Controversial S#!T

Ana de Armas is getting trashed for her performance in an upcoming Netflix Marilyn Monroe movie because of her Cuban accent, but she's getting critical support from Marilyn's estate ... and they say she hit the mark.

Nick Woodhouse, President and Chief Marketing Officer of Authentic Brands Group, which owns MM's estate, tells TMZ ... "Ana has artfully captured the essence of Marilyn's voice. Marilyn was known for her breathiness, which was actually a tactic taught to her by a speech therapist during her childhood to help her overcome a stutter."

In other words, the estate thinks the accent is unimportant ... her style of speaking is what people remember and captures the true Marilyn.

As we reported ... lots of folks are griping about Ana's accent after seeing the preview, with some haters saying it's distracting and others wondering if Ana got anything out of 9 months of professional dialect.

Woodhouse goes on to say, "Marilyn has served as a muse and inspiration to fans of all genders, all ethnicities and all walks of life, and her influence will only continue. There are no rules when it comes to how an artist can pay homage to her legacy."

He adds, it's not one size fits all when it comes to interpretations of Marilyn ... Kim Kardashian and Michelle Williams put their own spin on MM, and now it's Anna's turn.

"Blonde" premieres Sept. 28 on Netflix, and accent aside ... there's no debating Ana is a dead ringer for Marilyn.

Chris Brown has no problem getting cozy with fans -- female ones, especially -- during meet-and-greets ... even when they want some pretty suggestive pics.

The singer defended himself after a handful of photos went viral showing him in different poses with women who'd paid for a VIP package to get a little face time with their favorite singer. Some of the shots are a bit eye-opening, but CB says it's all kosher.

He writes, "PSA!!! When artist (everyone) do concerts, they all have something called a VIP package. I haven't done meet and greets in over 7 years..."

Chris adds, "I have the coolest fans on the planet... I appreciate the f*** outta them. These are memories that will last with them forever. Unlike most of the lame ass artist that won't make eye contact with the people who made it possible to even have a career. I only exist because these fans saw something in me I never thought was possible... So Ima go all out for my fans!!!"

It's unclear where and when these specific photos were taken, but Chris is currently on tour with Lil Baby ... promoting his new album, "Breezy," with stops all over the country.

One thing we'll say is ... the women look to be having a good time -- so ya gotta imagine all of this was done with their sign-off, and perhaps even at their request. Chris, it seems, doesn't have a problem using hands, or whatever else they want in the shots.

These VIP moments can reportedly cost upwards of a few thousand dollars for any given artist ... so folks are paying good money for the one-on-one experience.

Tiger Woods could have been nearly $1 BILLION richer if he had joined LIV Golf this year ... so says Greg Norman, who confirmed the new, Saudi-backed league offered the legend around $700-$800 million to defect from the PGA Tour.

Norman, who's LIV Golf's CEO, revealed the details of the staggering offer during an interview with Tucker Carlson that aired on Monday night -- saying the huge proposal came from the league even before he had officially taken the executive role with the org.

"That number was out there before I became CEO," Norman said. "So, that number's been out there, yes. And, look, Tiger's a needle mover, right?"

"So," he added, "yes, that number is somewhere in that neighborhood."

Tiger, of course, did not accept the offer ... and when he spoke about the new golf org. while at The Open in Scotland last month -- he ripped some of golf's biggest stars for taking the money and bolting from the PGA Tour.

"I think that what they've done is they've turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position," Woods said of the LIV golfers -- which includes huge names like Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson.

Woods also called out Norman for his role with LIV at the July event -- saying he didn't believe the former golf star was doing things that were "in the best interest of our game."

"What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice?" Woods added. "What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt? You’re just getting paid a lot of money upfront and playing a few events and playing 54 holes. They’re playing blaring music and have all these atmospheres that are different."

A mother in New Jersey has some major beef with Chuck E. Cheese, accusing the popular kid's mascot of racial discrimination for seemingly ignoring a high five attempt.

The woman, who goes by Umm Safa on Twitter, posted a video she says she shot on July 30 at the CEC location in Wayne, NJ showing her daughter excitedly jumping up and down before reaching her hand out. You can see the mouse high five white kids on the stage before seemingly ignoring the little black girl.

What's not clear is whether or not the person inside the costume could actually see the little girl, but that doesn't matter to Safa.

Safa writes, "My 2yo was racially discriminated against. As you can see, he gives all of the yt kids hi-5s & PURPOSELY ignored my black baby. When confronted, he ignored me as well. The manager made excuses for him."

