Coronavirus

The COVID-19 drama isn't behind Novak Djokovic just yet ... tennis officials confirmed the legendary player will NOT compete in the upcoming Grand Slam, the U.S. Open, unless he gets vaccinated.

The 35-year-old Serbian tennis star -- who isn't vaxxed against the virus -- will not be on the court in Flushing Meadows, Queens ... because the United States doesn't currently allow unvaccinated, non-citizens to enter the country.

There was hope amongst tennis fans that something might be done to allow Novak to play ... but on Wednesday officials squashed that idea.

"The US Open does not have a vaccination mandate in place for players, but it will respect the US government’s position regarding travel into the country for unvaccinated non-US citizens,” the Open announced.

Djokovic, a three-time U.S. Open champ, was also banned from the Australian Open for the same reason.

That story became one of the biggest and most polarizing in the sports world.

Technically, Djokovic still has time to get the jab ... the tourney doesn't kick off until August 29.

But, in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon (his 7th win), Novak reiterated his vax stance for anyone wondering if he had a change of heart with the Open looming.

"I'm not vaccinated, and I'm not planning to get vaccinated," Djokovic said, according to ESPN.

Djokovic, however, remained optimistic that the policy in the USA on the COVID vaccine could change ahead of the tourney.

Unfortunately for ND, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen ... and it's a big blow for Novak because he's just one Grand Slam title behind Rafael Nadal for the all-time lead.

FYI, 36-year-old Rafa has 22. Novak 21. 40-year-old Roger Federer 20.

Despite having a career year filled with an NBA championship and an All-Star appearance, Golden State Warriors hooper Andrew Wiggins says he wishes he hadn't gotten the COVID-19 vaccine ... saying, "It wasn't my choice."

The 27-year-old forward was honest about getting the jab in order to play in 2021-22 in an interview with FanSided ... admitting, "I still wish I didn't get [vaccinated], to be honest with you."

Remember, Wiggins was at risk of missing a number of Warriors games this season due to local COVID-19 protocols ... and reluctantly caved in and got the vaccine in order to play.

While Wiggins is thrilled with his experience during his breakout year, he's still clearly peeved about the position he was in.

"I did it and I was an All-Star this year and champion, so that was the good part, just not missing out on the year, the best year of my career," Wiggins added. "But for my body, I just don't like putting all that stuff in my body, so I didn't like that and I didn't like that it wasn't my choice."

"I didn't like that it was either get this or don't play."

Wiggins averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds for the Dubs in the Finals this season ... helping Golden State win yet another title, and the first of his career.

Bret Michaels is currently being treated in a Nashville hospital ... a medical emergency that occurred just before he was set to get on stage with Poison.

The band is part of a massive stadium tour with Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Joan Jett. Audience members claim members from Poison got on stage Thursday night and let the crowd know Bret had to go to the hospital for a bad reaction to medication.

As a result, the other band members announced they wouldn't be able to perform their set.

Obviously, some fans were upset, going to Twitter to express their disappointment. One fan wrote, "Came all the way from KC to watch poison. Bret Michaels was admitted to hospital. No poison in Nashville."

Unclear how long Michaels will be sidelined, the tour continues with a date Saturday in Florida and Sunday in Mississippi.

Get well soon!!!

Meadow Walker, the daughter of the late Paul Walker, has weighed in on the overturning of Roe v. Wade with her own personal story.

The 23-year-old revealed she had an abortion in 2020, just as the COVID pandemic began to rage.

Meadow said ... "Today marks a huge setback in history- a profound injustice to women across the United States. There are countless women who have struggled with making the decision to have an abortion. I too have battled with the choice but in 2020, when the world was collapsing during the pandemic, I sought an abortion."

She believes the decision should be "private and personal."

Meadow made it clear, her decision wasn't easy ... "I was lucky enough to have a great doctor who supported me through the debilitating process- with their help, I am able to be the happy and healthy person I am today."

That was the past, but Meadow says the future looks bleak ... "Now, knowing even more women won't have the opportunity to seek safe termination and choose their bodies first is absolutely heartbreaking. In a world that constantly marginalizes females, this feels like the biggest assault of them all."

Stars like Rita Moreno say she knows all too well what it was like to seek an abortion before it became a Constitutional right in 1973. She told Variety she became pregnant with Marlon Brando's baby. She says he demanded she gets an abortion and found a doctor who would do it for $500. The doctor botched the procedure -- it was incomplete -- and she bled profusely and almost died.

