Controversial S#!T

Kanye West has unveiled his bigoted views to the world, yet there's still a market for Ye24 merch as he noodles on another run for president.

A quick search on eBay and Amazon reveals dozens of listings, with everything from shirts and hoodies to hats and flip-flops ... all with either Kanye's imagery or his Ye24 slogan. It's unclear exactly who's selling the stuff ... whether it's Kanye or 3rd parties. Pricing ranges from $20-30 for hats, up to $50 for hoodies and flip-flops, plus shipping.

While we've yet to see any designs of Kanye with a swastika or anything Hitler-adjacent, some merch includes Ye holding a cross, and another where he's standing next to Iron Man.

As for the resale value of Yeezy shoes, those have remained shockingly unchanged -- despite Kanye's proclamation of loving Hitler and giving props to Nazis.

Remo from Walk Like Us, a digital marketing company working with resellers, tells us one of the more popular Yeezy designs -- the 2015 Turtle Doves which retailed for $160 -- are still reselling at an average price of $793.

Akon is still backing Kanye West, even after the guy proclaimed his love for Hitler and Nazis -- going so far as to say, he isn't offended ... 'cause the remarks aren't aimed at him.

The singer sat for an interview with Sky News this week ... during which he said he supports Ye's right to speak his mind and say whatever he wants to say, regardless of how much it might piss off society -- which is apparently how he's framed this saga in his mind.

While Akon says he would make sure to give KW his own POV against Ye's argument about liking Hitler -- in a debate, it seems -- he still doesn't like the idea of shutting the dude down and smothering out his speech just because what he's saying is objectionable to some.

That last part is incredibly telling, and something the journo caught onto -- asking Akon if it troubles him that Kanye makes objectively horrid comments, period ... with Akon responding, "Not really, because those comments don't really affect me personally."

In other words ... not my group, not my fight. That certainly seems to be the vibe Akon is projecting here -- and, as you can imagine, he's getting torn to shreds on Twitter over it.

An old video of Steve Aoki chucking a cake at a guy in a wheelchair is making the rounds again -- and while people are already quick to dogpile him ... the outrage should stop here.

The Fight Club Videos Twitter account surfaced a clip Friday that's taking off right now on the bird app -- it shows the famed DJ throwing a pastry out into the crowd (like he normally does) and hitting a dude who was raised up in a wheelchair ... right in the face.

The Twitter account that posted this -- which literally just aggregates and publishes crazy clips -- described this incident in rather ominous terms ... and without any context whatsoever. They wrote, "Steve Aoki (DJ) threw a cake 80 ft and hit boy in wheel chair."

First, this is an ancient video from 2013, when SA performed at the Veld Music Festival in Toronto. And more importantly, this is not a "boy" -- AKA, a child -- but rather ... a grown-ass man. He also wasn't the victim of anything, as Twitter is apparently quick to assume now.

There were some who saw this -- again, out of context -- and assumed what the Fight Club account floated was accurate ... and that he'd intentionally aimed to hurt this disabled person. That, or they presumed Steve didn't realize the damage he may have inflicted.

Fortunately, that's not even close to the truth at all ... if you watch the full clip, which Steve posted himself back then, you'll see the man asked to be hoisted up and wanted the cake.

Steve simply obliged, and even snapped a shot with him afterward. So, it was all kosher.

The reason there's so many unlikeable female leads is because Hollywood is all in on "Mary Sue" -- so says one writer ... whose hot take is getting blasted as straight-up misogyny.

A fella named Joshua Lisec -- who's ghostwritten a ton of books over the years -- took to Twitter this week to outline a very long argument he firmly believes in ... namely, that the literary "Mary Sue" archetype is alive and thriving in modern-day entertainment, despite the fact people aren't really into these strong fictional heroines who kick ass out of nowhere.

His words ... not ours.

Essentially, this boils down to characters like Rey (Daisy Ridley, 'Star Wars'), Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, "Rings of Power"), Carol Danvers (Brie Larson, "Captain Marvel") and even Bo Peep (Annie Potts, "Toy Story 4") and others who start out in a new plot as bad to the bone ... despite a lack of training/backstory to explain how they came to be so strong.

