Controversial S#!T

Nate Boyer, U.S. Army Green Beret turned NFL player, is coming to the defense of Michael Strahan ... after the Pro Football Hall of Famer was accused of disrespecting the American Flag during a Veterans Day celebration -- something the Special Operator says is nonsense!

TMZ Sports talked to Boyer Monday night ... and asked the 43-year-old retired soldier and football player for his thoughts on Strahan, and the criticism.

"It's kind of ridiculous to be completely honest. First of all, Mike has a deep, deep respect for the military. He's done a lot of work in the veteran nonprofit space. He's a military brat. You know, he grew up around this. This is part of his life," Boyer said.

The comedian who caught hell for his "garbage" joke about Puerto Rico has released his post-speech reaction, recorded the night after his appearance at Madison Square Garden.

In an episode of "Kill Tony," the podcast and live show hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe, he's onstage performing ... and he goes into a bit about his freshly controversial set from the night before.

You'll recall ... at a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in NYC on October 27, Hinchcliffe was warming up the crowd -- one of his jokes was, "I don't know if you know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico."

Some folks are outraged over a live tiger's presence at LSU's game against Alabama ... and that includes Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin -- who tells TMZ Sports the stunt was "blatant disregard for the tiger's well-being."

Saturday marked the first time since 2015 a Panthera Tigris was on the field for an LSU football game ... at state governor Jeff Landry's request. He initially wanted the host school to roll out its current tiger mascot, Mike, to the field for pregame festivities ... but the university declined.

Landry then resorted to bringing a tiger from Florida ... which irked Baskin for several reasons.

A U.S. Government agency's effort to honor those who've served with a Veterans Day social media tribute is, instead, pissing off a whole lot of people.

In a since-deleted post, the Instagram account for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office posted in honor of vets, uploading an image of a fighter plane beneath a banner featuring the American flag.

However, it didn't take long for some eagle-eyed followers to clock that the organization had included a Chinese stealth fighter instead of America's famed F-35 jet ... and mercilessly roasted the JPO for doing so.

An Oklahoma City cop is facing backlash after he aggressively threw an elderly man to the ground during a traffic dispute ... reportedly causing a number of upsetting injuries.

In a new video making the rounds online ... the officer is seen issuing a traffic ticket to a 70-year-old man, named Lich Vu, and his wife in Oklahoma City. The scene starts off calmly enough ... with the officer explaining to Vu that he was being cited for an "improper U-turn," even though another driver struck his vehicle.

While Vu tries to explain himself, he is repeatedly interrupted by the officer ... leading the elderly man to tap the cop on the chest and say, "Shut up."

Kevin Costner's exit from "Yellowstone" was made permanent in its season 5 return ... eliciting a strong reaction from fans -- with an immense amount of vitriol directed at one character.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

The Paramount Network drama made its highly anticipated return Sunday and with it, an apparent final call about Costner's future on the show by ...  killing off the beloved Dutton patriarch, John.

Jordan Chiles' fight to keep her Olympic bronze is far from over ... with the Team USA star breaking down in tears over the controversy -- saying the medal is rightfully hers.

The 23-year-old was deeply emotional in an interview with Hoda Kotb on "Today" ... revisiting how officials claimed her coach's appeal was submitted four seconds late, despite footage appearing to show otherwise.

Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu was reinstated to third place and awarded the bronze medal ... and even though four months have passed, the matter is clearly still affecting Chiles.

Mattel's got a "Wicked" big problem on its hands ... 'cause it added a URL to the back of its Elphaba and Glinda toys -- and, it turns out it's a very NSFW site.

Here's the deal ... the toy company's pushing dolls of characters from the movie based on the Broadway musical of the same name -- mainly selling action figures of the two main witches.

On the back of the dolls, they put a URL to the website "www.wicked.com" ... in case people who purchase the toys want to buy more -- except, that's not the company's website. It's a porn site!

Diddy's lawyers say they've received a trove of discovery material from the government over the past 6 weeks — and they’re going after the federal prosecutors' assertion there's a possible second victim.

