Controversial S#!T

Penny Hardaway has been suspended for the first three games of the Memphis Tigers' upcoming basketball season after the NCAA says the head coach violated recruiting rules.

The NCAA says the violations happened when Hardaway and a Tigers assistant coach each made an in-home visit with a recruit -- a junior in high school -- during the 2021-2022 academic year.

"NCAA rules, as adopted by members, require any in-person contacts with recruits during the fall months of their junior year of high school to be made at the prospects' schools, not in their homes. As a result, these visits violated recruiting rules," the NCAA said on Wednesday.

"Due to his personal involvement in the violations, failure to monitor his staff's violations, and his failure to consult with the Memphis compliance department before making an in-home visit, the head coach also violated head coach responsibility rules."

The first visit was made by an assistant coach, and then two weeks later by Penny, who was hired as Memphis HC in 2018.

The Division I Committee on Infractions panel announced the three-game suspension, bluntly saying, "Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse."

Of course, this isn't Hardaway's first recruiting scandal ... the 51-year-old former NBA star was accused of giving then-prospect James Wiseman over $11k in 2017.

Actor Ioan Gruffudd has put his ex-wife Alice Evans on blast in new legal documents ... claiming she set up fake Twitter accounts to bash his new relationship, and allegedly threatened him with a "Johnny Depp and Amber Heard" ending.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Ioan says his time with Alice was nothing short of a nightmare -- starting with the claim that "a number of anonymous social media accounts" on the bird app would label Ioan and his girlfriend Bianca Wallace as "child abusers."

Ioan says Alice has "slipped up a number of times on these accounts," allegedly making it clear she's the one behind the harsh tweets.

BTW, their 13-year-old daughter Ella filed for a restraining order against Bianca earlier this month ... claiming she slammed a car door on her head and arm -- something Ioan's denying.

It doesn't stop at social media taunts, though ... Alice allegedly would scream at the actor -- even in front of Ella -- calling him an "abusive c***" and a "f***ing abuser." He says she even dumped milk on his and Bianca's bed -- writing "f***" over it with mustard.

Ioan even claims she threatened him by saying, "I'm going to tell my lawyer that you punched me last week. It's going to be like Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It's not going to end well for you!"

For those unaware, Ioan filed for divorce from Alice in 2021 after the couple tied the knot back in 2007 ... although Alice later claimed he had a 3-year affair with Bianca while they were together.

Ioan went on to get a restraining order against Alice in 2022, claiming she was threatening to spread lies about him and destroy his career if he ever left her. The new docs say Alice has repeatedly broken the restraining order, however.

Al Pacino's newborn son won't be pressured to follow in his famous father's footsteps ... the child's mother says the kid is free to pursue pretty much anything he wants.

We got Al's girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, Tuesday in Los Angeles and our photog asked if she's going to put their kid into acting.

Noor tells us her baby boy "can do anything he wants" ... so it sounds like he's going to have some say in his future, which is a good thing.

Al's much younger baby mama also told us she's excited for motherhood ... as we first reported, she recently gave birth to a boy they named Roman Pacino.

Of course, Al is 83 ... which means he will be 101 by the time Roman turns 18.

The clock's ticking for rescuers to find the 5 people missing on a sub aimed at exploring the Titanic wreckage ... but that's not stopping the stepson of one of the passengers from enjoying his favorite band, Blink-182.

British billionaire explorer, Hamish Harding, is among those onboard OceanGate Expeditions' Titan, a carbon-fiber submersible. Harding's stepson, Brian Szasz, posted about Harding's disappearance on Facebook Monday ... writing, "Hamish my stepdad is lost in a submarine thoughts and prayers that the rescue mission will be successful."

Just a few minutes after posting about the rescue mission, Brian revealed he was attending a Blink-182 show in San Diego, posting a pic of himself outside the venue.

Clearly recognizing some people might take it the wrong way, Brian writes, "It might be distasteful being here but my family would want me to be at the Blink-182 show as it’s my favorite band and music helps me in difficult times!♥️🙏🏽"

As we reported, OceanGate lost communication with Titan almost 2 hours into its journey down to the wreckage. The submersible has a 96-hour emergency supply of oxygen onboard -- which has likely dwindled to about 40 hours remaining.

