Coronavirus

Gov. Gavin Newsom went all Hollywood, literally, to announce California's reopening from pandemic restrictions.

Newsom hit up Universal Studios on Tuesday to officially reopen the Golden State's economy, and announce it's finally turning the page beyond capacity limits, color coding, social distancing and mask coverings.

Taking full advantage of his location, the Gov roped in the Minions, Trolls, Optimus Prime and fake Chris Pratt from "Jurassic World" to dress up the event -- although, it did make for a couple awkward moments.

For starters, the Gov called the famous Autobot "Optimum." Then, there was the awkward countdown. After the quick glitch ... confetti rained down and the famous Universal theme song played to officially signal California's reopening.

It should be noted ... masks are still required in K-12 schools, airports/public transportation and hospitals. But, still, masks and social distancing are virtually now in the rearview mirror thanks to the state having one of the lowest rates (below 1%) of infection in the U.S.

New York's celebrating too. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reportedly having a firework show Tuesday night to celebrate the state reaching its goal of 70% adult vaccination -- and the end of state-mandated COVID restrictions.

Jon Stewart going off about COVID-19 originating from a Chinese lab -- seemingly embracing that unproven theory -- could have a negative impact on scientists working to combat future pandemics ... so says vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez.

Dr. Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, takes serious issue with Stewart's Monday night rant on Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' -- the first episode in-studio since the pandemic began, no less.

ICYMI ... Jon shared his thoughts with his late night buddy on where the virus might've come from, making a big show and strongly suggesting what he thinks is obvious -- namely that it leaked from a lab in Wuhan that studies the virus.

It's certainly a possibility that's that's been given more legitimacy in recent weeks from the scientific community -- this after largely being written off as a conspiracy theory at first.

Despite that, Dr. Hotez told us on "TMZ Live" that Jon really needs to check himself before putting that theory out as gospel ... at least until a full investigation can be done, which many have been calling for lately.

He says Jon's words will become fodder for unwarranted attacks against legit scientists.

Check out the doc's rationale here -- you can understand why he and his colleagues might wanna rein in this theory before it gets prematurely taken as fact. As he notes, scientists are being demonized over this, and worse yet ... they're being harassed and threatened.

Noooooo!!!!!

Boxing superstar Teofimo Lopez -- one of the best fighters in the world -- has tested positive for COVID, forcing promoters to postpone this weekend's championship fight.

The undefeated 23-year-old -- the unified lightweight world champ -- was supposed to take on George Kambosos in Miami on June 19.

But, Lopez tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday morning -- and to make things worse, he's symptomatic.

As a result, the fight -- along with the entire card -- is being pushed to August 14 to allow Lopez to recover.

The event -- part of the Triller Fight Club series -- was set to feature some sick musical performances during the event ... headlined by Meek Mill.

Myke Towers and Reggaeton star Lunay were also booked to perform as part of the Triller Live Concert Series.

As for the entertainment portion of the evening, no word on that -- we're working on details.

Teofimo Lopez is 16-0 -- and coming off an incredible victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko, who (at the time) was considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

28-year-old George Kambosos Jr. is also undefeated (19-0) -- and believes a victory over Lopez would rocket him into boxing superstardom.

He's not wrong!

Kamala Harris breaks lots of ground ... the latest being she's the first Vice President of the United States to march in solidarity of LGBTQ rights.

The Veep and her husband, Doug Emhoff, took to the streets Saturday in Washington D.C. for the Pride March. There was no advanced notice she would show, so it was a big surprise to marchers when she showed up in a pink blazer. Doug wore a t-shirt with a rainbow inscription. They both marched for a block or so.

Harris spoke at the Capital Pride rally, urging Congress to pass the Equality Act. She said, "We need to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are all protected. We need, still, protections around employment and housing."

The Veep added during the rally at Freedom Plaza, "There is so much more work to do, and I know we are committed."