Now, whether that definition of a typical Mary Sue actually applies to the above-mentioned characters -- and other female leads in action movies in general -- is what's at debate here.

Lisec's thread has gone viral, with a ton of backlash coming his way for what a lot of people claim is a convoluted and long-winded way to say ... he simply doesn't like women, and can't stand the idea of a female character being anything other than a damsel in distress.

There are others poking holes in his theory ... at one point during which he makes comparisons to classic male leads whom he thinks were properly fleshed out (Luke Skywalker, etc.) Some are offering examples of countless traditional male heroes who've emerged with unexplained powers ... noting Mary Sue is a dog whistle to attack women.

As for why this convo is even taking place ... well, it appears there are some, like Lisec, who feel there is, in fact, a push from Hollywood lately for "strong female leads" who emerge as heroes without a bona fide, solid setup. The forthcoming 'Indiana Jones' flick appears to be positioning Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character for exactly that (the "new Indy" post-Ford).

This isn't a sentiment that's super fringe either ... Emily Blunt has denounced the "strong female lead" label -- basically saying it was being done to death, and that she's over it.

Elon Musk is doing a new file dump that he says reflects Twitter's alleged efforts to suppress stories about Hunter Biden's laptop in 2020 ... causing a lot of outrage in right wing circles.

The Twit in Chief is set to follow up with another day of #TwitterFiles Saturday, which took the bird app by storm over the past 24 hours ... this after the initial batch detailed alleged correspondence between former Twitter staffers and execs, suggesting they were censoring negative HB news.

Specifically, the internal emails cited by journo Matt Taibbi show how Twitter's ex-head honchos apparently went out of their way to hide links to a story by the New York Post.

Published about a month before the election, it was touted as a bombshell report -- which purported to describe messages the NYP says it retrieved from Hunter's forsaken laptop ... and one of those seems to indicate Ukrainian gas bigwigs were trying to meet President Biden via his son, who was in business with these folks at the time (around 2015 or so).

When this went live in 2020, any attempts to tweet links to the story were barred en masse on Twitter ... and now, these #TwitterFiles pretty much seem to confirm it was, in fact, a coordinated effort in-house. The more troubling part, though ... some of the emails appear to imply that Twitter was actually in touch with Biden's campaign team ... and conceding to their requests to kill the story, as they claimed the information had been hacked/stolen.

Twitter obliged, citing its terms and conditions to justify the move -- not to mention the fact the info discussed hadn't been independently verified -- but since then ... a majority of the materials on the laptop were authenticated as legit. The laptop was also deemed abandoned property after somebody turned it into a shop in 2019 ... eventually finding its way into the hands of conservative operatives who ran with it and publicized its salacious contents.

In the end, however, the Hunter Biden chatter really amounted to nothing in the big picture.

There's been a lot of handwringing in and around the GOP over this for a full two years -- but now that these apparent revelations are coming to light ... many are calling for congressional hearings and investigations into what they characterize as corruption/election interference. Basically, their argument is ... Twitter blocked something that could've, perhaps, swung the election in Trump's favor -- and they're calling on POTUS to answer for it.

Nick Fuentes found out the hard way he's not welcome in Los Angeles ... 'cuz the white nationalist just got in a food fight with a couple at a famed In-N-Out Burger.

Check out the video, obtained by TMZ, showing Nick holding a large cup ... without warning he pitches it across the Hollywood restaurant early Saturday morning. Liquid from the cup showers everyone in its path ... and the doused diners look at Nick in utter shock.

Another video captured the moment Fuentes left the joint before the situation escalated ... as he's walking out, one patron mocks him for supposedly misidentifying himself, shouting, "F--k Nick Fuentes. You racist!!"

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... Fuentes and a friend were eating when a couple approached them and got into a dispute. It's unclear what the beef was about ... but, as you know, Nick has been in the news lately with Kanye West spreading antisemitic hate everywhere they go ... so just use your imagination.

Anyway, the couple got so pissed they threw ketchup-filled paper cups at Fuentes, splashing him with the condiment. The man and women then turned to walk out ... that's when Nick lost it, tossing his drink at them.