It's not yet known where the Titan is, or whether the 5 on board are even alive.

We covered it all on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

Detroit Tigers star Spencer Torkelson absolutely lost it on an umpire after a strike call on Monday night ... going on an f-bomb-laced rant -- and the first baseman's whole temper tantrum was picked up on a hot mic!!!

The PG-13 scene played out in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Tigers' tilt with the Royals at Comerica Park ... when Torkelson was up to bat with two runners on.

Down by just a run, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft was looking to help his team take a late lead ... but, instead, the game's homeplate ump rang him up on a borderline pitch.

Torkelson clearly hated the call -- and he immediately laid into the guy.

"Oh my f***ing God!" the 23-year-old screamed. "The f*** are you looking at?!?"

Somehow, Torkelson was able to make it back to his dugout without being ejected from the game.

It all ended up well for Torkelson despite the blowup -- the Tigers' next batter, Kerry Carpenter, hit a three-run home run that ultimately gave Detroit the win.

Andrew Tate is officially facing charges of human trafficking, rape and more in Romania ... this coming 6 months after the kickboxer-turned-social media influencer's arrest overseas.

According to Romanian prosecutors, Tate, his brother Tristan, and 2 local women were all indicted Tuesday. The Tate brothers, in particular, are also facing charges for allegedly setting up a criminal gang.

The brothers' legal team sounded optimistic in the wake of the indictment, telling local outlet Antena 3 ... they'll "embrace the opportunity to fight in court."

As we reported, Andrew and Tristan were arrested back in December -- they tried, but failed, to appeal a couple of 30-day extensions that kept them locked up until they finally got released from a Romanian jail in March.

They both were placed under house arrest after their release ... and Andrew's been busy on social media retweeting support from followers since Tuesday's indictment.

A comedian's relatively mild joke about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has landed her in hot water -- so much so, in fact, she's now worried about being apprehended internationally.

Jocelyn Chia, who has both Singaporean and American citizenship, is in the crosshairs of the Malaysian government right now ... this following a joke she cracked at a comedy club in NYC way back in April, referencing the doomed 2014 flight that was never found.

Her quip about it was honestly not even all that scathing or insensitive -- at least to Americans, but the Malaysian government apparently feels very differently ... to the point where it's now calling for her arrest and extradition to face potential criminal charges.

As insane as that sounds, it's true -- Malaysian officials have asked Interpol to help track down and haul in Chia so she can answer for what they call violations of online content laws they have ... which, for whatever reason, they believe can be applied to her -- even though she's not a Malaysian citizen. On its face, it would seem they don't have jurisdiction.

We got into some of that strange rationale with Chia Monday on "TMZ Live," and she told us she's genuinely concerned about law enforcement snatching her overseas and dragging her to Malaysia.

While Chia normally just worries about her material being funny, she now says she has another thing to consider while performing comedy -- especially internationally -- and that would be ... potential capture. Indeed, it's the stuff of nightmares and movies.

Dee Devlin is making it clear she's standing by Conor McGregor despite recent rape allegations ... jetting out to NYC this past weekend to spend a loving Father's Day with the UFC star.

McGregor shared photos of the couple's holiday celebration on his Instagram page Sunday evening ... and in the pics, you can see Devlin looked as in love with the 34-year-old as ever -- even though he was just accused of sexually assaulting a woman a week prior.

Wearing her engagement ring, Devlin was seen in the pics embracing McGregor ... and at one point, rubbing one of his feet. The two were also seen smiling ear-to-ear as they were surrounded by their three children.

"The Best Fathers Day yet!" McGregor wrote in a caption on the pics. "Happy Fathers Day, gents. God bless."

Devlin, who's yet to publicly comment on the accusations, has been dating McGregor for over a decade ... getting engaged to the fighting star back in 2020. McGregor just revealed last week they're expecting to have their fourth child later this year.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... McGregor was accused of kissing a woman without her consent, forcing her to perform oral sex, and then attempting to sodomize her during a violent attack inside of a restroom following Game 4 of the NBA Finals back on June 9 at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

But, Conor, through his attorney, has vehemently denied all of the allegations ... calling the woman's claims "a shakedown" attempt.

