Controversial S#!T

Kylie Jenner echoed the sentiments of her partner, Travis Scott, saying they're heartbroken over the Astroworld tragedy that claimed 8 lives and injured hundreds -- insisting Travis was not aware of the severity of the situation when he was performing as the crowd surged.

Kylie said, "Travis and I are broken and devastated. My thoughts and prayers are with all who lost their lives, were injured or affected in any way by yesterday’s events."

She went on to address criticism that Travis stayed on stage performing for 40 minutes after the tragedy unfolded ... "And also for Travis who I know cares deeply for his fans and the Houston community, I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show, and in no world would have continued filming or performing."

Kylie -- who's pregnant with her and Travis' second child -- along with 3-year-old Stormi were at the venue but far away from the crush of people. Kendall Jenner was also with them.

Earlier Travis posted, "I'm honestly just devastated ... We're actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.

As for Kylie, she ended with words of sympathy ... "I am sending my deepest condolences to all the families during this difficult time and will be praying for the healing of everyone who has been impacted."

Jenner was criticized online for leaving up Instagram stories of the crowd, which appeared to show an ambulance trying to make its way through.

The festival is getting severely criticized for not stopping the concert, despite emergency responders declaring the scene a "mass casualty" event as they tried resuscitating some of the victims.

Katt Williams didn't want to take any chances Saturday night when someone passed out in the crowd ... unlike what happened at Astroworld -- but almost certainly because of it, Katt stopped the show.

Someone in the crowd lost consciousness and someone screamed, "Stop the show!" Katt heeded the advice and took a 10-minute break while medics rushed in to tend to the audience member.

Katt stayed on stage at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, pacing around and talking to the crowd, but he clearly didn't want to jump right back into his set until medical matters were handled.

You hear Katt tell the audience, "I'm sorry if I won't move on but that Astroworld s*** I mean we can't never continue till we know somebody motherf***ing good ... I'm not goin' to be leaving with that on my conscious ... just take five minutes ... thank you, sir ... I hope she's just having a baby. That's all."

It's unclear what happened to the man who lost consciousness. He was taken out of the auditorium and Katt said, "We made the right decision," adding, "Alright, come back from a commercial break." He continued on with his set.

Travis Scott was mostly oblivious to what was going on around him Friday night during his Astroworld set -- including the fact people were dying around him ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Travis is utterly devastated over what transpired Friday, and he's beside himself over it. We're told he's been crying since it all happened, and he's an emotional wreck.

We're told he wasn't aware of the extent of what was happening around him -- people going into cardiac arrest, etc. -- and thought what few people he did see being attended to were folks who'd simply passed out from dehydration.

It's not uncommon for that type of thing to happen ... especially at a packed festival like this.

We're told Trav did, in fact, stop the show a few times to check on people who appeared to be unconscious or in distress, alerting security and other personnel over to them for assistance. But, our sources say he simply didn't realize how bad it actually was.

Not just that, but we're told neither he nor his camp were even informed about deaths or hospitalizations until after the show was done. As we reported ... a total of 8 people have died thus far, and dozens more were injured and hospitalized, including several minors.

As for Kylie ... our sources say she too is quite upset, and is trying to console Travis as best she can by being there for him.

Like we first told you, there were sightings of at least one person getting jabbed in the neck with a needle ... something Houston PD confirmed as accurate. It's unclear if that may have led to all of the cardiac arrests, or just one or a few -- but it'll certainly be looked at as part of the wider probe.

Big Bird is one of the first on Sesame Street to get protection against COVID-19 -- and while some might question why he's late to the party ... the timing makes sense for his audience.

The 8-foot costumed character made the big announcement on Twitter Saturday -- the first time he's tweeted from his account since March. So, yeah ... major development for the reclusive BB.

Big writes, "I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy." He adds, "Ms. @EricaRHill  even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!"

No photo proof or anything showing Mr. Bird getting his jab, but we'll take him at his word here ... and even give him props for spreading the word on vaccine awareness.

