Controversial S#!T

Chingy's feeling some type of way about being included on a "50 Worst Rapper List" ... and he's letting out his emotions about it in a new interview.

The St. Louis-bred rap star ... famously known for his hits "Right Thurr" and "Holidae In" on Ludacris' label in the early '00s ... was grouped with the likes of Master P, Diddy, French Montana and Coi Leray on a Twitter ranking that holds no actual weight.

Still, the rankings got under his skin, evidenced by his latest conversation with VladTV.

Chingy says the 50 million records he sold throughout his career are more than enough votes to keep his name off any "worst rapper" list, and social media reactions mainly fueled its traction.

He went on to call the list invalid, and demand it be deleted ... mainly because the entire world's 7-billion-strong population wasn't polled.

Not that he's biased, but ... Chingy said he listened to one of his old songs the other day and was floored at how anyone could think he was one of the worst because he thought the lyrics were so good.

His career might be light on flowers these days, but he literally made Bobby Shmurda LOL ... as he named the "Chickenhead" hip hop's #1 dance, which was made popular from the "Right Thurr" video.

When Adidas decided to stop producing products for Kanye West, people from around the globe rushed to the Internet to check the temp of selling the popular Yeezy shoe.

Google searches for the phrase "sell Yeezy" skyrocketed a whopping 581% Wednesday -- according to data commissioned by Celeb Tattler -- after news broke that Adidas was dropping their contract with Ye and stopping production of his brand's products.

The numbers suggest folks are trying to figure out if it's a good idea to start selling their Yeezy gear now, or wait for prices to potentially increase in the future.

As we reported ... Adidas, Kanye's biggest corporate partner, announced Tuesday they were cutting ties with Ye in the wake of building public pressure following his antisemitic comments.

The German shoe company says a "thorough review" of the Yeezy partnership projects a $246 million loss in net income this year by ending the deal.

Hip hop is currently in another bling era, but Wiz Khalifa recently hurt a lot of feelings by declaring rappers being dripped in jewelry was going outta style -- but his younger contemporary, Symba, couldn't agree more.

TMZ Hip Hop got the Atlantic Records rapper's take on Wiz's comments outside Dash Radio on Tuesday ... and he thinks hip hop culture ditching the big chains is a sign of maturity.

Symba has empathy for the newer rappers who haven't gotten the opportunity to enjoy the spoils of their success just yet, but echoes the thoughts of Hitmaka, DJ Envy and many others ... saying they need security to avoid becoming targets.

Wiz also slammed rappers who felt lame without the shiny jewels, and Symba feels rappers are identified by looks more than music these days ... but that needs to change ASAP. He says some rappers are even masters of style but losers in sound!!!

Symba says jewelry getting phased out is all about "timing," a message he reiterates in new music -- he and DJ Drama just released their "Results Take Time" mixtape.

If Karl-Anthony Towns was trying to be a leader for publicly criticizing Anthony Edwards' diet, it had the complete opposite effect -- so says Chandler Parsons, who's calling the star's comments "super wack."

As we previously reported, KAT told reporters he wants to help change what the 2020 #1 overall pick is putting in his body after a bad loss on Monday ... saying, "I know y’all think it’s funny up here when he talks about Popeyes and all that s***. That doesn't make me happy to hear."

Parsons got wind of KAT's statements ... and he's completely against how he went about it.

"It's just super corny for him to say that," Parsons said on FanDuel TV's "Run It Back."

"I don't know if it's his attempt of trying to be a leader, but leaders don't do that in public. Leaders privately pull their player or their teammate over there and they talk about that or they get with the training staff, they get with the chef, they get with whatever they have to get  to to address this issue."

He added ... "You do not air that out after a bad loss when emotions are already high. Doing that to another star player on the team, I just think that's completely out of bounds. That's not how you lead. That's not how you get things done and I just think that's super wack."

T.J. Maxx is the latest company to pull the plug on Kanye West's Yeezy brand ... following others' decisions to cut ties due to the rapper's antisemitic and bigoted comments.

TJX Companies -- operators of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods -- announced its decision Wednesday ... telling CNNBusiness, "At TJX we do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or hate of any kind. We have instructed our buying teams not to purchase this merchandise for sale in any of our stores globally.”

