Coronavirus

Coronavirus is hurting Wendy's on the fryer, 'cause the famous fast-food chain can't serve their most basic product ... forcing people to ask the age-old question, "Where's the beef?"

It's true ... several Wendy's locations across the U.S. -- including here in California -- are experiencing a meat shortage due to COVID-19, especially in the beef department ... and as a result, a lot of them are yanking their famous burger creations from the menu. NOOO!!!

The reason ... lots of slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants are starting to shutter, either because of lay-offs or because the government's shutting them down out of precaution in an attempt to curb spreading even more disease. We know that game all too well lately.

Now, the pig-tailed redhead can't offer her famous "fresh-never-frozen" patties in certain parts of the U.S. -- and while customers are disappointed, they're also poking fun at the sitch.

Of course, we're talking ol' Clara Peller and the iconic '80s and '90s Wendy's commercials that boldly asked competitors ... "WHERE'S THE BEEF?!?" We're sure you've seen at least one -- and if not, here's a compilation of them back-to-back-to-back for good measure.

It used to be the pride and joy of Wendy's -- now, we have to settle for chicken sandwiches, Frostys, baked potatoes and chili. Actually, that doesn't sound half bad 😝

"Go to school, p***y!"

That's how Rudy Gobert reacted when a fan trolled him over his coronavirus diagnosis on a Twitch stream Monday ... with the NBA player pausing his game to dish out the clap back.

The Utah Jazz star -- whose COVID-19 diagnosis in March was ultimately the impetus for the NBA suspending its season -- was playing Call of Duty when someone went off in the comments.

The remark has since been removed from Gobert's chat history ... but the person behind the comment claims it said, "Thanks for starting covid in the nba dumbass."

Gobert -- who answers comments periodically during his gaming -- stopped his avatar for a few seconds to fire back at user "gbgator" ... saying, "Hey, gabo, gato, gator -- go to school, p***y!"

Gobert has been very open about his struggles with COVID-19 since testing positive, apologizing for his flippant actions prior to the test ... and even saying the virus made him lose his sense of smell.

Gobert also admitted the diagnosis affected his relationship with teammate Donovan Mitchell, who reportedly was upset with the way Rudy acted before testing positive.

The Phoenix Zoo has a celebrity in its midst -- a handsome sloth that's become all the rage on the web, and while he's slowly making dough ... the zoo's still far from being financially stable.

The little guy's name is Fernando, a 4-year-old Linne's two-toed sloth who lives his life -- inch ... by ... inch -- within the confines of the zoo and lately, he's been raking in some much-needed cash on Cameo. That's the site where folks pay for personalized video messages.

Yes, people are paying for shout-outs from a non-speaking, slow-moving, tree-climbing mammal. At first, a Fernando Cameo only cost ya $25 -- but now, because of his popularity, the zoo's upped that to $50 a pop. At least 150 people have hired him, so far.

While it's great the Phoenix Zoo is getting innovative during the pandemic -- it also speaks to the hardship the industry, as a whole, is going through.

This specific zoo is reportedly a $1-million-per-month operation, and since closing its doors around mid-March ... it's been losing damn near $80k a day. So, the zoo is scrambling to raise funds any way it can right now.

Fortunately, the Phoenix Zoo recently got approved for a small business loan worth nearly $3 million as part of the federal stimulus package -- but even that's not enough to match what they'd normally make while open for biz.

For now, Fernando's doing all he can on Cameo.

Here's further proof not all heroes wear capes or badges ... sometimes they're famous TV mobsters like Joseph Gannascoli, who is taking it upon himself to feed frontline workers.

The actor -- famous for playing capo Vito Spatafore on the hit HBO series -- started his mission early last month with a goal of raising $50k to feed hospital workers, firefighters and other frontline workers.

Joseph started a GoFundMe and the donations started piling up pretty fast. So far, he's raised just over $25k and he's ordered food from his local neighborhood restaurants and delivered it throughout NY ... from Long Island and Staten Island to the Bronx and Brooklyn.

His objective -- help local restaurants with some much-needed business while also helping emergency workers who are working nonstop to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. So far, he's brought TONS of meals to hospitals, fire departments, police departments and even a U.S. post office.

Joseph's massive deliveries -- from his neighborhood restaurants like Villa Maria, Vincent's Clam Bar, Greek Xpress, and Habanero Mexican -- have really wowed those receiving it, including Cohen Children's Hospital, Nassau University Medical Center to the Lynbrook Police Department. And, as long as the money keeps coming in, he'll continue to order the food, pick it up himself and also deliver the food himself.

