Controversial S#!T

Artificial intelligence now has the ability to mimic Kendrick Lamar's voice almost perfectly, and Young Guru says that's cause for concern -- not just in the music biz, but for all mankind.

The venerable studio engineer, who's worked on the bulk of Jay-Z's award-winning albums, sounded the alarm by posting video of a dude rapping bars into an audio filter which magically makes him sound exactly like the legendary Compton rapper!!!

It really is uncanny, and Guru felt compelled to share it with the public with an ominous warning ... "It’s not the tech, it’s the evil that men do with the tech."

He also highlighted another slippery slope: Voices aren't protected by copyright law, and he fears if the situation isn't addressed ... "deep fake" will become the new "I got hacked."

The hip hop community's already had a brush with AI thanks to Capitol Records' failed experiment, FN Meka, who was quickly shuttered by the label once it was deemed an offensive take on Black rapper stereotypes.

Dozens of music industry pundits, including superproducer Hitmaka, frowned upon the move ... fearing the end of human artists as we know them.

With so much concern over the digital landscape, all eyes will be on Def Jam this year -- the label recently signed a virtual NFT band consisting of a bunch of cartoon whales.

Maino is maintaining his now viral throat grab of YouTuber Buba100x was completely planned ... and, in fact, he says his theatrical performance should be his big break in Hollywood!!!

We caught the BK-bred lyricist fresh off his guest hosting gig on Angela Yee's 'Way Up,' and he tells us Buba100x intentionally failed to post the choke out ... in order to make folks think it was authentic. No one would flaunt themselves getting genuinely beat down ... right?

The incident happened a couple of weeks ago during the most recent Daniel's Leather fashion show ... Maino is seen slowly losing his temper as the vlogger continues pressing him to try on his chain, only to see the rapper grab him firmly by his throat!!!

Maino says jaws were dropping at the party because he and Buba100x sold it so well.

Social media users haven't reacted kindly to Maino's actions -- prank or not -- but he assures us he's not worried about backlash because that's what the internet does ... no matter what.

What Maino's not opposed to, is extending his stay on 'Way Up' to a more permanent situation.

He says Angela called him an on-air "natural," and having that kinda finesse is vital for a radio career.

Three crew members who say they were on the scene when Alec Baldwin shot Halyna Hutchins have just filed a new lawsuit ... claiming it was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Ross Addiego, Doran Curtin and Reese Price -- who say they were the dolly operator, set costumer and key grip on "Rust," respectively -- are suing Alec and the "Rust" production at large ... claiming they were 3 of 7 people in the church set the day the shooting happened.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the plaintiffs say there were countless safety protocols that were overlooked from the top down through the entire shoot ... which they insist led up to the killing, and which they allege rocked them to their core -- emotionally and otherwise.

For instance, the three crew members place a lot of the blame on what they claim was the producers' decision to use "operable firearms" during 17 of the 21 scheduled film days ... despite the option to use alternatives like replicas, rubber prop guns, or special effects.  They also point out many alleged safety shortcuts on set ... like not properly investigating previous accidental discharges that they say occurred prior to that fateful day.

Not just that, but the crew members say Alec and others screwed the pooch with the hiring of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, even though they say she "lacked essential experience."

The lawsuit also alleges Dave Halls cut corners when it came to safety protocols. And yet, they say Alec plowed ahead with them anyway ... all of which led to the death of Hutchins in 2021.

Speaking of the incident ... the plaintiffs describe it here too. They claim Gutierrez-Reed told Halls that she hadn't had a chance to check the gun before handing it off to him and that Halls took it and told AB it was "cold," without checking. Ditto for Alec, they say.

When Halyna and director, Joel Souza were hit by the bullet during a tech rehearsal -- the crew members allege they were forced to spring into action and assist, which they say haunts them to this day and has left them traumatized. Now, they're suing for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress ... and asking for unspecified damages.

Maino was caught in 4K disciplining popular YouTuber, Buba100x after one too many questions about his chain ... but the Brooklyn rapper is claiming it was all for clicks and views!!!

The melee went down at the Daniel's Leather fashion show earlier this month ... as Buba100x and Maino were conducting his typical TikTok style of interviews.

