Controversial S#!T

Democracy is on the ballot next week, and it's going to lose ... so says Bill Maher, in a get-real moment for a sinking institution called the United States government.

The "Real Time" host cut to the chase Friday night, saying all the handwringing about the importance of voting rings hollow, because a slew of election deniers are going to be elected -- like it or not -- and they're going to set the table for what's to come, which is the unraveling of democracy.

Bill waves the white flag over democratic rule, saying Biden will not be a lame duck, he'll be a "crippled duck" when he goes against the Donald Trump/Kari Lake ticket in 2024. As for Biden's chances ... Bill says zilch. Even if he wins the vote, it won't matter because the secretaries of state and other government officials will see to it that actual votes don't really matter.

As for trying to change people's minds so they reject Trump and other like-minded politicians, Maher says HA!  He points to the January 6th Committee, which Rep. Jamie Raskin said would expose Trump for who he is ... well, apparently that happened and people liked what they saw, because Trump's approval rating went up.

As Bill said, politicians become dictators not with weapons but by elections ... Hitler, Mussolini, Putin -- they assume power and never let go.

Not a great scenario, but Bill seems to be saying the light of democracy is dimming and will soon be snuffed out ... partly because lots of us never bothered to learn or truly care about the elements of democracy that made this the greatest country on Earth.

A U.S. military pilot was juggling lots of balls as he flew over the Mediterranean ... cutting a path that looked like a 6th grade joke.

The KC-135 aerial tanker was cruising over the ocean between Lebanon and Cyrus. The flight tracker showed an oval image, then 2 smaller circles. It's unclear why the pilot was making what looked like erratic moves, but whatever his intentions ... it's kinda hilarious!

Air Force Captain Ryan Gross -- not the pilot -- concedes, "While these adjustments and movements appear to create a vulgar outline, there was no intent by the pilots or the units to do so."

Another Air Force honcho says they're talking to the crew about the movements, but there was nothing untoward.

This has happened in the past, and sometimes it was intentional -- a gag, if you will.  A couple of Navy pilots drew a similar flight pattern back in 2017, and they got a wrist slap.

Hasim Rahman Jr. isn't buying the hype surrounding Jake Paul ... telling TMZ Sports the Problem Child is not the hard-hitter people think he is -- calling him a "whole b****."

"A lot of people expect the right hand of Jake Paul to be this devastating punch," Hasim says. "I try to tell people he can't punch, but don't listen to me."

Remember, Hasim and Jake were supposed to cut the trash talk and fight for real on Aug. 6 ... but the bout was canceled due to a weight issue (although Rahman believes Jake purposely scrapped it out of fear).

Paul ended up taking on Anderson Silva -- and WINNING -- on Oct. 29 ... and Rahman tells us Spider committed the blunder of squaring up, a common mistake MMA fighters commit since they aren't used to boxing.

"He didn't hurt him when he knocked him down," Hasim says. "Anderson became square which means his legs were parallel, and he had no balance to catch himself from being hit."

"I think if he landed that same punch and Andersons not square," he added. "I highly doubt Anderson would've went down."

"Saying that, from the beginning, I think that Jake never really wanted to be in the ring with me," Rahman tells us. "I think he's a duck," he added.

Despite all that happened with Paul, Rahman tells us his focus is on his upcoming fight on Nov. 19 against Vitor Belfort in Texas -- and not on Jake, or his older brother, Logan, who he calls a "bigger b****."

"These guys have let the internet convince them in their minds that they are who they aren't," Rahman says. "We call them keyboard warriors. We still waiting on Logan to get a win."

"If Logan can go ahead and actually win a fight, we'll be in good business but until then, they really just keyboard warriors to me."

Elon Musk is giving his justification for sending thousands of Twitter employees packing ... he says the bird app was hemorrhaging money.

Papa Elon broke his silence Friday night on the mass layoffs that happened earlier in the day at Twitter, claiming he had no choice but to cut folks loose ... he says the social media service was losing over $4 million a day.

