Controversial S#!T

Sylvester Stallone isn't pulling any punches over his dissatisfaction with where the 'Rocky' franchise is heading -- once again publicly lashing out at one of the OG producers.

Sly went on the attack for a second time this weekend, posting a very scathing message aimed at Irwin Winkler ... who helped get 'Rocky' off the ground way back in the day, and who apparently has an ownership stake in the IP -- while SS has none himself.

That's where Sylvester's beef lies, and he made it clear in yet another critique on Instagram ... throwing up art renderings that depict Irwin and others as animals and evil villains, who are stabbing Sly in the back, etc.

Sylvester writes, "After IRWIN WINKLER And FAMILY SUCK ROCKY DRY ! Presumed to be the most hated , untalented , decrepited , Producer in Hollywood and his cowardly children have found their next meal… Drago , RETURN MY RIGHTS BLOODSUCKERS!"

He's talking about the fact that Dolph Lundgren is reported to be starring in a spin-off film that'll see him reprise his character from 'Rocky IV' -- something Sylvester says he wasn't made aware of, and which he strongly disapproves of ... saying he never meant these precious characters of his to be milked to this degree in future projects.

Sylvester says he sees this as nothing but a greedy money-grab, and even calls out his old costar by name -- asking why he didn't reach out to talk about this before the word was out.

BTW, a couple weeks ago ... Sylvester was also venting frustrations about not owning any of 'Rocky' for himself ... and he pleaded with Irwin to do the right thing and hand over some of the rights, which he feels -- at least in part -- belong to him since he's the creator of 'Rocky.'

Sylvester has been speaking out about this more and more lately -- and it's starting to turn ugly. Some fans side with Sly ... while others are calling him out for acting unprofessionally.

As for Dolph, he's addressed Sly's concerns, writing ... "Just to set the record straight regarding a possible Drago spinoff. There’s no approved script, no deals in place, no director and I was personally under the impression that my friend Sly Stallone was involved as a producer or even as an actor. There was a press leak last week which was unfortunate. In touch with Mr Balboa - just so all the fans can relax…There ya go."

Billy Porter thinks the Supreme Court is going to strike down gay marriage just like abortion rights ... but he's got a feeling SCOTUS might stop short at Justice Clarence Thomas' interracial marriage.

We got Billy in NYC and asked how likely he thinks it is SCOTUS will keep rolling back the clock, and he believes nothing is safe when it comes to the highest court in the land.

Billy says SCOTUS is coming for pretty much everything and everybody, not just gays ... and the only thing not on the list is interracial marriage, for one specific reason.

BP's basically saying the fact Justice Thomas is married to a white woman, Ginni Thomas, is the only thing keeping interracial marriage from going the way of the dodo. Still, Billy's got a warning for Clarence.

We also asked Billy about GOP Congressman Glenn Thompson, who voted against protecting same-sex marriage ... then turned around and attended his gay son's wedding.

Warren Moon was appalled by the homework clause the Cardinals put into Kyler Murray's contract this month ... calling it not only "embarrassing," but a "slap in the face to all African-American quarterbacks."

The Hall of Famer didn't mince words when breaking down his thoughts on the infamous addendum to the Arizona star QB's massive new deal -- blasting the Cards for even thinking of the idea in the first place.

In fact, Moon tells TMZ Sports it was so bad, he straight up believes the reasoning for the clause and the wording in it was clouded by racial undertones.

"It's something we were always accused of back in the day when they didn't let us play," Moon says. "That we were lazy, that we didn't study, that we couldn't be leaders, that we weren't smart. So all those different things just kind of came to surface after we put all that stuff to bed over the years and just because of this deal that's going on between Arizona and Kyler."

"So yeah, very embarrassing."

If you missed it, as part of Kyler's new $230.5 million contract, the Cardinals included bizarre language that required Murray to study for four hours a week -- on his own, sans distractions.

Once the addendum was made public, though, it was met with so much criticism, the Cardinals eventually removed it on Thursday night.

But, Moon tells us it might be too little too late at this point.

"The damage has been done," the 65-year-old said. "He'll have this riding on him every time he does something wrong in a football game. They're going to say, 'See, that's the reason why that happened is because he didn't study enough film last week,' or whatever it might be."

"It's a very unfortunate situation for him and very embarrassing for both sides."

For Murray's part, he told media members at an impromptu press conference on Thursday that no one should ever question his work ethic or preparation for games -- saying, "It's disrespectful, and it's almost a joke."

Taylor Swift is getting torn up after everyone learned her private jet has been getting used A LOT, but one fan tried deflecting the outrage ... by posting an apparent false claim.

