Controversial S#!T

Meyers Leonard is back ... the NBA center is signing a contract with the Milwaukee Bucks -- almost two years after he said an antisemitic slur during a video game live stream.

The 7-foot big man will be joining Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks on a 10-day deal, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday -- marking the first time Leonard will be on a roster since 2021.

Remember, the former Miami Heat player was suspended indefinitely after he made the offensive comment while playing "Call of Duty: Warzone" on Twitch in March 2021.

The NBA launched an investigation ... which ultimately led to a $50k fine and an additional suspension.

The Heat traded the 30-year-old to the Oklahoma City Thunder a few days after the incident -- but he was later released. He was also banned from the Twitch platform.

Leonard -- the 11th overall pick out of the 2012 NBA draft -- worked with several Jewish organizations to fight antisemitism while away from the NBA hardwood -- and told us back in Oct. 2021 that he had learned a ton, and was remorseful for his actions.

Don Lemon's absence from the "CNN This Morning" desk nearly got lost in the sauce at the top of the show Monday ... which could be additional writing on the wall for his time at the network.

Poppy Harlow -- who may or may not be in her "prime," according to Don -- opened the show with Sara Sidner sitting next to her and ran down the big breaking story about President Biden's surprise visit to Ukraine.

Sandwiched between that news and announcing her other cohost, Katilin Collins, being in Poland ... Poppy said, "Don has the day off."

It was literally one second and if you weren't looking for it, you'd surely miss it. Obviously, the honchos at CNN didn't want to make a big deal about the late decision for Lemon to sit out Monday's broadcast ... on the heels of his misogynist comment last Thursday about Nikki Haley.

Now, Don also had Friday off -- that was scheduled prior to the Haley remark -- and he spent it lounging on a Miami beach ... seemingly not having a care in the world.

But, as we reported, his Monday absence was not pre-scheduled, and staffers found out in a memo circulated this weekend about the 'This Morning' lineup switch.

It's unclear if Don's skipping today was his decision or his bosses'. No one's spilling that tea just yet ... as the fallout continues from Lemon saying Haley was "not in her prime" at the age of 51 -- because, as he put it, Google says a woman's prime is in her 20s, 30s, "and maybe 40s."

Former UFC star Nate Marquardt is in the crosshairs of the LGBTQ community ... after he tweeted an anti-gay response to a commercial that showed two men kissing.

The 43-year-old, who famously knocked out Tyron Woodley in a 2012 fight, fired off the offensive comments after he said he saw the ad while watching ESPN+.

In his tweet, he said the commercial was "disgusting" and that he had to tell his kids "look away so they don't see two men kissing."

The former fighter, a devout Christian, added a throwing up emoji.

Immediately, the ex-Strikeforce Welterweight Champion was panned by fans for the remarks ... but he doubled down on his stance in further tweets.

As of Monday afternoon, the posts were still up on his social media page.

Don Lemon will not be on the air to start the new week -- and his future at CNN seems a little uncertain too in the wake of his sexist comment ... this according to new reports.

Per the Daily Beast -- which cited insiders with knowledge of the situation -- Lemon will miss Monday's show for 'CNN This Morning' ... and will simply enjoy the holiday, President's Day. It's being reported that his upcoming absence was not planned prior to Thursday.

Rather than Don there, the two anchors that'll be holding it down are Poppy Harlow and Sara Sidner ... with Kaitlin Collins, another regular co-host, being stationed in Poland for coverage. Monday's on-air lineup was sent out to CNN staffers this weekend, so says DB.

That's not all ... according to the outlet, DL's position at CNN is apparently up in the air at this point -- with one of the cited insiders saying his time there is being discussed at the highest levels, while also adding ... "He is a constant distraction."

Another report by FOX News cites yet another CNN source, who says Lemon should return by Tuesday, but not even that is guaranteed ... because, apparently, it'll depend on "where his head is at." It's also unclear if this a straight up suspension, or if it's on Don's terms.