As you know ... Elon recently bought Twitter for a staggering $44 billion, with the help of loans from Wall Street banks and big-time investors, including at least $10 million from Diddy. So he's got to find ways to cut costs.

Elon says the folks who were laid off were offered 3 months of severance pay, which he says is "50% more than legally required."

As we reported ... Twitter lost about half its staff in the cuts, with roughly 3,700 people being let go from the company.

Elon fired off a chilling memo to Twitter's workforce Thursday, informing them layoffs were coming ... and employees fired back with a preemptive lawsuit.

Musk has been on a firing spree since inking the deal to buy Twitter last month ... promptly giving pink slips to a slew of top execs.

Laid off Twitter employees are now sharing their stories on social media ... ironically posting goodbyes on Twitter.

Megan Thee Stallion's lawyer says hip hop artists -- like Drake, apparently -- who side with Tory Lanez in the shooting case are gonna look like fools, and he adds there's already plenty of evidence backing her up.

Meg's lawyer, Alex Spiro, joined us Friday on "TMZ Live" to remind everyone ... she's the victim here, but instead of fellow artists having her back, he says too many are calling BS.

Alex strongly believes prosecutors have built a case that proves Meg is telling the truth about Tory shooting her in the foot back in 2020 ... and, for that reason, he says Meg's doubters are gonna be eating crow.

As we reported, Drake is apparently the latest to say the H-Town Hottie is lying about getting shot in the foot while in an SUV with Tory.

There is another view of Drake's verse on "Circo Loco," which is that he was really rapping about thick women (stallions), in general, lying about getting "shots" for BBLs ... AKA Brazilian butt lifts.

Meg definitely didn't take it that way, and clapped back on Twitter shortly after his album dropped Friday -- calling out Drake and other rappers for ganging up on her simply because she said "one of y'all homeboys abused her."

Drake wasn't only going after Megan Thee Stallion on his new album ... Serena Williams' husband was also name-dropped -- getting called a straight-up "groupie" in a new song.

The OVO rapper released his 16-track joint album, "Her Loss," with 21 Savage on Friday ... and the superstar's hubby, Alexis Ohanian, might not be a fan of a certain track called "Middle of the Ocean."

Here's what he says around the 3:35 mark:

"Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie
He claim we don't got a problem but
No, boo, it is like you comin' for sushi"

Fans went crazy over the bars on social media -- one person called Drake petty and another said Ohanian deserved it, as he's seemingly taken subtle jabs at the rapper in the past.

Remember, Drake and Serena were a thing back in the day -- TMZ Sports obtained pictures of them kissing in a fancy restaurant in 2015 ... before Ohanian was in the picture.

Drake also went to Williams' Wimbledon match in 2018 ... cheering her on from the crowd.

FYI, this ain't the first time Drake has mentioned Williams in his lyrics -- in his "Worst Behavior" song from 2013, he talks about the tennis legend:

"I'm with my whole set, tennis matches at the crib
I swear I could beat Serena when she playin' with her left."

Williams and Ohanian have not responded to Drake's diss ... but Meg did call him out for targeting her in the "Circo Loco" track.

Happy Friday, everyone!!!

Kevin Durant thinks the Brooklyn Nets should have shut up and let Kyrie Irving dribble ... saying the organization should have not gotten involved in his teammate's antisemitism controversy.

He does, however, say he trusts the organization to make the right decision when asked about Kyrie's 5-game suspension.

KD spoke with the media on Friday about the Nets' decision to punish Kyrie over inadequately addressing the decision to post a link to a movie riddled with antisemitic beliefs ... and he feels like it was none of the team's business.

"I ain't here to judge nobody or talk down on the life or how they feel with their views and things," Durant said. "I just didn't like anything that went on. I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization."

Durant also took a jab at the media ... saying outlets were quick to spark outrage after Kyrie posted the tweet.

"Everybody has an opinion on the situation, and we're hearing it nonstop."

As we previously reported, Kyrie has been under fire for several missed opportunities to apologize and denounce antisemitism ... which resulted in his suspension and a fiery statement from NBA commish Adam Silver.

The Nets also voiced their dissatisfaction when handing down the suspension ... saying, "Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team."