Henry Cavill was nowhere to be seen in the new 'Flash' movie -- a strategic move courtesy of James Gunn and co. -- but strangely ... Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot got the green light.

THR dropped this news, reporting on what went into the final cameo that teased a new Batman. According to them, there were a lot of moving pieces/re-shoots that went on right down to the wire ... with the final scene being reshot in January to include the character people see at the end as the "new Bruce Wayne." Spoiler ... it ain't BA or Michael Keaton.

Apparently, the ending underwent 3 different iterations before landing on what people saw in theaters. First -- when Warner Bros. was still part of AT&T -- the final scene was going to feature Ezra Miller's Barry Allen seeing Keaton's Batman and Sasha Calle's Supergirl.

After WB merged with Discovery, however, a couple of new lieutenants tweaked that a bit ... to include Cavill's Superman and Gadot's Wonder Woman -- in addition to Keaton and Calle.

This 2nd iteration came together when WB still thought Cavill had a shot of reprising the iconic role -- which was spearheaded and somewhat cemented by The Rock/'Black Adam' last year -- but got completely undone when Gunn came onboard as the new DC chief.

When Gunn was hired, THR says he completely scrapped the new ending which featured Gadot, Cavill, Keaton and Calle -- and, instead, opted to insert a former Batman actor as a little nod to the canon ... George Clooney.

The reported rationale for this is that Gunn and co-DC chief Peter Safran didn't wanna give fans of the Snyder-verse any false hope about these characters returning in their new revamped universe ... so they got rid of the two cameos at the end and went another way.

Here's what's strange about this ... while Gunn and Safran might've nixed Gadot from the final scene -- they still allowed her to make a cameo earlier in the movie. And ditto for Affleck, obviously, as it'd been well-known for quite a while that he'd be in this flick.

So what we're getting at is this ... it appears there was selective casting for 'The Flash.' Gunn and Safran were ultimately cool with Gadot and Affleck getting some screentime (if not for the last time) but for whatever reason ... they don't seem to have been okay with HC getting a final bow as the Man of Steel. This looks to be backed by their huge about-face with him.

Now, the question ... what might Gunn and Safran have against Cavill, who really appears to have been screwed out of the DCEU in this transition? In reality, probably nothing, but what's become evident in the past few months is that Gunn has his sights on a new Supes.

The new DC head has already said he's starting his new universe with 'Superman: Legacy' ... and due to that, it tracks that he'd wanna lose any trace of Cavill's Superman as soon as possible. In fact, if he'd been hired pre-'Black Adam' -- you could argue he likely would've nixed that whole post-credit cameo ... which, in the end, amounted to just fan service.

It seems like conservatives have just learned the Oscars will be different going forward -- namely, having new inclusivity rules for eligibility ... and, yes, the outrage is in full swing.

Here's the deal ... the Post ran a story citing unnamed Academy voters who are apparently angry about AMPAS's forthcoming rule change for Best Picture contenders. Starting in 2024, there are certain requirements films will have to meet to be considered for the category.

As the article notes ... there are revamped criteria for Best Picture nominees starting next year, not to mention every year after that. Those rules, in a nutshell, include -- 1) having a lead or significant supporting character from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; 2) having a main storyline that focuses on an underrepresented group; or 3) at least 30% of the cast must come from underrepresented groups (be it ethnic, LGBTQ+, disabled, etc).

There's more to it -- which you can read on AMPAS's site -- but essentially ... this is what the new classification boils down to. Movies have to reflect a diverse melting pot and POVs.

Right on cue, several right-wing media/Twitter personalities jumped on this news (which isn't actually new, but more on that later) and started to accuse the Academy of going "woke."

One such dude, Darren Grimes, writes ... "So it's no longer Best Picture then. It's now the film that appeases diversity tsars the most that wins. Award ceremonies are meaningless, Hollywood has slaughtered them on the altar of woke." Clearly, he isn't on board.