According to legal docs filed Friday and obtained by TMZ, Diddy's attorneys attacked the government's claim there was a potential second victim of Diddy's alleged sex trafficking operation.

As you know, the original indictment pointed specifically to one unnamed victim, who seems to be his ex-girlfriend, Cassie, based on the allegations. The feds charged Diddy with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Sunny Hostin's placing the blame for Donald Trump's presidential victory squarely at the feet of white women without college degrees ... basically saying they're too dumb to realize they voted against their own reproductive rights.

The talk show host broke down election results alongside her costars on "The View" Wednesday ... and, she said while Black women and Latinas tried to save the country, "uneducated" white women and Latino men ultimately tossed the election to the Republican president-elect.

Hostin says 52% of "uneducated" white women -- meaning women without college degrees -- voted for Trump ... in direct contradiction to the right to an abortion, according to SH.

10:30 AM PT -- Halle Bailey reinstated her accounts Thursday morning, and said she may have overreacted last night -- clarifying DDG is a great dad, and thanking Kai Cenat for the gifts to her son.

DDG and his baby boy Halo were the latest guests on Kai Cenat's stream night -- a move unapproved by Halle Bailey -- and she told the entire world about it!!!

On Wednesday evening, Halle brought more attention to her child being the center of attention on Kai's stream -- where he was treated to a live baby shower in his honor!!!

Kai has millions of followers each night and Halle says her not being notified put her in a bad position as a mother. She later told the internet she's suffering from postpartum depression.

Rachael "Raygun" Gunn is done with competitive breaking ... she revealed this week she's calling it quits due to all of the hate that was spewed her way following her viral performance in the Olympics.

The 37-year-old made the announcement while on The Jimmy & Nath Show ... explaining that everything she went through in France and its aftermath has sapped all of the joy she used to get out of competing.

"I don't think people should feel crap about the way they dance," she said ... before adding, "I still break, but I don't compete. I'm not going to compete anymore."

The NFL hasn't docked Nick Bosa any pay for his impromptu, on-field MAGA hat display last month -- but he says he'd welcome a fine if one does come down ... telling reporters this week, "It was well worth it."

The 49ers superstar donned the pro-Donald Trump cap just minutes after San Francisco beat the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 27 ... and many have wondered if he'd lose some of his paycheck over it.

After all, the NFL has prohibited its players from wearing personal, non-league-approved messages.

John Hinckley Jr., the attempted assassin who shot President Ronald Reagan in the '80s, is now getting a barrage of heinous requests online ... asking him to do the same to President-elect Donald Trump.

The jarring posts popped up on X after Hinckley posted a link to his community website Tuesday, encouraging fans to check out his new music ... only to see a number of people respond with wishes for him to take out Trump hours after DT won the 2024 presidential election.

The comments are beyond troubling, with some telling Hinckley they've "got a job for [him]" and that the country needs him "now more than ever."

Sauce Walka has a provocative take in the wake of Donald Trump's crushing victory in Texas and the 2024 Presidential election ... he thinks it takes balls to operate the Oval Office!!!

The Houston rapper gloated on Wednesday by rubbing Team Trump's win in the faces of Kamala Harris supporters with a chauvinist dig on Elon Musk's X where he wrote, "Trump... this is a man’s job ... 🤷🏾‍♂️ love you ladies."

Sauce told his fans not to put more stock into the election than their own hustle ... but also got saucy reposting a fan who claimed his 9-year-old son refused to endorse Kamala simply because she's a woman!!!

Travis Kelce is sticking up for his older bro after his recent blowup on a spectator at the Penn State game -- saying he knows Jason has no hate in his heart.

The Kelce bros kicked off their latest episode of their "New Heights" podcast by addressing the elephant in the room ... with the Philadelphia Eagles legend once again expressing his regret over entertaining the heckler -- especially returning homophobic language hurled at him in the altercation.

The Kansas City Chiefs superstar then spoke on the situation ... saying he knows the magnitude of it all is taking a toll on Jason -- but he feels like it isn't as big of a deal as it's been made out to be.