We're told the drink missed the couple. Nick left with his friend about 5 minutes later.

Bella Thorne is not only friends with Elon Musk, she's also a big fan of his decision to temporarily kick Kanye West off the platform for spreading antisemitic hate.

We caught up with Bella in Miami, where she's hitting Art Basel, and asked about her relationship with the Chief Twit, and her thoughts about him shutting down Ye. Although Elon's said he wants Twitter to be HQ for free speech ... she's certain Ye's Thursday ranting is NOT that.

Bella says Elon has every right to ban the rapper's account, because IF that's what free speech is then he shouldn't have it ... and neither should anybody else.

You'll recall, Kanye was suspended from Twitter for inciting violence ... after posting a highly offensive mashup of a Nazi swastika with a Star of David. Of course, that came immediately on the heels of countless other vicious remarks he's made.

ICYMI, Elon and Bella had people talking about their unlikely friendship when he hit up her Halloween party with his ex-wife Justine Wilson.

Bella made it clear she's fond of the guy, calling him "very cool."

Drew Brees' recent commercial has left lightning strike victims enraged ... with a major organization ripping the NFL superstar's "inappropriate" and "disgusting" stunt.

The New Orleans legend went viral on Friday after he faked getting struck by lightning as part of a promotion with PointsBet USA ... duping some people into believing he was actually injured -- if not worse.

Lightning Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International -- an organization that has members in 13 countries that helps those impacted by similar accidents -- got wind of Brees' commercial ... and they tell TMZ Sports they're not happy.

"The recent Drew Brees lightning commercial is an inappropriate, disgusting method of promoting gambling or any TV commercial campaign," a statement from LSESSI says.

"This is a deadly injury, and it is disappointing to see the continual ridicule of lightning and electrical injury survivors in comical light in which it is presented for commercial gain and profit."

The org. says it did not find any humor in the ad ... considering many survivors are forever impacted after an accident, and it affects their loved ones as well.

"To poke fun at these folks and make this injury trivial is unacceptable, and what example does it set for our children to learn?"

There's more -- "As a survivor, this is very disturbing, the thoughtlessness on the part of the participants who are trying to profit from tragedy is remarkable. Much progress through hard work and education has been made over the last twenty years to lower the lightning/electrical deaths and risk of injury through education and informed knowledge of the dangers."

The org. believes Brees' ad "just set us back 20 years."

"There are many groups working to educate the public and help survivors, this commercial nullifies all their work and encourages unsafe practices to the general public. And all for gambling ... Lightning Bets? How ignorant can you possibly be?"

Chuck D feels ALL hate speech should be equally ostracized on Twitter ... especially following Kanye West's recent suspension for posting Nazi symbolism.

The Public Enemy frontman put out a big signal for Elon Musk on Friday ... challenging him to permanently ban all versions of the n-word on the platform.

Chuck argued the n-word's power was just as damaging as the Nazi swastikas and his swift action could influence Mark Zuckerberg to do the same on Facebook and Instagram.

Naturally, Chuck's Twitter take left some of his longtime fans scratching their head ... with one even digging up PE's 1990 song "Anti-Ni**** Machine" from their seminal album "Fear of the Black Planet."

Chuck noted the song was recorded over 30 years ago and we're currently playing with a different set of rules in America.

He also dismissed the notion that the use of the n-word in songs and Twitter were the same ... and wasn't concerned with people getting their pretty little timelines disrupted!!!

Elon banished Ye from Twitter on Friday, but The College Dropout did exit in a blaze of glory, ... flaming Elon for his infamous vacation pic with Ari Emanuel.

Jalen Kitna will not play at the Univ. of Florida again following his child porn arrest this week ... the school just dismissed the quarterback from the team.

The Gators made the decision on Friday morning -- two days after authorities said the 19-year-old sent child exploitation material over Discord, a popular social media messaging platform, in June.

After initially suspending the signal-caller following his arrest, the school called the allegations against Kitna "extremely serious charges" and behavior that it has "zero tolerance for."

UF officials have yet to make a public comment on the dismissal.