Richard Branson sure looks like he's putting his billionaire space race on the back burner ... 'cause the only thing he's betting on this weekend is Vegas, baby!!!

The Virgin Galactic honcho was a true ring leader Friday in Sin City, and dressed the part while roaming around his new Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. It officially opened back in March, but the celebration was largely muted due to the pandemic.

But, with Nevada lifting restrictions on June 1, Branson launched his official grand opening this weekend ... dubbing it "Unstoppable Weekend." He and his crew hit up the joint and gave away tons of cool stuff, and he took selfies with guests all over the casino.

Looks like fun, but also looks like a strange way to train for a sub-orbital flight to space in just 3 weeks! We can't recall any images of John Glenn or the Apollo 11 crew at a craps table. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Remember, Branson's reportedly trying to move up his Virgin Galactic launch to the July 4 weekend in an effort to beat Amazon's Jeff Bezos out of Earth's atmosphere.

Bezos announced he and his bro will be on the first crewed flight for his Blue Origin aerospace company, which is set for July 20.

This is a beautiful, beautiful sight.

The Chicago Cubs welcomed a FULL-CAPACITY crowd to Wrigley Field Friday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started ... and none other than Bill Murray was present to give a majestic rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!!!"

Of course, it's tradition for the Cubbies to welcome their biggest supporters to help serenade the crowd during the 7th-inning stretch ... so the team brought out its most diehard fan for the first game back with a full stadium.

"This is what it feels like to be 100%," Murray yelled to the crowd before the big moment. "And, we're gonna be louder from right now until the last out in the top of the 9th inning, understood?"

Remember -- the Cubs haven't hosted a full stadium since 2019 ... so the place was ROCKING during their game against hated rival St. Louis.

"Let's scare the hell outta these Cardinals, let's scare them!!" Murray added.

The whole crowd singing along with the Chicago native was a powerful moment ... and Murray made sure to make the last note hold out as long as possible.

The video is pretty damn emotional considering what sports fans have been through in the past year ... and hopefully, there's more content like this moving forward.

Kim Kardashian really needs the third time to be her charm -- she flunked the baby bar exam on her second crack at it, and even did a little bit worse.

Kim revealed the results of her test Thursday night on the series finale of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," which she needs to pass before she can get a chance to sit for the regular bar exam ... to get her license to practice law.

She was on the phone with attorneys Erin Haney and Jessica Jackson -- who helped her prep for the exam -- when she got the bad news, and Kim went from excited to "totally bummed."

Kim says she failed with a score of 463, which is slightly lower than the 474 she got on her first attempt at the test. Students need a 560 to pass.

Although KK was clearly disappointed, she said she's not going to stress about it because there are more stressful things going on, and she's just gotta do better next time.

As we reported ... Kim failed the baby bar months ago, and it was later revealed she and her whole family were dealing with COVID while she was in studying crunch time.

Funny guy Jeff Garlin ain't laughin' when it comes to his beloved Cubs, Jake Arrieta and the COVID vaccine ... saying his favorite team will NEVER win the World Series if it keeps dodging inoculation.

The "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star -- who's a Chicago native and a huge baseball fan -- didn't hold back on the "Waddle and Silvy" show on ESPN Chicago this week ... saying a W.S. trophy won't touch Chicago unless the team gets vaxxed.

"If you don't get to 85% [fully vaccinated], I will wager everything I've got 'No' on the World Series," Garlin said. "If you're playing somebody who doesn't have to worry about that, it's a whole different world."

"If we're playing the Braves in the National League Championship, we're losing."

If you missed it ... the Cubs are one of several teams in the MLB struggling to get all of their players to receive their COVID shots -- with Arrieta being VERY vocal about his skepticism of it all.

In fact, Arrieta and the team are lagging so much on their shots, president Jed Hoyer just said last month he's "disappointed" that it appears the Cubs will not get to an 85% vaccination rate this season.