Safa says the manager tried to explain that the person in the costume couldn't see the little girl, and she's "sorry I feel that way" ... but Safa exclaims, "This is getting out of hand!!!"

"It is unacceptable, insulting, and dangerous!"

That's the National Organization of Women (NOW) responding to Deshaun Watson's six-game suspension for sexual misconduct ... telling TMZ Sports it clearly shows "money talks, and women are unheard."

Watson's six-game suspension was announced Monday after disciplinary officer, former U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson ruled the Browns QB violated the NFL's personal conduct policy, sidelining Watson for roughly a third of the season.

NOW -- the nation's leading organization for women's rights -- says the ruling is "unacceptable, insulting, and dangerous" ... but not surprising, 'cause the league and its players have been in similar situations before.

"The NFL has had a violence against women problem for years -- and everyone knows it," NOW said.

It's worth noting the NFL didn't hand down the suspension ... that was the former judge's call. In fact, the NFL reportedly wanted Watson to receive a significantly stronger suspension.

The league can appeal the decision, if they choose.

National Organization of Women also called out the Browns organization for giving Watson a $230M contract despite the accusations, 20+ lawsuits, and a pending suspension.

"They re-structured his contract to make the majority of his $46 million first-year payout a “signing bonus,” not tied to him playing actual games," NOW said.

"Shame on the Cleveland Browns for rewarding Deshaun Watson and shame on the NFL for perpetuating a system where money talks, and women aren’t heard."

In fact, NOW believes the 26-year-old shouldn't see a dime from the contract, on top of demanding the NFL change its policies.

"Deshaun Watson must not be allowed to profit from his horrific behavior," NOW said, "and the NFL must change its business model that allows, enables, and hides sexual misconduct into one that respects women and holds abusers accountable."

Beyonce clearly heard the backlash from a group who felt a lyric on her new album was ableist and offensive ... because she's cutting it from the track.

The song "Heated" on Bey's "Renaissance" album ... features the line, “Sp*zzin’ on that ass, sp*zz on that ass.” After being called ableist for using the word, Beyonce decided to scrap and replace it, according to Variety.

Her team says the word was never intended to be used in a harmful way, but they're swapping it regardless.

The singer was met with distaste online pretty quickly when the album dropped ... with one saying she's still a powerhouse of a performer, before adding "But that doesn’t excuse her use of ableist language.”

Of course, the slang comes from the word "spastic," which refers to muscle spasms -- many have conditions where they're unable to control the spasms that occur throughout the body.

This decision follows Lizzo's call to do the same thing -- as we reported, she dropped her single, "Grrrls," back in June ... which had the line "Hold my bag, bitch/ Hold my bag/ Do you see this s***?/ I'm a sp*z."

Donald Trump's going in on Brittney Griner, accusing the "potentially spoiled" WNBA star of traveling to Moscow "loaded up with drugs," and burying the idea of trading BG for a Russian arms dealer ... all in a new interview.

76-year-old Trump recently appeared on the "Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show" where he was asked about 31-year-old Griner's detainment in Russia.

"She went in there loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory where they’re very vigilant about drugs. They don’t like drugs, and she got caught," Trump said.

"And, now we’re supposed to get her out, and she makes, you know, a lot of money, I guess. We’re supposed to get her out for an absolute killer and one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. Killed many Americans. Killed many people.”

"Loaded up with drugs" isn't exactly consistent with the known information. Griner, in court, admitted to accidentally bringing marijuana that she says was prescribed by a doctor in the States to help deal with the pain from old hoops injuries, instead of taking powerful pain pills.

"It certainly doesn't seem like a very good trade, does it? He's absolutely one of the worst in the world and he's gonna be given his freedom because a potentially spoiled person goes into Russia loaded up with drugs," Trump told Travis and Sexton.

Trump's referring to convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout -- known as the "Merchant of Death" -- who the U.S. has reportedly talked about swapping for Griner.

Not everyone's against the trade.

Last week, we spoke to U.S. Congressman Colin Allred -- who, like Griner, was an athlete at Baylor U. -- and he told us it's up to the Russians to accept the deal.

"The ball is entirely in the Russian's court. I think we've made a very good offer to them based off what we know what they want," Allred said.

The Congressman did not get into specifics of the deal ... nor did he mention Bout's name.

Griner has been detained near Moscow since late February ... when Russian officials found hashish oil in her bag. She pled guilty, and is awaiting her sentence. Brittney faces up to 10 years in prison ... unless there's a prisoner swap.

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."