Buba100x made a crack about "beating Maino's ass" ... which immediately aged terribly when the Brooklyn rapper grabbed the jokester by his throat after his fuse was lit!!!

Further footage shows Maino pinning Buba100x down by his neck while reminding him of the consequences of ruffling his feathers!!!

Maino's co-hosting on Angela Yee's new show 'Way Up' this week ... and there's no way they were ignoring this topic, which was addressed head-on.

Maino claims he was 100% acting in the clip and wanted to sell the prank by making it look real with his angry emotions.

Farrah Abraham is defending her daughter's new face piercings ... she says there are trade-offs to raising a teenager and is glad her 14-year-old isn't experimenting with drugs, alcohol or sex.

The "Teen Mom" star tells TMZ ... she wants to support her daughter as best she can, and if that means signing off on lip and ear piercings she wanted for her birthday, so be it ... because Sophia could be doing a lot worse.

Sophia got lip and ear piercings for her 14th birthday ... but mom says she made sure professional piercers were involved ... and she says Sophia actually didn't end up getting all the piercings after a professional advised against it.

While parents are blasting Farrah on social media ... she says some need to look in the mirror, because plenty of teens her daughter's age are already boozing, experimenting with drugs, dating and having sex ... things she considers way more dangerous than a piercing.

Sophia got a septum piercing last year for her 13th birthday, which Farrah also defended ... but this time she's advanced to the lips and ears.

Darrelle Revis breezed into the Hall of Fame on the 1st ballot, but who's the greatest CB to ever walk on a football field??? TMZ Sports talked to the Jets legend, and while he didn't flat-out say it was Deion Sanders, he used a fascinating analogy to answer the question using two NBA legends.

"As Kobe is to Jordan, 'Revis Island' is to 'Primetime.'"

As great as Revis was, he openly admits he borrowed a lot from guys like Deion.

"I grew up watching Jordan. I grew up watching Kobe. Jordan would always say in interviews, ya know their relationship was pretty cool, so Jordan would always say 'Kobe always stealing my moves!' I think that's the same [with me and Deion]. I tried to mimic the greats as much as I could," Darrelle told us.

Of course, Revis, a 7x Pro Bowler, and 4x All-Pro was the best cornerback of his generation during his 11-season career. Darrelle won a Super Bowl alongside Tom Brady and the Patriots at Super Bowl 49.

DR racked up 29 interceptions ... but more than the picks, he shut down half of the field.

Alongside Sanders and Revis, there are other players n the conversation for the greatest CB ever. Rod Woodson, Charles Woodson, Darrell Green and Champ Bailey are considered legendary players. There are also old-school guys deserving of recognition... players like Mel Blount, "Night Train" Lane, Willie Brown, and Mike Haynes.

Revis makes it clear ... he borrowed from anyone who was talented and could help up his game, and they helped him get to where he is now.

"If it wasn't for a lot of his influence and a lot of other guys that are great influence, how could I be here? So I think they were the stepping stone to help me become a better player and play the game we all love."

Revis joins fellow Jets legend, Joe Klecko as part of the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame class ... and with Browns all-time Joe Thomas, is the only 1st ballot HOF'er in the group.

As for his speech, Darrelle says he hasn't yet started writing.

"I'm still tryna collect all the thoughts," Revis said, adding ... "I wanna make sure it's very personable."

Bryan Kohberger -- the alleged quadruple Idaho murderer -- could die by bullet if he's convicted ... that is, assuming a local lawmaker there can get a new bill passed into law.

Rep. Bruce Skaug, a Republican state congressman, introduced legislation last week in Idaho's House -- calling on firing squads to be reinstated as a means of execution ... but only on the condition that lethal injection chemicals are unattainable in a timely manner. In other words, if you can't shoot 'em up ... shoot 'em. That's literally the essence of the bill.

Indeed, the language spells it out clear as day -- lethal injection should be the #1 option if it's on the table, but if it's determined by Idaho's DOC that the drugs needed to put someone to death intravenously aren't within reach in a matter of 5 days after a death sentence is issued ... there should be no delay in opting for a firing squad to do the job.