Of course, that's the MLB's magic number that it's requiring for teams to relax some of the league's strict COVID rules and regulations.

Garlin says the fact that this is an issue inside the clubhouse at Wrigley Field is straight-up "disgusting."

"I don’t get it," Garlin said. "I find it disgusting because I don’t think it's political and I think it’s your responsibility as a human being, part of the human race, to get that shot."

Jon Rahm had the news broken to him that he had COVID-19 live on TV during a PGA tournament ... one that he was leading the pack in before having to withdraw.

The Spanish golfer -- and reigning champion of the Memorial Tournament, which he was again ahead in on Saturday -- was filmed being approached by PGA officials ... who told him he'd tested positive for the virus, which means he'd have to leave the premises and the game entirely.

It made for such a bizarre moment, as there were cameras all around on the course ... and they captured the exact moment he learned about it, which left him looking defeated. Rahm covered his face and then crouched down in disappointment -- before being led off.

The interaction was filmed from at least a couple different angles ... and the second picked up on some audio as well. You can hear Rahm say something that sounds like "Not again" ... seemingly suggesting he's gone through this before during the pandemic.

The CBS anchors who were covering it live had trouble making sense of what had just happened, but they knew some bad news had just been delivered. As Rahm made his way inside ... his crew pushed away photogs who attempted to follow, presumably for privacy.

Billy Baldwin isn't sweating Gavin Newsom's refusal to fully reopen CA -- saying vaccine rates need to go up ... and that, eventually, we'll all have to play ball to get back to normal.

We talked to the actor Saturday in Bev Hills, where our photog asked what he made of Gov. Newsom's apparent backtracking on his June 15 date ... which is when he was supposed to lift all COVID restrictions, but clarified he wouldn't lift the state of emergency just yet.

Many are taking that as Newsom going back on his word -- but according to Billy ... it probably won't make a big difference in the short term. He says people are already out and about, and things are looking a lot like they used to now more than ever.

He also makes this point ... if ya want things to truly get back to normal faster than Newsom's timeline, the only way to do it is to get vaccinated ASAP -- there's no other way around it. He makes an even better point about holdouts and what lies ahead. Watch.

BB clearly doesn't get the outrage over requiring vaccines, when we have a long history of doing exactly that in schools and elsewhere for kids. So, in his mind, one more can't hurt.

Peter Berg's pumped about movie theaters finally making a pandemic comeback even though he's in business with Netflix, because as he explains ... it's good for the entire film biz.

The producer/director was heading to Gold's Gym in Venice when we got his response to the Memorial Day box office rebound thanks to "A Quiet Place Part II" ... and he seems as excited to head back to the movies as everyone else.

It might seem like Berg's biting the hand that feeds since he recently scored a first-look deal to produce and direct live-action projects for the streaming giant ... but he says that's not the case at all.

Peter points out Netflix can release movies in theaters first, and then on its platform ... and that's actually what they want. He calls it the best of both worlds.

Berg admits box office numbers might take a hit from folks who still opt to watch movies from home -- like millions did last year for his Netflix hit, "Spenser Confidential" -- but he suggests that's a small price to pay.

Another major blow for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ... nearly 10,000 volunteers have QUIT over COVID fears just 50 days before the Games are set to begin.

The number of people who just opted out represents 1/8th of the 80,000 unpaid volunteers who signed up to work the event, which is still set to kick off on July 23.

As we previously reported, there is serious backlash in Japan about hosting the Olympics -- considering only about 2 to 3% of the population is vaccinated ... and the country reported a surge in cases in May.

In fact, officials extended a State of Emergency in Japan to June 20 because hospitals and other medical care facilities in major cities are being pushed to the brink.

There have been protests in the streets of Tokyo recently from people concerned the Games will serve as a superspreader event.

There are also reports out of Japan showing 80% of Japanese citizens are AGAINST the Olympics beginning on July 23, as currently scheduled.

Still, Olympics officials have reiterated the Games WILL go on as planned.