A self-described Swiftie threw up a couple tweets Friday that got a ton of traction online ... this as the backlash against TayTay continues to mount amid news that her jet has been dumping CO2 emissions all over the place for several months now ... just the latest celeb to be called out for what many label a massive carbon footprint being left on the environment.

The woman -- who goes by Britt, with the handle @taysrep89, and devotes a majority of her feed to singing TS's praises -- wrote, "TAYLOR SWIFT JUST OFFERED TO DONATE 10K TO MY ENVIRONMENT ORGANIZATION?? THIS IS BIGGER THAN ALL OUR DONATIONS FROM THE PAST 3 MONTHS THANK YOU SO MUCH @taylorswift13."

BTW, Britt claims she's the head of an environmental charity of some sort called the National Environmental Protection Agency -- which, as far as we can tell, doesn't exist. The EPA sure does, but there aren't a lot of legitimate hits with the word "National" at the front.

In any case, the woman doubled down on her claim that Taylor had sent her/her supposed org $10,000 ... not just showing a screenshot of what appears to be a DM from the singer ... but going on to post more interactions that seemingly show the convo continuing.

This gal said, yes, this is real ... but her tweets since suggest the whole thing's a hoax. Tweets she posted Saturday allude to some sort of lie, and how she can't be held accountable. And, if you dig through her replies, you'll see people acting shocked to learn this was all a prank ... with this woman apparently confirming that, albeit sorta cryptically.

If you look at her responses and tweets from today, you'll see she apparently doesn't mind if folks are calling her out for putting forth a false narrative about Taylor ... because this fan thinks she's actually doing Taylor a huge favor by playing crisis PR manager on her behalf.

Senator Ted Cruz says Jon Stewart has it all wrong ... he supports veterans, but wasn't down to support the bill that just went down in flames ... saying the Democrats were guilty of a cheap trick that would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

We got the Texas Senator Thursday at Reagan National Airport and asked about the GOP's opposition to the PACT Act -- a bill designed to expand healthcare coverage for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins during their service.

Jon Stewart went nuclear on Republicans, especially Senator Pat Toomey, after the PACT Act was shot down ... calling him a "F*****g coward" for voting against the bill.

Cruz says he actually supports the PACT Act -- despite voting against it -- because he says the Democrats were using it as a vessel to spend way more over the next ten years. It gets super technical, but Cruz thinks the bill would open the door to allow Democrats to spend another $400 billion on programs unrelated to veterans. That's certainly not the way Democrats and veteran groups see it.

Stewart was recently floated as an appealing Democratic Presidential candidate in 2024 ... we tried to ask Cruz his thoughts on Stewart as a politician, but he bounced ... saying he had to catch a flight.

Britney Spears' tell-all is finally completed, sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, but we've learned there's a delay in releasing it and it all has to do with .... THE SUPPLY SHORTAGE!

Sources close to Britney tell us ... she recently wrapped up the dishy memoir, which is set to be published by Simon & Schuster. We're told Britney and co. are aiming for a release date in January -- but there's a paper shortage that has upended the plan.

What's more ... our sources say there's no clear date on when the shortage will be resolved ... hence, there's not a firm release date.

A report from Publishers Weekly earlier this year pointed to a couple of major factors for the shortage -- more people started ordering books during the pandemic, decreasing paper supply. There's more -- people walked off their manufacturing jobs at paper plants, causing an ongoing labor shortage.

As we reported ... Britney's tell-all deal she signed back in February scored her a $15 million advance. The deal was one of the biggest for a memoir, behind the Obamas -- who signed with Penguin Random House for over $60M.

Of course, Britney's book will have plenty of material -- from her days as a child star, to finding superstardom and the falling out with her family during her conservatorship.

Rev. Jesse Jackson is getting involved in the Sesame Place racial discrimination controversy ... coming to the table with solutions for making the theme park better for Black folks.

Jesse says SeaWorld, which owns Sesame Place Philadelphia, should bring in African-Americans to their board of directors, spend money on Black-owned businesses and hire an African-American firm to handle cultural sensitivity training for staff.

Jackson outlines his plan in a letter, obtained by TMZ, fired off to SeaWorld CEO Marc Swanson ... saying SeaWorld has a chance to turn a negative into a positive and rise to the occasion in a situation where most companies come up short.

Jesse's action plan is in response to the viral video showing the alleged discrimination against 2 Black children who were shunned.

As we reported ... there's now a class action lawsuit claiming the theme park and its employees insulted and damaged Black patrons, especially Black kids, and it comes on the heels of that viral video showing Sesame Place character Rosita shaking her head "no" at 2 young Black girls who wanted to interact with her at a parade and refusing to hug them.

80-year-old Jesse says he's seen this incident with Sesame Place play out too many times to remember over the years in his fight for freedom and equality ... and he says discriminatory acts will always return without sincere actions from corporations.

