Controversial S#!T

Stanley Wilson Jr.'s family claims the ex-NFL player didn't simply collapse and die while in police custody last month ... they believe he was actually beaten by law enforcement officials before he passed away.

The attorney representing Wilson Jr.'s family, John Carpenter, said at a news conference on Tuesday photos of Wilson Jr.'s body show the Detroit Lions cornerback was a victim of excessive force before he died suddenly at a Los Angeles County mental hospital on Feb. 1.

Carpenter said pictures of abrasions on Wilson Jr.'s head appear to show he was kicked or stomped. Images of markings on his wrist, meanwhile, seem to reveal he was cuffed at the time of the attack, Carpenter said.

Wilson Jr.'s mom, Dr. D. Pulane Lucas, said county officials had told her the former football player had collapsed and fallen out of a chair while going through the intake process at Metropolitan State Hospital before he died. But, Carpenter said the photos show a "stark contrast to what we've been hearing."

Carpenter filed three claims against L.A. County on Tuesday morning over it all -- one on behalf of Wilson Jr.'s mother, one on behalf of his father, and one on behalf of his estate -- asking for damages in excess of $45 million.

"The County has grossly misrepresented the cause and circumstances of Stanley Wilson Jr.'s death," the attorney said in the court filings.

Carpenter added during the news conference that he has yet to receive Wilson Jr.'s autopsy results.

As we reported, Wilson Jr. had been in custody following his vandalism arrest back in August ... but after he was declared incompetent to stand trial -- he was transferred from county jail to the Metropolitan State Hospital, where officials say he died.

Law enforcement sources told us at the time foul play was not suspected.

Robert Blake getting left out of the Oscars "In Memoriam" tribute was a big mistake on The Academy's part -- at least, according to the late actor's son, who's also pissed his dad's death was a punchline.

Noah Blake tells TMZ ... people are allowed to have their own opinion about his father -- which obviously many have -- but he says when it comes to an annually anticipated segment like the Oscars Memoriam, opinions shouldn't be a factor.

He also points out his dad wasn't the only one left out ... as you know, stars like Tom Sizemore, Anne Heche, and Paul Sorvino were excluded from the broadcast. It's something that seems to happen every year, and Noah thinks it once again wasn't handled well.

Noah also gave us his thoughts on Jimmy Kimmel's joke about whether or not to include Robert in the segment -- obviously, he found it to be in poor taste. He also says it landed flat, because he was confused if the "interactive portion" was legit or just a gag.

For what it's worth, the audience laughed ... clearly getting it was a gag.

He adds he doesn't usually believe in jokes being "too soon," but points out the fine line Jimmy was walking on when he poked fun at the actor.

Noah tells us he's going to go live on Instagram at 5:30 PM PST Tuesday to talk about his dad and his life.

Furious Five rapper Melle Mel isn't backing down from his condemnation of today's hip hop -- in fact, he tripled down when asked if he's feeling the burn from all the backlash.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the pioneering MC and he made it crystal clear he still feels he's better than the likes of Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. Then he went deeper, saying the music industry has pushed destructive tropes that pollute everyone's ability to know what good music actually sounds like.

Put in less PC terms ... Melle says today's rappers can barely rap, and they're just street guys with a sensational message!!!

In contrast, he points to his group's iconic record, "The Message," which spoke out against the guns and drugs that have buried so many hip hop artists over the last 20 years.

The 61-year-old vet says he can easily make a terrible song that glorifies negativity, but he wants to make music he can "stand behind." Melle added he's serious about making a comeback to show and prove himself.

Rap music fans let Melle have it all last week following his viral interview clips, but he gave a special shoutout to Public Enemy and Busta Rhymes, who all gave him props for shaking the table.

Hugh Grant was borderline insulting to Ashley Graham on the red carpet before the Oscars ... barely answering her questions in a cringeworthy interview.

Grant, who later in the night referred to himself as a scrotum, seemed he could not be less interested as Graham peppered him with basic questions.

As for what he was wearing, everyone knows the drill ... Valentino, Mugler, Armani. Hugh's answer -- "Just my suit."

She also tried complimenting him on his cameo in Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" -- and his answer was worse than an eye roll.

When Hugh got onstage before his peers, he seemed way more interested -- way more engaged.

Hugh presented the award for Production Design with his "Four Weddings and a Funeral" co-star Andie MacDowell.

He called himself a scrotum, but on the red carpet, he was scrotum adjacent.

Two L.A. restaurants connected to Tom Sandoval have seen brutal reviews in the wake of his scandal ... it's gotten so bad, Yelp's put the kibosh on the whole thing.