Doc Antle wants to be released from custody as he awaits trial in his federal money laundering case -- and when it comes to his rationale, he's throwing everything at the wall ... hoping something sticks.

The "Tiger King" star's legal team filed new docs, obtained by TMZ, asking a judge to allow him to post bond because he says he has a slew of health issues ... including atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure, which make it risky for him to be behind bars due to COVID.

He says the coronavirus would exacerbate his heart and circulation problems, and if that's not good enough for the judge -- Doc also cites his sleep apnea, torn rotator cuff, torn meniscus, dislocated collar bone and significant discomfort from old fractures suffered in a car wreck ... years ago. Yeah, he's totally falling apart, if ya buy what he's selling.

But, wait there's more, judge!

Antle insists his elderly mother, who has dementia, is scheduled to be back under his care soon -- and then, there are the animals.

He says his Myrtle Beach Safari resort is liable to fall into a state of disarray without his leadership. So, for all of the above reasons he's asking the judge to let him out on bond.

While Doc points out he's had a clean criminal record, prior to this, prosecutors say he's a flight risk because he has the resources to make a clean getaway.

As you know, Doc is facing money laundering charges ... and, if convicted, he could be locked up for a long time. He's denied the accusations.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has contracted COVID-19 -- but like many people who have gotten their shots -- he's expected to come out the other side just fine.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, for which Fauci serves as top dog, made the announcement Wednesday, saying Doc had tested positive during a rapid antigen test ... and as a result, was sent home to recover. He'll be back to work when he's negative.

The NIH agency notes he's experiencing mild symptoms, and attributes that to the fact he's fully vaccinated and has also received two booster shots.

Also of note ... Fauci has not been in close contact with President Biden of late, so says NIAID, or any other top government official for that matter. So it seems JB and co. are in the clear on his end -- good news, especially since they've already had close calls.

Several people in Biden's cabinet have caught the virus in recent months -- including former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and even Vice President Kamala Harris ... ditto for her hubby. Of course, there've been some high-profile Congress members who've gotten sick too.

Paulo Costa is breaking his silence on the allegations that he attacked a nurse in Brazil earlier this week ... saying in a statement on Wednesday the claims are "reckless and inconsistent."

The UFC star, according to Brazilian media outlet Globo.com, was accused of hitting a nurse with his elbow following an argument over a COVID vaccine card in Belo Horizonte.

The outlet reported that Costa told nurses he wanted a vaccination. But, according to the report, Costa backed out of getting the shots, yet still wanted the filled-out vaccine card.

Globo.com reported when a female nurse tried to stop him from leaving with the card, the 31-year-old hit her with an elbow. She reportedly complained of swelling in her lips.

On his Instagram page Wednesday, Costa opened up about the allegations ... saying in a statement, "The accusations and facts narrated do not reflect the reality of what happened."

"The fact will be carefully investigated and the appropriate legal measures for their perfect clarification will be taken."

He added in the press release, "this kind of allegations are completely incompatible with his history and way of life."

It's unclear if Costa is currently under police investigation.

Kyrie Irving has been ripped to shreds over his COVID-19 vaccine stance, but John Salley is coming to his defense ... telling TMZ Sports he tips his hat to the Nets star for standing up for what he believes in.

We spoke with Salley -- who won 4 NBA titles -- out in NYC this week ... and the former Detroit Piston spoke glowingly about Irving, who faced immense backlash this year for refusing to get the jab.

"I think Kyrie Irving is the premier athlete -- professional," Salley said. "I think he's conscious. I think he thinks it through. I think it's very important that people pay attention too, he's not into the lies, the glitz. He's into taking care of his body."

Salley said he knows Irving is into science and does his own research, but because his stance differs from the views of mainstream society ... people hate Kyrie because of it.

"I'm the biggest Kyrie fan," Salley added. "Everything he does, I take my hat off to him."

Of course, Kyrie received a lot of heat for his personal decision to remain unvaccinated despite being forced to miss games ... drawing criticism from the likes of Howard Stern and Chris Rock.

But, Salley isn't in the same camp -- he says the Nets did the right thing by standing by Kyrie amid the vaccine drama this season.

"You have a guy who didn't get the virus, and everybody who talked about smack about him got it really bad," Salley said. "He had a very strong immune system."

It's unclear if the Nets -- or Nike -- will commit to a long-term relationship with Irving in the future ... but either way, Salley thinks the 30-year-old is an exceptional talent.

