Controversial S#!T

Admiration for the man suspected of murdering the UnitedHealthcare CEO is not just perverse ... it's dangerous, Michael Moynihan tells TMZ.

The renowned journalist told "TMZ Live" ... the level of joy and satisfaction a portion of the country felt when Brian Thompson was killed last week is deeply disturbing ... but not nearly as grotesque as people fawning over Luigi Mangione.

MM contends our society is clearly in a "sick place" ... and most of the people who see Mangione as a folk hero are too young -- and uninformed -- to really consider the twisted logic of the heinous crime.

Lily Phillips' tearful reaction had nothing to do with regret over sleeping with 100 men in 24 hours ... telling TMZ she was merely exhausted after the sexcapade.

The OnlyFans model, who made headlines for her recent sexathon, tells us ... she got emotional and broke down into tears in the aftermath of her feat due to fatigue -- and guilt that not all of the guys got to have their promised 5 minutes with her due to logistics.

She emphasizes she has zero regrets ... and is as dedicated as ever to try and break the record of sleeping with 1,000 men in 24 hours. Another woman holds the world record -- 919 men at a 2004 event.

Luigi Mangione admirers looking for merch celebrating the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson need to look elsewhere ... 'cause Esty has pulled a lot of gear with his infamous face.

Even before he was identified, Thompson's killer was cheered by some as a folk hero -- but that movement got turbo-charged when Mangione was arrested and charged ... and fan-made merch flooded the e-commerce site.

However, as of Thursday morning, most of the prior Mangione items -- including shirts, cups and even a Christmas ornament -- are gone ... their pages now read, "😔Sorry, this item is unavailable."

Jay-Z is getting no mercy from 50 Cent, who pounced on the RocNation honcho for stepping out in Hollywood amid the lawsuit claiming he raped a 13-year-old girl.

50 wasted no time trolling ... moments after he saw Jay not only show up at Monday night's premiere for 'Mufasa,' but he happily posed for photos alongside Beyoncé and Blue Ivy, who are both in the 'Lion King' prequel.

In a post he's since deleted, 50 Cent captioned an image of the Carters at the premiere with ... "Jay said they said I rapped [sic] a kid, everybody get dressed we going to see Mufasa LOL.”

There was already a "Countdown" to Beyoncé and Blue Ivy's appearance at the "Mufasa" premiere before Jay-Z was hit with a sexual assault allegation ... so, all eyes were on the red carpet to see if the mother-daughter duo actually showed up Monday night. Not only did they show up but Jay-Z accompanied them.

All three family members were in attendance at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where "The Lion King" prequel film had its highly anticipated premiere.

Their appearance spoke volumes in the wake of the troubling allegations against the Carter patriarch.

Anthony Edwards' potty mouth just cost him some dough -- the NBA just fined the Minnesota Timberwolves star $25K for using "profane language" during a postgame interview.

Joe Dumars, the NBA's Executive Vice President and Head of Basketball Operations, announced the punishment on Monday ... three days after AE dropped the f-bomb while analyzing the Wolves' 107-90 win over the Golden State Warriors.

Even though the words were complimentary of his teammates, Dumars said the two-time All-Star's comments wouldn't fly ... resulting in the hefty fine.

A jarring event took place in NYC on Saturday ... when an apparent look-alike contest was held -- and very much attended -- for the suspect who killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood this week.

Online reaction to the gathering is a mixture of shock and celebration ... putting a fine point on how polarizing the murderer has become.

Several people in Washington Square Park came dressed in clothing that resembled what the suspect -- who remains at large -- wore when he fatally shot Thompson outside his hotel.

Zach Collins better get ready to open his wallet ... 'cause it's likely going to cost him big time for flipping off a referee after being ejected from Friday's game.

Here is the deal ... the Sacramento Kings dominated the Spurs in San Antonio with a 140-113 victory ... but it was what happened while the game was still in reach that's making headlines.

Zach -- the Spurs' power forward -- flew off the handle after he was ejected following a series of fouls ... and he got so pissed over it, he flipped referee Michael Smith the bird.

Jaylen Brown is paying the price for how he celebrated his insane dunk over Detroit Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart ... with the league hitting him with a hefty fine over it all.

