Controversial S#!T

The Killers are apologizing to their fans after getting pelted with boos at a recent concert in the country of Georgia for bringing a Russian fan onstage and calling him their "brother."

The rock band, led by singer Brandon Flowers, invited a fan up onstage at their Shekvetili gig Tuesday to play the drums -- a tradition the group's been doing for a while. This fan, however, claimed he was from Russia ... something the Georgian crowd wasn't thrilled with.

Brandon and co. got a swarm of negative responses instantly, prompting him to suggest the man was the country's brother -- which set them off even more. After more booing, he asked if he wasn't their brother, being from America ... and got more boos.

The crowd got pretty pissed, and many folks in the crowd reportedly left in protest ... and the band offered up an apology after the rough show, saying, "Good people of Georgia, it was never our intention to offend anyone!"

Responding to the "brother" comment, they add, "We recognize that a comment, meant to suggest that all of The Killers' audience and fans are 'brothers and sisters,' could be misconstrued. We did not mean to upset anyone and we apologize."

Bradley Cooper is being dragged over his portrayal of legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, and one of the criticisms is at least worth talking about, while the other is utterly ridiculous.

Cooper stars in "Maestro," chronicling the life of the New York Philharmonic conductor, who happens to be Jewish.

One criticism is that Cooper wore a prosthetic nose for the role, which some folks online are calling a "Jewface" stereotype. Point of fact -- Bernstein did have a large nose, so we suppose that's a fair issue to debate.

The ridiculous criticism ... some folks are slamming Cooper, who is not Jewish, and producers for casting him in a role that could have gone to a Jewish actor.

Note to critics -- Bernstein became famous because he was a great conductor who HAPPENED to be Jewish. So if Neil Armstrong were Mormon, should producers only cast a Mormon actor to play him? Absurd.

BTW ... the movie was produced by Steven Spielberg ... 'nuff said.

Todd Chrisley isn't irked at all by his family starting a new reality series while he's locked up in prison -- in fact, he thinks it's a fantastic idea.

Jay Surgent, Todd's attorney, tells TMZ ... the reality star is "thrilled and happy" members of his family are launching the new show, and hopes it'll depict the devastation his family has been facing since he and Julie were sent to prison at the beginning of this year.

Translation: It's all good, as long as no one's smiling! Less joy, more pain.

We're told Todd will not be a part of the show, but their kids Chase, Savannah, Grayson, and adopted daughter, Chloe -- as well as Todd's mom, Nanny Faye -- are all reportedly starring in the new series, picking up after Todd and Julie started doing their time.

TMZ broke the story, Todd claims he's been severely mistreated while locked up at FPC Pensacola -- allegedly dealing with things like photos being taken of him while sleeping, his mail not being delivered to him and no AC in Florida's summer conditions.

What's more, Todd's now telling Jay he has no way of contacting him from inside prison -- Jay's allegedly blocked from Todd's mail, phone and email lists, but the attorney has no clue why ... and says he can't get answers from prison administration.

For what it's worth, we're told Jay is able to set up appointments to speak with Todd, through the help of Todd's prison counselor.

The Tuohy family says before Michael Oher made "outlandish," "hurtful" and "absurd" claims about them in court on Monday ... he actually tried to shake them down for $15 MILLION.

Marty Singer -- the Tuohy family attorney -- said it all happened recently ... and, what's worse, he claimed this is not the first time Oher has done this.

Singer -- in a lengthy statement to TMZ Sports -- said Oher came to the Tuohys prior to filing his 14-page petition in Shelby County, Tenn. ... and threatened them, saying if they didn't pony up an eight-figure check, he'd "plant a negative story about them in the press."

Singer denied all of the allegations in Oher's court filing ... explaining that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy absolutely did not trick the former NFL star into getting into a conservatorship when he was 18 years old as he had claimed.

The conservatorship "was established to assist with Mr. Oher’s needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver’s license to helping with college admissions," Singer said. "Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way."

As for Oher's claims that the Tuohys used the conservatorship to broker a movie deal with Fox behind Oher's back that netted them millions -- while leaving Oher with nothing -- Singer said that was BS as well.

"The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone -- let alone from someone they loved as a son -- defies belief," Singer said.

Instead, the attorney claimed Tuesday the Tuohys had "received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits" from "The Blind Side" ... money Singer said the Tuohys have always either shared with Oher or have tried to share with the former Baltimore Ravens tackle.