Kyrie eventually released his latest attempt at a mea culpa on Thursday ... which still wasn't enough for some critics.

Nets GM Sean Marks spoke about Irving's most recent comments on Friday ... saying it's a "step," but there's still more that needs to be done.

Marks also said the Nets never considered waiving Irving ... but it's clear the team is not happy.

Shaq has advice for Kanye West -- get your affairs in order before commenting on his ... after Ye took a shot at O'Neal on social media.

The interaction started when Kanye tweeted ... "Shaq is in business with Jamie Salter. Jaimie first said he's 50/50 with David Beckham and 50/50 with Shaq. I said "Jamie . . . There’s no such thing as 50/50 in business . . . Who has the extra 1 percent for the control and voting rights."

Ye continued ... "Jamie then said he's actually got the 51 percent on both those deals   We as the creators and talent get so caught up in our vanity that we don’t read or understand the fine print  Like Dave Chapelle said, we need to stop giving up control over our own names and our likeness."

Jamie Salter is a Canadian billionaire ... and his company, Authentic Brands Group manages Shaq's name and likeness. Jamie previously said ABG bought 50% of Shaq's future earnings. The company also owns more than 50 brands, many very large. O'Neal is one of the company's largest shareholders.

The tweet didn't sit well with Shaq, who responded to Kanye, writing, "Believe me you don't know me like that. Worry about your business, and to quote the once great Kanye west " I got more money than you, so why would i listen to you" take my advice get your family business in order. Have a great day brother."

It all seemingly started when Shaq (and Charles Barkley) ripped Kyrie Irving for publicizing the controversial film, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!" Shaq said the NBA superstar was "not conscious" and didn't care who he offended.

Naturally, West took issue with Shaq's criticism of Irving, writing on Twitter, "They make us bully ourselves because of our business alignments."

Ye has evidently taken a liking to 30-year-old Kyrie ... showing support for the Nets hooper by posting a photo of him on social media.

Both men have been accused of being antisemitic.

While Stephen may have issue with the rescue, we've seen some declarations filed by other neighbors to the property that say there's never been an issue with loud yelping, excessive barking or the smell of animal waste.

What's more ... one of the declarations states Stephen is the mean neighbor, even once allegedly getting into it with a neighbor's gardener.

Stephen Amell is confident a judge will have his back after slapping his neighbors with a lawsuit over their kennel biz ... saying he loves dogs, but his family needs some peace.

We got the "Arrow" star Thursday at LAX and he fired off, for the first time publicly, since filing suit. Stephen told us there are just some things you should not be able to do in a residential zone.

His point is there just have to be some limits, for the sake of residents, and in his eyes this is one.

As we reported, Stephen and his wife Cassandra took their neighbors Kristen Stavola and Jeremy Gardiner to court over their company called Rescues Rock Inc., claiming it's an unpermitted animal adoption biz ... one that's super loud and super stinky!

He and his wife have already lost one battle in the suit -- a judge denied the Amells' request to shut down the rescue and move it from its current location.

Despite this, he's not backing down... telling us he's pretty sure he and his wife are right and ultimately believes they'll come out on top.

Kyrie Irving is finally apologizing for tweeting out a link to an antisemitic film ... though many fans are questioning the sincerity of the Brooklyn Nets star's mea culpa.

The 30-year-old wrote out the "I'm sorry" in a lengthy post on his Instagram page late Thursday night -- one week after he promoted the film "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!"

He began by admitting he made a mistake in pedaling a movie that contained "anti-Semitic statements, narratives, and language that were untrue and offensive to the Jewish Race/Religion."

He then apologized to people of Jewish faith for his actions -- something he had refused to explicitly do despite having multiple opportunities in the days after he pressed "send" on his tweet.

"To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post," he wrote, "I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize."

Some have found the line to be insincere -- believing it to be nothing more than "I'm sorry if I offended you" rhetoric.

Kyrie then apologized for not explaining the parts of the documentary that he actually agreed with ... another line with which fans took umbrage -- considering the entire film is laced with antisemitic tropes.