In any case, it sounds like there might be changes in the near future. We'd already reported that Don hopped on a staff call Friday to apologize, but it did not go over too well on the receiving end ... with sources telling us many took it has him patting himself on the back.

CNN Worldwide CEO, Chris Licht, is also said to have been pissed about the Nikki Haley quip, reportedly saying ... "His remarks were upsetting, unacceptable, and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization."

James Gunn just dropped another truth bomb about how the 'Superman' fiasco came about -- and it sounds like Henry Cavill was kinda being used as a pawn ... or so it seems.

Here's the deal ... the new co-chief of DC Studios responded to fans Sunday who inquired about an IG Story he threw up over the weekend, which touched on when exactly he'd been hired to start working on new DCU flicks -- including a big priority, 'Superman: Legacy.'

In his IG Story, Gunn clarified that while one film he's in charge of has already gone into pre-production -- 'Creature Commandos' -- both that movie and his 'Superman' project had actually been getting worked on quietly behind the scenes before he and Peter Safran were officially hired, which was on Oct. 25 ... a day after Cavill said he was "back" as Supes.

He further confirmed in follow-up tweets -- noting he'd been hired to write 'Superman: Legacy' over SIX MONTHS ago and that his movie was always going to be separate from Zack Snyder's version of the character ... the same one Cavill briefly thought he was reprising.

The bottom line is this ... James is saying he already had the green light to start charting a path for a whole new Superman storyline, but it doesn't appear Cavill was aware of that.

According to him, he was told by the WBD to announce he was officially returning to the role ... even though it now seems clear Warner had no real intentions of pursuing that -- evidenced by the hiring of Gunn/Safran as co-bosses, and their decision to give HC the boot.

In other words, Cavill appears to have been getting jerked around. As for who's to blame ... well, hard to say. There've been so many changes at WB over the past 2 years -- with execs coming/going -- it's not really clear if Cavill was totally misled (and by whom). Alternatively, there might've just been a miscommunication that led to the confusion/psych-out. 🤷🏽‍♂️

All we know, Henry probably ain't gonna be working with them again after this. His next few films are all with different studios -- and we don't see a water tower in his immediate future.

Mark Zuckerberg is going the way of Elon Musk -- and by that, we mean he's rolling out a similar subscription plan that'll allow people to be official and legit on his platforms.

The Meta honcho announced a new verification program that the social media company will be rolling out soon. He writes, "Good morning and new product announcement: this week we're starting to roll out Meta Verified -- a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support."

MZ adds, "This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on web or $14.99 / month on iOS. We'll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon."

For those worried that Facebook/Instagram would fall into the same problem Twitter has suffered since the launch of Twitter Blue -- i.e., fake accounts and impersonators -- Meta says it's already considered that ... and will take active steps to combat imposters and jokesters.

For starters, they're saying they're going to make people submit government IDs to help match them up to their own profile before handing out any blue checkmarks to the normies. Meta also says they'll be actively monitoring for BS accounts that might spring up.

As for all the public figures who were verified before ... Mark and co. say they're going to leave them be with their already-established verified status -- unlike Elon, who says he'll phase out legacy blue checks (regardless of who they are) and make people pay $8.

Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny are reported to have been making out earlier this week -- and now that the word is out ... they seem to have moved on to the hanging out phase. 😅

Check out these pics of Kendall leaving Wally's in Beverly Hills Saturday night -- as you can see, she's walking out solo (with security in tow, of course) ... but not too long after, her rumored new flame walked out of the same restaurant -- but from the backside.

Indeed ... we're told this appeared to be a double date with the Biebers. Kendall showed up first at around 8:30 PM ... and Bad Bunny arrived shortly afterward on his own, around 8:42 PM. After that, Justin and Hailey followed suit ... also showing up separately/staggered.