"Over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from 'The Blind Side,'" Singer said. "Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher’s equal share into a trust account they set up for his son."

Singer continued, "Unbeknownst to the public, Mr. Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before – but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth. Sadly, Mr. Oher has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour."

Singer added the Tuohys are "heartbroken" over it all and they hope to reconcile with Oher soon ... though "they will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit."

Twitter is home to a lot of ridiculous opinions, but the latest trend involving Sandra Bullock might be the app's worst ... users are calling for her to lose her Oscar on the heels of "The Blind Side" controversy.

It's about as crazy as it sounds, especially since there's zero evidence Bullock -- who played Leigh Anne Tuohy in the movie -- had any clue of the drama behind the scenes with Michael Oher and the Tuohy family.

One user wrote, "So Sandra Bullock should have to give back her Oscar right, and man do we need to start checking these good feeling stories. The parents blocked $300 in earnings the movie from him getting any of it and gave the money to their real children? WOOOOOOOW!"

Another says, "If the Michael Oher allegations are true then we have to go AND TAKE THE OSCAR back from Sandra Bullock and give it to Gabourey Sidibe for 'Precious'" and "Sandra Bullock should give her Oscar back. She knows she didn't deserve that s***."

However, there's also people coming to her defense, writing, "Not y'all calling for Sandra Bullock's Oscar to be revoked. It ain't her fault the real life people were exploitative scammers and thieves," and "You know Sandra Bullock deserved her Oscar because she acted so well, she made the Tuohy family likeable."

As we reported, the former NFL star claims the Tuohy family never adopted him -- as the movie suggests -- but he was instead placed under a conservatorship. Oher claims the family made a ton of cash off his life story in "The Blind Side," while he got nothing.

Sean Tuohy is calling BS on Oher, saying the family's only option to legally make him part of their family was a conservatorship -- as he was over 18 -- and each family member made about $14,000 from the movie ... including Oher.

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

Beyoncé is setting the record straight on her feelings toward Lizzo -- not only is she back to name-dropping the artist in song, she also singled her out with a loving shout-out.

Bey was bringing the house down, per usual, Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in ATL, and performed "Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)," which supports her fellow female artists -- including Lizzo -- by shouting them out.

You may recall, Lizzo was notably absent from the song's callout section during a Beyoncé show earlier this month, but she was back on the lineup a couple of days later. Bey took things a step further this time, though -- saying, "I love you, Lizzo!"

The crowd certainly took that as a sign -- one fan in the crowd even responded, "OK!"

As we reported, Beyoncé ditched Lizzo's name at a Massachusetts show on August 1 ... coming directly after the "About Damn Time" singer was slapped with a lawsuit from 3 of her former dancers, claiming she created a hostile work environment with alleged sexual harassment and fat-shaming, among other things.

Lizzo, for what it's worth, has denied the allegations against her ... and it looks like Beyoncé's got Lizzo's back, and then some.

Tina Knowles is laughing off a report about Beyoncé bringing personal toilet seats around with her on tour ... she says it's a case of mistaken identity.

We got Beyoncé's mom Monday at LAX and our photog asked her about the viral photo from her "Renaissance" tour ... which shows a container labeled "Beyoncé Toilet Seats."

Tina says the big black box doesn't actually have toilet seats inside ... as some news outlets previously reported ... she says Beyoncé's tour uses the boxes to position fans onstage.

For some reason, these things are called toilet seats ... and Tina says the notion Beyonce is such a diva she lugs around a custom toilet seat is "so ridiculous."

Tina would know ... she's been to more than a few of Beyoncé's shows during the "Renaissance" tour, and she's planning to check out the upcoming concerts at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA.

Shocking allegations from Michael Oher ... the former offensive lineman says the family who took him in, helped him become an NFL star and was later portrayed in the hit movie "The Blind Side," lied to him, never adopted him and screwed him out of potentially millions of dollars.

The ex-Baltimore Ravens tackle spelled out the eyebrow-raising claims in a petition filed in Shelby County, Tenn. on Monday ... alleging Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy "exploited" him "for their own benefit" after realizing he was a "gullible young man" with athletic talent.

Oher says he initially got involved with the Tuohys during the summer following his junior year of high school ... after he claimed "a broken social system" in Tennessee left him homeless and in need of aid.

