Controversial S#!T

Carlee Russell's parents are backing her boyfriend's claim she fought for her life to escape an alleged kidnapper -- but they're very tight-lipped over just about everything else.

Talitha Robinson-Russell and Carlos Russell sat with 'Today' to talk about the case -- which has been shrouded in mystery ... and which has come under public scrutiny due to the scant and inconsistent details following Carlee's 48-hour disappearance.

Despite the growing skepticism ... Carlee's family is standing firm she was abducted ... echoing her story she escaped her abductor.

Her parents say she was in a bad state when she arrived at their house Saturday night -- and she's disturbed by people questioning her honesty.

As far as any other details, however ... the Russells are refusing to elaborate, citing an ongoing investigation.

Some feel like the facts of the case aren't lining up ... not to mention the police apparently having left out some pertinent information in terms of what they knew about her recovery and when. As we reported, first responders were discussing Carlee possibly having been located at a local motel in town ... but in their statement, they totally omitted that.

There are also questions about this alleged child Carlee claimed to have seen on the side of a highway the night she vanished. Police say they received no other reports, besides the 911 call from Carlee, of a missing child.

So if there is, in fact, an abductor and a possible kid at risk -- why haven't the police issued any kind of alert to that effect? That's what people are asking.

Fair queries, and yet ... still not very many answers.

Ridley Scott allegedly has his actors interacting with live animals on the set of "Gladiator 2" -- something PETA has become aware of, and which it's urging the production to halt.

The animal rights org fired off a handful of letters over the past few days -- all obtained by TMZ -- and they're aimed at the director and his big-ticket cast ... Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and others.

In the correspondence to Ridley, PETA says it's received whistleblower complaints alleging he's using both horses and macaque monkeys on set while shooting in Malta ... including a claim at least one of the horses recently collapsed. PETA is presuming the alleged collapse is due to extreme temperatures on the Mediterranean island.

It says, "Scorching summer heat and oppressive costumes are a dangerous mix for horses, who are naturally skittish animals, prone to flight and injury, and vulnerable to the stresses of a film set. The film and TV industries have a past riddled with on-set horse injuries and even deaths. We sincerely hope Gladiator 2 avoids adding another death to that list."

PETA also lists the dangers of working with live macaques, saying they're unpredictable and can hurt humans. They also say these monkeys are often ripped from their mothers at a young age for these types of film settings ... calling their alleged use unethical.

Despite the SAG-AFTRA strike, PETA says it's heard rumors "Gladiator 2" is continuing production this week, and asks Ridley to leave live animals out of it completely, suggesting he use CGI animals instead.

We've reached out to Ridley, Paramount, and the production company behind 'G2' ... so far, no word back.

BTW, we're told a similar letter was fired off to all the actors attached to 'Gladiator 2.'

Jordyn Woods and Kylie Jenner might be mending their relationship, but fans for both women aren't shy in voicing their opinions on the whole thing ... with some all for the rekindling and others totally against it.

The comment section on Jordyn's IG has become a very active chat room, where folks are expressing concerns over the model's rekindled friendship growing with Kylie. Kylie's comments are taking off too -- with a pretty mixed bag of reviews.

While some fans are supporting the move to be friends again, there's also a large portion who aren't ... in Jordyn's comment section, one user is bummed about her taste in pals, while another feels downright betrayed, commenting ... "Girl wtf was you doing out with Kylie after we fought vehemently for you." One fan even declared Jordyn's "better and happier" without Kylie by her side.

Kylie's comment section doesn't look much different than Jordyn's ... with fans offering up warnings on taking Jordyn back -- considering what happened the first time around.

While it's obviously not how either KJ or JW feels, the consensus among their fans is each is doing just fine after losing her former besties in the fallout of the Tristan Thompson drama.

TMZ broke the story ... Kylie and Jordyn had been hanging out for over a year, prior to their public sushi outing -- working on getting their friendship back to where it once was.

MLB legend Johnny Bench is sharing his regret after making an antisemitic comment about late Cincinnati Reds general manager Gabe Paul over the weekend ... admitting his words were "insensitive."

