Controversial S#!T

A rugby league player's season is now prematurely over -- after he was caught red-handed grabbing an opponent's butt during a game last week.

Corey Norman, who plays for Toulouse Olympique, stuck his hand where it didn't belong in the middle of a match against the Warrington Wolves on Aug. 11 -- and officials announced on Tuesday the grab is going to cost the 31-year-old Australian BIG time.

The Rugby Football League announced in a statement Norman has been suspended eight games and fined about $600 after it found "he had intentionally placed a hand between the buttocks of an opposing player."

Norman had initially pleaded not guilty at his disciplinary hearing.

"The footage of the incident shows a deliberate movement of Corey Norman's left arm and hand over the top of Oliver Holmes and on to his buttocks," officials said in a statement announcing the punishment.

"At no point does the footage show a grabbing of the shorts to push Oliver Holmes down as described by Corey Norman. The footage shows a deliberate placing of Corey Norman’s hands and fingers on the buttocks and coupled with the immediate complaint from Holmes, the reaction of his team-mate Danny Walker and the statement of Holmes to which we have measured regard we are entirely satisfied that this was an intentional placing of a hand between the buttocks of the opposing player and we find the charge proved."

Battle rapper Pat Stay's public challenge to The Game for his Eminem-dissing "Black Slim Shady" song has backfired … resulting in Game blocking him on Instagram, which is not the expected outcome from the typically confrontational artist.

In a fiery Instagram post Tuesday, Pat Stay claimed the veteran rapper was looking weak for allegedly begging for Eminem's attention by dropping the 10-minute track. Pat, who is white, apparently thinks Game wanted Em to respond, but he did not.

Game groused in the song ... Eminem only became successful because he was white. Pat wanted to show Game that white rappers have game, so he offered to battle Game in his hometown of L.A. with lots of $$$ on the line.

Game didn't take the challenge ... rather, he just blocked Pat. It's curious, because Game recently said in a No Jumper interview he'd never block anyone -- because that would be like losing a fan.

Pat eventually gave up and told his fans to lay off Game ... he didn't want to start a war with the L.A. legend.

Jamie Foxx's 2016 project about two basketball fanatics has been sitting on a shelf for years ... and the actor thinks cancel culture is why it hasn't seen the light of day.

Jamie stars alongside Jeremy Piven in "All-Star Weekend" -- a flick about two superfans who snag tickets to the NBA event out in Los Angeles ... it was supposed to debut in 2019, but it still hasn't come out, and no official word on the holdup.

Jamie thinks he knows why the movie's been delayed, telling CinemaBlend that the material may simply not be woke enough for the current climate ... "It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy." The buzz ... it has to do with casting a white star to play a Mexican man.

He thinks the film could be a great way to ease the tension, noting "We're trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again."

The cast includes Benicio del Toro, Gerard Butler, and Eva Longoria ... as well as Robert Downey Jr. playing a Mexican man.

Jamie, who plays a white racist cop in the film among other roles, thought RDJ was the man for the role after he played a white man in blackface in "Tropic Thunder," but the actor apparently needed some convincing before signing on.

Jamie says he had to tell Robert, "You played the black dude and you killed that s***. We got to be able to do characters."

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are forever enshrined in bronze in the city of Albuquerque -- something conservatives there are up in arms about, claiming the statues glorify meth.

Late last month, Mayor Tim Keller unveiled 2 statues to honor the 'Breaking Bad' stars -- they're now on display at the Albuquerque Convention Center -- after a ceremony where BC and AP were actually on hand to pose with their metal counterparts.

It was a kitschy, fun thing that seemed fairly innocent -- as a shout-out to the actors and show for putting a spotlight on their city and state -- but now, some Republicans in the state are fuming over the honor.

Conservative radio host Eddy Aragon and state representative Rod Montoya say the statues send the wrong message about who should be glorified in the community.

Montoya says "meth dealers" shouldn't be the shining example in Albuquerque, and Aragon adds ... "It’s not the type of recognition we want for the city of Albuquerque, or for our state."

Aragon goes on to gripe about how city officials tore down a controversial statue of Albuquerque's first Spanish governor, Juan de Onate, because he was a conquistador ... but now turn around and throw these two fictional characters as proverbial beacons.