Apparently, the reason this is being floated at all is because it's actually quite difficult to get a hold of the lethal injection cocktail -- in Idaho, anyway. Skaug says there've been too many people sitting on death row avoiding their due justice 'cause there's no viable way to off them under the current parameters/available resources. His solution ... do it old school.

Skaug's bill says the director of the IDOC can figure out the logistics behind how to deploy a firing squad, what kind of weapons to use and whatnot -- but he's saying they oughta be brought back. BTW, fun fact ... firing squads were technically legal in Idaho until 2009, although they weren't used there in the state in recent history. Other states have though.

The last guy to die by firing squad in the U.S. was Ronnie Lee Gardner back in 2010 out in Utah. Utah also used them in 1977, for murderer Gary Gilmore. It's rare, but it happens sometimes.

Now, as for whether this bill actually has a chance at passing ... well, we'll see. It still needs a public hearing in the Ways and Means committee before even being considered to be sent to the full House for a vote. Only then will we know if other lawmakers are into the idea.

Hip-hop heads have been debating for weeks about a new all-time greatest rapper list that has Jay-Z at #1 -- but now Lil Wayne has entered the chat ... and he says he's the G.O.A.T.

Weezy said as much this past week during an appearance on Zane Lowe's Apple Music podcast show, where the topic of Billboard's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time -- which they published on Feb. 8 -- came up ... and to LW's surprise, he clocked in at only #7, below several others.

The outlet has Biggie, Eminem, Tupac, Nas, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z ahead of him, respectively -- but Wayne begs to differ on all of them, especially among those still living. He says straight up, he's #1 ... and even dares survey-takers to ask the guys ranked higher than him how they feel about it. In his view, he thinks they'd agree ... Wayne is greater than them.

Per usual, this is all subjective ... and it's not really clear what sort of criteria Billboard is even following in deeming anyone better than the other. From the looks of it, it seems like they're pegging Jay as top dog because of overall success -- which he's certainly achieved.

But, if you check Twitter ... it appears many are agreeing with the notion that Wayne is, in fact, better than Jay-Z -- both in terms of rap skill and cultural impact, which really should be how these things are measured. Fact is, Weezy is still spittin' fire in 2023 (see the new DMX collab) ... whereas one could argue Jay isn't really rapping like he used to at his peak.

With that said, their numbers are comparable ... Wayne has 3 #1 hits (Billboard Hot 100) and Jay has 4 #1s of his own. However, Wayne has 25 of his songs in the top 10 historically, whereas Jay only has 22 in the same category. So, on a song-for-song basis ... they're close.

Even on an album count, Jay's 14 #1s to Wayne's 9 (Billboard 200) has 'em almost tied.

We suppose this question is really in the eye of the beholder, but can probably be answered honestly with one simple question -- in your heart of hearts, whose music are you actually bumpin' at the function? And who, truly, has the more memorable repertoire overall???

King Charles might have to get on the mic and croon a tune at his own coronation if Buckingham Palace can't find big-name talent ... which they're reportedly struggling to do.

According to multiple British media outlets that say they're in the know on this, Charles and co. have whiffed on some major players that could've potentially been booked for the May ceremony ... where KC will be officially crowned as the new sovereign in all his glory.

The Sun reports that 3 HUGE stars apparently told the Royals, of late, that they're unable to attend and/or perform ... including The Spice Girls, Harry Styles and Sir Elton John (who's a knight, no less). The reason for preemptively getting out of it ... conflicting schedules.

In Elton's case, he's on his farewell tour ATM ... and around early May (when the coronation goes down) he's actually scheduled to do a slate of shows in Germany before and after the ceremony. Per the Sun, going to and from in that short window isn't feasible.

As for Harry -- who's also touring, and never seems to really stop -- he technically has availability in early May to potentially squeeze in a BP gig ... but the Sun says it's going to be too hard for him to get bandmates together for that, and that they need "downtime."

And, when it comes to the Spice Girls ... apparently, it's too many schedules for too many ladies. That's about all the Sun has to say about that -- so, they ain't performing either.

Of course, there's also Ed Sheeran and Adele ... whom the Palace also reportedly approached, only to be shot down. DM reports both told the King they couldn't do it -- with Ed citing touring conflicts, and Adele apparently not offering (or having) a specific reason.