Several former Reds stars were in attendance to honor Paul's enshrinement in the franchise Hall of Fame on Saturday ... and at one point, Pete Rose made a comment about the Jewish executive's involvement in his first professional deal.

"When I got out of high school in 1960, Gabe Paul signed me to a contract for 400 bucks a month," Rose said ... to which Paul's daughter, Jennie replied, "That cheap ... never mind."

That's when Bench made his controversial comment ... adding, "He was Jewish."

Most of the crowd laughed at Bench's jab ... but the 2-time World Series champ later apologized for the comment.

"I apologized to Jennie for taking away from her father the full attention he deserves," Bench said. "Gabe Paul earned his place in the Reds Hall of Fame, same as the others who stood on that stage, I am sorry that some of the focus is on my inappropriate remark instead of solely on Gabe's achievement."

Fabolous thinks there's only one kind of female hip hop winning these days, and he's voicing his concern for the community ... despite recently helping City Girls promote the very same sound he's speaking out against!!!

On Sunday evening, Fab posted an IG story praising women for having complex stories to share, but criticized the output he's been hearing in the music.

It's not exactly a secret that female rappers are running hip hop in 2023 -- Ice Spice is currently tied with Morgan Wallen for most Billboard hits this year, and she's just a rookie -- but Fab hints only women who rap sexual lyrics are getting pushed to the forefront.

He might have a point ... Sexyy Red's "Pound Town" single sparked a huge debate last week on whether it was appropriate for her to perform the raunchy track for high school students, but fans are quick to point out Fab's opinion makes him a walking contradiction, thanks to his recent collab.

Back in May, Fab and City Girls were featured on Diddy's "Act Bad" single ... which highlights Loso rapping about buying girls' BBLs and proudly dealing with gold diggers, which understandably upset many female fans.

Awkwardness was in the air at Disneyland this weekend, where the studio forged ahead with their "Haunted Mansion" premiere amid the SAG strike ... without any of the cast in sight.

The premiere went down Saturday at the Anaheim park -- in front of the actual Haunted Mansion ride, no less. Like we said, none of the major stars who act in the film showed up -- obviously, they're showing solidarity with their union, which went on strike last week.

In their place, a bunch of randos walked the carpet instead ... including a handful of Disney cast members who were dressed up as 'HM' ghosts and even just regular Disney characters. There were also some influencers there -- Holly Madison and other Playboy-adjacent people -- plus some Disney Imagineers and composers/BTS folks tied to the movie as well.

The big names who were notably missing ... Lakeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Winona Ryder, Rosario Dawson ... and every other cast member. One person who did show was director Justin Simien.

He did some interviews with press, and said he was feeling "ambivalent" over the fact his cast couldn't speak for themselves ... while also expressing support for their cause.

Simien also addressed Disney chief Bob Iger's recent comments about the ongoing strikes -- where he said the union's demands weren't "realistic," while lamenting the fact they were hurting showbiz at large -- and JS walked the line ... saying he'd be happy to talk to BI to see where the gap is between what he wants and what actors at large are asking for.

It's a little unclear why Simien attended the "Haunted Mansion" premiere. We know he's part of the DGA, which recently struck its own deal with studio heads, and presumably ... he's obligated to go to this sort of stuff, despite the fact he says he's standing with the actors. Christopher Nolan did something similar at the UK "Oppenheimer" premiere last week.

In any case, he did his best to appease both sides, it seems. Dude's sorta stuck between a rock and a hard place right now ... as are a ton of other directors caught in this conflict.

Considering how empty this event felt -- ya gotta wonder if other studios will scrap their own premieres in the coming months. A lot of summer blockbusters already did their press, but there's still several big-budget flicks slated to be released through the rest of the year.

Jake Paul says he's a completely different fighter after experiencing the first loss of his boxing career ... and that could be bad news for Nate Diaz, 'cause The Problem Child tells TMZ Sports he's going to put his opponent on the canvas.

Jake and Nate are meeting in the ring for their highly anticipated fight in Dallas on August 5 ... and it's clear his defeat at the hands of Tommy Fury has him laser-focused on winning again.

