Controversial S#!T

Selena Gomez appears to be extending an olive branch to her organ donor and one-time friend, Francia Raisa, wishing her a happy birthday after their recent falling out.

Selena took to social media Wednesday to wish Francia happy birthday, posting what appears to be an old photo of them along with the caption ... "Happiest of birthdays to this special human beings. No matter where life takes us, I love you. ❤️ @franciaraisa."

It's a noteworthy post from Selena ... Francia recently revealed their relationship was broken ... so this could be a sign Selena wants to patch things up.

The outstanding issue ... Francia took offense to an interview where Selena said the only person she was close to in Hollywood was Taylor Swift.

Selena's answer didn't sit right with Francia, because the two former child actors go way back and she donated a kidney to Selena in 2017.

Francia unfollowed Selena after the interview and still does not follow her on IG ... so it will be interesting to see if the birthday post moves the needle.

Bad news for Travis Scott fans that were hoping to see the rapper perform at one of the 7 wonders of the world ... because just two days before the big event, the show's been canceled.

Live Nation shared the news Wednesday, saying the Utopia show -- which was slated to go down this weekend at Egypt's Pyramids of Giza -- is no longer happening.

The company adds, "Despite highest efforts, complex production issues meant that the show could not be constructed in the desert." Live Nation says issues will be refunded to ticket holders, issuing an apology to those planning on attending.

The reasoning seems a little suspect considering just recently Egypt's Musicians Syndicate announced it wasn't pleased with Travis coming over to perform, saying the org canceled the show's permit ... claiming the type of concerts TS puts on "goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people."

We now know why Jason Aldean's "Try That in a Small Town" music video was edited ... because the production company skirted the rules and used FOX footage without permission.

Sources connected to the music video production tell TMZ ... back when they were producing the video, the company that produced it reached out to FOX on May 8 and asked for permission to use the 6 seconds of video shot by FOX 5 Atlanta ... showing violence at a BLM rally.

We're told the folks at FOX asked for more information ... specifically the lyrics of the song. We're told the production company sent FOX a link to the song -- which was released May 19 -- but the protocol was to send the lyrics in writing, which they never did.

The music video was released July 14 and the footage was in the vid, projecting on the courthouse behind Jason.

Our sources say a week ago, FOX reached out to the production company and asked them to remove the video to avoid any legal action -- which was described to us as a "polite ultimatum" -- and the production company complied.

So the new, edited video has actually been online for an entire week before anyone noticed.

The federal government goes to great lengths to keep alien spacecraft secret from the public, even killing its own citizens ... at least that's what a whistleblower is strongly suggesting.

The bombshell claim was levied during Wednesday's historic Congressional hearing on UFOs ... with former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch hinting murder has been a key part of a government conspiracy to hide evidence of extraterrestrials.

Ya gotta see the exchange on Capitol Hill ... Rep. Tim Burchett straight-up asks Grusch if he has any personal accounts of people being murdered over something they've seen in our skies.

The whistleblower's answer is revealing ... "I have to be careful answering that question. I directed people with that knowledge to the appropriate authorities."

Grusch is one of 3 whistleblowers from our military testifying under oath about UFOs and secret government programs allegedly involving extraterrestrial technology. He claims almost 95 percent of UFO sightings go unreported, mainly out of fear of being blackballed, or worse.

The 2 other men being sworn in are Navy fighter pilot commander David Fravor, a witness of the infamous "Tic Tac" UFO sighting, plus former pilot Ryan Graves.

Grusch also testified the U.S. has known about extraterrestrials since at least the 1930s, with the feds covering up a longstanding government program that retrieves and reverse engineers UFOs ... or as he put it, "non-human" spacecraft and pilots.

It's not only politics that makes for strange bedfellows -- Ice Cube's unloading on Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 vaccines and more ... with, of all people, Tucker Carlson.

The duo rolled through South L.A. together for an episode of Tucker's show on Twitter -- and they quickly found common ground on several topics ... starting with former President Obama. Cube said he was proud America had elected a Black man, and thought maybe "this guy is gonna be the guy."

But, ultimately Cube feels Obama -- like all of his White House predecessors -- did nothing to change his life.

Tucker and the rapper/actor also bro'd out on BLM ... Cube's criticism being the org didn't improve things for the Black people he knows and loves, while Tucker's voice-over and editing attacked BLM for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars.

Interestingly, Tucker -- a staunch and vocal proponent of police -- never asked Cube about writing the song "F**k Tha Police." 🤔 Interesting.

Jason Aldean has quietly trimmed a portion of his controversial music video for "Try That in a Small Town" ... and one of the pieces he ditched is from a BLM protest.