The pair left around the same time, but they trickled out one by one it seems -- with Kendall heading out of the front entrance at 11:06 PM ... and BB leaving the back way a few minutes earlier. The Biebers also left through the back -- but almost an hour beforehand.

A lot of attempted sleight of hand being done, but in the end ... it looks like the secret may be out -- namely, Kendall and Bad Bunny appear to be seeing each other. As for what that means exactly ... anyone's guess. But based on eyewitness sightings, they're very friendly.

A Deuxmoi blind item outed the suspected couple on Thursday, claiming they'd been seen out at an L.A. club the night prior locking lips and even leaving in the same car as well.

When word spread about their possible romance, the internet broke down collectively ... with a lot of Bad Bunny fans decrying the fact that he may be hooking up with a KarJenner.

The reason ... well, it seems folks feel like KJ's brood can be problematic -- including Kendall, who's been wrapped up in scandals here and there over the years. Bad Bunny, meanwhile, is widely beloved and lays low ... so it would appear his supporters think he's entering dangerous waters by tangling with the model, who's very much in the spotlight a lot.

'Real Housewives of Orange County' alum Gretchen Rossi and her fiancé, Slade Smiley are getting dragged through the mud for paying tribute to Slade's late son ... because the biological mother claims Gretchen and Slade haven't even been around for him in the last decade.

Slade's ex, Michelle Arroyo tells TMZ ... Gretchen's recent social media posts about the loss of 22-year-old Grayson are disrespectful -- saying the couple has "grossly misrepresented the true nature of their relationship with Grayson, which was virtually nonexistent."

Grayson passed earlier this month after a long battle with brain cancer -- something he fought since he was 6. Since his death, Gretchen's been posting nonstop about how heartbroken she is, but Michelle is calling BS.

She tells us Gretchen hasn't made the effort in the past 10 years to see him ... calling a so-called relationship "nonexistent."

On top of that, Michelle, who has lost her home, business, and life savings while solely taking care of Grayson’s needs, says she can't keep quiet any longer about Slade's years of "inexcusable behavior and neglect," adding Grayson desperately wanted a relationship with his dad.

Michelle adds she had to hire lawyers to get Slade to cough up his child support payments -- claiming he still owes $152K in support, with his last payment coming in back in 2019.

Her family started a GoFundMe to help with the cost of a memorial to properly honor Greyson ... as well as to cover the outstanding medical expenses half of which Slade is responsible for but has never paid.

X-Pac, member of the legendary "New World Order" faction says Roman Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso, Solo Sikoa, and formerly Sami Zayn's "The Bloodline" is "right up there" with NWO ... and he understands why fans compare the two groups.

We spoke to Pac, real name Sean Waltman, about the comparisons being made between the factions, and he admitted "the magnitude is similar" between the two groups and the impact they've had on wrestling.

Of course, many wrestling fans believe The Bloodline storyline is one of, if not the greatest, in WWE history.

As for NWO, it originally started out as a group in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) with Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. Their goal was to take over WCW by any means necessary, destroying everything in their path.

In 1996, Waltman joined NWO in WCW, becoming the group's sixth member. The WWE inducted NWO into its Hall of Fame in 2020, bestowing the honor on Waltman, Nash, Hall, and Hogan.

NWO will be featured on the season premiere of A&E's docuseries "Biography: WWE Legends" on February 19 ... and Waltman's pumped for the show, which will examine how the group changed the sports entertainment landscape.

"It's nice to have been a part of something that people want to see tv shows made about it, Pac said. "It feels really freaking good."

Roald Dahl's classic books are apparently too dated for the 21st century -- because his former publisher and his own posthumous company have edited the crap out of them.

Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company -- which oversees his collection -- teamed up with Inclusive Minds last year ... tasking them to pour over RD's published works (specifically, ones for kids) and to alter passages as they see fit, to remove offensive language.

According to reports, hundreds of changes have been made in everything from "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" to "James and The Giant Peach" ... and other Dahl books in between.