"Man, I have the biggest chip on my shoulder, the biggest chip on both shoulders," Jake told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show. "Coming back with vengeance, refilled with that hunger that I had in the beginning of the sport to prove to people what I was capable of."

"The lion lost. I've retreated back into the jungle, I took notes of everything, I got better, I trained, and now this lion is going to come out and maul this dude. And he's gonna have to pay -- he's gonna have to pay for all this hard work, all this sacrifice I've made in this camp."

Jake added he's "100%" going to knock Diaz out ... but has no prediction on when it'll happen, 'cause he doesn't want to add any more pressure while he's in the ring.

Nate has only fallen twice via TKOs in his 20-year pro fighting career ...  one being a doctor's stoppage (vs. Jorge Masvidal), and the other coming against Josh Thomson in 2013, when the ref called the fight after a flurry of strikes.

It's time to let Barry Bonds into Cooperstown ... at least according to David Justice -- who tells TMZ Sports the SF Giants legend should be a Hall of Famer.

"Barry Bonds is the baddest dude of my generation," the former Atlanta Braves All-Star said this week. "The baddest dude of my generation. Bar none. Bar none."

Of course, despite being arguably the best baseball player ever ... Bonds has been essentially blackballed from the HOF after he was accused of using performance enhancing drugs during his career.

Justice clearly thinks that's all a joke ... telling us out at Kimpton La Peer Hotel in Los Angeles he feels that subjective way of thinking shouldn't ever be a part of Hall of Fame voters' thought processes.

"They already let guys in already that have been -- that have had tests done," Justice said, "that people know or have a pretty good circumstantial evidence that they've already let in."

Bonds clearly agrees with Justice ... he went on the "Hollywood Swingin'" podcast this week and said he belongs in the Hall because he was never convicted of using steroids.

Justice, though, says Bonds deserves at least some blame for the yearly snub ... saying he thinks the 58-year-old should have made more of an effort to ingratiate himself with baseball media during his career.

Luke Combs' cover of Tracy Chapman's hit, "Fast Car," has been dominating the country charts -- but amid its success ... some have wondered if racism is afoot in the genre.

Here's the deal ... think pieces have been published of late that delve into this topic -- including one from WaPo, which really kick-started this conversation -- and they're all posing the same question ... why didn't TC resonate with the same audience Luke has???

The answer that a lot of these articles seem to land on -- after interviewing subjects, etc. -- is that, even today, it's hard for Black artists to break through in country. And they're using the example of Luke thrusting new life into "Fast Car" as their exhibit A for that argument.

Of course, in reaching this conclusion ... the word "racism" is getting thrown around a lot.

In fact, the author of the WaPo article put it quite succinctly in promoting her work -- writing, "As Luke Combs's hit cover of Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car' dominates the country charts, it’s bringing up some complicated emotions in fans & singers who know that Chapman, as a queer Black woman, would have an almost zero chance at that achievement herself."

Unfortunately for her, it doesn't sound like the Internet's accepting her theory at face value ... and pushing back on the implication that "Fast Car" was some obscure song that's only now getting mainstream recognition -- while also trolling WaPo as reaching for outrage.

You can see how folks are reacting for yourself, but as many of them are pointing out ... "Fast Car" was a monster hit when it was released in '88, and helped Tracy break out into music, not to mention accolades that followed after, including Grammys and other awards.

Even commercially, the song killed ... soaring on a number of charts around the world, and peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 list at the time. Bottom line ... it seems like people are scoffing at the notion that Tracy's missing out/getting snubbed amid Luke's use of it.

And as others are also clarifying ... "Fast Car" was not originally released as country song -- and that, perhaps, the reason it's booming in the country scene right now is because a huge country star did their own rendition with it. That's also known as ... a crossover cover.

We're also just now getting to a huge part of this ... namely, the fact that Tracy has gone on record to applaud Luke for his cover -- and more importantly, the enormous amount of royalties this has generated for her ... seeing how she's the original songwriter here.

Tracy said, "I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced 'Fast Car.'" In other words ... she seems to be more than fine with this.

The new live-action "Snow White" movie is sure gonna look different from what most people remember about the fairy tale classic -- 'cause there are hardly any dwarves to be found.

