Controversial S#!T

Alex Trebek was mysteriously dissed by the Grammys, because they declined to give him a nomination for his memoir, despite the publisher submitting his name for consideration.

Alex's book -- "The Answer is ... Reflections on My Life" -- was actually nominated in the category of Best Spoken Word Album. The publisher, Simon & Schuster, submitted Alex and Ken Jennings for the award -- they each voiced the book, but Alex was overlooked. Only Ken got a nom.

Ken Jennings even said, "This should 100% be Alex's Grammy nomination. He wrote the book and reads much of the audio book! Who do I speak to about this?"

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ, Simon & Schuster do not understand why Alex was not nominated and they are contacting the Grammys for answers.

Dave Chappelle just flexed his industry muscles big time -- he asked Netflix to pull his old Comedy Central sketch show from their service ... and they actually did.

The comedian broke the news Tuesday in a new stand-up segment he posted called 'Unforgiven' -- where, in front of a live audience, he talked about how he recently called up Netflix and told 'em how displeased he was that they were streaming 'Chappelle's Show.'

In his act, Dave recounts how it went down. Long story short, he says he has no say, rights or rights to revenue over the show -- it belongs to Comedy Central, which belongs to Viacom -- and that it's perfectly legal for Viacom to do what it wants with it since he signed a deal years ago. But, he also asks ... is that right?

Apparently, Dave posed that question to Netflix as well -- and the honchos either agreed with him, or just wanted to keep him happy. Either way, "Chappelle's Show" is off the platform ... something they didn't legally have to do.

It speaks to the relationship Dave shares with Netflix -- he's churned out special after special with them for a few years now ... which have been wildly successful.

Clearly, Netflix respects him enough to honor his wishes and to keep that partnership going. Dave forecasted his frustration about Netflix and HBO Max landing rights to stream 'Chappelle's Show' in his SNL monologue just earlier this month.

He made it clear then ... he didn't make a dime off the licensing deals, and worked the revelation into a bit about being bought and sold like a slave.

Ricky Schroder's getting so much hate for helping accused murderer Kyle Rittenhouse make bail, he reported it to cops ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... deputies responded to a call from Schroder Sunday and stopped by his home to review various negative social media posts directed at the "NYPD Blue" actor.

While they weren't life-threatening, some of the comments were pretty nasty ... "Tbh thought he was dead. Would've been better," "This was a racist move pure and simple," and "Ricky Schroder can shove that silver spoon right up his own ass."

Celebs including Bette Midler weighed in too, saying, "Who knew he could be so malevolent?"

We're told cops determined none of the online comments rose to the level of a criminal threat ... so the officers just took a suspicious circumstances report and left.

Our sources say Schroder will be in contact with authorities if things escalate, and we're told police are monitoring the situation.

As we reported ... Schroder donated $150k to the 17-year-old's bail fund, which the teen's attorney, Lin Wood, said helped them post $2 million bail to get Rittenouse out of jail while he awaits trial for murder.

Some of the outcry is obviously harsher than others ... but you get the idea.

The director who seemingly got busted for trash-talking actor Lukas Gage's apartment on a Zoom call says he's not going to apologize for it ... because important context is missing.

Tristram Shapeero -- a British TV director best known for directing episodes of "Community," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and "Veep" -- is the guy on the other end of Gage's instantly infamous online audition.

Shapeero -- who apparently thought he was muted -- is heard saying, "These poor people live in these tiny apartments," referring to where Lukas was staying ... and goes on to criticize his TV before he realizes Lukas can hear him.

The director is now suggesting he wasn't talking smack and won't say sorry ... but does claim a statement will be coming out on the matter. Funny thing is, Shapeero said sorry multiple times to Lukas on the call when he was busted, and even added that he was mortified.

The actor -- known for roles on "American Vandal" and "Euphoria" -- posted the clip saying ... "psa: if youre a sh*t talking director make sure to mute ur mic on zoom mtgings."

The incident led to an outpouring of support in Hollywood for Gage, but the director seems to think it was all overblown.