And, get this ... Joseph got some much-needed good news just a few days ago after learning his 104-year-old aunt, Ida Acconciamessa, survived her bout of COVID-19 after she was diagnosed early last month ... when Joseph started his feed-frontline-workers project.

She's a tough woman ... having survived stage 4 melanoma, two broken hips, and not to mention, having lived through the Spanish Flu. Goes without saying ... Joseph will also be delivering food to her nursing home in Brooklyn later this week.

It's not the first time Hollywood's done its part to help frontline workers. As we first reported ... Steven Spielberg did the same with hospital workers in Burbank. Danny Trejo personally delivered tons of Mexican food from his famous L.A. joint.

California Governor Gavin Newsom's battle with Orange County is heating up -- an ex-mayor down there is suing the Guv over the beach closures.

Kevin Muldoon, a former Newport Beach mayor and current city councilman there, claims Newsom's draconian order to close OC beaches -- from Newport Beach and Huntington Beach to Dana Point and San Clemente -- is a clear violation of their constitutional rights to freedom of travel, freedom of assembly and due process ... this according to docs obtained by TMZ.

In docs, Muldoon claims pictures from last month showing packed beaches in the OC that almost immediately triggered beach closures are incredibly misleading. He claims the photos were "taken from a ground level viewpoint, using zoom lenses that artificially compress perspective, seemingly showed beachgoers tightly packed together on Newport Beach."

He claims there are aerial pics that show far more space between beachgoers than the pics in the newspaper implied. What's more ... Muldoon claims it's completely unfair to single out the OC, which he claims has fewer COVID-19 cases than other places that did NOT have their beaches shut down. He claims other cities with closed beaches actually have more COVID cases.

Muldoon, who is suing as an individual and NOT in his official capacity as a councilman, claims sunlight and open-air reduce the likelihood of COVID transmission. It should be noted ... OC beach cities and individuals reportedly sued Newsom on Friday over his beach closures but a judge denied their request to nullify Newsom's order.

As we reported ... tons of pissed off residents flooded downtown Huntington Beach to protest the beach closures. There was also a plane flying a banner over the weekend that read "Fire Gruesome Newsom! Open California!"

Muldoon's asking a judge to declare the gov's order unconstitutional and prohibit its enforcement so peeps can enjoy the beach.

An NYC woman says she was almost stabbed to death by her roommate ... and it was all because of boozing during quarantine.

The victim's name is Tatiana Nazarinova -- an Upper East Side resident who was living with 27-year-old Daria Alyabyeva amid the lockdown. On April 19, Tatiana was repeatedly stabbed and damn-near died ... just because she wanted Daria to stop drinking, or so she claims.

Tatiana detailed the weeks leading up to the alleged stabbing to the NY Daily News, saying she used to live with Daria in California years ago -- adding they recently reunited on the East Coast ... where Tatiana says she was trying to help her old pal get on her feet.

The victim claims Daria always had a drinking and partying problem, but that she wanted to lend a hand to her anew because they're both Russian ... and that's what they do. Unfortunately, it sounds like the boozing continued in the Big Apple -- but once the coronavirus pandemic hit, Tatiana was hopeful that might put a halt to it in one fell swoop.

It didn't ... Tatiana says Daria actually got worse while confined indoors, allegedly drinking at all hours of the day -- which finally boiled over a few weeks ago after a near-fatal confrontation. Law enforcement sources tell us Tatiana found a whiskey cup in the living room -- this after she'd apparently told Daria to only booze in her room -- and threw it in the sink.

That allegedly set Daria off, whom we're told grabbed a knife and hacked away at Tatiana ... leaving her with multiple stab wounds and bleeding profusely. Cops say Daria took off, and luckily ... paramedics were able to save Tatiana after taking her to the hospital.

The police nabbed Daria 8 days later and booked her on attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges. She's at Rikers Island right now on $750,000 bond.

Going to concerts in the near future might require rocking a neon spacesuit straight out of Daft Punk's closet, if an L.A. designer's vision comes true.

It's called the Micrashell, a prototype for a personal protective suit that would allow people to once again attend large public gatherings without having to worry about social distancing ... thanks to a built-in ventilation system.