The country singer's video is now missing 6 seconds of its original upload. What's missing -- footage of violence at a BLM rally, projected on a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teenager was lynched in 1927.

The scrubbed footage was shot by Fox 5 Atlanta. We reached out to Fox 5 to find out if they asked that the footage be removed ... so far, no response.

It's unclear why the footage was stripped from the project, but as we reported, Jason received major backlash over the song last week -- after folks accused him of going after the BLM movement.

Jason was adamant, the song is not an attack on BLM or in any way racist. It has soared up the charts since the controversy erupted after the music video was released.

Jason stood by his video again last week -- telling a concert crowd he's a proud American and is hoping to put the country back to "what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to us."

We discussed the controversy surrounding the song on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

Kevin Spacey is cleared of sexual assault charges in his UK trial -- a London jury just found him not guilty.

The verdict was handed down in Southwark Crown Court Wednesday in London after 2 days of jury deliberation.

Spacey was originally facing 13 counts including sexual assault, indecent assault, and causing a person to engage in a sexual activity without consent. The 4 indecent assault charges were dropped, with the judge citing its removal as a "legal technicality." He was found not guilty of the remaining charges.

It's a huge victory for Spacey, who had been facing the possibility of life in prison if he'd been convicted.

As we reported, Spacey's been on trial in London for allegedly sexually assaulting 4 men from 2001 to 2013. The trial kicked off at the end of June, and he was spotted looking cheerful as he headed into court for the first day.

Prosecutors claimed Spacey performed oral sex on a man while he was asleep, was aggressively "touchy-feely" with one of his drivers, and even groped a man backstage -- something the alleged victim said was done "with such force it was painful."

A lot came out during the trial -- for starters, one of his alleged accusers compared him to his serial killer character in "Se7en" ... telling cops in a prerecorded interview the actor was "a bit like that. A bit creepy. Maybe not quite as bad."

Spacey took the stand last week, describing one of the accusers as funny and charming, describing himself as a "big flirt" and insisting what went down between them was gentle and consensual.

He admitted he really liked the man, but claimed he never knew he would "stab me in the back" 20 years later. Spacey said he thinks his 4 accusers were attacking him after regretting being intimate with him.

Elton John's name came up during the trial because one of the accusers claimed he was groped by Spacey while driving to the singer's annual White Tie and Tiara Ball in either 2004 or 2005.

The Rocket Man himself actually testified remotely during the trial, saying Spacey only attended 1 of his bashes in 2001, not 2004-05. Elton's husband, David Furnish, also said Elton's recollection of the timing was backed up by photos of the past events.

In closing arguments, Spacey's defense team told the jury, "It is not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous" -- adding it's also not a crime to sleep with someone "of the opposite sex, because it’s 2023 and not 1823."

Judge Greg Mathis got into it with some Los Angeles City employees ... but there are drastically different stories from each side as to just how intense things escalated.

Law enforcement sources tell us an employee from the L.A. Dept. of Water and Power made a report Tuesday accusing Mathis of threatening workers with a gun after a heated confrontation. According to the employee, Mathis got pissed after they asked him to move his vehicle -- words were exchanged -- and things escalated to the point of Mathis allegedly flashing and pointing his gun at the workers.

However, we spoke to Mathis, who has a much different story. Mathis tells us the employees were actually blocking his vehicle in, and he was unable to pull out of his driveway.

Mathis says one of the employees got smart with him when he stood in the street, saying if he didn't move, he'd get run over by their work truck. Mathis took that as a threat, and tells us he informed he had a weapon -- though he says he NEVER showed the gun, let alone pointed it at anyone.

Eventually, both sides cooled off ... and the LADWP employees continued on with their work further down the street.

Netflix is celebrating hip hop's 50th anniversary with a documentary dedicated to all the women of the culture -- well, almost every woman, as fans have peeped the trailer and noticed it excludes Nicki Minaj!!!

On Tuesday, Strong Black Lead pushed out the first look for "Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop" ... which appears to be a gripping depiction of several female rappers' rise to stardom.

The trailer for the doc features commentary from a generations-spanning group of women -- Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shanté, MC Lyte, Coi Leray, Kash Doll -- while also highlighting content from Ice Spice, Young M.A., Latto, Saweetie and others.

However, the preview had zero sign of Nicki, and when her Barbz fanbase picked up on the snub they exploded on Twitter X.

Livid fans made Nicki the subject of several trending topics while accusing Netflix of intentionally trying to erase her from the history books.

