Controversial S#!T

Ricky Gervais has opinions about 86'ing the words "fat" and "ugly" from children's books, and he concedes it's child's play compared to what he says onstage.

Ricky is clearly appalled by the move to cut the 2 words from Roald Dahl's books for kids, mocking the "fragile" and "easily offended."

Ricky says he's been noodling over words he uses onstage ... words like f**k, fat, ugly, greedy, pathetic little stupid f**king c*** -- "Stuff like that."

Ricky followed up with a tweet where he displayed a pic of himself making a wonky face and exposing his belly, saying, "I've changed my mind. I think we should ban the words 'fat' and 'ugly. No reason."

Someone on Twitter took him seriously and said the comedian's standup is different, because it's not aimed at kids.

Ricky's reply -- “Yeah I know ... It was a joke.”

As you probably know, Dahl's books, notably "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," have been re-issued where "fat" will no longer be used.

Erin Blanchfield isn't looking to prove herself worthy of a title fight ... she straight up believes she's a superior fighter to Valentina Shevchenko, telling TMZ Sports she plans to dethrone the current champ.

"[Valentina] can be taken down, she can be controlled on the ground and I think my jiu-jitsu is even better. I know I could fight with her anywhere. I'm confident in my striking and my wrestling and my jitsu," 23-year-old Blanchfield, fresh off an impressive 2nd round submission win over Jessica Andrade, told us this week.

The #3 ranked UFC flyweight then continued ... "I think just putting my whole game together, I think I'm more well-rounded in that sense where I can put it all together better and that I'll find that win whenever I can."

We asked Erin if she believes she's done enough to secure a fight for the belt.

"Oh, definitely. I think I've proved myself after this last weekend and I definitely want that title shot next."

Blanchfield vs. Shevchenko is the fight so many fans want to see, but Valentina has business to take care of beforehand. The 34-year-old champion is fighting 29-year-old Alexa Grasso at UFC 285 on March 4 ... where she's a heavy favorite (-600).

FYI, Shevchenko only has 3 losses in her entire career ... and 2 were to Amanda Nunes (some fans feel VS won 1 of the fights). Valentina hasn't lost since 2017 (and hasn't lost to anyone not named Nunes since 2010!). Blanchfield only has one loss on her ledger (in 2019) ... and has an 11-1 record in MMA (5-0 in UFC).

Erin tells us she's rooting for Shevchenko because a loss would almost certainly guarantee a rematch of the 285 scrap between the women, and EB isn't trying to wait. Not to mention, she'd like to be the woman to dethrone the future Hall of Famer.

"I definitely want Valentina to win. I wanna be the one to take that belt from her. She's been a super dominant champ, she's very skilled and having that prestige of taking a belt from someone like Valentina is definitely what I want."

As for how she thinks a fight with the current champ would go ... Blanchfield sees herself winning by any means necessary.

Stephanie Mills is making no apologies whatsoever over ranking Diana Ross above Beyonce ... a stance that just may infuriate the Beyhive forever!!!

The R&B vet hit "The Breakfast Club" Friday to address her recent VladTV interview ... where she boldly declared Beyonce classifies as a rapper, while Diana Ross is the "epitome of glamour!!!"

Rather than backpedal, Stephanie doubled down ... explaining, in her eyes, Beyonce's last few albums have been more in the "hip hop" lane and no one -- Bey included -- can compare to the Motown queen!!!

Stephanie admits she's always been a Diana Ross "stan" -- she literally set the stage for Diana's portrayal of Dorothy in the 1978 film "The Wiz" after playing the character herself for years on Broadway ... but makes no apologies for her commentary.

She did deny the implication that her comments made it sound like hip hop and rap are beneath old-school R&B -- and she got some backup from guest host, Jess Hilarious.

Beyonce's 2022 "Renaissance" album was largely classified as "dance" and helped her break the record for the most Grammy wins ever. The entire album rollout was about glam ... word to the crystal holographic horse she posed on for the album cover.