Kitna was in custody for roughly 24 hours following his arrest on Wednesday afternoon, but was released from jail on $80,000 bond on Thursday evening.

His famous father, ex-NFL star Jon Kitna, promised during testimony at Jalen's court hearing Thursday morning that he would take his son back to live with him in Texas during the pre-trial process. Jalen must not use the Internet and must not have unsupervised contact with minors as part of the conditions of his release.

Liver King -- the viral "ancestral lifestyle" influencer -- is fessing up to using steroids ... apologizing to his followers for misleading them into believing he was completely natural.

45-year-old Brian Johnson gained a ton of followers through his primal living routine ... which includes eating raw animal organs, 9 ancestral tenets, and barbarian challenges.

The dude is undeniably buff as hell ... and despite numerous accusations of using steroids in the past, he continued to claim he earned his physique without any additional help.

But, LK was forced to face the music after YouTuber More Plates More Dates released a video exposing the influencer's steroid cycle earlier this week ... which alleged he was injecting $ 12,000 worth of stuff into his body.

MPMD even came with email receipts ... which appear to show what exactly the Internet star was taking.

Now, Liver King is coming clean about his steroid use ... releasing a 6-minute long video to his millions of followers to try to explain himself.

"I'm making this video to apologize because I f***ed up, because I'm embarrassed and ashamed, because I lied and I misled a lot of people." Liver King said.

LK -- who had a successful supplement company prior to becoming a viral personality -- says he struggled to handle being in the public eye once he blew up ... and he decided to cut corners in order to keep up with his audience's expectations.

"It's been tricky as f*** to navigate," he added. "Well, clearly, I did it wrong and I'm here now to set the record straight -- yes, I've done steroids and yes, I'm on steroids monitored and managed by a trained hormone clinician."

LK says he continued to run with the façade for those dealing with mental health issues who look up to him ... hoping ancestral living would provide a solution to their problems.

"While spreading the message, I've been on several podcasts, and when asked if I've ever taken steroids, I've always said, 'no. I don't touch the stuff. Not going to touch the stuff. Never touched the stuff.' That was a lie. I've convinced myself this had nothing to do with the ancestral message."

FYI -- Liver King has previously said he makes millions of dollars a month -- including his supplement brand.

He says he trained clean for decades ... but in 2021, he wasn't feeling 100% physically, so he made the decision to use steroids. LK says he kept it private, because he didn't want to spread the wrong message or have his previous fitness success overshadowed.

Kanye West is doing everything he can to deflect attention away from his praising of Hitler, even throwing out false allegations about his ex-wife Kim Kardashian and an affair with NBA superstar Chris Paul ... according to sources with direct knowledge.

Before he was kicked off Twitter Thursday night for posting a swastika, the disgraced rapper made a wild allegation claiming he "caught" Kim Kardashian cheating with NBA star Chris Paul.

A source close to the situation tells us the allegation is absolutely false, and just another example of a desperate man trying to shift the focus away from his own wrongdoings.

The source says, "This is not true and sadly it’s an ongoing pattern with Kanye — attacking Kim to redirect everyone’s attention after a day of crazy antics where he has said every hateful and offensive thing he can possibly dream of."

They continue, "He has a history of falsely accusing her of also having affairs with Meek Mill, Drake and countless others. Kanye has for years deflected his own awful behavior, infidelities and obsession with porn and sex addiction to abuse and slut shame Kim. She wants to be left alone so she can focus on the well-being of their children.”

It was Thursday when Kanye was on Alex Jones' "Infowars" spewing hate, claiming he liked Hitler, questioning the Holocaust and giving the Nazis props. Jones, a controversial figure himself, made several attempts to reel Kanye in, but the rapper only doubled down.

Of course, it was earlier this week when Kim and Kanye finally settled their nearly two-year divorce ... he's agreed to pay her $200k a month in child support, and they'll have "equal access" to their kids.

Jerry Jones took a unique path to respond to LeBron James' very public criticism of the Dallas Cowboys owner's controversial 1957 photo ... choosing to do nothing but shower the NBA star with praise.