A handful of on-set photos were published this week -- with production going down in the London area -- and based on the images here ... you can see Disney's made a conscious decision to lose most of the heigh-ho crew and replace them with random, ordinary people.

Take a look ... there's only 1 little person featured in the 7-man (and now woman) brigade. There's also a man in blue leading the charge who doesn't seem to be a "dwarf" himself.

As for the others ... aside from the shorter guy toward the front, the rest of the dwarves are of typical height. In fact, the last one in the very back actually looks to be quite tall. The dwarves, as it were, are also of mixed races and genders ... but it's very clear they're the ones that Snow White meets in the woods and befriends through her magical adventure.

Speaking of SW ... the woman who's seen here in the red hood is actually Rachel Zegler's stand-in. No word on why Zegler herself wasn't on set for this day of shooting, but she's already been spotted out in the whole Snow White getup ... looking kinda Disneyland-esque.

Also worth noting, Disney has tried clarifying what's being depicted in these pics. They say there are 2 stand-ins for a couple of their main actors -- Zegler and a guy named Andrew Burnap -- and that these photos weren't official film photos. Sooo ... pickup shots then?

What Disney appears to concede in their ever-evolving statements about these pics is that this is, in fact, what the movie will look like as it pertains to portraying the classic dwarves as we know them ... aka, they're pivoting away from having 7 "dwarfs" on camera together.

Remember, they actually said they'd be doing this on the heels of Peter Dinklage's viral tirade about the film ... when he went on Marc Maron's podcast to rail against the fact they were going to feature dwarves in a manner he characterized as backwards and insulting.

While some were outraged about the fact that Zegler, a Latina, would be playing Snow White ... he was more concerned about showing little people in a demeaning way, and Disney heard him loud and clear ... changing course. At the time, they said ... "To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. floated a theory this week, suggesting COVID-19 was manufactured to attack certain races/ethnicities, and to skip others ... including Jewish people.

The Dem presidential hopeful was at a dinner in NYC Friday when he made the inflammatory comments -- which were actually caught on camera and published by the NY Post. In the clip, RFK Jr. starts out by talking about bioweapons, and then moves on to the virus.

He says there's evidence backing the notion that COVID was designed to be "ethnically targeted," adding there are studies that show it hit certain demographics harder than others.

As he explains -- to the clear discomfort of others around him -- COVID was allegedly more prone to latch onto and "attack" Caucasians and Black people because of their genetic makeup ... but then says Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese folks are the most immune to it.

The guy hedges things a bit by saying it's unclear if the virus was purposely designed to act in this way, but it seems clear he's trying to entertain a conspiracy theory here -- and a lot of people have called his remarks antisemitic and racist. And yet, RFK Jr.'s defending himself.

He said NYP was mistaken, adding, "I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. I accurately pointed out — during an off-the-record conversation — that the U.S. and other governments are developing ethnically targeted bioweapons and that a 2021 study of the COVID-19 virus shows that COVID-19 appears to disproportionately affect certain races since the furin cleave docking site is most compatible with Blacks and Caucasians and least compatible with ethnic Chinese, Finns, and Ashkenazi Jews."

RFK Jr. went on ... "In that sense, it serves as a kind of proof of concept for ethnically targeted bioweapons. I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered." He linked to a NIH study about genetic susceptibility pertaining to COVID.

Tom Holland is playing a gay man in a new TV show ... but it's not sitting well with some of his 'Spider-Man' fans while others are defending him.

Holland -- who recently announced he will return to the superhero role in "Spider Man 4" -- came under fire on social media Friday for his part in the Apple TV series, "The Crowded Room."

In one scene, Holland and another man have steamy sex, which sparked the online outrage.

One person tweeted, "Tom Gone Wrong #NotMySpiderMan."

Another wrote, "LMAOOOOOOO dis is really somebody’s favorite Spider-Man"

It's probably a mix of unabashed homophobia and people who think only a gay actor should play a gay role.

But some of Tom's fervent supporters responded to the online haters by arguing previous 'Spider-Man' actors had taken similar LGBTQ roles, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

Ron Perlman is super pissed at the studio executive who wants to bleed striking writers dry before coming to the table to end one of two Hollywood strikes ... so much so, he's making threats.