Now, if you're wondering why he mentioned CNN's Erica Hill specifically -- it's because she and other CNN personalities hosted a "town hall" Saturday morning called "The ABCs of Vaccines," which featured a number of 'Sesame Street' puppets talking 'rona and the shot.

Of course, that includes Big Bird too -- and the reason they're all being recruited to even talk about vaccines at all is because the Pfizer jab was just approved for kids between 5 and 11 the other day ... and the government is encouraging parents to inoculate their children.

So, no Big Bird hasn't been holding out or "doing his own research" with vaccine hesitancy -- it's just that his core demographic is now eligible, and he wants to encourage them (and their parents) to get it done. Also, he's apparently only 6 years old or something? 🤷🏽‍♂️

Jay-Z was trying to walk a fine line while talking about Dave Chappelle's new comedy special -- but it's clear which side of the debate he lands on ... and that would be in DC's camp.

The rapper spoke on the controversy surrounding "The Closer" Friday on a Twitter Space audio conversation -- one that was being hosted by Netflix's Strong Black Lead account, no less. Somebody asked him point-blank about what he thought, and Jay shared.

Check it out ... Jay-Z says Dave is "super brave," going on to say if you spend time with him, you'll see he's "brilliant." Now, Jay does admit Dave pushed a lot of buttons -- ones that apparently made HOV squirm, as he describes -- but in the end, he considers it "true art."

He goes on to say we're in a time now where people can't have discussions with others who disagree with them -- emblematic in the reaction to Dave's stand-up -- and Jay thinks ... that kinda sucks.

Eventually, the person seemingly moderating the convo asks Jay if he thinks the special was divisive -- and Jay tries to dissociate Dave's special with what he considers great art, which he describes as oftentimes being divisive. While he tried to separate the two, it's clear he thinks Dave's show might fall into that "great art" category.

It's also obvious Jay has no real problem with Dave, evidenced in the fact that he invited him to be one of the keynote speakers at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a week ago ... and was more than happy to pose and smile with the guy.

Donald Trump believes Alec Baldwin may have had more to do with the "Rust" shooting case than his obvious pulling of the trigger -- baselessly suggesting he might've loaded it too.

The ex-Prez shared his unhinged thoughts on the "Rust" shooting that claimed Halyna Hutchins' life this past week on the 'Chris Stigall Show' podcast -- where he called Alec a "troubled guy" and then went on to recklessly theorize he may have put the live round in there in the first place ... something we know definitively is NOT true in the slightest.

It's a wild hypothesis, and one that doesn't seem to be grounded in any facts or reality. And yet, DT did it anyway -- while Stigall didn't bother correcting him.

In any case, there's more Trump had to say on the situation ... recounting Alec's past run-ins with paparazzi and reporters -- some of which were tense and leaned toward aggression -- and went on to connect that to what happened here ... again, not really fair at all.

What Trump couldn't wrap his mind around was the idea that Alec, for some reason, thought it'd be okay to point the gun at someone who was not in the scene with him and pull the trigger. That's actually reasonable criticism ... a lot of people don't get it either, as it violates one of the biggest rules of onset gun safety -- keep folks out of the line of fire.

Trump did get the placement wrong on where this happened -- he says it was outside, but it was obviously inside a church, as we've reported.

Still, he notes that whether the gun was improperly managed before it got to Baldwin -- which appears to be the case based on everything we've seen thus far -- DT says it still shouldn't have been aimed at anyone ... let alone a cinematographer who was off-camera.

Bill Maher delivered a blistering attack on Millennials and Gen Z, essentially calling them hypocrites for pretending to be woke while celebrating excesses that are destroying planet earth.

The "Real Time" host said the youngins have a choice ... Greta Thunberg or Kylie Jenner, and Bill says the choice is clear because the 2 young women are polar opposites. He goes on to say it's no contest, just on numbers alone. Greta has 13 million Instagram followers, while Kylie has an astonishing 279 mil.

Bill's diatribe is blistering ... he says the choice is between a model citizen and a model, and the latter blows the former out of the water.

