Controversial S#!T

Cops circulating crime scene photos isn't unique to the Kobe Bryant crash -- it's been happening since the O.J. Simpson murder case -- with an ex-LAPD officer testifying he saw a polaroid of Nicole Brown Simpson's dead body.

Former Los Angeles Police Department officer Adam Bercovici, an expert witness hired by Vanessa Bryant's legal team, testified he and other cops at his station saw a close-up of Nicole's body following her June 1994 murder.

The former police officer testified illicit photos of human remains -- so-called "death books" -- are common among law enforcement ... and not something unique to the Kobe crash.

Bercovici testified there were no legitimate reasons for the deputies to take photographs of the remains.

Despite this being an issue that's painful for the family and friends of the deceased, Bercovici says not nearly enough has been done to end the practice.

Luella Weireter, wife of an LAFD fire captain also took the stand, testifying she witnessed a group, including another fire captain, view the photos at a local awards show about three weeks after the fatal crash.

Weireter, who says she did not look at the photos, overheard another man say "I can't believe I just looked at Kobe's burnt-up body and now I'm about to eat."

It's just one of the ghastly and gruesome moments from the trial ... which started earlier this week, and has been very emotional for Vanessa and her family.

Bryant sobbed in court Thursday during opening statements, when her attorney told the 10-person jury that 8 L.A. County Sheriff's deputies snapped pics of Kobe and Gigi's bodies at the helicopter crash scene for nothing personal use.

Vanessa's lawyer says she lives "in fear, anxiety and terror" that the pics will someday be released ... saying she will be forever haunted by the deputies' actions.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, who was Kobe's agent, took the stand Thursday and was barely able to speak when talking about his close relationship with KB.

On Thursday, the jury heard from a bartender in L.A. ... who testified a deputy showed him crash scene photos at his bar. Bryant's attorney showed screen grabs from surveillance video that appeared to show the bartender laughing after seeing the grisly photos.

In her lawsuit, Vanessa claims the deputies' conduct caused her severe emotional distress, saying the photos were an invasion of privacy. Lawyers for L.A. County say Vanessa's emotional distress is a result of the fatal crash, not the photos.

Washington Commanders president Jason Wright just went OFF on a reporter over an interview the guy did with Carson Wentz ... calling it and the media member a "pompous, unprofessional mess."

"I recognize you have made a living on childlike provocation," Wright said in a scathing statement aimed at the reporter, "but it needs to be called out. Don't expect special access and good luck building rapport with the guys."

Wright's anger stems from a chat that 7News D.C.'s Scott Abraham had with Wentz earlier this week.

In the talk with the Commanders' quarterback, Abraham pointed out a lot of Wentz's flaws -- and then said during the sit-down "Philly didn't want you" and "Indy didn't want you."

Wentz didn't appear too bothered by the comments and questions -- answering them the best he could -- but Wright was obviously enraged.

"It's not that the guys can't take criticism," the 40-year-old said. "Just be a journalist and follow standard practices. Others have found a way to do both."

Wright went on to praise Wentz for demonstrating "grace & class" during the interview.

Wentz -- who is playing for his third team in the last three years -- is expected to be Washington's starting quarterback this season.

Deion Sanders says the Pro Football Hall of Fame has lowered its standards for entry, and now undeserving players have been enshrined ... and Prime's pissed!

“The Hall of Fame ain’t the Hall of Fame no more," Sanders said. "This thing is becoming a free for all. If you play good, no! It's people that changed the game. That's what the Hall of Fame is; a game changer."

55-year-old Sanders made the comments on Friday ... and while he didn't single any players out, it's clear he believes not all Hall of Famers are created equally.

"My jacket’s [Hall of Fame] gotta be a different color," Prime said. "There needs to be a starting 11. There needs to be an upper room."

"My head don’t belong with some of these other heads that’s in the Hall of Fame."

Sanders -- widely regarded as the best cornerback in NFL history -- was inducted into the Hall in 2011.

It's not the first time Deion has been vocal about the HOF.

During an interview with Dan Patrick in 2020, Sanders said the Hall of Fame was no longer exclusive.

"Once upon a time, a Hall of Famer was a player who changed the dern game, who made you want to, to provoke you to reach in your pocket and pay your admission to go see that guy play."

"Everybody Tom, Dick and Harry, you’re a Hall of Famer, you’re a Hall of Famer, you’re a Hall of Famer. They let everybody in this thing now."

"It’s not exclusive anymore. And I don’t like it.”

The Game's failed to get Eminem on a Verzuz battle ... so now he's trying to bait Slim Shady into responding with a diss track.