One of the more noticeable tweaks that many are pointing out is the fact that Augustus Gloop -- the gluttonous kid who falls in the river of chocolate and gets sucked up a tube -- is no longer described as "fat," which is what Dahl had previously referred to him as.

Here's an old passage describing Augustus ... "A nine-year-old boy who was so enormously fat he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. Great flabby folds of fat bulged out from every part of his body, and his face like a monstrous ball of dough.'

The 2022 re-write goes like this ... "A nine-year-old boy who was so enormous he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. Great folds bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a ball of dough." In this instance, they got rid of "fat."

While some words were removed, others were completely added in anew -- so, not Dahl's original text -- including one new passage from "The Witches." In that book, there's an idea about witches hiding in plain sight ... who are actually bald under their wigs.

The main character is describing his plan to ID witches in public to his grandmother -- going around and pulling women's hair to see if they're a witch. In the original text, the grandma replies ... "'Don't be foolish,' my grandmother said. 'You can't go round pulling the hair of every lady you meet, even if she is wearing gloves. Just you try it and see what happens.'"

The rewrite is wild ... "'Don't be foolish,' my grandmother said. 'Besides, there are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.'"

There are countless other examples circulating on Twitter right now -- including ones where Inclusive removed gendered terms, like "female" -- and a lot of people are saying these changes are ridiculous -- and just another example of woke culture going too far.

The blowup between Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly may have been the oldest modern source of conflict -- DM's.

Megan found DM's and text messages on MGK's phone that led her to believe he was having an affair ... according to the New York Post.

No word on what the DM's or texts said or who was on the other end, but it was reportedly. enough for Megan to go ballistic.

As we reported, Megan posted lyrics from Beyonce's "Pray You Catch Me," obliquely referencing Jay-Z's alleged cheating ... "You can taste the dishonesty it's all over your breath."

She also unfollowed everyone, save 3 -- Timothee Chalamet, Harry Styles, and Eminem, who has major beef with MGK ... speaking of ... all pics of MGK were deleted from Megan's Insta.

Thing is ... as quickly as it seemed to end between the engaged couple, they tried picking up the pieces. On Valentine's Day, they were at an office building together for 2 hours -- the building has a bunch of therapists' offices, so it all seems to align.

The next day they were seen together in the same car, and apparently were at MGK's home.

Tiger Woods is being called out by a women's empowerment group for his tampon prank at a PGA Tour event ... saying how dare he, especially with a daughter at home.

Kara Sugar, CEO of the Women's Global Empowerment Fund, tells TMZ ... Tiger's tampon moment was not only misogynistic but also tone-deaf and straight-up disrespectful to women and girls all over the world.

Sugar ripped the golfing legend, wondering if he's intimating "periods are embarrassing or shameful or a sign of weakness?"

As you know ... Tiger was playing his Friday round at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles with Justin Thomas when he hit his ball further than Justin and handed a Tampax to his friend and competitor. The misguided sentiment -- Justin hits "like a girl."

The women's group says it's sad to see Tiger do this because he's a grown man with a daughter ... and they feel the joke distracts from the serious issues involving mental health and periods, which women and girls around the globe face.

Tiger gave an apology/non apology, saying "It was supposed to be all fun and games. Obviously it hasn't turned out that way. If I offended anybody in any way, shape, or form, I'm sorry."  In other words, not really an apology."

Patrick Mahomes didn't drunkenly give away the real Lombardi Trophy to a fan on Wednesday after all ... new footage shows it was actually a replica he passed off to the crowd at the parade.

Chiefs superfan Vinnie Garofalo and his K.C.-themed bar, Casey’s Black Rock, posted the clips to social media on Thursday ... revealing that the clone of the Super Bowl hardware had been brought to the parade after it had initially been made for the Buffalo-area watering hole.

Garofalo told the Daily Mail on Friday that as he was waving it around while the Chiefs were passing by -- they were floored by its resemblance to the real award ... and just had to grab it and pose with it.