Another conservative figure, Charlie Kirk, reflected this position himself ... "Under new rules for the Academy Awards, no film can win Best Picture unless it hits arbitrary diversity quotas. Under this rule, The Godfather, Lord of the Rings, or Saving Private Ryan would all be ineligible.  This is what they mean by 'diversity' but it’s the opposite of diversity. They want a uniform, politically correct monoculture devoid of any creativity or free expression."

If you hop into the 'Best Picture' trend that's on Twitter right now ... you'll see more takes like this -- anger, indignation, outrage ... and on and on. Strangely enough, word of these changes have been reported on for a few years now ... so everyone's late to the party here.

As to their point about former Best Picture winners not being eligible under these new guidelines -- yes, that is technically correct. Whether that helps or hurts the film industry, at large, though is certainly debatable ... and we're sure this convo will continue as we get closer to the 2024 award show. Ya gotta figure ... AMPAS's heart is in the right place here.

BTW, a few notable celebs have actually sounded off on this issue too of late -- including one Richard Dreyfuss ... who was recently asked about it on a PBS-ran program.

The guy didn't bite his tongue on how he felt -- however if you listen to his response closely ... it becomes clear he either misunderstood the question or conflated it with another topic in Hollywood ... namely, accurate casting. In any case -- RD isn't a fan of this either.

Conor McGregor isn't hiding under a rock after a woman accused him of sexual assault -- he's out and about in NYC, and still drawing a crowd wherever he goes.

The UFC fighter pulled up to his hotel in NYC Saturday night and was immediately swarmed by autograph seekers ... just as he was earlier in the day. McGregor happily stopped and signed for seemingly all of them, before bounding into the hotel.

He didn't have anything to say, though, when one of them asked how he was holding up.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... a woman claims McGregor took her into a restroom -- during Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Miami last week -- and forced her to perform oral sex, before attempting to sodomize her.

We also obtained 2 very relevant videos -- one shows McGregor holding the accuser's hand and leading her into a men's room at Kaseya Center arena.

Another video shows them hanging out together, still at the arena, about 30 minutes after the alleged assault would have happened. McGregor has flatly denied the sexual assault happened.

Meanwhile, the accuser's attorney, Ariel Mitchell, says her client acknowledges she was still around McGregor after the alleged assault, but says they were "visibly awkward" with each other at that point.

The accuser did file a report with the police, who are now investigating -- and McGregor's team believes he will be fully exonerated.

Kylie Jenner used a Tory Lanez song as background music in one of her latest social media posts ... and it's got people doing a double take -- perhaps rightly so.

The KarJenner influencer threw up a goofy TikTok Friday, where she's recording herself in the car and using a silly filter that makes her face look a little man-ish ... not to mention cartoonish. She's obviously enjoying it, hamming it up for the camera and posing.

It appears Kylie actually posted another video (without the filter on), but deleted it after.

Here's what's got folks scratching their heads ... a snippet of Tory's song, "Hurts Me," is playing over Kylie's vid -- and, yes, it would appear she chose it herself. We should note ... this filter is being used a lot right now -- and it's being coupled with TL's song ... for reasons beyond us. This appears to be some sort of a new challenge ... and KJ got in on it.

Of course, the reason Kylie's getting a little side-eye over her use of the song is the fact that she was tangentially tied to the Megan Thee Stallion shooting ... at least at first, anyway.

You'll recall ... the shooting took place after Tory, Meg and some other friends were hanging out at Kylie's house back in 2020 -- where they were chillin' in the pool and partying it up. In fact, attorneys during Tory's trial actually suggested he was flirting with Kylie that night.

As the story goes ... Meg appeared to be angry with Tory for seemingly trying to get with Kylie, and she left the kickback early ... with Tory staying behind. Eventually, Meg and her pal Kelsey came back for him -- and everything went downhill from there in the SUV.

As prosecutors argued in court, Tory allegedly shot at Megan ... and she was injured as a result. A jury found that to be true, and he was convicted on felony gun and assault charges.

Seeing how this whole thing kicked off at Kylie's crib ... some feel it's strange that she's publicly embracing Tory's song, even if it is in jest. On its face, at least to some, it almost feels like she's taking sides ... this after remaining relatively neutral throughout the saga.