Chloe Bailey didn't let the haters stop her from releasing her new single with Chris Brown ... pushing it out with a new music video that's already gotten hundreds of thousands of views.

Chloe and Chris' "How Does it Feel" dropped Friday, and in a complete reversal from last week, most of the comments in Chloe's Twitter feed about the song are positive ... and in less than 12 hours, the music video itself has close to 350,000 views.

Directed by Arrad, the video shows Chloe and Chris embrace a couple of times as they're holed up in a penthouse as the two sing the ballad.

Brown defended his name, unleashing on Kiely Williams, Blueface and a laundry list of white celebs who also have been arrested for domestic abuse and whom fans still support.

Joe Exotic has apparently made up his mind -- he will die behind bars and refuse further treatment -- because his medical team believes his prostate cancer spread to his bladder.

In a letter obtained by TMZ, Joe says he's recently had a lot of blood in his urine and has been bleeding a lot during his prostate cancer treatments. Joe met with his urology specialist Wednesday who thinks Joe's cancer has spread to his bladder.

While Joe says his specialist wants him to go through some testing to be 100%, he's decided he won't seek treatment, writing, "I want to stay here and just let it take its course.”

It's unclear just how much longer Joe has to live, but he makes one thing very clear -- he won't stop his fight for justice, saying, “The world has to know just how corrupt our justice system is … If I have to be the one to die innocent in here fighting for the truth maybe people around the world will finally speak up for the truth for once.”

TMZ broke the story, Joe recently wrote up a new will, leaving everything to his fiancé, Seth Posey, who he met over the internet.

Joe's clearly still got Seth on his brain, ending his most recent letter by saying, "I could care less about dying, my birthday is coming up soon and all I want is to see Seth.”

Rihanna's halftime performance at Super Bowl LVII caused a ton of outrage for folks watching on TV ... they flooded the FCC with complaints, saying her set was too big on sex.

The overall takeaway from the folks who felt compelled to complain about Rihanna to the feds ... the lyrics and choreography were way too sexualized, with some viewers even comparing it to porn.

TMZ obtained the 103 complaints made to the Federal Communications Commission -- a U.S. government agency that regulates television -- regarding this month's Super Bowl broadcast ... and almost all of them had to do with RiRi's halftime show.

One viewer in California even compared Rihanna's set to Kim Petras and Sam Smith's performance at the Grammys, writing ... "I don't care what someone worships but children shouldn't be exposed to pornography and as an adult I don't wish to see it ... Where has decency gone? How about respect for others and self?"

In Utah, one viewer bitched ... "This year the halftime show was so indecent I had to turn off the TV because of the pornographic content."

Meanwhile, folks across the country clutched pearls over the "overtly sexual dancing" and song content heavy on sexual content.

Rihanna was pregnant so she didn't dance much ... and most of the ire was directed at the background dancers, who some say made gestures that "were patently offensive and completely inappropriate for children."

When RiRi did manage some dance moves, they drew complaints too ... with one viewer in Florida complaining, "She spread her a** cheek at the crack. She rubbed her pants where her labia were three times."

The parents of the woman who was killed in Tuscaloosa last month are appalled Brandon Miller was allowed to suit up for Alabama on Wednesday ... claiming the university is focusing more on saving his basketball career than the lives that were ruined as a result of the tragic shooting.

Miller scored 41 points to help the Crimson Tide beat South Carolina ... just one day after cops testified he was connected to Jamea Harris' murder by providing now ex-teammate Darius Miles with his gun on Jan. 15.

Miles isn't accused of actually firing the gun, but has been arrested for capital murder. A third man allegedly fired the fatal shot ... using Miles' gun, which was allegedly delivered by Miller.

DeCarla Cotton was shocked Miller was eligible to play in the game ... telling USA Today, "It’s just unimaginable, and it’s like his life is just going on."

"He took a brief pause and it didn’t stop. It’s like, okay, slap on the wrist and go play ball."