As we reported, Kanye's "death con 3" post -- plus his subsequent, and repeated, claims Jewish people run Hollywood and banks -- have resulted in companies boycotting the artist. Adidas, Kanye's biggest corporate partner, announced Tuesday it was cutting ties with Ye.

The star players on Kanye West's Donda Academy basketball team will not be able to showcase their talents on one of H.S. hoops' biggest stages this year ... and it's all because of Ye's controversial antisemitic comments.

The Scholastic Play-By-Play Classics announced Donda has been scrapped from this season's schedule ... claiming West's "words and actions violate our values as a company and a country, and what we seek to ensure at all of our events -- a spirit of diversity, sportsmanship, inclusion, equity and mutual respect."

The tournament -- which has five national locations -- is a huge deal at the high school level ... and has hosted future NBA superstars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant in the past.

Donda was originally slated to compete at the December 11 event in Louisville.

It's a huge bummer for the whole roster of kids -- including five-star guards Robert Dillingham (who's committed to Kentucky) and AJ Johnson ... as well as the other players on the squad who are also ranked nationally.

Scholastic Play-By-Play feels for the young athletes ... adding, "While we are firm in our reasoning for this decision, it does not diminish our heartache and regret for Donda's hardworking athletes who will lose out the most as a result of Kanye's actions."

"Unfortunately, we cannot in good conscience host an organization founded and directed by Mr. West at our events."

Kurt Warner clearly believes the finish line is here for both Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers ... saying this week that he believes both dudes need to seriously consider retiring after struggling to start this year.

"I think both of those guys look like they're exhausted," the Hall of Famer told PEOPLE ... before adding, "Maybe it is time to walk away."

38-year-old Rodgers and 45-year-old Brady are off to some of the worst starts of their careers in 2022 ... with the duo combining for a sad 6-8 record so far.

The legends also haven't been wowing anybody with their arms on the field ... Rodgers has no games with over 255 passing yards, and Brady has only crossed the 300-yard passing mark twice this season.

Warner seemingly believes it's all due to the wear and tear finally catching up to the grey beards ... and he's now urging the duo to take a long look at hanging up their cleats for good.

"It's okay to go, 'You know what? It's not how it used to be,'" Warner said, "'I may not be who I used to be,' or, 'It's just too hard overall to get everybody up to the standard.'"

He added that pressures of off-the-field lives for both guys might be playing into the subpar performances as well.

Warner, of course, knows a thing or two about the ending of a legendary football career ... he was one of the best to ever do it, before he finally called it quits following the 2009 season.

He said it wasn't easy to get to the end, but he eventually made peace with it -- and he appears to be advising the guys to follow a similar path.

"As I was going through the last couple years, it was becoming more and more prevalent that, 'Okay, this is taking too much from me and it's not just about enjoying the game anymore,'" Warner said.

Britney Spears is trashing Selena Gomez for something she said 6 years ago -- even though signs point to them being pretty good friends today.

The singer delivered a bizarre message Tuesday that looks to be aimed in Selena's direction -- based on the caption anyway. BS cites a specific line Selena dropped at the 2016 American Music Awards, which references women showing their bodies on social media.

She writes, "Don't you just love the nerve of women who stand firmly getting awards and speak on their beliefs about not showing their bodies on Instagram ???!!!!! They say "This is NOT something I would do" yet those women are the very ones who get 4 million dollar budget videos made about sucking and licking on homemade ice cream!!!!"

Britney goes on to say she thinks it's hypocritical for someone engaging in a sexually suggestive music video to criticize others for showing off their curves for the Gram.

The clues she mentions all point to Selena. Like we said, SG's the only person in recent memory who touched on "bodies on Instagram" while also going on to star in a 2020 music video featuring ice cream cones. The song is "Ice Cream" by K-Pop girl band BLACKPINK.

The IG post is still live on Britney's page, but she's edited the caption to just show 3 roses.

Selena's loyal fans definitely see it as a diss, and they're telling Britney to back off. Frankly, her attack seems to be coming out of nowhere ... and the even stranger thing is Selena was one of a few celebs who attended Britney's wedding this year.