But, what irks Jesse the most, he says, is seeing discrimination against innocent children ... a line he says cannot be crossed.

Celebrities have been taking to the skies in their private jets for years, but a recent study is pointing the finger at some celebs most guilty of poisoning the planet.

According to research gathered by Yard, a marketing agency that focuses on "metrics that matter," celebs like Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, and Blake Shelton have been polluting the air with tons of CO2e this year alone ... but no one has done it more than Taylor Swift.

According to Yard, T. Swift has flown private 170 times since January, with a time in the air of about 16 days. Her total flight emissions for the year come in at 8,293.54 tonnes -- that's 1,184.8 times more than the average person's total annual emissions!!!

To put it into perspective, they say the average person emits 7 tonnes -- annually.

Mayweather comes in 2nd place in the pollution race ... emitting 7,076 tonnes so far -- still over 1K shy of Taylor's mark.

Jay-Z, A-Rod, Steven Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey also made the list ... and Floyd's plane took the shortest flight of the year, at 10 minutes.

It's interesting ... the Internet started to buzz about celebs and their carbon footprints after Kylie Jenner posted about her and TS' private jets last week, but she didn't make the top ten list. Travis Scott took the #10 spot ... flying a total of 5.8 days so far.

Will Smith has spoken out on camera for the first time over slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, and he clearly feels a lot of shame and remorse.

Smith posted his mea culpa on Facebook, answering questions from fans about the moment that shocked millions of people.

Smith says he didn't go ballistic because Jada Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes at Rock's joke ... he says he did it on his own because he felt the joke was insulting and disrespectful. He also made it clear ... he and Chris Rock had 'history," and clearly not in a good way.

Smith said he has suffered trauma, primarily for disappointing his fans and others, saying "I didn't live up to people's image and impression of me."

As for why he didn't apologize to Chris, he says he reached out but Chris wasn't ready to talk to him, but he apologized in the new video.  The 2 haven't spoken since the Oscars.

He went on to say ... "I am human and I made a mistake and I'm trying not to think of myself as a piece of s**t."

As for his former good friend Tony Rock, Chris' brother, Will apologized to him and conceded the damage done is probably "irreparable."

Tyga's ticked off many fans, especially in the Latin community, with his new “Ay Caramba” video, which is filled with unsavory stereotypes ... and now, he's apologizing in a new interview.

L.A.’s Power 106 radio station organized an interview with Tyga and American Cholo ... a podcaster who specializes in untangling various stereotypes and misconceptions in the Latino community.

Tyga's vid has plenty of that -- for example, a sombrero-wearing game show host and couch potato with no shortage of tortilla chips.

AC says the stereotypes were the main cause of concern, simply pointing out how reversing the “chips and low-rider” images with “fried chicken and watermelon” would be easy red flags for African-Americans.

Tyga says he was confused by the original backlash, because he and YG had a huge hit with “Go Loko” a few years ago -- it went double-platinum and amassed over 200 million YouTube views.

T-Raww did apologize during his American Cholo chat -- but the interview ended in a bit of a stalemate. When Tyga was asked if he would take the video down, he hesitated because he said he paid $250,000 of his own money to make the video ... but says he will consider.

So far, it has 4 million views in a little under a month ... and that's probably from a lot of shock-and-awe sharing. "Ay Caramba" indeed.

Charles Barkley just gave LIV Golf the cold shoulder -- the NBA Hall of Famer says he will not be joining the controversial Saudi-backed organization as a commentator after all ... claiming he was never made an official offer.

Chuck previously showed interest in joining LIV over the past week ... saying he'd fulfill their broadcasting duties if they gave him a massive, $60 million contract.

But, Barkley made it clear he wasn't going to keep Turner and his "Inside The NBA" colleagues in limbo ... giving LIV until he stepped off the course at Thursday's pro-am to make him an offer, or he'd walk away for good.

As it turns out, Chuck is a man of his word ... 'cause he's officially ending all talks with the tour.

"I want to thank Greg Norman and LIV for their interest in me," Barkley said to the New York Post on Friday.

"I wish those guys great success and nothing but the best," he added. "But, in my best interest, and being fair to Turner -- because Turner and basketball have given me every single thing in my life -- it is best for me to move on and I'm staying with Turner for the rest of my TV career."

Barkley signing with LIV could have meant bad news for his endorsements -- he said Thursday he heard from several companies regarding his interest in signing with the tour.

The Congressional Baseball Game -- the annual event in D.C. set up to benefit charities -- was anything but chummy on Thursday night, at least for a few moments, 'cause a Democratic lawmaker flipped off a bench full of Republicans, and didn't seem to mean it in a joking way.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, a Democrat from California, unloaded the single-barrel salute in the sixth inning of the game at Nationals Park as she was pulled from the bases for a pinch runner.