The negative comments target TomTom and Schwartz & Sandy's -- both co-owned by Tom Schwartz and Sandoval -- with all the gnarly reviews coming after Tom's affair with 'VPR' costar Raquel Leviss went public.

One reviewer shared a pic of a Raquel-inspired cockroach they claim they "found" while dining -- dragging Raquel's looks and Tom's band, which the reviewer says sounds like "Freddy Krueger scratching on a chalkboard."

Critics also talk about patronizing a different eatery -- Something About Her -- AKA Ariana Madix's sandwich shop.

And there's this ... "TomTom's a place for pigs and homewreckers."

It didn't get much better over at Schwartz & Sandy's ... with some again calling out the "cheaters" and saying Tom should live in a cave.

Yelp had to pull the plug on reviews for both restaurants ... telling users there's been an influx of reviews because of public attention, so the site hit the pause button while staffers determine if these are real customer experiences.

Jimmy Kimmel addressed last year's Oscars slap during his opening monologue -- and he did it just like most everyone thought he would ... with a joke and a jab, and a warning.

The 3-time host was back Sunday to take on MC duties, and his remarks at the top of show did not dodge the elephant in the room. It took a while for JK to get to the slap -- sprinkling in shots at A LOT of other stars beforehand -- but when he did ... he went in.

Watch ... Jimmy made fun of showrunners from 2022 -- saying they had a crisis team in place tonight, but noted that if anything did happen ... he expected them to do what they did last year ... absolutely nothing. He even joked that if anyone did assault someone else this time, they'd be awarded Best Actor, given a stage for a speech and a hug to boot.

He also made sure to mention that they want people to feel safe, and that no violence would be accepted ... then roping in a ton of stars into possible protection he might have to activate if anyone tried going after him for a joke they didn't like. He name-dropped Michelle Yeoh, Michael B. Jordan, Andrew Garfield, Pedro Pascal, Steven Spielberg and others as people any would-be assailant would have to get through if they want to rumble on stage.

A little earlier in the monologue, Kimmel appeared to again reference the slap while talking about all the Irish actors nominated this year ... joking there could be another fight.

The whole gag got a lot of laughs and seemed to be well-received. He never said Will or Chris' name -- but really didn't need to ... he made his point and did it in stride and comedy.

All things considered, it was a good bit ... and hopefully it puts the whole matter to bed.

Here's hoping everyone takes Jimmy up on his caution and keeps their hands to themselves for the rest of the night. The focus of the broadcast should be movies ... not battles.

D.L. Hughley is pushing back against folks who say Chris Rock deserved to be slapped by Will Smith for making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith ... he finds the narrative extremely ironic.

The comedian ripped into The Root's Candace McDuffie, who went on CNN and claimed Chris had it coming after years of targeting Black women with his jokes, saying she's got it all twisted.

D.L. says Chris isn't punching down on marginalized women, as Candace believes, but rather making fun of celebs who put their business out in the streets ... he says it's all fair game.

The irony for D.L. ... Candace thinking the violent slap was justified while a comedic response goes too far, and everyone's allowed an opinion except for the man who actually got smacked in the face on live TV.

Lukas Gage has made quite a name for himself in Hollywood -- carving out a career that, oftentimes, includes him playing LGBTQ+ characters ... even though he won't self-identify.

The actor recently did an interview with NYT, where he was asked about backlash he's received over the years from people and critics who say he's stealing opportunities from others who are actually in the LGBT community -- while playing coy about his own sexuality.

The interviewer referenced a moment last year where he responded to someone on Twitter accusing him of exactly that, to which he replied at the time ... "u don't know my alphabet."

In response to pressure about labeling himself now and going forward, Lukas says he gets it from all ends, explaining ... "All the time. An agent that dropped me was like, 'Stop dyeing your hair, stop wearing weird clothes and pick a lane: gay, bi or straight. It’s too confusing.'"

He adds, "I understand representation and voices that need to be heard, but I don’t want to do anything on anyone’s accord but my own. Let me do it when I’m ready. And it’s acting. I feel like everyone should get the opportunity to play whatever they want."

LG has portrayed LGBTQ+ characters and/or LGBT-adjacent in shows like 'White Lotus,' 'You,' 'Euphoria,' 'Love, Victor' and in movies like 'Down Low.' The dude has bared it all too on camera, including one from 'WL' where he stripped down for a racy gay sex scene.

Amid all the speculation on where he lands, he's also been rumored to have been romantically involved with some famous dudes in Hollywood ... but he hasn't confirmed anything on the record thus far ... just leaving it to speculation.

Jimmy Kimmel's hosting the Oscars again tonight, and a year out from the infamous slap ... the dude has been talking a lot about it, kinda turning the moment into a punchline.