Monkeypox may be less transmittable than COVID, but the virus is exploding and most folks aren't immune to its effects ... so says, Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding.

The World Health Network Epidemiologist joined "TMZ Live," Monday, to talk about the once-considered extremely rare disease and why it might not be so rare this time around.

Dr. Feigl-Ding tells us, the virus may be less contagious than Covid-19, but we're in the early stages with numbers exploding all over the world.

He says, generally speaking, the big problem is most folks under the age of 50 have no immunity to the virus. On top of that, the incubation period is much longer than other viruses -- starting from 10 days up to 21.

Because of this, many folks can be further along before they realize they may have it ... and could potentially transmit it to more people.

Doc says we have to be careful, because Monkeypox didn't always transmit like this -- maybe a few cases here and there. Now, he hopes reluctant Americans will wake up and realize that wearing a mask might be a bonus to protect against all viruses like COVID and Monkeypox.

BTW, he says some folks still debate whether it is airborne or not, but no matter what, he says it's a huge issue.

Austin St. John, the actor who played the Red Power Ranger in the 90s TV series, has had his house raided by the feds and he's now under arrest in a massive federal criminal case.

One of St. John's neighbors tells TMZ ... approximately 15 FBI agents in tactical gear rolled up to St. John's home Thursday at 7 AM in Tahoe Suburbans in an upscale neighborhood in McKinney, Texas ... brandishing what looked like AR-15s as they approached his porch.

They entered the home and when they came out they had a plus 1 -- St. John in handcuffs.

Turns out there was a massive federal indictment involving 18 people who have now been charged with fraud. The indictment alleges St. John was part of a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program ... that's the program designed to help small businesses affected by COVID.

St. John allegedly got 16 loans, totaling $3.5 million, which he used for personal purchases and not for the intended purpose. Even if it was used for the intended purpose, the feds claim it was obtained fraudulently.

St. John played Jason Lee Scott in the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," which launched his career in 1993. He left the show in its second season but came back from time to time.

BTW ... there are other Power Rangers who got in a legal mess ... Ricardo Medina Jr., who starred in "Power Rangers Wild Force," was convicted of manslaughter in 2017 and sentenced to 6 years for stabbing his roommate with a sword.

As for St. John, if convicted he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Christine Quinn has an explanation for why she was on a film set 2 days after missing the "Selling Sunset" reunion due to having COVID ... saying she tested "positive" to go to set.

During a line of questioning from Andy Cohen, Christine told him she tested "positive" the night before and the morning of her poolside shoot with Melissa Gorga ... say what?!?

Christine's clearly flustered by Andy's probing questions as she tries clearing things up, explaining she tested positive to go to set, meaning she tested negative for the virus. This is some serious mental gymnastics.

TMZ broke the story ... Christine was seen filming something with 'RHONJ' star Melissa last month, only 2 days after missing the 'Selling Sunset' reunion, which her reps blamed on a COVID diagnosis.

Christine's co-star, Mary Fitzgerald, told us she thinks the COVID case was BS and was simply a convenient excuse to back out of the reunion show and avoid facing the heat.

But, as Christine told Andy on "What What Happens Live," her contract did not require her to film the reunion show. Still, her COVID timeline doesn't make much sense, even though she says she definitely had the virus.

Pearl Jam embodied "the show must go on" this week -- they found replacements for their COVID-stricken drummer ... and did so with local talent, no less.

Eddie Vedder and co. performed two packed shows in Oakland, CA this week -- one on Thursday and one on Friday -- and in both instances, he brought up skilled drummers from the area to help him and his band carry on the show in the absence of Matt Cameron.

MC recently came down with the 'rona, but Pearl Jam insisted on proceeding with the Oakland gigs -- as they'd previously pushed 'em back, and didn't wanna do it again.

So, to help them move along, they employed a couple of pros by the names of Josh Klinghoffer and Richard Stuverud to carry a majority of the load through each performance -- but for at least one song on each day, they also had some Oakland guys fill in.

The first guy was a music teacher reportedly named Josh Arroyo, who joined the band onstage for the final song, "Yellow Ledbetter," and apparently did a heck of a job.

The next night, a teenager named Kai Neukermans -- who plays in a band called The Alive -- was brought on stage to take over drumming duties midway through the performance, for the song "Mind Your Manners," and he too seemed to kill it.

Now, before you start thinkin this was some spontaneous thing that happened all spur of the moment-like, it totally wasn't. It appears both of these amateur drummers were carefully scouted and selected beforehand ... and we imagine they had some practice runs as well.