No word on what apparently upset her ... but you can see in video of the incident, as she was leaving the diamond to head back to her dugout, she looked at Republican lawmakers and then fired off the offensive gesture.

She has yet to publicly comment on it all.

Outside of the stadium, there was drama too -- multiple protestors were arrested after they blocked an entrance to the park.

Several protestors, meanwhile, ended up making their way inside the venue, and ultimately unfurled a banner that read, "They play ball while the world burns.”

As for the action on the field, there were far less fireworks there ... as the Republicans dominated the game, winning a laugher, 10-0.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito put Prince Harry and other foreign leaders on blast for blasting him and 4 of his colleagues who overturned Roe v. Wade ... this after the Duke of Sussex likened the SCOTUS decision to the war in Ukraine.

Justice Alito spoke about religious liberty in Rome ... at a conference run by the University of Notre Dame Law School.

As he ticked off the public figures from foreign lands who criticized the opinion, he quipped with dripping sarcasm, "What really wounded me was when the Duke of Sussex addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare the decision, whose name may not be spoken, with the Russian attack on Ukraine"

He was referring to Prince Harry's speech at the UN last week ... where Harry listed numerous events that made 2022 "a painful year in a painful decade" -- with the Roe v. Wade decision and the attack on Ukraine front and center.

The Kyler clause is officially no more.

After days of backlash following the reveal of a "do your homework" addendum the Arizona Cardinals added to Kyler Murray's massive, new contract -- the team has officially removed it, saying it created way too much of a distraction for the QB and the org.

"It was clearly perceived in ways that were never intended," the Cardinals said in a statement announcing the removal of the clause on Thursday night.

"Our confidence in Kyler Murray is as high as it’s ever been and nothing demonstrates our belief in his ability to lead this team more than the commitment reflected in this contract."

If you missed it -- inside of Murray's new, huge $230 MILLION deal was very strange language that obligated the 24-year-old signal-caller to, among other things, study film for four hours a week.

The verbiage seemed to imply that the team was having trouble getting Kyler to put in the bare minimum in the film room -- and it created a firestorm on social media.

In fact, the backlash grew so loud, Murray felt the need to hold an impromptu press conference on Thursday to explain he does actually work hard off the field and the addendum was not necessary.

Hours later, the Cards scrapped the whole thing from the Murray deal -- saying, "After seeing the distraction it created, we removed the addendum from the contract."

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is getting support in the wake of the backlash over his Vogue cover shoot ... and it's from orgs helping his people on the frontlines.

A rep for NOVA Ukraine, a nonprofit that spreads awareness of the war while providing aid to Ukrainians, tells TMZ the article was "brilliantly written" ... wondering if the people criticizing the story even read it.

As we reported, Zelensky and his wife, Olena, were dragged online after appearing on the latest cover of Vogue. Some saw it as the President turning this crisis into the Zelensky show ... while looking for pats on the back along the way.

The rep for NOVA Ukraine says the photo shoot brings much-needed attention to the war ... as media coverage has dwindled as the conflict drags on. The way NOVA sees it, the focus should be on Ukraine's leaders who have "led a country which is being blown to pieces day by day, and continue to lead with their head high."

Michael Capponi, President of the Global Empowerment Mission, tells us the photo shoot does a lot of good .. Zelensky is using his PR skills to call upon the world for help, unlike previous Ukrainian presidents.

Michael's org sends first responders to disaster zones in Ukraine ... first responders who are critical in the rebuilding effort. He says Americans don't fully understand the impact of this war, likening it to a daily Hurricane Irma.

Candace Cameron Bure's daughter is not letting go of her famous mother's beef with JoJo Siwa ... she's defending mom and clapping back at JoJo, essentially telling her to stop acting like a child.

In a since-deleted Instagram Story posted on her account Thursday, Natasha Bure ripped JoJo, saying ... "Respectfully, someone saying 'no' to taking a photo with you is not a 'rough experience.' This generation is so sensitive and has no backbone."

Natasha didn't stop there, telling JoJo ... "There are bigger issues in this world than this. Grow up."

The Candace and JoJo beef started earlier this month when Siwa put the "Fuller House" actress on blast, calling her the "rudest celebrity" she's ever met ...  a grudge brewing for several years over a photo snub.

JoJo later explained she was 11 years old when she asked Candace for a photo at a "Fuller House" premiere and got denied, only to watch CCB take pics with others.  JoJo called the snub a "bad experience."

Candace tried to ease tensions with JoJo this week, claiming the two hashed out the incident and put it behind them, framing it as a learning experience for all.

But now, Candace's daughter is reviving the feud.