So, who's actually going to do the gig? At this point, the British media seems to be in agreement that Lionel Richie, Take That (minus Robbie Williams), Olly Murs and a handful of other not-as-famous music acts are in line to step up and carry the torch for HRH.

Those who speculated COVID-19 might've arisen from a lab in China -- meaning it was created by scientists and accidentally escaped -- appear to have been right all along.

Per the Wall Street Journal -- which says it's reviewed an internal report by the U.S. Energy Dept. that was apparently shared with the White House and Congress recently -- the lab leak theory seems to hold true, at least based on their own investigation and findings.

The DoE's classified intelligence report concludes COVID likely slipped out into the public via a "mishap" at a lab in China -- unclear which one though, or under which exact circumstances -- and that they've reached this new determination with fresh intel. However, the report also notes their confidence is "low" in terms of being absolutely sure here.

Here's the thing ... the FBI arrived at a similar assessment in '21 on the origin of the virus -- through their own investigation -- but not every government agency agrees. In fact, there are 4 other (unidentified) agencies, as well as a national intelligence panel, that still feel it may have emerged through natural transmission ... but their confidence in that is also "low," according to WSJ. In other words, no one really knows -- but everyone has a good guess.

So, while this Energy report is far from a definitive say on how COVID came about -- it does open the door for debate ... which was widely shut down as conspiratorial 2-3 years ago, when regular folks were suggesting it might have been something man-made/man-spread.

In fact, some claimed they were being outright censored on social media for spreading this type of theory ... which was being written off at the time as misinformation, and some even went so far as to say it was racist and xenophobic in nature to even suggest the lab leak.

Woody Harrelson raised more than a few eyebrows during his "Saturday Night Live" appearance ... this after the actor went all conspiratorial on COVID vaccines ... something he's done before.

Harrelson leaned in on COVID as this week's SNL host, delivering a rambling opening monologue about smoking a joint and parking himself against a tree in Central Park while reading the "craziest script."

After 6 minutes, Woody got to the point, and it was sumpin' ...“So the movie goes like this: The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes. And people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs and keep taking them over and over.”

He wrapped it up this way ...“I threw the script away. I mean, who was going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day.”

Social media wasn't amused. TV producer, Lee Goldberg tweeted, “Thank you, @nbcsnl, for Woody Harrelson’s insipid anti-vax monologue.”

A second person wrote, "That's NOT COOL! I lost the best mother figure to me & my sister that we had who died only 4hrs after contracting the f***ing virus!"

Another person chimed in, "This Guy IS a joke."

Glynn Turman tells us why Black elementary school kids getting racist drawings during Black History Month isn't a story that shocks him ... and he's got some incredible words for the kids that were apparently targeted.

We got the longtime actor at Wally's in Bev Hills ... and, as he puts it, hatred like this is deeply rooted in America's DNA, which is why it's an incident we should've seen coming -- and he calls out the lack of education as a reason why.

Glynn says we can't keep burying racism in this country, pointing to this vulgar act as an example. He's also got words of wisdom for Black kids who are facing hatred like this in schools today ... check it out, it's incredibly powerful.

As we reported, drawings saying things like "To my favorite cotton picker" and "You're my favorite monkey" were passed out at Pepper Tree Elementary School in Upland, CA ... needless to say, parents of the targeted students were outraged.

The old "Crying Indian" commercial that used to play in the '70s -- which was meant to be a PSA against pollution -- is never going to be aired again ... now thanks to its new owner.

Nonprofit Keep America Beautiful is the OG creator of the ad, several variations of which they shot and ran with the help of actor Iron Eyes Cody ... who was the face of the campaign and who'd often be depicted in Native American regalia/crying at the sight of litter.

While their intentions might've been in the right place at the time, the PSA hasn't aged well ... with many Native American groups having since said it pushes hurtful tropes and stereotypes.

As a result, KAB has given up its claim to the PSA at large and transferred ownership to the National Congress of American Indians, which says it's retiring all of the promos and will monitor to make sure it's never played without historical context. In other words, this won't ever be played unironically as a real anti-littering message ... like it once was for years.

A rep for the Congress says, "NCAI is proud to assume the role of monitoring the use of this advertisement and ensure it is only used for historical context; this advertisement was inappropriate then and remains inappropriate today. NCAI looks forward to putting this advertisement to bed for good." It also seems like this is partially due to Cody's legacy.