Maher concedes ... Kylie has built an empire on her own, but she's anything but a conservationist.  He goes into her closet, and then says while Greta refuses to fly (to do her part re: the carbon footprint), Kylie refuses to fly commercial.

His point is not to go after Kylie, but instead to call out her followers who act just like the boomers who have f***ed up the planet.

Baron Davis seems to believe the troubling allegations against Robert Sarver are true ... 'cause the ex-NBA star tells TMZ Sports he thinks the Suns owner "is a piece of s***."

The former Golden State Warriors guard said he sat next to the 60-year-old at some point during the NBA lockout in 2011 ... and he clearly got a bad vibe from the dude.

"Are you surprised?" Davis said out at LAX on Friday of the racist and misogynistic accusations against Sarver. "God damn, man. Look at that motherf***er."

Sarver has been accused of using the N-word on multiple occasions over the course of his 17 years with the Suns, according to ESPN, and he was also allegedly sexist with employees and others as well.

Sarver has vehemently denied most of the claims against him ... though he did admit to using the N-word one time "many years ago."

When we asked Davis about it all on Friday -- you can see in the clip, the former hooper really despises the guy.

"I don't care about that man," said Davis, who didn't want to go into detail about his interactions with Sarver. "He's a piece of s***."

Davis certainly seems like he wants to say more ... but tells us he's keeping it for his "Who Got Game" podcast.

Britney Spears' former business managers have some deep, dark secrets they don't want the public to know about ... at least that's how her attorney interprets their radio silence.

Mathew Rosengart fired off a letter to Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group earlier this week ... repeating his demand for them to turn over a bunch of documents. Specifically, he's investigating exactly how Lou Taylor's company ran Britney's life ... financially and otherwise.

In the letter TMZ obtained in a court filing, Rosengart says one thing he's demanded -- but not received -- for more than 6 weeks is the total amount of fees Tri Star's taken from Britney since 2008. He says, "Tri Star's ongoing failure to answer this question speaks volumes and leads to the unfortunate and inexorable conclusion that Tri Star has much to hide."

Some sources intimately familiar with her finances tell TMZ ... they believe Britney's net worth -- estimated at $60 million -- should be 2 to 3 times more than that, and they attribute that shortfall to misappropriation by people associated with the conservatorship.

Rosengart's concern goes beyond money, though. He's also keyed in on the allegation Tri Star had a hand in spying on Britney by placing listening devices in her bedroom ... as reported in the most recent NY Times documentary about Brit and the conservatorship.

He claims that reporting is more than enough to warrant Britney's desire to comb through any and all Tri Star docs related to the alleged electronic surveillance.

Aaron Rodgers says after contracting COVID this week ... he consulted with Joe Rogan and decided to take ivermectin to fight off the virus on the heels of the podcast host's advice.

The Green Bay Packers star revealed his at-home, coronavirus-fighting plan on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday ... saying he decided to down a cocktail of meds similar to the way Rogan did earlier this year after talking with the 54-year-old.

"I've consulted with a now-good friend of mine, Joe Rogan, after he got COVID and I've been doing a lot of the stuff that he recommended in his podcasts and on the phone to me," Rodgers said.

"I've been taking monoclonal antibodies, ivermectin, zinc, vitamin c and d, and HCQ," the NFL player continued, "and I feel pretty incredible."

Rodgers revealed he began feeling COVID symptoms on Tuesday, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, and felt poorly on Thursday.

The 37-year-old, though, said he's now feeling great.

Rodgers also explained his highly controversial vaccine stance to McAfee and A.J. Hawk ... admitting he did NOT get the shots, despite appearing to say in August he had gotten them.

But, Rodgers said he "didn't lie" -- and explained when he said he was "immunized," he meant he had actually taken steps to naturally help boost his immune system.

As for why he didn't just get the shots ... Rodgers said he's allergic to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines -- and just straight-up didn't want the Johnson & Johnson one due to reported side effects.

He also said even though he's "not some sort of anti-vax, flat-earther" ... he clearly feels the forcing of vaccines on people is not right.

In fact, Rodgers actually quoted Martin Luther King Jr. -- saying, "The great MLK said, 'You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense.'"