The "Pinkprint" rapper is the highest-selling female rapper of all time by several miles with well over 100 million records sold, which you'd think would be enough for a prominent spot in the doc and its trailer. It's worth noting, the trailer opens up with a shot of Cardi B, so lines in the sand were probably drawn!!!

Dennis "D.J." Hernandez -- the older brother of Aaron Hernandez -- has been arrested again ... this time after cops say there was concern he had been planning school shootings at UConn and Brown University.

The disturbing allegations are all spelled out in new Bristol Police Department documents, obtained by TMZ Sports ... where cops say D.J. showed signs this month of being "gravely disabled and a danger to society."

According to the BPD, several people came forward in early July claiming D.J. had been acting erratically ... and sending alarming text messages, including one that allegedly read, "we're taking lives if s*** isn't paid up. It's been years in planning just taking notes, names and locations. They talked their way into this and it's almost point game."

Cops wrote in the docs that they were told by a woman claiming to be D.J.'s ex that instead of using her car to go to his scheduled July 7 Court date ... he actually drove to Brown Univ and UConn and "went into a number of classrooms and buildings." Cops say another person told them they believed D.J. had traveled to the campuses in order to plan school shootings.

Police say additionally, D.J. had posted messages with threatening language on his social media page on July 19 ... including one that they said read, "Will I kill? Absolutely, I've warned my enemies so pay up front."

According to the docs, police showed up at a residence D.J. was at later that day ... and a scary police standoff ensued.

Cops say they tried to get D.J. out of the home ... but he had told them that he was "on foot, armed and that if we approached him, he would kill us all." A short time later, D.J. exited the residence ... but according to cops, he "began advancing towards the police with his hands outstretched to his side."

"He began yelling shoot me," police added, "and disregarded the numerous police commands."

D.J. was then tasered and fell to the ground ... and moments later, cops took him into custody -- before they transported him to a local hospital for evaluation.

While there, police say he continued to make threats at the hospital ... saying he would kill "anyone who profited off of his brother Aaron." Dennis, cops said, "mentioned specifically ESPN, but not any people."

D.J. was ultimately released from the hospital and taken into the Bristol Police Department, where he was booked on charges of threatening and breach of peace. He was held on a $250,000 bond.

He's now due in court for a hearing on the matter next week.

Cam Newton rubbed out a heckler who was chirpin' at him recently ... taunting the guy with a crude gesture -- while bragging about the money in his bank account.

The scene appeared to take place at some sort of football camp ... when Newton had clearly had enough of a person who was taunting him from the sidelines.

Video from the event shows Cam walked over ... and immediately began jawing with the guy.

Cam was hit with the classic "how many rings you got?" diss ... to which he replied "none." When the agitator said "we got the same amount" ... Cam went off.

"But, we don't got the same bank account," he said ... before making an X-rated motion with his hand.

One of the people on the sideline chided the former NFL star for the gesture ... saying, "You're too famous to be acting like that."

Cam's response ... "No, no, don't play the victim now." The video then ended.

Of course, this ain't the first time Cam's gotten into it with some young spectators on a football field ... back in 2021, he and an H.S. player jawed back and forth about his free agency.

Twitter is dead, and in its place -- a new name and logo live ... welcome to the world of X!

Indeed ... Elon Musk followed through on his promise from this weekend, rebranding the storied social media company and completely getting rid of the familiar white bird icon and blue background. Ditto for its moniker ... now, Twitter will forever be known simply as "X."

EM touted the big change by retweeting re-X'ing his new CEO's announcement, which reads ... "It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square."

She adds, "X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine."

Now, the actual site/app itself still pretty much looks the same in terms of design, function and format. In fact, you can actually still see remnants of the old Twitter floating around ... like on the search bar, for instance, where it continues to read "Search Twitter."

Even when it comes to retweets, those are labeled as such ... so on its face, it still very much feels like Twitter. It's unclear if more of a relaunch will take place over the coming days.

While Elon and co. really got the word out about the switch-up this weekend ... they'd actually been telegraphing this for a while, especially in official corporate docs tied to the organization.

The group of investors that came together to buy this thing -- again, for $44 billion -- had called themselves X Corp. earlier this year. Now, they'll be known as such going forward.

One last thing ... it appears the new "X" is going to be powered by AI -- at least according to this above-mentioned CEO. Funny enough, Elon was railing against AI not too long ago ... calling on a slow-down, if not a full-blown pause, because he thought it was dangerous.

Rachel Zegler gave an interview last Fall about the "Snow White" remake -- a clip that's just now getting resurfaced in right-wing circles ... and firing up the base, who call it "woke."