At the time, he was all in on this campaign ... but his work in Hollywood -- where he starred in upwards of 200 films, often portraying a caricature of a Native American character -- has many in the community feeling like he's not the best representation of actual environmental work that real Native American people are involved in today ... especially all these years later. One activist says the "Crying Indian" appears to have no agency in the problem.

The creator of the classic comic strip, 'Dilbert,' may have just lined up the final nail in his coffin when it comes to newspapers running his stuff ... via a racist rant about Black people.

Scott Adams posted a new episode to his podcast Wednesday, where he discussed a poll he says was put out by Rasmussen ... which cites 53% of Black Americans agreeing with the phrase "It's okay to be white," meaning almost half of the respondents surveyed didn't necessarily agree, sending Adams into a tirade about the ramifications of that, from his POV.

Check out what he said ... because it's truly something. SA launches into a tirade about how white people should simply stop trying to help African-Americans in this country, because it always backfires and only festers hate from Black people's side. That's his takeaway.

He also goes so far as to say that Black people, at large, are a hate group ... with his rationale being -- if they're not okay with the phrase, they're trafficking in racial bigotry.

Adams went on to distinguish the differences between white and Black neighborhoods -- invoking Don Lemon, no less -- and ended with the cherry on top ... namely, his suggestion that white citizens steer clear of Black people ... 'cause it's just more trouble than it's worth.

As hostile and antagonistic as that sounds, Adams insists he's tried being an ally to Black folks throughout his life ... so much so, he apparently started *identifying* as Black too. 🤔

Welp, that was enough for some major flagship news operations to kick him and 'Dilbert' to the curb -- including Gannett, which runs and publishes USA Today ... which now says it's done with him and will no longer continue to print 'Dilbert' comics in any of its papers.

The Plain Dealer -- a Cleveland publication -- announced the same shortly thereafter ... but it's actually late to the game. Several other newspapers in recent years have already dropped Adams/'Dilbert' ... upwards of 77 under Lee Enterprises and the SF Chronicle too.

Paris Hilton says she had a TERRIFYING run-in with Harvey Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival when she was a just teenager.

Hilton told Glamour UK mag she was having lunch with a female friend at the festival in 2000 when Weinstein walked over to their table and asked if she wanted to be an actress.

The then-19-year-old Hilton says she responded, ‘Yeah, I really want to be in a movie.’ Paris says she was impressed by Weinstein and thought he was "cool" at the time.

Weinstein then allegedly hit on her, explaining, ‘Well, we should have a meeting. You can come up to my room and read scripts’… and I just didn’t want to go, so I never went.”

But, the next night, Paris says Weinstein followed her to the ladies bathroom at the festival's annual amfAR gala for AIDS research and screamed at her, “Ya wanna be a star?”

Paris says Weinstein then tried to open the bathroom door and started banging on it with his fist. But, Paris says, she refused to open the door and told Weinstein, ‘I’m in a stall, why do you want to come in here?’

Security eventually arrived and escorted Weinstein out -- btw, he was hosting the event. As Weinstein was led away, he allegedly went bonkers, stating, "This is my party!" Paris admits, "It scared me and freaked me out.”

Through a spokesperson, Weinstein told Variety that Paris' story was "probably false."  The disgraced film producer went on to say "he had always treated Paris Hilton with the utmost respect and kindness, and always believed they had a cordial relationship.”

As you know, Weinstein was sentenced Thursday at his L.A. trial to 16 years in prison for sexual assault. He is also serving 23 years for a 2020 rape conviction in New York.

Nick Cannon says it's not up to him how many kids he ends up having ... he's leaving it to a higher power.

Nick told "Entertainment Tonight," "God decides when we're done, but I definitely got my hands full." The father of 12 says his procreating prowess could last for decades ... "And I'm so focused. I'm locked in. But, when I'm 85, you never know I might [have more]."

His latest addition is Halo Marie ... the proud mom being Alyssa Scott.

And, of course, there's Legendary, Rise, Onyx, Golden, Powerful, Zion, Zillion, Beautiful Zeppelin, Moroccan and Monroe ... hard to keep track.