Carole Baskin's got her work cut out for her cleaning up her new piece of land in Oklahoma ... it looks Joe Exotic's old zoo is in pretty bad shape, but Jeff Lowe says he has nothing to do with the mess.

Carole visited the zoo, formerly known as G.W. Exotic Animal Park, last week and it was a total pigsty ... the property was covered in graffiti and someone left a ton of rotting meat and garbage.

Sources connected to Carole claim Jeff left the place in shambles for Carole, but he tells TMZ ... "You think of all people, she would know about being accused of something without evidence."

As you can see, buildings were vandalized with phrases like "Carole Baskin takes up the butt from Donald Trump" and "Carole & Don Lewis sitting in a tree. Murdering first."

And, there's more graffiti ... "If Carole killed her husband clap your hands. Doom on you c***." Really creative stuff all around.

Carole's the zoo's newest owner, taking it over from Joe and most recently Jeff. Remember, she won control of the property on June 1, when a judge gave Jeff 120 days from being served to vacate the property. Jeff ended up getting extra time to pack his bags.

Our sources say there appeared to be animal carcasses or large quantities of meat left rotting away in a truck trailer ... leaving a stench and destroying any value the trailer may have had.

Carole found more rotting meat outside various places around the property, we're told, which left a stench so awful it had neighbors complaining until CB and her husband, Howard Baskin, had it removed.

That's not all ... we're told there were massive amounts of trash strewn about the property, both inside and outside the buildings.

President Trump is finally cracking the door for President-elect Joe Biden's administration to begin the transition -- but he's still far from publicly admitting he lost the election.

DT's double-talk came Monday when he announced he'd given the green light to the General Services Administration to bring Biden's team into the fold. At the same time, he reaffirmed the fact he's still fighting the election results.

The clear contradiction -- Trump's finally acknowledging the need for the next POTUS to start taking the reins ... without admitting there will be a new POTUS.

The Prez says he's only relenting because GSA Administrator Emily Murphy is under heavy pressure. He claims, "She has been harassed, threatened, and abused – and I do not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA."

He added, "Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good... fight, and I believe we will prevail!"

Trump might be trying to hedge here, but according to the Biden-Harris transition team ... there's no question about it -- they have been determined to be the winner of the election, and the fact they've been reached out to by GSA signals that.

A rep for the transition team writes, "In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration's efforts to hollow out government agencies." Ouch!

The Governor of New Jersey can't mask himself from angry constituents -- a couple of them went after him and his family for daring to eat out at a restaurant.

Gov. Phil Murphy was dining out with is wife and their 4 kids when the apparent Trump-supporting women accosted them this weekend, and began hurling insults. One of them immediately called Murphy "such a d**k" and chided.

The women were clearly pissed off about the new coronavirus lockdowns, and one of Murphy's sons asks if they're drunk -- you gotta see their response. Stereotypical Jersey shore stuff here ... 'cause the f-bombs really started flying.

Like many governors around the country, Murphy's getting backlash from many citizens ticked off about COVID restrictions heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. He's also getting push back from some police departments which say they won't respond to reports of people breaking the rules.

Still, the Murphy fam's night out -- seated outdoors wearing jackets in cool November temps -- seems far less egregious than say California Gov. Newsom's infamous night at French Laundry.

A lame-duck is about to come bill-to-beak with a feathered friend ... the first of what promises to be a flurry of pardons before that lame-duck migrates south for the winter.

President Trump is moving forward Tuesday at The White House with the annual pardoning of the turkey ahead of Thanksgiving -- which will mark a rare public appearance from DT since he got beat by Joe Biden.

There'll actually be two birds sent to D.C. for the event ... one will be named the official Thanksgiving Turkey and the other will be an alternate (assuming the first runs away?). No word yet on what the Trump team might name the foul.

Last year, the staff dubbed them Bread and Butter ... Butter got pardoned.

The two birds this year are being selected from the Walcott family farm in Iowa -- the eighth such family from the Hawkeye State to raise birds destined for presidential sparing. After some face-time with Trump, they'll live out the rest of their days at Iowa State University and will be on public display come December.