In the footage, you can see Mahomes took it, admired it -- even shared it with some of his teammates ... before he handed it off again.

So, no ... Mahomes did not obliviously give away the Chiefs' precious award while having a few too many Coors Lights.

It's sure to bum out a bunch of people who thought otherwise -- including Tom Brady, who actually tweeted his endorsement of the QB's actions on Friday afternoon when he believed Mahomes had messed up.

"Looks like appropriate parade behavior to me," Brady said while tagging the quarterback and adding a handshake emoji.

Of course, Brady knows all too well about infamous moments with the Lombardi at parades ... back at the Buccaneers' SB celebration in Tampa in 2021, he nearly threw it into the ocean before walking off a boat looking rather inebriated.

The NFL has a real issue with representation in the head coaching ranks ... and Skip Bayless says he knows why -- old, white NFL owners just aren't comfortable socializing with Black coaches and their wives.

"These older white owners just aren’t that comfortable with a Black head coach because they need to interact, they need to go to dinner with the wives or the [significant others] or whatever," Bayless said on FS1's "Undisputed" this week while discussing 53-year-old Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy's failure to land a gig as HC.

"[White owners are] just not that comfortable. When they do have an interview, it’s gonna be a quicker click with a young white hot candidate."

Of course, the NFL only has four Black head coaches ... Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay, newly hired DeMeco Ryans in Houston and Mike McDaniel in Miami.

Despite a majority of the players in the league being Black, people of color have long had issues getting hired, especially as head coaches.

The NFL has instituted guidelines like the "Rooney Rule" -- dictating front offices must interview a minority candidate before making a hire.

Still, only four of the 32 teams feature a Black man in the top job, and it doesn't appear change is on the horizon.

As for how to fix the glaring issue, Bayless admits it may not be a repairable problem ... 'cause, how do you change how the owners think?

“It’s just culture, it’s just the way life is. And, I don’t know how to defeat it, because each of these guys is an independent owner in the umbrella of the NFL and it’s hard to legislate ‘you must hire a black coach’"

"You can’t unless it’s in the man’s heart to do the right thing, and every once in a while we have the Rooneys in Pittsburgh who did the right thing.”

Chris Brown is singling out Cheetah Girls/3LW singer Kiely Williams amongst the peanut gallery upset he's collaborating with Chloe Bailey ... but Breezy is busting her chops, almost literally!!!

Following Chloe's ill-fated preview of "How Does It Feel," Kiely went on a tirade over the collab like several fans -- accusing Chris of exploiting female Black artists' talent to mask his past domestic violence case with Rihanna.

Breezy's currently overseas on tour, but took time to respond to Kiely's disses and did so with a mix of pity and humor ... to him anyway.

He deemed Kiely to be broken -- either mentally, financially, or both -- for the unprovoked attacks, and then took the low road by taking aim at her lisp. He joked how she sang "promithis, promithis" on her hit song "No More (Baby I’Ma Do Right)," and again through a meme captioned "thop it!!!"

While Breezy didn't hesitate to fire away at Kiely, Chloe still has to deal with her angered fanbase ahead of the release of their song.

Don Lemon jumped on a CNN staff call Friday morning to apologize for his sexist on-air comment Thursday that women are not in their prime after their 40s ... but it did not go over well.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Don jumped on for only 90 seconds to address what he said about Nikki Haley and, for that matter, all women.

He said he didn't mean what he said, adding he's going to continue to fight discrimination against women. He essentially said some of his best friends are women, citing his relationships with CNN talent Dana Bash and Erin Burnett, VP for Talent and Content Development for CNN Amy Entelis, and his mom and sister.

We're told some people on the call talked afterward and called Don "tone deaf," with one saying it looks like Don was giving himself kudos for owning his mistake.

The embattled anchor had the day off Friday ... this after enraging his cohost Poppy Harlow with his comment. Although, our sources say his day off had been scheduled beforehand.