So POTUS, FLOTUS, the VP and the Second Gentleman all walk into a bar ... much to the delight of a bunch of stunned patrons.

President Biden and his wife, Jill -- flanked by Kamala Harris, her husband, Doug, and some Secret Service agents, of course -- hit up the popular D.C. restaurant, Le Diplomate ... in a Memorial Day visit the White House says was unscheduled.

As you can see ... the diners weren't expecting such famous guests to be joining them for lunch, but everyone looked happy as heck about it.

Earlier Monday, Biden and Harris and their spouses attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Biden's Le Diplomate appearance is his first known sit-down visit to a restaurant as Prez, coming not long after the CDC lifted COVID-19 restrictions for those who are vaccinated.

BTW -- the French eatery is a known favorite of the First Lady's ... it even added her favorite dish as a menu special earlier this year after Biden was elected President.

Lil Yachty's so pumped for live music festivals to make their return this summer ... he's ready to dive backflip right in.

The rapper says the absence of in-person concerts over the past year has been really tough, so just the thought of taking the stage with a packed crowd gets his blood pumping.

Yachty -- who's set to perform at Portugal's Rolling Loud festival in July and at Chicago's Summer Smash in August -- tells us the connection he gets with his fans at a live show is unique ... and he expects the energy to be 50 times as intense after the long COVID break.

The hip-hop star also weighed in on one of hip-hop's biggest feuds over the past few years -- one in which he landed smack dab in the middle of ... and is still trying to do damage control.

LY reminds us why he sided with Cardi B over Nicki Minaj back in 2018, but explains why it's not nearly as controversial as it's been made out to be ... or at least that's how he sees it.

Watch the video though ... sounds like Nicki's still not over it.

A body was dumped over a bridge into the water below in northern India -- an unthinkable act that 2 people have been arrested for ... but also, a testament to the siege the country is under during a second wave of COVID-19.

This wild video surfaced over the weekend, which purportedly shows two guys chucking a cadaver into the Rapti River somewhere in Balrampur ... which sits in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Local reports say police have identified the men and arrested them.

In the clip, you see the two people here struggling with what appears to be someone in a body bag ... hoisting them up onto the ledge, and then opening whatever enclosure they're in to unleash what's inside. One of the guys doing the deed is covered in full PPE.

According to India Today, a chief medical officer ID'd the body ... reportedly saying they'd been admitted to a hospital on May 25 after testing positive for COVID, only to die a few days later. The hospital released the body to the man's family for cremation, whom officials now claim are the ones behind him being disposed of in morbid fashion.

Bodies along river banks are sadly becoming a regular thing throughout India lately -- as they continue to battle rising COVID cases and deaths during a crippling second wave that has devastated citizens there. Mass burial sites have been formed in and around the Ganga River of late, with scores of dead people being lined up ... and in some cases, burned at a pyre.

A Nashville hat shop reeks of anti-Semitism after making light of Star of David patches Jewish people were forced to wear during WWII ... by giving it an anti-vaxx twist.

The place is called hatWRKS ... and they posted a since-deleted Instagram photo featuring a woman proudly rocking a yellow patch -- made in the same style as what Nazis used to brand Jews with in the midst of the Holocaust -- with lettering reading, "Not Vaccinated."

There's a cold-blooded caption attached too, which says ... "patches are here!!! they turned out great. $5ea. strong adhesive back .... we'll be offering trucker caps soon."

Of course, the post caused an uproar online and elsewhere -- and rightly so. People note that comparing what happened to Jewish people to what anti-vaxxers perceive is happening to them right now is absolutely ludicrous, asinine ... and downright wrong. They're not the same -- not even close, and trivializing that history with a patch like this is beyond offensive.

So, what do the owners of this mom-and-pop shop have to say for themselves??? Apparently nothing so far -- it doesn't seem they've responded to the mounting criticism, other than removing the grotesque photo.