Of course, we know Britney's fully leaned into posting her nudes online ... despite controversy it's stirred, especially among her own family members.

As usual, it's hard to make sense of Britney's POV. There is a trend, though ... less and less people on her side as she posts some weird and unprovoked hot takes.

Selena, for her part, hasn't responded to this. Something tells us she won't.

Originally Published -- 7:04 AM PT

George Floyd's brother isn't moving forward with legal action against Kanye West -- at least for now -- but that doesn't mean Ye's out of the woods just yet.

Lee Merritt -- who's repping Philonise Floyd -- tells TMZ ... Philonise is temporarily standing down on his original threat to bring a lawsuit against Ye, Candace Owens and others for pushing the narrative George died from fentanyl, as opposed to the actions of Derek Chauvin.

Remember, George's brother, and other family members, were incensed after those remarks were made on a "Drink Champs" episode ... and Philonise instructed Lee to research a possible lawsuit.

As for why he's standing down ... we're told Philonise is hitting pause, specifically pertaining to Kanye, because he just wanted Kanye to stop repeating that false narrative about his brother's death -- and that's exactly what's happened over the last week and change since the "Drink Champs" episode aired.

Lee points out the controversial episode in question has been yanked and the podcast host, N.O.R.E., has gone on an apology tour for letting Ye speak freely without pushback.

We're told that Philonise feels like Ye has complied with the demands made in the cease and desist letter sent on behalf of George Floyd's daughter, Gianna, last week -- although, he clarified that Philonise wasn't really part of that potential legal action in the first place, but supported it from the sidelines.

As for whether Gianna's lawyers might still move forward with a lawsuit -- one in which they said could seek more than $250 million in damages -- no word on that front at this time.

Now, when it comes to Candace ... Lee says that's a more difficult case to bring, because her role as a journalist presenting opinions in a documentary about BLM and the conviction of Derek Chauvin is very different from Ye spouting what Lee and Philonise see as lies about the Floyd case.

Antonio Brown is standing firm in his support for Kanye West ... releasing a lengthy statement explaining his decision to remain as president of Donda Sports -- citing his "dedication to freedom of speech, thought, and opinion."

The NFL receiver -- who joined the Donda staff earlier this year -- addressed the massive controversy surrounding Kanye following several antisemitic statements ... saying, "the world's reactionary and selective outrage at comments in the media made by my brother, Ye, have inflamed and sparked rampant conversation and reflection."

As companies like Adidas and Balenciaga cut ties with West, AB says the timing is not a coincidence.

"The people and brands that have relentlessly profited from Black ideas and Black culture chose to distance themselves at a very specific time: a time that demonstrated their prioritization of certain groups over others."

He added ... "None of us in this world are free of judgment, yet we live in a time where scrutiny and pessimism have driven our dialogues on cultural issues toward diatribes."

"Sensationalism and groupthink have forced people to not speak their minds and act out in fear rather than love. For these reasons, I stand by my dedication to freedom of speech, thought, and opinion."

Brown says he decided to speak out because he is against discrimination of any kind ... but makes it clear he's standing by Kanye's side.

"I remain true to the mission of Donda and our amazing staff and community," he says ... adding he believes Kanye's comments were taken "out of proportion" by the media.

"I remain committed to bringing new ideas, experiences, and designs to our world I remain in support of the humanity that is Ye."

The statement comes on the heels of sports superstars Aaron Donald and Jaylen Brown voicing their issues with Ye's comments ... which led them to leave Donda Sports.

Aaron Donald and Jaylen Brown are no longer Donda Sports athletes -- the two superstars just released statements saying they have cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Donald signed with Ye's Donda Sports in late May. At the time, he said it was the company's "whole family atmosphere" that convinced him to sign with West.

Brown followed right after ... signing with DS later that month.

Donda Sports started off hot with two huge names in their respective sports. Now, the organization has zero clients on its athletic roster.

Donald released a statement on Tuesday ... saying, "The recent comments and displays of hate and antisemitism are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children. We find them to be irresponsible and go against everything we believe in as a family."