Cotton points out her daughter would still be alive if a gun was not present on Jan. 15 ... adding Miller should have known the potential consequences.

Cotton said the university should care more about her grandson, 5-year-old, Kaine ... who now has to grow up without a mother.

"He’s the true victim in all this," she added. "He won’t have a mother anymore to influence his growing up and who he’s going to be."

Jamea's stepdad, Delvin Heard, also went after Bama head coach, Nate Oats for comments he made surrounding the tragedy ... calling his handling of the matter "godawful."

Heard specifically stated Oats crossed the line for saying Miller was in the wrong place at the wrong time ... claiming the coach "crossed the line."

Oats later apologized for his previous statements, but Heard clearly isn't having it.

"The retraction meant nothing to us because over this five-week period, he has made a habit of making reckless statements," Heard added. "When I say reckless, I mean statements not considering the victim in this whole thing, which is Jamea Harris."

As we previously reported, Miller's attorney claimed in a statement he "never touched the gun, was not involved in its exchange to Mr. Davis in any way, and never knew that illegal activity involving the gun would occur."

The elementary school students who targeted Black classmates with horrifically racist drawings aren't being held accountable, despite multiple other incidents of bigotry ... so says the SoCal school's PTA President.

Robin Allen joined "TMZ Live" Thursday, and unloaded on the school district for failing to issue any meaningful punishment for the students at Pepper Tree Elementary in Upland, CA. She also shot down the theory parents are behind the racist drawings.

Robin pointed out 6th graders made the offensive drawings on their own, completely unsolicited by teachers -- in other words, this was NOT a Black History Month lesson gone awry.

As we reported ... the drawings included captions like, "You're my favorite monkey," and "To my favorite cotton picker."

Even more disturbing ... Robin says the group of students responsible for the drawings have been calling Black kids monkeys and making animal noises all year -- not just this month.

Unfortunately, she claims the school district has let them get away with it for far too long.

One pair of parents of a Black student is blaming the parents of the offending students for teaching them bigotry -- but, as we said, Robin isn't letting the kids off that easy ... and wants the school district to prove it really does have a zero tolerance for hate.

Robin also feels the principal's apology for the incidents was far too delayed, coming 2 weeks after news of the drawings.

Milwaukee Bucks player Meyers Leonard says he sometimes contemplated leaving his basketball career behind amid the fallout from using an antisemitic slur on a video game stream ... but ultimately felt it would be a "coward's way out."

Leonard -- who last played in the NBA in 2021 -- said there were times he wanted to "run away" due to the backlash he faced after the incident ... admitting he made enough money to pack up his things and start a new life elsewhere.

But now that he's back in the league, Leonard is opening up on his experience.

"It’s a mixed bag of emotions, for sure," Leonard told reporters Wednesday. "It’s certainly the hardest two-year stretch I've ever had in my life, as an adult, as a man."

Leonard said being without a team was an "extremely difficult time," and called his use of the slur an "ignorant mistake." He also apologized again to anyone he offended.

As we previously reported, the Milwaukee Bucks signed Leonard to a 10-day contract on Monday, opening up the possibility for the seven-footer to step foot on an NBA court once again.

Meyers -- selected 11th overall in the 2012 NBA draft -- added it's been an uphill battle since his whole life changed, but believes he's put in the work to convince people he's remorseful.

Leonard reaffirmed that he doesn't hate anyone, and said he's thankful for the "amazing relationships" he's forged with people in the Jewish community along the way.

The parents of one of the Black elementary school students targeted with heinous racist drawings are blaming it on the parents of the offending classmates, making a fairly compelling case ... the racism comes from somewhere.

The crayon drawings are shocking ... one read, "You're my favorite monkey,' and another reads, "To my favorite cotton picker." Another student was told she would get a drawing with the image of a black person hanging from a tree, with the caption, "You're my favorite slave."

The drawings were supposedly passed out by students during Black History Month at Pepper Tree Elementary School in the Southern California town of Upland.