In the docs, Oher says the couple invited him to stay in their home often during that summer to help him out, and took him on shopping trips where they'd buy him clothes. Eventually, before his senior year started, he says they asked him to move in with them.

"The Tuohys did tell Michael they loved him and that they intended to legally adopt him," Oher said in the documents. "Michael believed them, was delighted to be part of a real and stable family, and trusted Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy completely."

A short time later, however, Oher says the Tuohys pulled one over on him.

In the docs, the former football player -- who's now 37 years old -- claims the Tuohys presented him with legal papers that he believed were needed to begin the process of the family adopting him. Instead, however, he says he just learned in February 2023 that they were actually a petition to appoint them as his conservators -- a filing that would allow the Tuohys to "have total control over Michael Oher's ability to negotiate for or enter any contract, despite the fact he was over 18 years of age and had no diagnosed physical or psychological disabilities."

Oher claims the conservatorship then allowed the Tuohys to negotiate a deal with Fox for "The Blind Side," the '09 flick based on Oher's life.

Oher says the Tuohys got themselves and their kids -- but not him -- "a contract price of $225,0000 plus 2.5% of all future 'defined net proceeds.'" The movie -- in which Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy -- ended up grossing over $300 million.

Oher claims as part of the deal with Fox, a contract giving away the rights to his story without any form of payment whatsoever, was signed. Oher says he "at no time ever willingly or knowingly signed this document and that nobody" ever made him aware of what the document actually entailed.

Oher is asking for a judge to end the conservatorship. He's also asking for damages ... as well as an accounting of the money the Touhys made through contracts negotiated on his behalf. It all appears to be potentially a precursor to a lawsuit.

Oher -- who's previously been critical of "The Blind Side" over the way he feels he was wrongly portrayed as dumb -- played in the NFL from 2009 to 2016 ... starting 110 games in his career.

Stephen Amell seems to have changed his tune when it comes to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike -- first demonstrated in his actions, and now further cemented by his own words.

The "Arrow" star spoke to a photog this week not long after he was spotted out in NYC with other fellow SAG members, hitting the picket line and showing support/solidarity for his union amid the ongoing negotiations ... which have dragged on for about a month or so now.

Check out what he had to say ... SA says he doesn't believe he's done a 180 on the issue, but rather -- that he just misspoke at first, and now has some clarity on how he feels.

What that manifests into, as he notes, is unwavering support for SAG-AFTRA ... something he's had since the beginning. And while he did say he didn't support the act of striking -- pointing out how hard it was on working actors -- he now says he's been educated on the process ... this after speaking to SAG leadership, who explained it wasn't done lightly.

You'll recall ... Stephen got a lot of backlash, at first, for saying what he said about striking, but since then ... it sounds like the dude has come around to realizing it's for a larger purpose, despite some growing pains people might be experiencing on the ground.

Interestingly, what Stephen says here on camera strongly echoes what he told us on "TMZ Live" a couple weeks ago ... when he was trying to put his original remarks in context.

Mark Zuckerberg is tired of waiting for Elon Musk to get ready to rumble, so he's moving on -- so says the Facebook founder himself.

The techie billionaire announced Sunday he was throwing in the towel on the planning process, saying it was clear to him that EM wasn't serious about duking it out ... evidenced, at least in Mark's eyes, in all the excuses Elon has offered to postpone this thing.

MZ writes, "I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead."

The backyard thing is new news -- and pretty eyebrow-raising if true. Mark adds, "If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously."

Mark has kinda been teasing this move for a while now ... consistently refuting Elon's characterization of things, and alleging that the Twitter honcho was stonewalling on purpose.

In fact, it wasn't too long ago that Mark said he wasn't holding his breath for Elon -- and despite EM trying to hype up the fight just this past week (by mentioning the prospect of Italy as a venue), it sounds like Mark's throwing cold water on the whole thing ... calling BS.

It was a cool would-be event while it lasted, we suppose ... and time will tell if Mark pulling the plug like this will force Elon to actually commit -- but if he doesn't, it might be over.

Bad weather threw a monkey wrench into Lionel Richie’s plans to perform at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

The iconic R&B singer was set to hit the stage with Earth Wind & Fire Saturday night — but the act of nature derailed their sold out show and an hour after it was supposed to start Lionel made his disappointing announcement.