Finally, Irving wrote, "I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate." Some have blasted him for this comment as well. The question -- is he really acknowledging the Holocaust happened, or is he saying he's sorry he offended Jewish belief that it happened?  There's a huge difference between the two.

Irving's apology came just hours after the Nets announced the point guard would be suspended for at least five games over the situation. The team said in a statement he will not be allowed to play for the org. again until he "satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct."

The Anti-Defamation League is refusing to accept Kyrie Irving's donation ... with its CEO saying in a statement Thursday the org. is giving back the $500K that the Nets star donated this week.

Jonathan Greenblatt made the announcement on his Twitter page -- just minutes after Brooklyn suspended the point guard for at least five games.

In his statement, Greenblatt said that after Irving refused to specifically apologize for tweeting out a link to a film that contained antisemitic rhetoric despite having multiple opportunities to do so ... the ADL "cannot in good conscience accept his donation."

"We were optimistic," Greenblatt said, "but after watching the debacle of a press conference, it’s clear that Kyrie feels no accountability for his actions."

Irving initially made the donation on Wednesday evening ... with the Nets saying they'd match his pledge. A statement came attached to the announcement of the contribution, with Irving appearing to express remorse for his tweet.

But, things only got worse after that -- despite having several chances to straight-up apologize or completely denounce antisemitism, Kyrie refused.

"I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from," Irving said when asked if he held any antisemitic beliefs.

He also would not explain what parts of the film he disagreed with ... saying, "I think some of the criticism of the Jewish faith and the community for sure. Some points made in there that were unfortunate."

The ADL isn't alone. NBA commissioner Adam Silver -- who is Jewish -- unloaded on Irving for his comments ... saying he was "disappointed and" would be meeting with him in person over the matter.

Irving has since been suspended at least 5 games ... with the Nets saying they're "currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."

It's unclear if the ADL will accept the Nets' $500k donation that came along with Kyrie's contribution.

Megan Thee Stallion isn't gonna take Drake's insults lyin' down ... because she's firing shots back at the rapper after he called her out on his new album with 21 Savage.

Meg took to Twitter early Friday morning ... soon after Drake and 21's "Her Loss" album dropped -- and it's on the track "Circo Loco" where he blasts the H-Town Hottie.

Drake goes, "This bitch lie 'bout getting shots, but she still a stallion/She don't even get the joke, but she still smiling" ... clearly referring to her getting shot in the foot in 2020 while in a car with Tory Lanez.

Meg quickly responded ... "I know I'm very popular but y'all gotta stop attaching weak ass conspiracy theories in bars to my name lol N***** nor hoes EVER address me or @ me WITH a fact or receipts. I AM CLOUT BITCH keep sucking my p***y."

Not that she needed to say anything more, but she sprayed a slew of follow-up tweets ... one said, "Since when tf is it cool to joke abt women getting shot ! You n***** especially RAP N***** ARE LAME! Ready to boycott bout shoes and clothes but dog pile on a black woman when she say one of y'all homeboys abused her."

FYI -- Drake circled back to Megan later on the track -- referring to her graduation from Texas Southern University with the line, "Shorty say she graduated, she ain't learn enough/Play your album, track onе, 'kay, I heard enough."

Joe Exotic's had enough of his living conditions behind bars ... so he's putting the whole place on blast, basically saying Satan is his warden now.

The "Tiger King" star fired off on Instagram Thursday -- yes, while in a federal pen -- and wrote, "I have officially landed at the bottom of hell, at the Federal Prison in Atlanta GA."

He continued "Senator Ossoff, Warnock and Walker are all lying to you Black Voters of Georgia because the Animals at the Atlanta Zoo are living better then [sic] your loved ones are in here I promise. #fixthiss***".

As you know ... the documentary star is serving a 21-year sentence for trying to hire 2 men to murder his nemesis, Carole Baskin.

Even before his transfer to ATL -- he was previously in a Texas federal prison -- Joe's had a rough go of it behind bars ... battling an aggressive cancer. In fact, he's moved a few times in order to get better medical attention.