Parents of the children targeted are outraged, but not necessarily at the kids. They point to the parents, because what child knows these words and phrases?

The Upland School District called the incident "racially insensitive" ... a remarkable understatement.

A U.S. Air Force pilot has a unique keepsake from the Chinese spy balloon crisis -- a selfie snapped with the device in the background ... before it was shot down over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Pentagon released new images Wednesday, showing the balloon in flight on Feb. 3 -- the USAF eventually fired a missile on Feb. 4 to take it down. The photos were taken from the cockpit of a U-2 spy plane, which is capable of flying at an altitude of up to 70,000 feet.

The spy balloon was reportedly floating around 40,000 feet when it was destroyed. Interestingly, the new photos show it was still over land on Feb. 3, and that the U.S. military was keeping a close eye on the balloon.

U.S. officials said China's super snooper was about the size of 3 school buses, and you can see in the pics ... it had huge solar panels attached to the spying equipment.

President Biden said he gave the order to shoot it down on Feb. 1, but military advisors said it would be best to wait until it was over open water.

Don Lemon is on thin ice at CNN -- although he's being welcomed back for now, TMZ has learned he's a strike away from getting the boot permanently, and he knows it.

Sources with direct knowledge about Don's situation tell us ... when the veteran anchor spoke with upper management this week to discuss his sexist comments and the path forward, he was told this was his final warning on such antics.

We're told it was communicated to Don in no uncertain terms ... the next time he insults his cohosts or creates a toxic environment (on or off-air) will be his last with the network.

Of course, we know Don agreed to these terms in addition to signing off on participating in formal training of some sort. The guy's set to return to his job Wednesday, so he's up to speed on all this.

It's interesting Don was given this ultimatum, especially since we've heard from people in his world that he's not happy at CNN -- not at all -- so the uneasiness is mutual.

As for why Don was given such a short leash -- well, the fact is ... he's pretty polarizing. DL's racked up negative headlines (for one reason or another) in recent years, and not just from criticism from people on the right.

There's another factor here too that must be on the minds of CNN Worldwide CEO Chris Licht and co. ... ratings. Not only were Don's numbers for his former primetime slot not strong enough to warrant him sticking around there ... ratings on his new gig have tanked.

Plus, we're hearing staffers at CNN are still on edge over Thursday's incident ... with one source saying the anger is real and hasn't died down. It's truly become a distraction.

One of the descendants of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is blasting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for suggesting red and blue states separate ... telling us her idea is "nothing short of treason."

Reverend Robert W. Lee IV, a collateral descendant of General Lee, tells TMZ ... by calling for a "national divorce," MTG is acting no better than the Confederates who fought against the Union during the Civil War.

MTG tweeted out the idea Monday, calling for Democratic and Republican voting states to split. While she didn't use the word secession, that's exactly what she's calling for ... and she claims everyone she talks to agrees.

While advocating for the creation of 2 separate governments, she also calls for the federal government to shrink.

Robert admits his ancestor, General Lee, would be totally on board with MTG's suggestion, but adds that's nothing to celebrate. Instead, he says the Congresswoman from Georgia is outing herself as a traitor, and he'd like to see more politicians condemn her statement.

Remember, Rev. Lee famously denounced racism and white supremacy at the 2017 MTV VMAs ... and he's been outspoken about taking down statues of Gen. Lee.

Don Lemon returned to his CNN morning gig Wednesday and, if you tuned in to see some fireworks on set or an apology from the anchor, you were very disappointed.

Instead, Lemon tweeted an apology about 30 minutes before appearing on CNN This Morning, nearly a week after he made sexist on-air remarks.

Lemon tweeted, "I appreciate the opportunity to be back on @CNNThisMorning today. To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry. “I’ve heard you, I’m learning from you, and I’m committed to doing better. See you soon."

Then Lemon opened the show with a rather dull segment alongside cohost Poppy Harlow in the studio while Kaitlan Collins was reporting from Warsaw, Poland, where she's covering President Biden.