He added ... "As parents and members of society, we felt a responsibility to send a clear message that hateful words and actions have consequences and that we must do better as human beings. We do not feel our beliefs, voices and actions belong anywhere near a space that misrepresents and oppresses people of any background, ethnicity or race."

Brown -- who denounced Kanye's statements on Monday, but said he would remain with Donda -- also addressed his change of heart ... saying, "In the past 24 hours, I've been able to reflect and better understand how my previous statements lack clarity in expressing my stance against recent insensitive public remarks and actions. For that, I apologize."

"And in this, I seek to be as clear as possible. I have always, and will always, continue to stand strongly against antisemitism, hate speech, misrepresentation, and oppressive rhetoric of any kind."

Kanye West’s empire is dwindling by the day, and although he still has Candace Owens on his side -- one of Ye’s closest advisors says that's not a good thing.

Ye’s longtime collaborator Consequence called out Candace Tuesday … labeling her association with the team “an experiment,” and posting a short clip of Ye greeting a crowd while wearing his infamous 'White Lives Matter' shirt.

Cons slammed the 'WLM' shirts, calling them a bad idea from the jump.

Fact is that tarnished Yeezy gear did begin the spiral that saw Ye on the outs with the likes of CAA, Vogue, Balenciaga and now Adidas ... which cost him his billionaire status, according to Forbes.

The German shoe giant kicked Ye to the curb Tuesday due to his repeated antisemitic remarks -- but Candace has unflinchingly defended him, demanding Adidas cash him out what he's owed.

If you remember, it was also Candace who helped Ye tout the 'WLM' tees earlier this month, much to the disbelief of many of his supporters.

Cons is the first from the old G.O.O.D Music camp to speak out against the disastrous trail blazed by Ye … but his thoughts do align with Kareem “Biggs” Burke, who helped manage Ye’s career during the early days with Roc-A-Fella Records.

Biggs recently told TMZ Hip Hop ... Ye’s 'WLM' movement was harming the Black community in spite of any beef with the actual Black Lives Matter organization.

On the heels of Adidas dropping Kanye West for making antisemitic remarks, Jewish former NFL star Julian Edelman is addressing the rapper's use of hurtful language ... saying mental health is important but doesn't justify speaking hatefully.

"Mental health is a serious issue and needs to be at the forefront of the American dialogue," Edelman wrote on social media.

"It's also not an excuse for hate. Hate is a disease just like every other, except that words can spread it. Speak up, not down."

Edelman is arguably the highest-profile Jewish American athlete to speak out.

Of course, Ye has repeatedly used antisemitic and bigoted language at seemingly every turn over the last few weeks. He said he was going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” on Twitter. He also perpetuated offensive tropes, produced "White Lives Matter" shirts and made inflammatory comments about George Floyd.

People of all races and religions have been offended by Kanye's comments ... including basketball Hall of Famer, Ray Allen.

"I see all the Kanye BS, like, he's an idiot," the NBA legend said on social media before issuing a warning about what we consume.

"I try my best to just kind of push positivity and encouragement to people in the world so we just have to be careful. Every time we pick up our phones, a lot of times we wanna feel good, laugh and joke but a lot of times, we're seeing negative stories in our media. So, we gotta be careful who we're letting into our atmosphere because it can become depressing with everything that's going on around the world."

Even his ex, Kim Kardashian, has condemned Kanye's antisemitism, writing earlier this week ... "Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end."

But, not everyone is distancing themselves from Ye.

As we reported, Celtics star Jaylen Brown announced Monday he was sticking with Ye's marketing group, Donda Sports ... however, he did seemingly condemn West's remarks, saying, "I don’t condone any hurt, harm, or danger toward any group of people or individuals whatsoever."

Adidas said they did a "thorough review" of their Yeezy partnership and are expecting to lose $246 million in net income this year by ending the deal.

Kanye West's biggest corporate partnership is over -- Adidas says it's cutting off all business with him, due to his recent antisemitic and bigoted actions.

The German shoe company says, "Ye's recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company's values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."

As result, Adidas says it "will terminate the partnership with Ye, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies."