This sort of backlash was actually expected, Mayor Keller warned of this when they were first getting unveiled, saying he understood, but defended having Jesse Pinkman and Walter White statues because of the cautionary tale they represented, and the jobs they gave to NM.

Rick Ross and his family are under fire in Mississippi for allegedly skimming money from the wages of their Wingstop workers -- and now they've been hit with fines.

The U.S. Department of Labor says they hit Boss Wings Enterprises LLC -- Rick Ross's company -- with a $114,427 fine for back wages and other penalties after the agency determined their franchises were violating labor laws.

Unclear what period of time this covers exactly, but the DOL claims that after an investigation into 5 locations -- all owned and operated by Boss Wings -- they found many of the employees were taking home less than $7.25/hour after factoring in all the deductions --  a big no-no under the minimum wage laws on the books.

The reason ... DOL alleges the owners of these specific franchises were forcing workers to pay for uniforms, basic safety training, background checks and cash register shortages.

The department also claims the bosses at these 5 restaurants were, in many instances, working their employees to the bone ... making them work overtime without properly compensating them and not keeping clean time records on hand.

Not just this, but DOL claims they found one instance when a 15-year-old employee worked past 10 PM several times in June 2021 -- which the agency claims ran afoul of a law prohibiting workers that young from working past 7 PM.

All in all, the DOL hit Boss Wings with $51,674 in back wages/damages for 244 workers -- and additional fines of nearly $63,000.

A labor official says, "Restaurant industry employees work hard, often for low wages, and many depend on every dollar earned to make ends meet. The law prevents Boss Wing Enterprises LLC from shifting operating costs to workers by deducting the costs of uniforms, cash register shortages or training expenses, or to allow a worker’s pay to fall below the minimum wage rate."

Brittney Griner's plan to appeal her 9-year Russian prison sentence over a weed pen is underway ... but Onyx rapper Fredro Starr feels there are bigger political forces in play.

In a new interview clip from VladTV, Fredro actually admitted to smoking plenty of weed on Russian soil on several occasions!!!

According to Fredro's travels, Russia not only has better weed than top dog California, but they grow it too ... and from the picture he paints, recreational use sounds pretty common in the region.

He also suggests the country's hip hop scene is very liberal, alluding to the notion a 9-year punishment for a simple weed pen doesn't add up.

Griner officially filed her appeal on Monday, in conjunction with the United States government actively working for her release, calling her detainment unjust.

The last time we talked to Fredro, he was talking about a different kind of smoking ... as in torching Cypress Hill during their somewhat underpromoted Verzuz.

Jonathan Papelbon went scorched Earth on Fernando Tatis Jr. -- suspended 80 games by MLB for a positive PED test -- saying if he was still pitching in the Majors, he'd drill the Padres star every chance he got!

The former Red Sox star closer shared his feelings on Tatis' blockbuster suspension on the "The Bradfo Sho podcast" ... and he didn't mince his words.

"I'll tell you right now, if I was pitching, every single time I face that dude, I’m drilling him," Papelbon said, adding ... "I don’t care if I'm bringing in a run and losing the game."

"This whole Tatis stuff, man, it almost enrages me. "I worked my ass off so long and so hard and did it the right way. For me, to see something like that, it hurts me so bad."

Papelbon -- who played 12 seasons in the big leagues -- said the problem with Major League Baseball now is players aren't allowed to "police" the game the way they used to when he toed the mound.

"That's the problem with the game today now, is it's changed," Papelbon said. "You throw [at] people now, and you get suspended and all the other BS, and it's like just let the players police the game."

"That's what I miss about the game now is, you look in the past, and the players were the ones who policed the game. Not the damn umpires or the coaches, or any of them. It was the players."

"[And] that's what the game lost," he added.

As we previously reported, 23-year-old Tatis was hit with an 80-game suspension Friday after testing positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing substance.

Former NY Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez expressed disappointment with Tatis ... saying the PED suspension may cost him a shot at the Hall of Fame down the road, something A-Rod, unfortunately, is experiencing.

"I'm not going to go to the Hall of Fame probably because of my own mistake," A-Rod said. "And, that's heartbreaking for me. It's heartbreaking to explain that to my daughters. But, that's on me."