Game released his long-delayed "DRILLMATIC: Heart vs. Mind" album with 31 tracks ... but the song everyone is talking about on social media is the 10-minute Eminem diss song "The Black Slim Shady."

The Hit-Boy-produced track mostly comes off slapstick with the West Coast rapper using silly voices ... akin to Eminem's classic "Stan" track but Game does pepper the song with several personal attacks.

Disrespectful topics range Em's past pill-popping addictions, his songs only get played within white America and how Game believes Big Sean and 6ix9ine are better rappers.

50 Cent -- who also has been ignoring Game's Verzuz challenges -- also catches a few strays on the track ... mainly for his lack of rapping output these days.

Of course, Em is one of the biggest artists of all time -- actually the 2nd highest-selling -- behind Garth Brooks, but Game says his beef is for the spirit of hip hop culture ... which just celebrated its 49th birthday yesterday!

Chuck should be careful what he wishes for, though. In 2019, Eminem happily railroaded Fat Joe's "Lord Above" song with Mary J. Blige -- just to fire back at Nick Cannon.

Donald Trump and the Dept. of Justice may be playing a nuclear game of chicken, because Trump has just taken the Justice Dept's offer to advocate for the release of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant ... this after a Washington Post report that some of the documents secreted at the Florida estate contained information related to nuclear weapons.

Trump said late Thursday ... he wouldn't object to the release of the warrant. As you probably know, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday he would go back to court and ask the judge who signed the sealed warrant to make it public, citing, among other things, intense public interest.

Trump said on his social media Thursday, "Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the un American, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents."

Given that both parties are now on board, it would seem likely the judge would unseal the warrant.

Garland was under pressure to release the docs after Republicans questioned the legitimacy of the raid, suggesting it was more political than legal. The A.G. took the highly unusual step Thursday to call for the release of the warrant, but even if that happens it may not fully answer all the questions. It's unclear if the judge will also release the affidavit attached to the warrant would establish probable cause that a crime was committed. That information could fill in the blanks.

That said, the search warrant should at least mention the scope of the search and the documents that are being sought. All eyes will be on a reference to documents related to nuclear weapons if that indeed was part of the raid.

There are reports the documents placed in the wrong harm could create "grave" danger to the U.S.

Comedian Flame Monroe seemed to be one of the few members of the transgender community who supported Dave Chappelle over his jokes about trans people ... and the two finally met.

Flame's rep Cammie Johnson tells TMZ ... she flew out to Ohio from L.A. to see Dave for the first time Thursday ... meeting up at his show at the Wirrig Pavilion in Yellow Springs that night.

Flame, who describes herself as "a comedian that happens to be transgender," was there to support Dave -- unclear if they hung out before or after the show, but we're told this was a long time coming.

As for whether the two comedians will collab on a project, the jury's still out.

As you know, Dave took some serious heat after telling jokes about the trans community during his Netflix special, "The Closer" ... some people were up in arms and the fallout continued for months. Recently one of his shows had to be moved at the last minute after the venue pulled the plug.

The classified documents Donald Trump allegedly took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago include information on nuclear weapons ... according to a new report on the FBI raid.

FBI agents tore though Trump's Florida resort looking for classified info on nukes, the Washington Post reports, with the feds concerned the documents might be in danger of being seen by the wrong eyes.

It's unclear if the docs contain info on United States nuclear capabilities, or a foreign nation ... or if these alleged docs were even recovered from Trump's Florida home in Monday's raid.

If Trump did have material on nukes at Mar-a-Lago, it would be unprecedented ... those documents are super sensitive and typically only a small number of government officials have access ... and former Presidents aren't in that privileged group.

As you know ... the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump's resort Monday, with Trump grousing that agents broke into his safe and turned out Melania's wardrobe.

Ex-WWE Superstar Paige says she felt "so f***ing stupid" and "so embarrassed" after her sex tape leaked in 2017 ... claiming she "didn't want to be alive anymore" and "was ready to end it all."

Paige -- who now goes by her real name, Saraya-- joined Renee Paquette on the podcast, "The Sessions" ... where she described how she hit "rock bottom" when her nude photos and videos hit the Internet.

"It was just the most awful moment of my life," Saraya said. "The person that I was with at the time showed me a picture on Twitter."

"I was just like, 'Oh my God,'" Saraya recalled. "I was like, 'Is that real?’ because I couldn’t believe it was real at first."

"I was f***ing 19 years old, and I was completely f***ing mortified. I ran out of the house. I ran. I just kept f***ing running," she continued.