You might've seen 'Snow White' trending this weekend ... and the reason is because of this answer the actress gave to Variety -- alongside costar Gal Gadot -- all the way back in September. She's talking about how the 'SW' remake won't be like the 1937 cartoon.

For whatever reason, conservatives found it and like clockwork ... fired up the outrage, acting like this is new. Of course, they're dragging Zegler's characterization of the film -- which promises to be a modern retelling of the fairy tale classic, one in which Snow White will apparently take a more active role ... as opposed to needing saving by Prince Charming.

Like we said ... the way this movie was going to take shape has been known for quite some time -- but it seems to be getting hyper-focused on now, especially after the release of "Barbie" ... which some right-wing personalities have labeled as "anti-man"/"ultra feminist."

And yes, this latest wave of indignation -- again, over a very old interview -- comes on the heels of the recent "Snow White" set photos that leaked ... which were roasted as well.

Remember, the pics showed one little person ... and six other random people of typical stature following Zegler's stand-in through a field. The other "dwarfs" were also of varying race, gender and height -- and it got a major eye roll from some, especially on the right.

It has sparked a fierce debate ... as some little people have also slammed the decision to lose most of the dwarfs, all because Peter Dinklage found the idea of them insulting.

Considering sensitivities are more heightened than ever -- it remains to be seen how the rebooted "Snow White" will fare at the box office. On its face, it looks like conservatives are gearing up to boycott this one ... they're not liking what they're hearing about it so far.

Doja Cat appears to be opening up a can of tough love on her staunchest fans -- rebuking a pet name they've given themselves ... and telling them to grow the hell up.

The rapper/singer has been getting some side-eye from her loyal supporters over the past few days -- and it all appears to have come to a head this weekend when she shot down a term a lot of them use ... which is kind of in the vein of Nicki Minaj stans.

Of course, we're referring to the Barbz -- something Nicki seems to have embraced with open arms ... but the same can't be said for Doja and her "Kittenz." It's a phrase some of her fans have affectionately used to brand themselves as followers of hers, but DC's telling them to drop it ... and more importantly, to get a life!

In a since-deleted tweet, Doja wrote ... "my fans don’t name themselves s***. if you call yourself a 'kitten' or f***ing 'kittenz' that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house."

There are other since-deleted tweets where she's telling fans of hers to delete their account if they're even referencing her in their profile pic or username ... and yeah, it's a bit combative.

On the one hand -- Doja crapping on the fandom is a refreshing assessment/slam of "stan" culture -- which has run rampant among some of the biggest artists out there (Swifties, Barbz, Harries, Beyhive etc.) But it's also jarringly honest ... so much so, in fact, Doja appears to be rubbing her "kittenz" the wrong way -- to the point they're kinda turning on her now.

You can hop into the Doja Cat trend for yourself to see how people are responding ... but it would seem they're not feeling Doja's hot-and-cold approach to being an A-list celeb. Sometimes she's very warm/welcoming, other times -- she's off-putting and cold. Her timeline and Twitter replies certainly suggest as much, anyway.

Here's hoping Doja can make nice with her potential ticket-buyers soon ... 'cause she's got a tour coming up in the Fall, and she's been promoting it like crazy.

There's no slowing Jason Aldean's controversial song "Try That In A Small Town" ... it's getting tons of play, especially at his own bar.

TMZ obtained this video from Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop Bar in Nashville, where the band played the song a few times in front of a packed house.

Jason wasn't there himself Wednesday night during the song's live performances ... instead, the singer was Jamie Baxter.

As you know, the song's become a lightning rod ... and a hit.

On the one hand, lots of folks say the song and its music video are deeply offensive and racist ... but there are lots of folks defending the track too, including Jeanine Pirro.

For his part, Jason says the song is not racist and not pro-lynching.

Over at Jason's bar, we're told the band performed the track twice within 45 minutes ... so it's obviously going over well on his home turf.

Thomar Lattrel Simmons was interviewed Saturday by the New York Post and made his desperate plea on behalf of Russell.

Simmons said, "The only thing I can say is, I want everyone to stop bullying her. I know what it seems like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media."

He continued, "Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t. Nobody deserves to be cyberbullied."

As we reported, Russell has come under intense scrutiny after she claimed she was abducted on the side of a highway while trying to help a child.

She called 911 on June 13 and told the dispatcher she saw the toddler wandering along the interstate as she was driving home from work.

Russell promised to wait with the child until the police arrived, but, when the cops got there, Carlee was nowhere to be found and neither was the kid.

Two days later, Russell returned home without so much as a scratch. Since then, police have investigated the incident and publicly stated they have not been able to verify Carlee's suspicious account.