The suit's the brainchild of Miguel Risueno -- head of inventions at the L.A.-based design studio, Production Club -- who says he was inspired to get to work in March after he saw spring breakers in Florida blowing off coronavirus stay-at-home orders to party.

He says he wanted to come up with something that would support both the public health and folks in the music industry out of work due to the pandemic ... with a simple mix of safety features and smartphone tech solutions.

Risueno says he doesn't want it to feel like a medical device -- hence the colors -- but the airtight suit functions like one with a ventilation system he says works like an N-95 respirator with a replaceable filter.

The dome of the suit also includes some crazy audio tech, allowing users to customize who they talk to and control what they can listen to via software and an accompanying app.

Oh, and it's only for the upper body -- which makes bathroom breaks a lot easier -- and can be easily sanitized thanks to cut-resistance fabric.

Until there's a vaccine and everyone's past the fear of the coronavirus, the Micrashell might be the best solution to enjoy live music

But, here's one other option -- a drive-in social distancing concert was held in Germany this weekend, with tons of cars packed in tight but nobody allowed to get out.

The fact people are willing to sit in car fumes and deal with a potential traffic jam to attend a concert speaks volumes ... it might be this way or the highway until everyone's immune to COVID-19.

One of Italy's biggest hot spots -- for tourism, not coronavirus -- is packed again as the country's citizens rush out of nearly 10 weeks of lockdown.

St. Mark's Square in Venice was filled Monday as Italy enters its phase 2 ... which allows visiting relatives within the region, taking part in funerals and exercising outside while maintaining social distancing. There's little social distancing going on in the Square ... but, on the other hand, almost everyone is wearing a face mask.

It's an odd scene because Venice was one of Italy's epicenters when COVID-19 was ravaging the country ... back when the national lockdown started on March 10.

Now, around 4.5 million Italians, mostly in manufacturing jobs, are headed back to work. Big-time companies, like Ferrari, are also reopening as the economy looks to rebound.

Schools, bars, movie theaters are still closed for the time being ... as Italy hopes its downward trend in COVID-19 cases continues. Italy at its peak was seeing more than 6,500 cases per day. That number's gone down significantly ... with only 1,389 cases reported Sunday.

Tekashi 6ix9ine will be a one-man band for his upcoming music vid because of the coronavirus and, perhaps more importantly, to keep his location secret.

Sources close to Tekashi tell TMZ ... 6ix9ine is going to be the only one in his camera frame in the video, and he's already shooting behind-the-scenes footage.

We're told security guards are helping Tekashi with the labor ... meaning, they'll be behind the lens. If you didn't know, 6ix9ine was a videographer before he became a successful rapper, and later a snitch. So, we're told he'll be starring and directing the video shoot.

Of course, it would be difficult for Tekashi to hire a full crew, anyway. While he can afford it financially -- he's blowing through cash like crazy -- there are still coronavirus quarantine restrictions. Remember, the judge only let him out because he feared getting COVID-19 in prison.

We're told it's possible Tekashi may recruit the help of special guests ... but they'll shoot their own content. He's been quaratining with his girlfriend, Jade, but it's unclear if she'll make an appearance.

Speaking of his health ... the now-infamous snitch is worried about vengeful enemies -- and that means keeping his location hidden while serving out his sentence under in-home incarceration.

TMZ broke the story ... Tekashi recently got the green light from the judge to shoot music videos in his own backyard, and he's dropping hints about a May 8 release.

We're told he's running his security ragged with video shoot labor and other household chores ... like brewing coffee, moving his cars and listening to his prison stories.

Our sources say Tekashi's security asked for a raise, and he agreed. Spend, spend, spend!!!

Stacey King -- who won 3 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls -- says his older brother has died from COVID-19 ... and he's begging for people to take the pandemic seriously.

"I lost my older brother [Edward Lamoyne King] yesterday morning to this deadly coronavirus," Kings said on Sunday.

"This disease cares nothing about your race, your religion, if you're rich or if you're poor or your standing in your community! This disease effects us all! It's for real and until it takes a loved one or someone close to you we tend to not take it as seriously as we need too."

"So please wear mask, gloves, continue to practice social distancing and stay inside as much as you can because Covid 19 is REAL!"

Lamoyne was only 60. RIP.

53-year-old Stacey King was a 1st-round pick back in 1989 -- selected 6th overall by the Chicago Bulls.

He went on to win rings with the Michael Jordan and the Bulls in '91, '92 and '93 before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Luc Longley.