It's a bit surprising the WH is soldiering on with such a light-hearted event ... y'know ... because of the dark cloud looming over just about everything there these days. Of course, Trump has yet to concede -- and seems more bitter than ever.

Dabo Swinney is FURIOUS Florida State canceled its game with Clemson on Saturday ... saying straight-up he thinks the Seminoles used coronavirus as an excuse to back out.

"This game was not canceled because of COVID," the Tigers head coach said Sunday. "COVID was just an excuse to cancel the game."

If you missed it, Florida State and Clemson were scheduled to kick off Saturday ... when it was revealed a Tigers player -- who had made the trip with the team to Tallahassee, FL for the game -- had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

Dabo says the team followed all the proper protocols and believed, despite the test, no one else was affected by the virus and the game should've still gone on.

But, FSU officials, citing the health and safety of their players, decided it was best to NOT play ... and canceled the matchup.

Dabo, speaking in-depth about the decision on Sunday, absolutely railroaded the school for the choice ... insinuating the 'Noles (a HUGE underdog in the game) simply just didn't want to play Clemson.

"The standard to cancel a game was not met," Dabo said. "A guy testing positive on a Friday does not cancel a game."

The coach continued, "We offered to test again. Play Saturday night. Sunday. Monday. And it was declined. We met the standard to play, and we should've played."

The ACC is trying to figure out a way to reschedule the game ... but Dabo made it clear if FSU doesn't reimburse the Tigers for travel expenses -- which were reportedly in the $300,000 range -- he ain't playin' it.

"To me, the Florida State administration forfeited the game," Swinney said. "And if they want to play Clemson, in my opinion, they need to come to Clemson or they need to pay for all expenses."

"Other than that, there's no reason for us to play them. We were there, we were ready and we met the standards."

A pro soccer player could be facing discipline from his league ... after he straight-up grabbed his opponent's penis TWICE in a disturbing in-game incident that was all caught on video.

Here's the deal ... on Saturday in England, Preston North End FC player Darnell Fisher was trying to guard Sheffield Wednesday's Callum Paterson during a corner kick in the second half.

Video of the play showed Fisher got super close to Paterson ... and then Fisher suddenly grabbed Paterson's junk.

Paterson was clearly upset by the move -- he looked over at the ref to see if the official was going to say something to Fisher -- and that's when Fisher cupped Paterson's genitals yet again.

The two eventually separated, and Fisher's Preston squad ended up winning the game 1-0 ... but afterward, the Football Association reportedly launched a probe into the incident.

According to Sky Sports, the FA is set to investigate whether or not it should punish Fisher for the move.

Similar incidents in sports this past year have garnered big discipline ... remember, rugby star Joe Marler was hit with a 10-WEEK ban for grabbing a guy's penis in a game.

The wheels have fallen off Donald Trump's court challenges, so his daughter-in-law now says they're entertaining the prospect of getting state legislators to subvert the democratic process -- and break the law -- by pressuring them to switch to pro-Trump electors.

It's both shocking and yet not really surprising. Lara Trump went on Fox Sunday and groused about all the alleged fraud and cheating in the election. Thing is ... her in-law had way more than a dozen chances to make that case before a judge, yet he's been thrown out of court left and right ... and schooled by angry judges who say the challenges are a big waste of time -- because Trump and co. presented no evidence of voter fraud.

So now, she's saying going to state legislators to try and overturn the results is an option. It's illegal in most states for legislators to turn on their voters and rig the electoral college system.

Lara Trump says there are 74 million people who voted for Trump who are angry at the results. Well, that's called losing, and we're guessing many of them may be upset but not necessarily inclined to rig the process so the loser becomes the winner.

She somehow thinks Joe Biden could not have gotten 80 million votes, because he only had a dozen people at some campaign events. Of course, that's ridiculous, especially because Biden played it safe and coronavirus has ravaged the maskless Trumps.