"I wish that a lot of these young players who I admire so much would learn from my stupidity and my debacle."

Fernando Tatis Sr. came to his son's defense yesterday ... claiming Tatis Jr. developed a fungus on his skin after receiving a bad haircut and used the banned medication to fix the issue.

Ultimately, JP understands why ex-MLBers, and potentially Tatis' fellow Padres teammates, are upset with his alleged actions ... and Jonathan thinks the distraction could prevent the team from reaching their full potential come playoff time.

Ezra Miller is finally addressing what many have believed were significant mental health issues ... this after months of erratic behavior and run-ins with the law.

The 'Flash' star apologized Monday for their bizarre antics and confirmed they're getting help for some significant problems.

Ezra says, “Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment."

Ezra goes on, “I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”

Ezra has had a mountain of legal troubles of late ... getting arrested several times in Hawaii and Vermont.

Ezra's latest brush with law enforcement came just last week when they were accused of burglarizing a Stamford, VT, home, from which they allegedly swiped several bottles of booze.

And, back in April 2020 ... Ezra was seen on a viral video CHOKING a woman at a bar in Reykjavik, Iceland ... Ezra was not charged for that incident. Ezra's also been accused of keeping an 18-year-old away from their own family, and bringing them around the country.

Ezra was busted in Hawaii back in March after getting into it with bar patrons, and then with cops during transport to jail.

For the past couple of months, Ezra's team of agents and close friends has been trying to get the actor back on track, but nothing seemed to work.

Warner Bros., the studio producing the $200 million 'Flash' movie scheduled for release next June, has reportedly been encouraging Ezra to get help.

R. Kelly wants anyone who has seen the 'Surviving R. Kelly' docuseries to be banned as a potential juror in his trial ... saying there's no way they can give him a fair shot.

R. Kelly and his team filed a motion Monday to disqualify jurors who have seen any portion of the docuseries, as his 2nd federal trial begins in Chicago.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... "any potential juror who has watched any portion of this docuseries must be disqualified for cause on whether they can be fair, too great a risk exists that such a juror would base their verdict on matters not introduced into evidence in the courtroom".

Kelly's facing charges of child porn and obstruction of justice ... and his alleged victim from his infamous 2008 case is expected to testify.

The docs state, "Any potential juror who has seen any portion of Surviving R. Kelly is prejudiced where there's no scenario which an individual exposed to the contents of Surviving R. Kelly can be impartial."

In other words ... his camp says there's absolutely no way anyone who has seen any parts of the doc can be fair, and they shouldn't be allowed to be jurors in the case.

His team claims there are episodes that talk specifically about his 2008 prosecution, in which he was acquitted ... and they say the docuseries also includes allegations that the government has said won’t be featured in this trial.

Milwaukee fans are probably having the worst Monday ever ... 'cause Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo just revealed he'd love to play for the rival Chicago Bulls one day.

It's not time to panic just yet, Bucks fans -- the 2-time MVP and 2021 NBA champ made it crystal clear he's committed to his current team during an interview with "The Sports Zone" on Fox 32 Chicago ... but the 27-year-old also raved about the possibility of suiting up in Black and Red at some point in his career.

"It's a team that won multiple championships, it's a team that one of the greatest players -- if not the greatest player to ever play this game -- played for, so it's a no brainer," the Greek Freak said Sunday night.

"Everybody would love to play for Chicago. Down the line, you never know, you never know how life brings it, maybe I'll play for Chicago. But right now, I'm committed to Milwaukee."

Giannis says any NBAer "would be a liar" if they said they didn't want to play for Chicago ... which just goes to show how much influence Michael Jordan still has on today's game.

Bryce Dallas Howard claims she got the short end of the stick for the 'Jurassic World' trilogy, making far less money than Chris Pratt despite being co-leads ... but that didn't stop him from making sure they got equal pay outside their film contract.

Initial reports back in 2018 showed Chris took home $10M to Bryce's $8M for the sequel, "Fallen Kingdom" ... but Bryce says she was actually paid "so much less," than the reported estimate, in an interview with Insider.

Bryce says she was at a "great disadvantage" back in 2014 when negotiations began for the blockbuster series -- adding, "unfortunately, you have to sign up for three movies and so your deals are set."