The other weird thing here is ... Kylie actually made a cameo in Meg's 'WAP' music video with Cardi B -- and that, at the time, seemed to be a sign of solidarity with MTS.

LeBron James heard the Nuggets talkin' spit about the Lakers during their championship parade on Thursday ... and now, the NBA superstar is clapping back HARD.

In case you missed it, Michael Malone threw shade at reports of LBJ considering retirement after losing to Denver in the Western Conference Finals ... cracking jokes and claiming he was going to hang it up for good, too.

There was also a cringe moment at the rally, where Malone was referred to as "the Lakers' daddy."

James is now unloading on the Nuggets franchise ... saying he was minding his own business in Europe when he found out about the disses -- so he asked, "I'm on your mind that much huh???"

"I mean I guess I see why. 🤷🏾‍♂️," LeBron said on Instagram with a pic of him waving the starting flag at 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"But Wave the flag on these lames!! Please make being player cool again cause the lame machine is at an all-time high. Enjoy your light but just know I’m the SUN. I stay on forever!"

Gucci Mane had a few things to get off his chest on his new Lil Baby collab "Bluffin" ... an ode to cleaning up his act in and out of the rap game.

Midway on the track, Gucci took a shot at Wack 100's Clubhouse legacy, rapping ... "I want my M's up to one, two, three, four, five one-hundred (Go)/I ain't arguin' on no internet, I'm not Wack100 (No)."

Wack eventually got wind of the lyrics and, although he and Gucci share plenty of mutual friends, vowed to return fire on a diss track of his own after the weekend is over.

The longtime manager of both The Game and Blueface doesn't rap per se, but seems to think he can beat Gucci at his own game.

A second gun video and yet another suspension won't cost Ja Morant his deal with Nike after all ... the Swoosh just announced it's still backing the NBA superstar.

In a statement released just minutes after Adam Silver banned Morant 25 games for waving a firearm on Instagram Live for the second time this year ... Nike announced it will not be severing its ties with the Grizzlies hooper.

"We are pleased that Ja is taking accountability and prioritizing his well-being," the shoe giant said. "We will continue to support him on and off the court."

For a while following the second gun video, it appeared the relationship was in jeopardy ... as the co. had wiped all of his signature athletic shoes from its app and website. But now, it's clear -- the two are moving forward in lockstep.

Of course, Ja has had a relationship with Nike dating back to 2019 ... and he's become one of the faces of the company -- releasing his first-ever Ja 1 shoe a few months back.

It all clearly makes a ton of dollars and sense for both sides regardless ... as even with all of the controversy surrounding him, Morant's Ja 1 "Hunger" colorway drop sold out in a matter of minutes back in late May.

Sukihana says she forgives YK Osiris for forcibly kissing her -- creating a frenzy of pissed off fans on social media -- and hopes the whole thing will serve as a lesson moving forward.

Suki's remained mostly silent since the incident at The Crew League in Atlanta over the weekend when the singer rubbed her bare shoulders, grabbed her face and forced a kiss as she was very clearly trying to fight him off.

YK apologized for the whole thing Wednesday on Instagram, and in a statement Friday, Suki says she's chosen to accept his apology, adding, "God always forgives me and I can always forgive others. My accepting his apology is not my excusing or lessening the severity of his actions. This is Destiny choosing to give grace to Osiris."

She also hopes the incident teaches YK a valuable lesson moving forward -- "to be more mindful and respect the personal boundaries of others."

Shortly after the incident, some people seemingly put the blame on Sukihana for YK's actions, as she makes music with sexual and sometimes suggestive lyrics.

Clearly, she saw that criticism as well, because she includes, "I am human, a woman, a mother and daughter before I am an entertainer. No matter what my lyrics express, I still have boundaries and a right to have them."

Finally, Sukihana says she's working toward getting "back to my life." The attention from the incident has been understandably tough ... she concludes, "I am giving YK the grace and forgiveness that I wanted to be given to me as I was discovering and defining myself on this very public and sometimes unforgiving entertainment platform."