The play in question went down with 12 seconds to go during the Celtics' win over Motor City on Wednesday night, with Brown hitting a nasty poster on Stewart to get the TD Garden going crazy.

In the moment, the 28-year-old emphasized the highlight by making a throat-slashing gesture toward Stewart -- and it turns out the NBA wasn't a fan of the move ... 'cause the league announced he will need to fork over $25K for "making an inappropriate gesture on the playing court."

Ellen DeGeneres is making lemonade out of lemons ... with her skincare line that's got super ironic branding.

The talk show legend has a new ad out for Kind Science ... which is funny, considering she got canceled from Hollywood for being unkind. What's in a name, anyway?!?

Ellen's playing nice here though, at least for the cameras in her living room ... plugging her anti-aging products alongside Portia de Rossi.

Andrew Schulz got even more spicy responding to Kendrick Lamar in his recent podcast ... insinuating that if push came to shove, he'd physically push up on K. Dot in a prison cell -- and have his way with him. 🤨

Just like his "Flagrant" podcast title suggests, Schulz got extremely graphic describing his intentions with Kendrick's rear end ... "I would make love to [Kendrick] and there's nothing he could do about it ... if we're in a cell, and we're bored and we're done tattooing each other -- whatever you do in a cell, and we ran out of board games and we did all the other things, and we cleaned everything, and I'm like, 'Man, I might as well f*** you.' There's nothing he can physically do to stop that."

In case viewers were missing out on details, Schulz outlined how he'd put Kendrick's legs in the air "and choose a position."

Ariana Grande expressed strong feelings while opening up about body-shamers ... confessing it’s been overwhelming dealing with endless opinions on what people think she should look like, but making it clear she has no time for them.

The actress was continuing on with her "Wicked" promo duties alongside Cynthia Erivo on the "Oui Oui Baguette" web series when she spilled about the never-ending struggle -- you fix what people say is wrong, and just like that, they've got another problem for other reasons.

Ariana got real about how body-shaming hit her hard in the past, starting as a teenager in the biz, and how tough it’s been to shield herself from all that constant noise since.

Taylor Lorenz -- a controversial journalist formerly of the Washington Post -- is clarifying some of her comments about the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson ... and she says his brutal killing isn't the real tragedy here.

Taylor joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked her what she meant by two social media posts that have gotten a lot of attention in the wake of Thompson's killing ... including one that lots of folks interpreted as her calling for more violence against healthcare executives.

She says she wasn't calling for murder when she shared a photo of the Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Kim Keck above a post about BCBS announcing it wouldn't cover anesthesia for the entirety of some surgeries.

Craig Garriott, a technician at Boeing's satellite factory in L.A., has emerged as the latest whistleblower to speak out against the company over safety concerns.

In a new sit-down with CBS News, Garriott called out Boeing for allegedly putting their sole focus on profit, instead of prioritizing quality and the safety of their employees. While the longtime employee noted the aircraft company wasn't always this way ... he claimed the current management isn't taking his concerns seriously.

He noted ... "I'm afraid with Boeing in the hands that it's in now down here, they're not gonna listen to me until somebody dies."

Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair says if people want to make him a bad guy, he'll show them a bad guy ... sharing a message about going full "villain" mode after his suspension was upheld.

The NFL announced Al-Shaair's appeal was denied on Wednesday ... meaning he will serve his full three-game ban for his controversial hit on Trevor Lawrence during Sunday's game, which ultimately landed the quarterback on Injured Reserve.

Shortly after the league's decision was made public, Al-Shaair went to social media to weigh in ... and while he initially apologized for the entire incident on Monday, he's no longer trying to defend his name -- instead, he's leaning into the new narrative.

Flavor Flav claims he got the boot from hanging out in the Backstreet Boys green room backstage at NBC's yearly Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting on Wednesday night.

The rapper took to X saying he was invited to the event but claims when he got together with the BSB guys in their dressing room, security quickly came along and told him NBC allegedly didn't want him in the area he was in and asked him to leave.

He went on to describe what he views as a very contradictory situation writing, "At the same time,,, their social media woman came up and asked to capture social content."