Chris, however, was a bigger star than Bryce at the beginning of the trilogy, having already starred in "Guardians of the Galaxy."

But, she claims Chris fought for her outside their 3-movie deal ... telling her he'll handle the negotiation for her when it came to things like spin off games or theme park rides -- making sure they both walked away with equal pay.

Brittney Griner is fighting back in her drug case in Russia -- formally filing an appeal of her conviction in the foreign country, days after she was sentenced to 9 years behind bars there.

Griner's attorney confirmed the filing to CNN on Monday. It's not immediately known what the grounds of the appeal are, or when it will be heard in court.

The move, though, was expected -- after Griner was convicted and sentenced on Aug. 4. The WNBA superstar admitted to having hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport, but she told a courtroom she packed it inadvertently and had no intentions at all of breaking the law.

Regardless of the appeal process, the U.S. -- which has called Griner wrongfully detained -- is continuing attempts to strike a prisoner swap deal with Russia in order to bring the 31-year-old home.

"I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends and teammates," Biden said following her conviction earlier this month.

"My administration will continue to work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible."

Trey Songz has an ally in his corner when it comes to claims of sexual assault against him -- a woman testified an attorney for Songz's alleged victim offered her up to $200,000 to change her story and make Trey the bad guy ... a claim the attorney denies.

If you haven't followed along, Trey's in the middle of a sexual assault lawsuit filed by a woman named Jauhara Jeffries -- who says he violated her at a 2017 New Year's Eve party in Miami.

We've obtained a transcript from a recent court hearing in the case, where a woman named Mariah Thielen testified she met with Jeffries' attorney, Ariel Mitchell, in April 2021 at a bar in Miami. Thielen says Mitchell smelled like weed during the meeting, and was carrying a gun.

According to the transcript, Thielen -- who was with Jeffries the night of Trey's alleged assault -- says Mitchell offered to pay between $100k-$200k if she'd lie and say she witnessed Trey sexually assault Jeffries ... and claim that Trey assaulted her too. Mitchell allegedly said she was trying to paint Trey as "the next R. Kelly."

Thielen says Mitchell's plan was to take her allegations to Trey's team in hopes of coming to a monetary settlement, and her lies would help to make that amount larger ... again, this according to the transcript.

Thielen claims she turned the offer down -- saying she wouldn't have lied for even $10 million -- and reported the meeting to Trey's legal team a short time later.

Mitchell denies the claims, telling us, "We’re highly confident and certain the court will find the witness committed perjury. Parties are still awaiting the judges' further instructions on how to proceed given the witness’s inconsistent testimony during the hearing."

Mitchell's partner, George Vrabeck, withdrew from the case, stating there was "multiple grounds for withdrawal" that existed under the Florida Rules for Professional Conduct ... but Mitchell says that's only because, "He will be representing me against the parties involved in this disgraceful motion brought by Trey Songz and his representatives."

Dwayne Johnson has comic nerds confused after suggesting it'd be wrong to include his DC character alongside another hero in the same movie ... without getting his own movie first.

The Rock revealed to Vanity Fair he did a little lobbying with WB to make sure 'Black Adam' would be its own standalone film before any potential blending with 'Shazam!' -- a separate character played by Zachary Levi, who Adam actually faces off with in the source material.

VF writes that Black Adam, played by Dwayne, was actually set to be in the first 'Shazam!' movie in 2019, as he was initially written into the script as the big bad opposite Levi.

The Rock says when he saw this, though, upon first being approached for the project ... he expressed his reservations -- recounting, "When the first draft of the movie came to us, it was a combination of Black Adam and Shazam: Two origin stories in one movie."

He adds, "Now that was the goal -- so it wasn’t a complete surprise. But when I read that, I just knew in my gut, 'We can’t make this movie like this. We would be doing Black Adam an incredible disservice.' It would’ve been fine for Shazam having two origin stories converge in one movie, but not good for Black Adam." Dwayne made some calls, and got his way.

DJ doesn't elaborate on why he thinks it'd be a disservice ... and that's where the DC fandom is kicking in. In their eyes, it makes complete sense to introduce Black Adam in a 'Shazam!' movie -- even from the get-go -- seeing how BA is literally a known nemesis.