Jones was asked Friday about Bron's Wednesday comments during his weekly radio hit on the K&C Masterpiece show on Audacy's 105.3 The Fan ... and instead of revealing his thoughts on it all, he opted to simply compliment the Lakers forward.

For roughly two minutes, Jones called James an amazing person ... saying the basketball player is "an absolute great ambassador for sport" who he respects more than possibly anybody else in the world.

Jones added that it "made buttons pop off my vest" when James previously identified as a huge Cowboys fan.

But, when it came time to address James' comments, the 80-year-old sidestepped.

"I'm just giving him due," Jones said. "I'm just giving him due there. Certainly, he has influence, and just because of all of the above. His accomplishments, how he's utilized his sport and how he's utilized his platform. How we have done it. He has enhanced basketball, he's made a lot of people a lot of money. But, I hope I have too."

Jones -- who did admit to hearing James' remarks -- would not say if he had any interest in meeting with James over it all. He was not pressed further about the issue.

As we reported, LeBron sounded off on reporters earlier this week following a win over the Trail Blazers ... chastising them for not asking him about the 65-year-old photo showing Jones as a teenager standing with a group of white classmates who were trying to prevent six Black students from entering an Arkansas school.

James wondered why they had asked him so much about the Kyrie Irving drama earlier this year -- but were silent about Jones.

Michael Jai White has several black belts in various martial arts, but it's even better that he's mastered the practice of restraint, at least for Kanye West's sake!!!

When asked by DJ Vlad about some of Ye's wild and erroneous comments -- like claiming George Floyd died from a drug overdose -- MJW admitted he's been detached from Ye's antics for years, and avoids running into him because it could get violent ... and end badly for the embattled rapper.

MJW says his personal Kanye breaking point came way back in 2009 after the infamous Taylor Swift mic-snatching incident -- and he feels Ye's arrogance is fueled by the fact he has money.

The "Black Dynamite" actor compared consuming Ye's social media posts to eating junk food while trying to stay in karate shape -- an act in futility -- but he says he's not pushing his anti-Ye beliefs on friends.

Kanye West's antisemitic ranting is now on the White House's radar ... and President Biden is not only calling him out, but also anyone who does NOT speak out against Ye.

The prez doesn't mention Ye by name, but it's clear who and what he was referring to Friday morning when he tweeted, "I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure."

The tweet comes immediately on the heels of Elon Musk shutting down Ye's Twitter account because he posted a graphic combining a swastika with the Star of David. He also ranted all day -- on Twitter and on "Infowars" with Alex Jones -- about loving Hitler and Nazis.

President Biden's tweet also adds what seems like a shot at Donald Trump. He said, "Instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity."

Remember, Trump's been widely criticized for having dinner last week with Ye and white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.

Even Sen. Mitch McConnell, a former Trump ally, condemned him by saying, "There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy."

Balenciaga is tossing out its massive suit against a marketing agency that it claimed was to blame for its recent controversial photoshoots ... and instead is doing a 180, focusing on organizations that benefit the protection of kids.

President and CEO Cedric Charbit released a statement Friday on social media ... saying "Balenciaga has decided not to pursue legal action" -- ditching the $25M lawsuit against North Six from earlier this week.

Balenciaga instead seems to be pivoting from attack mode ... saying the company's "current process for content validation has failed" and adding it's going to be starting up an image board -- tasked with evaluating all aspects of content going forward.

The company says it's also working with an agency to better assess its projects, amongst other company-wide changes.

He says the company's put aside a "significant fund" for grants to go to orgs that benefit the protection of children ... ending by apologizing for what went down and adding Balenciaga doesn't tolerate "any kind of violence and hatred message."

As we reported, Balenciaga came under fire for a series of shoots -- one where children held BDSM-themed bears, and another featuring what appeared to be legal docs related to a Supreme Court case dealing with child pornography.

Balenciaga came for North Six, a company that was involved with one of the photoshoots, with the big lawsuit ... but a source connected to the shoot told us North Six wielded no creative power in the project and claimed it wasn't ultimately responsible for any harm to Balenciaga's reputation from the controversy.