The late night funny man has been doing a ton of press in the weeks leading up to the big gig -- his third such time handling MC duties for Hollywood's biggest show -- and yes ... he's been asked repeatedly about Will Smith smacking Chris Rock, and how he'll address it.

Here's a few quotes of JK's from the past couple weeks or so. When asked by THR what he would do if someone tries to pull a copycat and slap him, Kimmel said ... "If I’m bigger than they are, I beat the s*** out of them on television. And if it’s The Rock, I run."

A few days ago, as preparations were underway, Kimmel made another joke about carnage ...  with reference to the color of this year's walkup. He said, "People have been asking, 'Is there going to be any trouble this year? Is there going to be any violence this year?'"

He adds, "We certainly hope not. But if there is, I think the decision to go with a champagne carpet over a red carpet shows how confident we are that no blood will be shed."

In other words, he's been swearing off the brutality by teasing the possibility of more, albeit in jest. On the issue of actually talking about it in his monologue, Jimmy says he'll do it.

He's said in interviews that he's going to "squeeze just a couple more drops out of it" and give a take that he thinks no one has heard yet. Kimmel did note he doesn't plan on talking about it at length but says it's the elephant in the room and that it must be addressed.

As for the whole crisis team thing -- namely, AMPAS hiring a bunch of people to "deal" with any craziness that might go on -- JK says he isn't privy to it ... and knows nothing of the logistics of what they have planned or how they would implement him if things go south.

It's interesting that Jimmy's been making light of the slap as much as he has, and will presumably do so again come 5 PM. Ya gotta figure ABC and the Academy have signed off on it all ... they're the producers and showrunners of this thing, and they call the shots.

Neve Campbell skipped out on the latest 'Scream' movie due to money negotiations -- but the studio's decision to move on seems to have paid off regardless ... big time, in fact.

'Scream 6,' which just hit theaters Friday, smashed through an opening weekend box office record that the films before it had set ... raking in about $44.5 million domestically through Sunday, which blows out the previous benchmark set by 'Scream 2' years ago -- $32 mil.

Last year's "Scream V" came close to touching that, with about $30 mil through 3 days of a 4-day holiday weekend ... but this new figure is by and far the best any of these movies have ever done. Paramount's gotta be happy -- it only cost $35M to make this latest slasher.

Interestingly ... they achieved this without Neve, which was a gamble. Fact is, she's been the face of the 'Scream' franchise since the start ... and her decision to exit last year was controversial. She claimed Paramount wouldn't pay her what she thought she was worth.

At the time, Neve was quoted as saying ... "As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to 'Scream.' I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It’s been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my 'Scream' fans, I love you." Yeah ... scathing.

And yet ... her former costar, Courteney Cox, did take the money and sign on again -- reprising her role as Gale Weathers, and referencing NC's character, Sidney, in passing.

David Arquette -- another longtime fan fave, who was killed off in the last movie -- has actually been somewhat promoting "Scream VI" on IG -- but Neve hasn't uttered a peep about it ... focusing instead on other projects she's working on, including more horror stuff.

Funny enough, legacy characters (like Neve's) are actually alluded to in the new installment (yes, we've seen it). Ghostface, at one point, talks about how nobody cares about long-standing heroes from decades past ... and that the "rules" of re-quels have totally changed.

It would appear that sentiment held true in offscreen in real life as well, especially with a solid new young cast that everyone likes -- Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, etc. Oh, and Ghostface himself ... he's kinda the one who gets asses in seats ... or so it seems, anyway.

The Lufthansa flight from hell might never have become public if the airline had its way ... this according to a new report.

A passenger named Rolanda Schmidt told Insider ... when the plane plunged nearly 4,000 feet in extreme turbulence -- turning dinner service into what looked like a fraternity food fight -- a flight attendant got on the PA and asked everyone on the plane to delete photos and videos of the chaotic scene. The flight attendant allegedly made the request twice.

Schmidt said she and others were incredulous ...“I think we were all just like, ‘What?!'”

During the second announcement, the flight attendant reportedly said she was making the request to protect the privacy of those on board.

Schmidt says she's dealing with a concussion, a bruised arm and a possible fractured hip as a result of the 4,000 foot plunge.

Obviously, the flight attendant's request didn't take, and the images of the passenger cabin have littered the internet.

One of the passengers was Matthew McConaughey's wife, Camila Alves, who posted video with the caption, “To respect the privacy of those around me that’s all I am showing but the plane was a CHAOS And the turbulence keep on coming.”