The "Hellboy" star did not mince words in a since-deleted social media rant Friday, making some ominous threats towards the anonymous studio exec who was quoted as saying studios are purposefully delaying negotiations with the Writers Guild of America "until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses."

In the video, an incensed Ron says ... "Listen to me, motherf*****, there's a lot of ways to lose your house. Some of it is financial, some of it is karma, and some of it is just figuring out who the f*** said that -- and we know who said that -- and where he f****** lives."

Ron continues ... "There's a lot of ways to lose your house. You wish that on people, you wish that families starve, while you're making $27 f***** million a year for creating nothing? Be careful, motherf*****. Be really careful, 'cause that's the kind of s*** that stirs s*** up."

The rant comes in response to a Deadline article this week that quotes anonymous studio executives as revealing their strike plan is to let writers fall into dire straits in order to force a studio-friendly deal.

The Island Boys say there's nothin' romantic going down between them after they smooched online ... in fact, Flyysoulja tells us it's something he'd be up for doing again.

In case you missed it, brothers Kodiyakredd and Flyysoulja had fans scratching their heads -- and even shielding their eyes -- after posting a video of them making out, directing folks to check out Redd's OnlyFans page.

Flyysoulja tells TMZ ... he's got no sexual feelings for his brother despite the controversial clip, adding this isn't the first time they've done this.

He says he'd for sure do it again, too -- adding, "We're both straight males and kissing is not counted as a sexual act," and that it's been boosting their OF subscriber count.

Flyysoulja says they put up the clip for another reason, though ... telling us they wanted to see "how f***ed up this world is." He points out that the attention they've been getting isn't at all the same response to his community outreach.

Charles Barkley just threw all of his support behind the LGBTQ+ community and Bud Light while out in Lake Tahoe this week ... telling the haters to piss off during a powerful speech at a local bar.

While up on stage during a break in the action at the American Century Celebrity golf tournament ... the NBA legend grabbed a microphone and took aim at transphobes, homophobes and critics of Bud Light.

"I want y'all to drink this f***ing beer," he said. "I want y'all to drink this f***ing beer. I got three cases of Bud Light."

"Hey," he added, "And I want to say this -- if you're gay, bless you. If you're transgender, bless you. And, if you have a problem with that, f*** you!"

Of course, the LGBTQ+ community and Bud Light have been under fire recently following Anheuser-Busch's decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a BL promotion.

The collab sparked so much outrage amongst conservatives, the beer giant reportedly lost more than $27 billion as people protested.

But, Barkley obviously believes there's no need for that hate and anger ... making his stance on the issue crystal clear out in Nevada.

This is not the first time, though, that Barkley has been vocal in his backing of the LGBTQ+ community ... in fact, at this same event last year, he delivered a similar speech.

"If you're gay and transgender," he told bargoers at the time, "I love you. Hey, and if anybody gives you s***, you tell them Charles said, 'F*** you!'"

Fran Drescher is ripping Hollywood studios, saying their negotiation strategy was all a ploy to have extra time to promote upcoming blockbusters.

We got the actress and President of SAG-AFTRA on Friday's picket line outside Netflix HQ, and she said the studios duped the union leading up to Thursday's strike.

Fran says her union was sincere in extending the strike deadline 12 days in hopes to avoid a nasty standoff ... but she's convinced the studios weren't negotiating in good faith and only wanted to use the extension to hold premieres for some upcoming flicks, like "Barbie."

Fran's not holding back ... ripping the studios' negotiating tactics as "thoughtless, insensitive and not compassionate." She says they straight-up don't care about the actors who make this whole industry go forward.

As we reported, Fran went nuclear Thursday in announcing the strike ... the union's first walkout in 43 years, with actors joining already striking writers on the picket lines.

Fran sees an end to the standoff, even though she has said both sides are far apart ... telling us the public has the power to make this whole thing go away.

The way Fran sees it ... public opinion and the way people spend their money will dictate a lot of the outcome, and she's asking folks to stand tall with the folks in front of the cameras to give them some leverage against the studios and their CEOs.