The announcement comes amid worldwide pressure for Adidas to, at the very least, condemn Kanye for repeating antisemitic tropes every time a microphone's been in his face for the last few weeks. During this erratic and disturbing phase he's also unveiled "White Lives Matter" T-shirts at Paris Fashion Week, and claimed George Floyd didn't die from Derek Chauvin's knee, but from fentanyl.

The hashtag #boycottadidas had been trending on Twitter over the weekend, especially as the company announced the sale of new Yeezy shoes. While other companies, like Balenciaga and Vogue had already cut off their relationships with the billionaire rapper and designer ... Adidas had been silent, except to say their partnership was "under review."

That review actually had nothing to do with Ye's recent rants -- for months, he'd publicly accused the company of ripping off his designs for non-Yeezy branded merchandise, so the relationship was already on ice.

Ye knew his incredibly profitable deal with Adidas was hanging in the balance -- he said so on Friday night ... even as he railed that any backlash against him was only proving his initial antisemitic remark that the Jews were controlling Hollywood and the banks.

Adidas was especially under pressure to react -- not only as Ye's biggest partner, but due to its founder supporting the Nazi party.

Adidas and Kanye started their partnership in 2013, and his Yeezy brand is widely credited with reinvigorating Adidas in the shoe game. While the company has some huge athletes as brand ambassadors -- James Harden, Lionel Messi and Damian Lillard to name just a few -- Ye's designs were key to the company's recent success, and Adidas' backing allowed him to expand Yeezy well beyond sneakers.

Adidas was the distributor and manufacturer of Yeezy shoes and athletic gear ... so, Kanye currently has no outlet for his creations.

Steve Lacy is a relatively new artist, but he's making one thing clear early ... he won't tolerate things being thrown on his stage -- and made an example out of one fan, and their phone, in particular.

Steve was in New Orleans on Monday night for his Give You The World Tour ... performing "Bad Habit" when a phone tossed from the crowd hits him square in the torso.

Steve was politely profane at first ... stopping the song to instruct the audience not to throw "sh** on his f****** stage" -- even with a please attached.

Then without warning, Steve asks for a fan in the front row's cell phone -- seemingly at random -- only to smash it on the stage, and then storm off.

The crowd was understandably confused and pissed ... as there was still plenty of show left, and some felt they didn't get their money's worth.

A fan in the stands hopped on TikTok following to show ... claiming Steve had grown fed up with the crowd for not really knowing his music, but blamed rowdy NOLA fans in general for typically ruining an artist's experience when they come to town.

James Corden took his father's advice and formally apologized on-air for his obnoxious behavior at an NYC restaurant, putting the issue to rest ... hopefully!!

The TV host kicked off his 'Late Late Show' Monday by pointing out that his dad -- who was in the audience -- instructed him to own up to his mistakes after he retracted an earlier apology to Balthazar owner Keith McNally.

And, like a dutiful son, that's exactly what Corden did. "Whenever these sorts of moments come my way, I like to adopt quite a British attitude. Never complain, never explain. But, as my dad pointed out to me on Saturday, he said, 'Son, you did complain. So you might need to explain.' Look, when you make a mistake, you have to take responsibility."

Corden then went into apology mode, recounting what happened at the French brasserie in 1 of the 2 incidents where he was described as a "Cretin." He said he was having a meal at Balthazar in SoHo a few weeks ago ... and a server three times came to the table with the wrong order for his wife, who has food allergies.

The comic said he made a "rude comment" to the waiter "in the heat of the moment," which he finally acknowledged was WRONG. "I didn't shout or scream. I didn't get up out of my seat. I didn't call anyone names or use derogatory language. I have been walking around thinking that I hadn't done anything wrong, right? But, the truth is I have. I made a rude comment and it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server."

Corden also briefly mentioned the other incident in which he lost his cool after finding a hair in his food. He said he called McNally right away and apologized profusely after the restaurant owner posted to IG that Corden was banned for his bad behavior.

As we reported ... McNally later rescinded the ban, but then Corden retracted his apology during an interview with the New York Times. In response, McNally told TMZ that Corden should "apologize to the young servers he abused," declining to say if the ban would be reintroduced.