Don commented on Biden's speech about Kyiv standing strong one year after Ukraine was invaded by Russia. He turned to Harlow and said, "Very powerful speech from the President."

Harlow responded, "Very powerful and juxtaposed to what we heard from Putin in the morning," referring to the Russian President's speech in opposition to Biden's.

Harlow then turned to Lemon and cheerfully added, "What a day. Good morning everyone, Don and I are here in New York. And Kaitlin is live again in Warsaw Poland."

There was no mention of Don's sexist on-air remarks from last week -- nor was there an on-air apology from Lemon. It seemed like they were playing the role of a happy family on set or, at least, that's how the hosts were trying to portray it.

But, behind the scenes, there's much tension. As we reported ... Don is one strike away from being canned by the network. Our sources say if he screws up again, he's out!

We're told senior CNN executives gave the final warning to Don when they spoke to him this week. Don might not be so sad if he leaves. We're told he's not happy at CNN anyway.

And last week's debacle only ratcheted up the tensions. As you know, Lemon made sexist comments on air about 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley calling her past her prime at 51.

Boston sports radio host Tony Massarotti made a racially insensitive joke on air about two Black men on Friday ... and on Monday, he apologized for it, calling the comments "insensitive" and "hurtful."

Massarotti, a former sportswriter for The Boston Herald and The Boston Globe, was on the mic for his "Felger & Mazz" show on 98.5 The Sports Hub when he asked his cohost, Michael Felger, who was doing the show remotely, about two Black guys sitting behind him.

"I wanna know now who the two guys behind you are," Massarotti asked Felger, who was doing the show from a New Orleans hotel, according to WCVB.

"They can't hear us, right? Okay, so I would be careful if I were you. Because the last time you were around a couple of guys like that, they stole your car."

Massarotti said he was attempting to "poke fun" at Felger -- who reportedly had his car stolen in New Orleans in the fall -- but admits his remarks "hurt the cause" for people who believe in racial and social equality.

"Late in the show on Friday, I made some comments that angered and upset some people, and rightfully so," Massarotti said. "I wish I could take them back. I can't."

"So I owe everyone an apology. It's not who I am. It's not who we are. I can tell you that until I'm blue in the face -- those of you who know me will believe it."

Tony also said his comments came off as "ignorant" and he was regretful for that. He also apologized to his cohosts for dragging them into the controversy.

So far, no punishment for Massarotti has been revealed by 98.5 The Sports Hub.

LeSean McCoy believes Eric Bieniemy's race is "absolutely not" the reason the NFL offensive coordinator is being passed over repeatedly for head coaching jobs ... explaining Monday he thinks, simply, the guy just isn't good enough for the gigs.

The former star running back -- who played under Bieniemy for one season in Kansas City in 2019 -- laid out his argument on FS1's "Speak" ... saying during his time with the coach, he didn't see much that would suggest he could be a successful head man.

Shady said while he was in K.C., Andy Reid ran the offense in almost every single way. He then claimed Bieniemy had "nothing to do with the pass game at all."

"What's his value?" McCoy asked of Bieniemy. "What makes him a good coordinator?"

Of course, many have believed the exact opposite of Shady -- saying Bieniemy did more than enough in his five years as Patrick Mahomes' offensive coordinator to prove he deserves an HC role. Some have insisted he's only been passed over because he's Black.

But, Shady shot that notion down after his co-host Emmanuel Acho asked about it on the show.

"People want to win," McCoy said. "The color thing, I get it. There should be more Black coaches. I definitely believe that ... They want to win. It has nothing to do with the color barrier at all."

It didn't take long for former Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles to rush in to defend Bieniemy, saying on Twitter he vehemently disagreed with McCoy.

"I learned so many thing for EB and I still keep in contact with him," Charlies said in a tweet, "a great husband and father. He deserves to be a head coach."

Even though McCoy was critical of Bieniemy, who just left Kansas City this month for a new role as the Commanders' offensive coordinator, he did say he's still rooting for his former coach.