Tiger Woods has fired back at his ex-gf, disputing her claim he had an oral agreement to let her live in his house and essentially support her for years ... in what is shaping up to be a hyper-nasty $30 million lawsuit.

Tiger's lawyers are challenging Erica Herman, who claimed in her lawsuit Tiger promised to support her and let her live in his house for at least 5 more years in return for services (she did not specify) -- this before he broke up with her a few months back.

According to legal docs, Tiger's lawyers said (BTW the house is partly owned by a trust)  ... "During their relationship, Mr. Woods invited Ms. Herman to live with him as his guest in the Residence. Mr. Woods never negotiated an oral tenancy agreement with Ms. Herman. Nor was there ever a written tenancy agreement between Mr. Woods or the Trust, on the one hand, and Ms. Herman, on the other hand. Mr. Woods never transferred to Ms. Herman any ownership interest in or rights of possession to the Residence."

Herman claimed in her lawsuit ... Tiger's people convinced her to pack a suitcase back in the fall for a "short vacation" -- without Tiger -- and drove her to the airport. Upon their arrival at the airport, Herman claims she was told the locks to the house were changed and she was out.

Tiger's lawyers claim the golfing legend did not throw Erica out in the cold ... rather, they say Tiger put her up in a luxury resort and gave her enough money for a new residence.

"SNL" eviscerated the Oscars Saturday night .... with a fantasy awards show that is absolutely hilarious!!!

The enforcer against a Will Smith redo is none other than Mike Tyson, played spectacularly by Kenan Thompson, who said, “I should warn you, the following things will set me off: clapping, statutes of gold people, shows that last more than three hours, and also hearing the phrase ‘the magic of movies.’”

Jamie Lee Curtis, who wore a dress right off the Costco rack, is equally funny.

But the best ... Tom Cruise showed up at the Oscars.  Well, it's actually Rep. George Santos, who slyly passed himself off as "Tom Q Cruise."

Ryan Garcia tells TMZ Sports Jake Paul would probably get "beat up" by Floyd Mayweather if the two ever got in the ring ... but he did put at least some respect on the YouTuber-turned-boxer's game -- saying he believes the tilt would at least go the distance.

A potential Paul vs. Mayweather fight appears to be in the works ... after the guys got into a heated back-and-forth outside of the Miami Heat game on Wednesday night.

So, when we got Garcia out promoting his upcoming match with Gervonta Davis out in LA this week -- we had to ask ... who'd win if the fight went down?

Garcia made it clear that despite his friendship with Jake, his money is on Floyd ... "but, guess what," he said, "Jake won't get knocked out."

His explanation for why was simple ... Mayweather couldn't KO Jake's big bro, Logan, in their exhibition match back in June 2021 -- and he obviously believes Jake's a better fighter.

As for the meetup in the streets this week ... Garcia called out Floyd for it all, saying it wasn't "right" to confront Paul with a huge entourage.

But, Garcia told us he isn't too worried about that matchup ... saying his focus is solely on Davis -- who he'll take on next month after years of smack talk.

Silicon Valley Bank collapsed this week, forcing the feds to step in and take over -- which is now having a ripple effect across the country ... and manifesting in a lot of fear nationwide.

ICYMI ... the FDIC took over SVB's operations Friday due to mass withdrawals that were happening among their many clients -- this after just about everyone got spooked by word of them trying to shore up more capital amid concerning investments (mortgage-backed securities and whatnot) that they'd made of late, which are starting to backfire/come due.

As a result, folks started to yank their cash out of the bank all at once ... which translates to a good old-fashioned bank run -- like the ones we saw during the Great Depression.

Some photos/video are starting to circulate on the internet, and the lines forming outside of SVB branches -- especially in the Bay Area, where they're mostly headquartered -- are quite startling. People are obviously flocking to try and recoup their money, but it might be too late at this point ... once the FDIC gets involved, a queue is formed -- and there's only a handful of guarantees they can make under federal law. The key figure, of course, is $250k.

The FDIC insures up to $250,000 for any given depositor in federally protected banks -- anything more than that isn't promised back though ... and reports indicate much of SVB's clientele -- typically steeped in the tech startup world, who often have boatloads of assets deposited -- might have way more than just that ... which may be lost when the dust settles.

On top of this, there are now reports of Wells Fargo accounts freezing for people who are trying to withdraw and transfer funds. Bank of America is also getting swept up in this -- both are trending, with a lot of Twitter users suggesting everyone get their cash out ASAP.

WF cited a "technical issue" their customers might be experiencing, but are saying not to panic. BoA's been quiet so far, but it also doesn't sound like anything concrete has happened just yet in their court -- just speculation/forecasts of things to possibly come.