A fight is brewing -- and maybe even a war -- between Britney Spears and her former business manager, who now says she had nothing to do with allegations of bugging Brit's bedroom or controlling her medical treatment.

Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group -- run by Lou Taylor -- has just filed legal docs asking the judge in the conservatorship case to put the brakes on Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, who wants a full accounting over the last 13 years of Taylor's involvement. Rosengart has already said he believes money has been mishandled.

Taylor and co. say Rosengart should not be allowed to go back that far. They say Tri Star submitted regular accountings without any objection from Spears over the 11 years Taylor was involved in the conservatorship. Rosengart has said the whole deck was stacked against Britney and even her own lawyer at the time didn't protect her or her money.

Beyond that, Taylor's partner, Robin Greenhill, submitted a declaration saying "No one at Tri Star is aware of any hidden electronic surveillance device placed in Ms. Spears' bedroom."  She goes on to say, "No one at Tri Star has ever had any control over Ms. Spears' medical treatment."

What Greenhill did not address ... reports that she controlled Britney's ability to live the way she wants ... allegedly telling Spears on occasion she couldn't go on vacation or buy certain things because she reached her spending limit.

Britney has broken from Tri Star and is angry over the way Lou Taylor and co. handled her affairs.

Phoenix Suns co-owner Robert Sarver is being accused of using the N-word on multiple occasions over the course of his 17 years with the team ... but he's denying all but one claim made against him.

ESPN just released a lengthy report on Sarver's tenure with the Suns organization ... with several sources accusing the 60-year-old of racism, sexism and misogyny.

Earl Watson -- who was head coach of the Suns from 2016-17 -- claims Sarver hurled the slur multiple times after a game against the Golden State Warriors ... saying, "You know, why does Draymond Green get to run up the court and say [N-word]?"

The ex-NBAer says he fired back at Sarver by explaining he's not allowed to use the word ... to which Sarver replied, "Why? Draymond Green says [N-word]."

While Watson claims he said the word, Sarver says he actually used the phrase "N-word."

Sarver adamantly denies calling or referring to anyone as the racial slur ... saying, "It is abhorrent and ugly and denigrating and against everything I believe in."

Sarver -- who also co-owns the Phoenix Mercury -- does admit using the word "many years ago" ... claiming he was responding to a player while discussing team chemistry.

"An assistant coach approached me a short time after and told me that I shouldn't say the word, even if I were quoting someone else," Sarver told the outlet.

In a 2004 meeting that included Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire, agents and other staffers, Sarver allegedly said the term "black guy" loosely, which employees believed came off as racially insensitive.

6 other staffers claim Sarver also used the N-word when sharing stories relayed by a black player.

There's more -- an executive claims Sarver explained his decision to hire Lindsey Hunter as head coach over Dan Majerle back in 2013 by saying, "The N-words need an N-word."

Watson also says Sarver mentioned race while asking him to cut ties with Rich Paul's Klutch Sports amid contract negotiations with player Eric Bledsoe ... claiming he said, "Yeah, I understand what race you two are. So I'm asking you, How bad do you want your job?"

Watson claims to have responded -- "You can do whatever you want. You own this team, but my culture is not for sale. And, I'm not for sale."

As for Sarver, he says his issues with Klutch were due to a conflict of interest and not race. Watson was later fired 3 games into the 2017-18 season.

The report claims Sarver told a pregnant employee in 2008 she would not be able to do her job because she would be at home breastfeeding all day ... but Suns management rebuked Sarver's wishes and did not fire the woman due to fear of discrimination.

Sarver is also accused of showing employees pictures of his wife in a bikini ... which he claims was meant to show off team-branded swimsuits that were recently approved for sale.

There's more -- Sarver is admitting to pulling down an accounting exec's pants in front of fellow employees during an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge back in 2014, which he regrets.

Sarver also allegedly made comments to staffers about shaving their private parts, NBA players getting strippers pregnant and female employees crying too much.

Others claim Sarver discussed receiving oral sex from his wife, needing to wear extra-sized condoms, and asking players about their sex lives ... which he's denied.