The Atlanta facility he's in has reportedly been at the center of a monthslong investigation over allegations of drug abuse, violence and unsanitary conditions.

The Nets have suspended Kyrie Irving for at least 5 games after the team says the NBA superstar repeatedly failed to fully apologize for promoting an antisemitic film, with the org. saying he's "currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."

The team released a statement Thursday night announcing the move ... a week after the 30-year-old, 7x NBA All-Star tweeted about a film, "Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America!"

“Over the last several days, we have made repeated attempts to work with Kyrie Irving to help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate," the Nets said.

"We believed that taking the path of education in this challenging situation would be the right one and thought that we had made progress with our joint commitment to eradicating hate and intolerance.”

The Anti-Defamation League says the "film promotes beliefs commonly found among antisemitic and extremist factions of the BHI movement."

However, despite the joint statement Wednesday night where Irving acknowledged hurting the Jewish community and pledging $1 million ($500K from Kyrie, Nets), many people, including commissioner Adam Silver were unmoved by Kyrie's words.

On Thursday, he met with members of the media, and again refused to directly apologize.

“We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film. This was not the first time he had the opportunity — but failed — to clarify.”

This morning's media session was clearly the last straw for the franchise ... which has been struggling on the court, as well.

“Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team. Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets."

FYI, Brooklyn has one of the largest Jewish populations in America.

The Nets continued ... "We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games.”

The Nets will play the Washington Wizards Friday night in D.C. Irving will not be on the floor. If he serves the minimum suspension, he'd be eligible to return against the Lakers on November 13th in Los Angeles.

But, given Kyrie's hesitation to say sorry, that's a giant IF.

Elon Musk is sharpening his knives at Twitter...'cause he's planning to wipe out half the workforce to put the company on the right path, or so he claims ... but employees have fired back with a preemptive lawsuit.

The new Chief Twit, as Musk anointed himself after his $44 billion purchase of the social media giant, fired off a chilling memo to his 7,500 employees Thursday.

The email -- which was only signed "Twitter" -- informed workers to stay away from all offices Friday as Musk begins to clean house, the New York Times reported. An exact head count was not provided in the email, but the NYT says half the staff is set to be fired.

The email leaves no doubt ... "In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce. We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward."

Twitter staffers read the tea leaves and filed a class action lawsuit late Thursday, asking a judge to declare any firings now would be in violation of California and federal law, in part because there was insufficient notice.

After receiving the ominous note, employees took to Slack -- the company's internal messaging service -- posting heart and salute emojis. Some workers were cut off from the internal computer system -- a sign their heads were on the chopping block.

Musk has already gone on a mini-firing spree after inking the deal to buy San Francisco-based company Oct. 27. As we reported, the world's richest man promptly gave walking papers to several top Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal. Since then, Musk has reportedly chosen 50 engineers from his other businesses to pore over layoff lists of Twitter employees.

All sounds pretty ugly. Good luck.

A former therapist for the Spurs claims Joshua Primo exposed himself on 9 occasions, saying she intends to file a police report ... but JP's attorney adamantly denies the allegations, calling them "either a complete fabrication, a gross embellishment or utter fantasy."

Dr. Hillary Cauthen, a psychologist previously employed by the NBA franchise, along with her attorney, Tony Buzbee, held a news conference in Texas Thursday morning ... where they laid out their claims of indecent exposure.

"She didn't run to the press. She didn't run off and file a lawsuit. She instead tried to handle things in a way that she felt was appropriate -- in a way that would bring some real change in the Spurs organization," Buzbee said.

"Unfortunately, that didn't work out that way."

Buzbee says his client alerted the Spurs, but they failed to act.

As for the 19-year-old hooper's side of the story ... they haven't wavered, saying if Primo was exposed, he didn't know about it, and certainly didn't do it intentionally.

Primo's attorney, William J. Briggs II, released a statement laying out the facts as they see him.

Primo, the 12th overall pick in last year's draft, was released by the Spurs last week. At the time, the organization said, "It is our hope that, in the long run, this decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua."

Joshua appeared in 54 games for San Antonio ... averaging 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.