Kendrick Lamar is back ... K-Dot just released his highly-anticipated "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" album -- and he brought up Kyrie Irving and his COVID drama with some sick bars on one of the new songs.

The track, called "Savior," is just a little under 4 minutes in length and features Baby Keem & Sam Dew -- and starts off with the California native referencing the Nets superstar and his vaccine stance.

"Seen a Christian say the vaccine mark of the beast," KL rapped. "Then he caught COVID and prayed to Pfizer for relief. Then I caught COVID and started to question Kyrie."

Clever wordplay from the MC ... but, of course, the bigger takeaway is him mentioning Kyrie, who missed a significant number of games for the Nets after refusing to get the jab.

Irving was ripped all season by NBA fans, the media, and celebs -- most notably comedians Chris Rock and Howard Stern -- for not getting vaxxed, but he never ended up taking it.

The line from Kendrick doesn't appear to be a dig at the 30-year-old. And, it seems Irving -- who was seen on Instagram Live on Thursday bumping the new Kendrick album -- isn't taking it that way. The point guard commented on the song during a recent Twitch stream, saying, "I'm not mad. I'm not indifferent. I'm just grateful. How about that?"

In a recent social media post ahead of the release of the new project, Kyrie also captioned a pic of Lamar with the words "We appreciate you Dot....."

It's 2022, but COVID is still finding ways to affect baseball ... the MLB just announced the Cleveland Guardians' game against the White Sox on Wednesday has been postponed due to a virus outbreak.

In a statement released just hours before the first pitch was scheduled to go down at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, the league said the game will not go on because of "multiple" positive COVID tests in the Guardians' org.

This is the first time in the 2022 season that an MLB game has been postponed over coronavirus.

Unclear which players tested positive for the virus ... but the Guardians did reveal prior to the game's postponement that manager Terry Francona had contracted COVID.

Sharon Osbourne's home is like a petri dish ... everyone's got COVID.

It looks like in the Osbourne home, Ozzy is patient zero. As we reported, he caught the virus and Sharon, who had just launched her new UK talk show, was beside herself and flew back to the states to be with him.

Well, Ozzy passed on the bug, and now Sharon's got it, along with Kelly.

The good news ... Ozzy's doing better, according to Sharon. His cough is gone and his temp is back to normal.

Sharon's doing her show -- "The Talk" -- remotely. She told her co-host, Jeremy Kyle, that she's doing fine.

Sharon and Ozzy's son Jack shared a video Sunday ... reassuring folks Ozzy was on the mend and back to doing what he loves -- chatting with his pets over FaceTime.

As you know, Sharon was in tears last week talking about Ozzy's diagnosis ... saying her family is her life, and she worries for their safety.

Oprah's got a new project that addresses racial disparities in healthcare and COVID ... something she believes definitely isn't over, and which has been somewhat forgotten.

The media mogul spoke with LA Times to plug her new documentary, "The Color of Care," which is debuting this weekend on the Smithsonian Channel ... and she opened up A LOT about racism, healthcare, celebrity privilege, mask mandates and what one might characterize as COVID amnesia ... especially relating to those who've died in the pandemic.

First off, she discussed putting a spotlight on what POC, particularly those living in relative poverty, have had to deal with navigating the healthcare system these past 2 years ... and how she believes race has had much to do with them getting the cold shoulder.

Then, Oprah got personal with her own history ... acknowledging that she's been afforded an enormous amount of access and priority as a well-known person throughout her life.

She says that's actually one of the best perks of being famous ... being able to get the best of whatever you need anytime something is wrong. And, yet -- she explains that one time in the mid-2000s, she had a thyroid problem that was misdiagnosed by multiple doctors, whom she suggests didn't want to find what was really wrong with her out of fear of her fame.

When she did go to a thyroid specialist, she claims the guy told her to "embrace hunger," otherwise she'd gain a lot of weight. Some say that speaks to the fatphobia that permeates this country -- but big picture, O says that even the medical establishment is deeply flawed ... and advocates for folks to get multiple opinions, and to have a support system with you.

On the issue of masks ... Oprah says she still very much supports wearing them, even at this point ... saying it's too soon in her mind, but that she respects those who wanna ditch it.

Finally, Oprah spoke about the idea that we as a society seem to have glossed over the many COVID deaths we've endured ... saying, "I don’t recognize a country where you’ve lost nearly a million people and there hasn’t been some form of remembering that is significant. Not at the opening of a speech or mentioning in a State of the Union."