As one employee put the working environment under Sarver ... "If the commissioner comes in and investigates to see what the f*** is going on in Phoenix, [he] would be appalled."

Chris Rock's making it clear where he stands in the vaxx/anti-vaxx debate by taking a big swipe at Kyrie Irving ... and he did it in a prime location.

Chris was onstage Wednesday night in Brooklyn along with a bunch of bands and comedians performing at an NFT Week event when he hyped up the crowd by calling out anti-vaxxers. He eased into it with a joke about wearing face masks at concerts, and then simply asked, "Where's my anti-vaxxers at?"

Oddly, the question actually drew some cheers -- NYC requires vaccinations to attend shows like this -- and then Rock hit 'em with ... "You dumb, Kyrie motherf******!!!"

Chris was just a few miles away from Barclays Center, where Kyrie will NOT be playing this season for his Brooklyn Nets -- but his joke still scored laughs from the hometown crowd. Remember, Chris is from Brooklyn ... but he's still a diehard Knicks fan.

Lil Baby, Questlove, Aziz Ansari, and Rich the Kid were some of the other performers -- and after Chris took his shot at Kyrie Irving, he introduced The Strokes.

DaBaby is going back on tour after his homophobic comments, and it's all backed by Rolling Loud -- the festival where he made those remarks -- which believes he's a changed man.

Here's the deal ... DaBaby just announced a 22-show tour presented by Rolling Loud called "Live Show Killa Tour." The rapper's touting it as "THE SHOW YOU THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER SEE AGAIN" ... clearly jabbing at people who wanted him canceled.

A rep for Rolling Loud tells TMZ ... RL supports second chances and believes DaBaby has grown and learned from his experience, and everyone will be welcome at the shows.

As you know ... there was a massive backlash against DaBaby after the homophobic rant at Rolling Loud in Miami -- he was dropped from the lineup of a few festivals.

But, he returned to a Rolling Loud stage last month in NYC, where he joined his buddy 50 Cent as a special guest.

Sources close to DaBaby tell TMZ ... he inked the tour deal with RL prior to his appearance with Fiddy, but no earlier than a month ago.

A group of high school students in Penn. have now been banned from attending hockey games this season after they chanted "suck our d***" and "she's a w****" at a female goalie during a match last week.

The deplorable moments all went down when Mars Area H.S. took on Armstrong H.S. at Belmont Sports Complex near Kittanning on Thursday ... when several students decided to hurl vile words at the Mars goalie.

In a video from the game, the chants can be heard loud and clear -- and the footage shows they lasted for several seconds each.

In an interview with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mars coach Steve Meyers said his players heard the words from ice level -- and they actually left his goalie in tears.

After the game, Armstrong principal Kirk Lorigan said he was "appalled" by the actions of his students ... and took swift action against them, banning the entire student body from attending future games this year.

Lorigan added that he and other school officials are working to identify individual students who participated in the chants at the game ... intimating further punishment could be on the way at the conclusion of the probe.

"It's certainly an unfortunate and embarrassing situation," Lorigan said ... "I'm disgusted by it."

Lorigan also said he's apologized to Mars and their goalie over it all.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks folks who oppose Critical Race Theory in schools are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to the country's history ... which ain't always pretty.

We got the U.S. Congresswoman from NY Wednesday on Capitol Hill, and asked for her thoughts on CRT -- a hot-button issue that played a role in several elections that went down Tuesday, especially Virginia's gubernatorial race.

Watch what AOC has to say about this ... in her mind, refusing to embrace a Critical Race Theory-based curriculum is akin to willfully ignoring how racism impacted the nation from its inception.

The one thing she hints at, but doesn't quite verbalize, is that CRT makes the leap of framing racial dynamics in the present ... discussing how some institutions are *still* steeped in racism, and how that affects people of color today.

Truth is, there are a lot of people who don't understand what Critical Race Theory is at all ... or have been misinformed about it. And, as AOC notes here, it's been weaponized to really trigger some people -- especially parents.