Lionel posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Due to severe weather and being unable to land in the NY and surrounding areas, I’m unable to make it to the show tonight.”

He went on, “I’m so bummed. We are rescheduling the show to Monday Aug 14. Can’t wait to perform for you all. Tickets for tonight’s show are valid for the show on Monday.”

The 20,000 strong audience was totally bummed too. Video from inside the venue shows fans booing as an MSG official announces the show had been canceled.

Take a hard look at Aljamain Sterling when he fights Sean O'Malley at UFC 292 'cause it could be the last time Aljo competes in the bantamweight division ... the UFC champ tells us he wants to move up and dethrone featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski.

Whether or not it is his last scrap at 135 lbs., 34-year-old Sterling seemed to indicate he may not be around the Octagon much longer.

"I think [it could be my last at 135]. I think I go out there, dominate O'Malley the way I think I'm gonna dominate him, send that naked mole rat back to wherever he's from, the hole he crawled out of," Sterling told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weekdays on FS1).

The bantamweight king continued ... "We set our sights on Volkanovski. Go up to 145, cause some terror there. Win the belt, become champ-champ, and then from there, possibly defend the belt one or two times and maybe that's all she wrote for the MMA career."

Of course, in order to be double champ, Aljamain must defeat Suga on August 19 in Boston ... a fight that's been talked about for years.

"It's cool to be going to Dana White's backyard and bringing in a good show. We're the headliners. We get to end the night, try to end the night on a good night, on a high night, and it's an opportunity for me to really make more history, get another bag, and rob the bank."

"I'm looking forward to robbing the bank vs. Sean O'Malley and showing Mr. High Fructose Corn Syrup why there's levels to this game."

If Sterling does ultimately retire from MMA in the near future, we asked him what he do as his second act.

"Maybe I start boxing after," Aljo said, laughing.

Rachel Zegler has shown what many are calling a deep disdain for the story of 'Snow White' -- morphing one controversy into a new one ... and now, Halle Bailey's getting dragged in.

Here's the deal ... we already know folks have been outraged about the forthcoming Disney reimagining for months now, whether it's because of Zegler's race ... or 'cause they didn't cast many "dwarfs." On all fronts, the live-action remake has been called "woke" by some.

Now, a new anger is taking shape this weekend ... and it all has to do with resurfaced press remarks Zegler made back in September (almost a year ago) while promoting the film, alongside her costar Gal Gadot. No, not the blue carpet Variety interview ... the EW one.

In this Q&A -- which, again, is several months old at this point -- Zegler confesses to having only seen the OG 'Snow White' once as a child ... and not liking it because she thought it was scary. She says she never watched it again -- at least, not until she was cast.

After seeing it anew ... it sounds like Zegler was turned off by what she saw -- the way she's described the cartoon, it comes across as dated and, perhaps, even regressive for women ... that's certainly how Zegler views it anyway, and she's made that clear in fierce terms.

The problem ... it seems her attitude toward the old 'Snow White' -- kinda bashing it -- has turned a lot of people off ... and not just conservatives either! There are a good handful of (seemingly) normal women who are speaking up and rolling their eyes over Zegler's take.

As one user put it ... some of the elements of the 1937 film (not to mention the original German fairy tale) are still appealing to certain women, even today. As you can see above, she laments the "girl boss" trend that some feel is being pushed by Hollywood these days. In short, this woman argues that some ladies still wanna be saved by Prince Charming. 😆

Enter Halle Bailey ... press interviews she was doing last year in the lead-up to 'Little Mermaid' are also being resurfaced right now, and they're being compared to Zegler's clips.

There are a lot of interviews Halle did at the time where she's talked about how much she loved "The Little Mermaid" growing up ... and how much influence Ariel, specifically, had on her as a Disney princess. Basically, Halle was a big fan of the IP and sounded grateful to give her own portrayal -- which, by and large, has been praised ... despite the loud haters.

The point of all this is that a question is now being rhetorically asked of Zegler ... if you hated the movie and the character of 'Snow White,' why sign on for this role at all?

She's recently said she wants nothing to do with all the chatter that's taken shape, but she'll undoubtedly do more press as the movie release date nears -- so we'll what she says then.

Billy Porter is back to slamming Harry Styles for being the first man featured in a dress on a Vogue cover -- resurfacing old gripes ... and taking down Anna Wintour while he's at it.