Saraya says the video got her to a point where she felt like she "didn't really want to be alive anymore."

"It was f***ing awful. I just was so f***ing sad. I remember being like, 'If my dad is disappointed with me, I don’t think I could be here anymore.'"

On top of the public humiliation and potential scolding from WWE looming, Paige most feared her father would be disappointed in her once he saw the video.

Fortunately, Paige's father was understanding, explaining to his pro wrestler daughter that she had to "suck it up" ... and adding that he was still proud of her.

Paige also thanked WWE for supporting her ... and says the company even offered to help her get as much footage as they could off the Internet.

Marshawn Lynch was dragged out of his car by the hood of his sweatshirt and forcibly thrown to the ground during his DUI arrest earlier this week ... new police video shows.

In the footage, which was captured shortly after cops had begun questioning the former NFL star on Aug. 9 in Las Vegas, you can see Lynch was leaned back in the driver's seat of a 2020 Shelby GT500 -- appearing to be uncooperative with cops who were asking him to get out of the ride.

The officers can be heard in the video asking Lynch repeatedly to step out of the car -- but Lynch refused continuously, asking over and over again why he had to leave the vehicle.

After officers told him he was "obstructing an investigation," one of the cops reached in and grabbed him by the orange sweatshirt he was wearing.

The cop then threw the ex-Seattle Seahawks running back on the ground ... and told him, "Roll over. Hands behind your back. No more games today."

Officers then can be heard on the video saying he smelled like alcohol.

In police documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, cops say when they got Lynch back to the station, he was uncooperative there -- and said they "had to use a restraint chair" to draw blood from him after obtaining a search warrant.

Lynch was ultimately booked on several charges, including DUI. He's due in court for a hearing on the matter in December.

The 36-year-old's attorneys, Richard A. Schonfeld and David Z. Chesnoff, released a statement on the matter Thursday afternoon ... saying, "Marshawn was not pulled over for a DUI. Rather the vehicle was safely parked and not in operation. We are confident that when all evidence is presented, this will not be a DUI under Nevada law. Marshawn appreciates and is thankful for everyone’s concern and support."

Tommy Lee went FULL frontal on Instagram ... leaving some fans who never saw "that tape" aghast!

The 59-year-old doesn't have a shy bone in his body ... uploading the snap Thursday while chillin' in a tub.

It's unique ... most people who see pics of Tommy first notice all the tats, but the eye can drift in situations like this, right?

Pam Anderson's ex captioned the pic, "Ooooopppsss." Yeah, we're not buying that either.

There were lots of comments ... his wife, Brittany Furlan, responded, "OH MY GOD," while comedian Ryan Sickler replied, "Does the camera add 5 lbs?"

Dating app Grindr jumped on the train ... "Wrong app, babe."

There was, of course, criticism ... some fans were disgusted, asking him to take it down. It's been 86'd from IG ... unclear whether he did it or the platform took action. The pic is still on Facebook.

Tommy had a follow-up ... with a pic of an elephant looking at a male model, with the caption, "How do you breathe through that little thing??"

An Iraqi actress is irate over a story about "fat" women -- a story that used a photo of her to illustrate a point -- so she's suing.

Enas Taleb is a big deal in Iraq ... and she's publicly fuming over the story in the Economist titled, "Why Women Are Fatter Than Men in the Arab World."

The Economist went on to say men often gravitate toward women with "curves" and used a photo of her to make the point. According to the article, "Iraqis often cite Enas Taleb, an actress with ample curves, as the ideal of beauty."

The 42-year-old TV personality says she's going to sue the newspaper ... this according to New Lines mag.

She believes the pic was photoshopped and also says the newspaper had no authorization to run it. That said, it seems her lawsuit will go deeper ... she said, "I am demanding compensation for the emotional, mental and social damage this incident has caused me."

Her grievance goes beyond herself ... calling the story an “insult to the Arab woman in general and Iraqi women in particular.” She asks why the Economist “takes interest in fat women in the Arab world and not in Europe or the USA."

Beto O'Rourke is done playing nice guy -- especially when it comes to people who laugh about the massacre at Robb Elementary -- shutting one man down with a brash insult.

O'Rourke was at a campaign stop Wednesday in Mineral Wells, Texas ... a town about 260 miles from Uvalde. The Governor-hopeful brought up the shooting that killed 19 students and 2 teachers, railing on AR-15 rifles -- which O'Rourke says have no business being in the hands of civilians.

While Beto was describing how the weapons were designed for warfare, a man in the back of the crowd, who reports say was a supporter of Gov. Greg Abbott, started laughing obnoxiously.

