negotiate her release.

The NFL omitted Ray Rice's jersey from a viral video that former Houston Texans star Arian Foster posted on Thursday morning.

In Foster's clip, the ex-running back showed off a bevy of signed, game-worn jerseys that he had accumulated throughout his career.

There were some big names in the pile -- Jason Witten, Troy Polamalu, Andrew Luck, Tony Gonzalez and Ray Lewis -- and, at one point, Rice's uniform was revealed too.

However, when the official NFL Twitter account shared Arians' vid, Rice's jersey was edited out of the clip.

Foster noticed the change, and tweeted about it a short time later ... saying, "lmao y'all cut out ray rice."

It's unclear what the league's intentions were with the removal -- it should be pointed out, they also left out a few other jerseys, including former Texans punter Shane Lechler's.

But, it is certainly notable, considering the league's history with Rice. You'll recall, it suspended him indefinitely following his now-infamous elevator attack on his then-fiancee in Atlantic City in 2014, essentially ending the running back's pro football career.

When it comes to the fight over abortion, imagery is all-important, and protesters took that to heart Wednesday night when they wore 'Handmaid's Tale' costumes and took it to the home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

A small group of pro-choice demonstrators made their way to Falls Church, Virginia to make their feelings known about the SCOTUS draft opinion that would squarely overturn Roe v. Wade.

One of the protesters made a point of distinguishing ACB's choice to give birth to 5 kids from other women, claiming her devout Catholicism skewed the way she looks at the law, saying, "Not everybody wants to have 5 kids, or 4 kids or 1 kid."

There have been other protests at the homes of justices. Demonstrators showed up earlier this week at the homes of Justices Kavanaugh and Alito, as well as Chief Justice Roberts.

It's unclear if the draft opinion -- which has the sign-on of 5 justices -- will be the one that becomes the decision of record, but there's evidence it indeed will be. There has not been a subsequent draft circulated among the justices since the February draft -- this according to Politico -- and that is a strong indication the February draft may be close to the final version.

Madonna's got trees, plants and even bugs crawling out of her private parts in a recent release of digital NFTs ... and while the project has been hit with a ton of criticism, the singer says it's all in the name of art.

Madonna teamed up with artist Beeple for the collection -- depicting a 3D-cartoon version of herself -- and various things, including centipedes and flowers blooming out of her vagina.

The singer says, "I think it's really important that people know that a lot of thought and conversation went into creating these videos."

She further defended the NFT collection by saying she's simply doing what women have done for thousands of years -- give birth -- she's just doing it to nature and art ... and if people don't understand that, so be it.

The project comes just a couple weeks after Madonna posted a series of raunchy photos on Instagram, grabbing her crotch and posing in fishnet leggings.

Ciara and Russell Wilson welcomed a new puppy to the family for Mother's Day, but PETA's taking them to task for buying the pup from a breeder, and not rescuing a pooch from a shelter instead.

PETA believes it's clear -- the couple's new dog, Bronco, is a purebred puppy -- and likely from a breeder where "mother dogs are often locked inside filthy cages and bred over and over until their bodies give out."

The animal rescue org also uses some Ciara song references in calling out Russ, telling us the QB made a "One, Two Step mistake by killing a shelter dog's chances of finding a home."

They continue, "PETA is calling on the couple to Level Up on kindness by adopting a companion for this pup instead of fueling the homeless-animal crisis."

As we've told you, Ci and Russ revealed they welcomed their new doggy to the fam over Mother's Day weekend, naming her Bronco after Russ' new team in Denver. Ciara called the puppy, "the sweetest surprise."

Sarah Silverman has a fascinating take on whether Trump should be allowed back on Twitter -- and it all has to do with what George Washington and co. could or couldn't predict.

We ran into the comedian Wednesday in NYC and asked what she made of Elon Musk essentially saying he's going to bring the ex-Prez back onto the bird app -- once his mega $44-billion deal closes, that is -- and she had a very nuanced answer that's worth hearing.

Check it out ... she says her feelings on this have evolved -- first, it was relief that DT got the boot after Jan. 6 ... but then she started thinking about what free speech is supposed to mean philosophically -- namely, tolerating abhorrent speech you don't agree with.

Sarah seems to have thought maybe Trump should've actually been allowed to stay in light of that -- but upon further reflection ... she suggests banning him might've been best.

Her argument boils down to what our founding fathers envisioned when they were writing the Constitution, and she uses the Second Amendment as a good example of an arguably outdated fundamental right we have that didn't have AR-15s in the minds of the framers when it was drafted.

That same logic, Sarah says, could be applied to social media ... the OGs certainly didn't foresee Twitter or the far-reaching impact it has on the masses.