That's not what the 'Shazam!' films have done thus far ... in both the OG/forthcoming sequel, there are other bad guys Shazam is fighting, although Black Adam has been teased. Eventually, they'll cross paths ... but critics think it's strange Dwayne insisted on having his outing to kickstart things. Frankly, a Carly Simon song is coming to mind for some over this.

The argument ... The Rock's ego might be showing by admitting he wanted the character to be bigger than WB had, perhaps, initially intended -- especially if he was going to play him.

In Dwayne's defense ... all he did was chirp up on what he thought would be best, and clearly Warner thought that was the right way to go -- seeing how they actually pivoted and did a whole 'Black Adam' flick like DJ suggested, which is coming out later this fall. And besides, it's all headed for a big mashup anyway down the line ... so who cares?

Big Time Rush is in big time trouble -- at least on Twitter -- because users are outraged over the title of an old song, which some label as ableist ... now invoking Beyoncé and Lizzo.

Here's the deal ... the one-time boy band of the 2010s has recently reunited to put out new music -- and one of their fan fave vault songs that they're itching to release is called "PARALYZED," which has been leaked before, but never officially included on an album.

Now, they're saying they're gonna do it for real ... and have been teasing their fans with when and under what circumstances they'll do it.

On Saturday, they tweeted ... "We’re so happy to see that everyone across the globe are now able to enjoy all our music. But the real question. How badly do you want us to release PARALYZED?" They encouraged their followers to get "PARALYZED" trending before they put it out ... but so far, haven't. The track's only on Sound Cloud (in an unofficial capacity).

If you listen to it and read the lyrics ... it's a fairly straightforward, seemingly innocuous song about a girl who's got the boys stunned and frozen, AKA paralyzed, because of how attractive she is. Essentially, they're smitten ... but they're playing up the paralyzed angle.

They even stutter some of the words they're singing, and that's where things turn problematic.

Some argue the song in general is an issue and offensive to paralyzed people -- and it's here where Bey and Liz are getting roped in ... with accusations of racism flying.

Hop into the "Lizzo and Beyonce" trend right now, and you'll see all the discourse going on. Basically, some say that those who were up in arms over the female artists using the word "s***" in their songs and demanded they remove it should be doing the same for BTR.

The argument boils down to ... some in the ableist community and/or their allies are actually just racist -- because they made a big stink when 2 Black women innocently used the term -- which was popular and in regular use pre-2010s, frankly -- but when a bunch of white/white-passing dudes are more on the nose ... there seems to be crickets in terms of indignation.

Not everyone is buying that though -- because, yes, it's very accusatory and makes a lot of conclusions based on ... nothing but perceived reactions on Twitter, which is kind of silly.

The point ... some see a double standard between Lizzo/Beyonce and Big Time Rush -- and are apparently mad that there isn't more of a push to get BTR to change or nix their song entirely. Whether that double standard is actually real or not is in the eye of the beholder.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett put on a united front as they stepped out in public together for the first time since the Oscars slap -- and hubby was leading the charge with a smile.

The couple was spotted leaving Nobu in Malibu Saturday afternoon, with what appeared to be handler trailing them. Will was ahead of Jada -- wearing a casual outfit and a cap -- who was following closely behind ... apparently grabbing a hold of his shirt or pants.

It looks like she might've been grabbing his hand in some of these shots ... but upon closer inspection, you can see she's got him by his clothing and letting him guide her to their car.

Eventually, they got in their vehicle and drove off together ... with WS in the driver's seat. Before that, though, Will actually flashed a peace sign to a spectator who called his name. So, yeah ... it appears he's maintaining a good mood -- this after his recent apology video.

You'll recall ... Will explained his actions that night, saying Jada's eye-roll did not fire him up and spur him to storm the stage -- it sounds like it was just built-up bad blood between the Smiths and Chris Rock that led to it ... plus some internal trauma Will has from his past.

He said he wanted to talk with Chris -- but noted CR hasn't taken him up on that ... and may not in the long run. In the meantime, Will's getting a move on with his life -- as is Jada.

The fact the dude is out and about in daylight -- in L.A., no less -- says a lot about where he is personally ... and that seems to be in a much better place.