Without a beat, Beto turned, addressed the man and said, "It may be funny to you, mother f****r, but it's not funny to me." The crowd erupted.

Of course, O'Rourke has challenged Abbott and Texas Republicans since the day of the shooting to take action, and create stricter gun laws -- even showing up at a press conference Gov. Abbott held to urge him to do something.

Steven Seagal's pro-Russia publicity stunt isn't sitting well with orgs dedicated to helping Ukraine ... not in the slightest.

A rep for NOVA Ukraine, a nonprofit that spreads awareness of the war while providing aid to Ukrainians, tells TMZ ... the fact Seagal showed up at a Russian prison site -- where upwards of 50 innocent lives were taken at Putin's behest -- is despicable, especially since it served as nothing more than a photo-op.

They call it a "reprehensible example of how when your career is already tarnished some of us scrape to the lowest levels of Earth to claw back any relevancy, even being paraded around by dictators who oppose the U.S."

The rep adds that those who are flirting with Russia during this dire time -- like Seagal -- deserve to have sponsorships and opportunities stripped from them ... much like how businesses are exiting en masse there in general. SS hasn't had a mainstream Hollywood career in ages, so that wish is already coming true for NOVA.

Michael Capponi -- President of the Global Empowerment Mission, another org that’s working to help Ukraine -- tells TMZ ... Seagal, per usual, is acting as a pawn for Putin and that the guy was clearly given special access to the jail in question.

He continues by saying they've been on the ground there for 5 months, and adds this about the narrative Seagal and Russia are trying to spin ... "The notion or suggestion that Ukraine is doing this to themselves is not only patently false, it's dangerous misinformation and comes solely from Russian propaganda."

Capponi concludes ... "This is nothing but someone drinking too much Kool-aid. It has 0 merit. Ukraine is doing everything it can to defend its sovereignty. Ukraine is not attacking its own people."

Rep. Eric Swalwell got a vile, hateful, racist, homophobic voicemail from a Trump supporter who advocated the beheading of him, his wife and kids.

The voicemail embodies the violence being advocated by some people on the far right who have advocated violence and even civil war in the wake of the raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home this week.

The caller is straight-up racist when he drops Vice President Kamala Harris' name, and it's hard to even describe the vitriol toward numerous other Democrats, including the President and the Speaker of the House.

The San Francisco Congressman posted the voicemail on his Twitter account, saying, "LISTEN to this death threat against my children. Since the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump, McCarthy and MAGA Republicans are stoking violent rhetoric against lawmakers and law enforcement. Someone is going to get killed."

DaBaby is playing antagonist with all his naysayers and haters in his new video titled “Tough Skin” … which probably best describes what his critics will need to stomach through the entire thing.

Directed by his longtime visionaries Reel Goats, DaBaby takes on the classic controversial image of being depicted on a cross akin to some guy named Jesus Christ, while rocking nothing but a loin cloth … or a diaper.

The alternate scenery also reenacts his time as a youth … having to fight at home and school for hierarchy, hence the tough-skinned rapper who is always dodging an altercation.

2022 alone has brought out several DB jaw-dropping moments … including shooting a home intruder in self-defense as well as engaging in a bowling alley brawl against the brother of singer DaniLeigh, the mother of one of his daughters.

For day one DB fans, the imagery shouldn’t come as much of a shock … his first rap name was Baby Jesus and he infamously dressed like a toddler at SXSW to make a name for himself (Spoiler alert, it worked 😎).

Andrew Yang is questioning the FBI raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort ... he says the feds better find some compelling dirt on the former President, or it's a horrible look.

The former Presidential and NYC Mayoral candidate joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and we asked him what we makes of the FBI's unprecedented move against Trump.

Andrew says the only way this turns out well for the FBI is if agents seized some really strong evidence against Trump, who is under investigation for allegedly removing boxes of classified documents from the White House and taking them down to Florida.

Yang says if the FBI raid turns out to be a big nothing burger, it looks like a political attack on Trump ... and he thinks most Americans agree it would create some really bad optics.

TMZ broke the story ... the feds waited until Trump was away from Mar-a-Lago to raid the place. In the aftermath, Trump has ripped the FBI, claiming agents ransacked Melania's closet while looking for the docs.

Andrew, who is leading the charge to create a new political party called the Forward Party, says the FBI raid might even help Trump become the GOP nominee in a 2024 rematch against Joe Biden, an outcome he says most Americans do NOT want.

The way Andrew and the Forward Party sees it ... a Trump vs. Biden sequel would push even more voters away from the two-party system in search of other choices, to the Forward Party and others.