The actor, who's gay, dished to the Telegraph about his problem with Harry being tapped as the poster boy of genderfluid/non-binary fashion back in 2020 -- which, at the time, kicked up a lot of controversy and opinions ... including some fiery ones from Billy himself.

You might recall ... Billy said he was actually the catalyst for the men-in-dresses trend that's been percolating in Hollywood of late -- and lamented the fact that HS was picked over him.

He added, "He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do. This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the palace where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down. All he has to do is be white and straight."

After that, Billy apologized on the 'Late Show,' telling Stephen Colbert he didn't mean to dirty up Harry's name with his opinion -- and that the conversation was bigger than just him.

Now, after more than 2 years ... BP is re-airing his grievances, and he's again insisting Harry is, in fact, straight -- despite HS having yet to publicly label himself or his sexuality.

Billy says, "It’s not Harry Styles’s fault that he happens to be white and cute and straight and fit into the infrastructure that way. That's why he's on the cover. Non-binary blah blah blah blah. No. It doesn't feel good to me. You're using my community -- or your people are using my community -- to elevate you. You haven't had to sacrifice anything."

In other words, Billy is echoing long-standing queerbaiting claims Harry has endured for years now. Many argue he plays coy about his sexuality -- especially when it comes to his fashion sensibilities -- to cater to the LGBTQ+ community. Based on his dating history, though ... it seems like the dude's strictly into the ladies. That's certainly how it appears, anyway.

Billy gets one last dig at Vogue's EIC ... alleging that in the lead-up to Harry's cover issue, she approached Billy and asked for his advice on advancing style pioneers in the LGBTQ+ community, and BP says he responded with this ... "That bitch said to me at the end, 'How can we do better?' And I was so taken off guard that I didn't say what I should have said."

Jason Aldean was able to get a little juice out of his right-leaning song -- and now, another guy's doing the same thing ... but he isn't even close to as famous, which is interesting.

The dude's name is Oliver Anthony, and he's a man-of-the-land living in Farmville, Virginia -- however, he's also a musician ... and a song he just released, "Rich Men North of Richmond,: is catching fire among conservatives all over the country ... in just a 24-hour window, too.

The reason ... the track (and the music video, too, it seems) is resonating with folks in a grassroots kind of way -- seeing how he's performing it out in the woods, and in a very stripped-down environment. Plus, yes ... OA definitely has talent -- a unique sound, indeed.

Now, as for the actual lyrics ... they seem to walk the line between the everyman, working-class American POV and far-right sentiments -- depends on how you look at it, we suppose.

Oliver addresses D.C. politicians -- without explicitly identifying a party -- sucking Americans dry and wanting total control of their lives ... while going on to lament social ills, including seemingly slamming the welfare system. He also appears to reference Jeffrey Epstein. 👀

In the wake of Oliver uploading this to streaming platforms, it looks like it's been spiking in sales -- with some sites showing it's #1 on iTunes ... meaning it's been purchased a crap-ton since it went up, but doesn't necessarily account for streaming numbers. Not yet, anyway.

Several right-wing influencers are praising Oliver's song/his passion, and some politicians are chiming in as well with a big thumbs up -- including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

As for Oliver, he's overwhelmed by the attention -- saying he'll be performing locally for the time being. It remains to be seen if 'RMNOR' will have the same chart success Aldean recently experienced, but based on the groundswell already ... it's certainly possible.

This is a pretty fascinating trend we're seeing -- it appears when right-wingers perceive something (like a song) they think addresses their grievances/perspectives, they lean into it ... and, from the small sample size we've noticed, it can be effective in the marketplace.

Morgan Wallen made a pretty bold move before his concert in Ohio Friday ... because he's now completely bald -- as in no hair!!!

The country music singer walked out onstage at Ohio Stadium in Columbus after he shaved off his famous mullet with his head looking like a cue ball.

Morgan wore a red baseball cap ... but it couldn't hide the fact all of his hair was missing in action.

Check out video that surfaced on Tik Tok ... Morgan stopped to mention his new look in between songs, making light of the situation by saying, "I didn’t like the long hair anymore so I shaved it off." The crowd just hollered and laughed.

But some of his fans weren't having it and expressed their unhappiness with his transformation.

One person wrote on X (formerly Twitter) ... "Finding out Morgan Wallen cut his hair off just ruined my night."