A large group of biz owners in Erie County, NY called the local authorities' bluff when they tried shutting down their get-together ... and sent Johnny Law packing.

This went down Friday night at a CrossFit gym called Athletes Unleashed in Orchard Park -- not too far away from Buffalo -- where upwards of 100 local businessmen and women congregated to discuss how to navigate the state's new COVID-19 guidelines ... which again are limiting hours, customers and access in NY.

While these folks were having their meeting -- with most people not wearing masks -- Erie County Sheriff's Deputies and Health Dept. officials made their way inside and attempted to disperse the crowd ... saying they were in violation of Gov. Cuomo's new 10-person-or-less rule for public gatherings.

What happened next is nothing short of shocking ... the crowd actually stood their ground and demanded the cops and county workers beat it -- which they did.

They were chased off in dramatic fashion, with the angry mob chanting "Get out!" and "We will not comply!" as they followed the Sheriff's deputies and others out into the parking lot and all the way back to their vehicles ... like dogs with their tail between their legs. It's cringe-worthy to see -- the cops pretty much folded.

Accused killer Kyle Rittenhouse got some help from a few famous people this week, and as a result, he's free on bail.

Ricky Schroder made a "significant contribution" which led to Rittenhouse posting $2 million cash bail ... this according to Rittenhouse's famed lawyer, Lin Wood. We're told Schroder contributed $150,000 to the bail fund.

Wood posted a photo of his client and Schroder, saying, "Thank you, All Donors. Thank you, All Patriots. Thank God Almighty."

In addition to Schroder, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell also donated and attorney Wood thanked both Schroder and Lindell for "putting us over the top." We're told Lindell donated $50,000.

Forget fancy dinners with escargot ... there's a ton of free chicken nuggets waiting to be scarfed down by Charli and Dixie D'Amelio!!!

Here's the deal ... the TikTok stars almost got canceled after a million followers jumped ship following a family dinner that saw the sisters being bratty about the menu, specifically the snails. So, now they're getting what they really want ... dino nuggets!!!

The fine folks behind Charli and Dixie's preferred grub, Yummy Dino Buddies, tell TMZ ... they've seen the infamous clip of Dixie throwing up her escargot and Charli asking for dino nuggets instead, so they're hooking up the girls with coupons for the dinosaur-shaped nuggets!!!

The free nuggets are nice, but that's not all Charli and Dixie have coming -- we're told they're also getting Yummy Dino Buddies swag.

See kids ... if you complain about your private chef's food and act like a brat at the dinner table for the whole world to see, you get free stuff!!!

Two cops in South Africa are under fire after they were recorded on video practically assaulting a disabled man ... with one cop shown throwing the man out of his wheelchair.

The disturbing incident played out Thursday in Cape Town where the man in the wheelchair, Zwelenkosi Ngidi, found himself in a tense confrontation with 2 cops at the Central Police Station.

You can see tensions reached a tipping point after one of the cops appears to stop Ngidi from moving by putting his foot on the wheelchair. Then all hell breaks loose... with the second cop coming from behind and violently tipping the wheelchair over ... causing Ngidi to fall out of his wheelchair. The cop pushes the wheelchair away ... leaving Ngidi on the ground confused as hell before someone else picks him up and puts him back in the wheelchair.

You hear someone in the crowd yell, "Why are you doing this to the old man?" It's unclear what triggered the standoff between Ngidi and the cops or why he was there.

Michael Steele's ready to get the Republican Party he knew and loved back from the President, but he thinks it's going to be a major challenge because so far ... nobody's stepping up to dump Trump.

The former head of the Republican National Committee tells us the battle between the GOP's "fair-minded patriots" -- his words -- and staunch Trumpers isn't dying down ... because there's no chance Donald goes away.

Steele says it's not complicated -- Trump will continue to assert his influence on the party and rally his base to maintain power. So the question ... who's gonna run against him in 2024???

Based on Steele's answer, he has zero confidence any current prominent Republicans are up to the task. He says whoever it is can't give a damn about pissing off Trump ... and, as he sees it, they're all too afraid.