Drugs & Alcohol

Texas A&M star receiver Ainias Smith might not make his scheduled appearance at SEC Media Days this week after all ... he was just arrested for DWI, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Records show Smith was booked into Brazos County, Texas jail on Wednesday on three charges -- unlawful carrying of a weapon, driving while intoxicated, and possession of marijuana.

Smith took a mug shot at the station with what appeared to be a blanket wrapped up around his shoulders. According to a jail official, the 21-year-old has yet to bond out.

No further details regarding the arrest have been released ... we've reached out to the Texas A&M Police Dept., but so far, no word back yet.

Smith, one of the Aggies' most explosive players the past three seasons, was expected to represent TAMU at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Thursday with two of his other teammates.

Since 2019, Smith has piled up 1,321 receiving yards, 373 rushing yards and 19 total TDs for the Aggies.

Kodak Black claims he had a perfectly good reason for having several oxycodone pills when he was busted last weekend … his legal team insists he needs them to deal with serious pain.

Kodak's attorney Bradford Cohen tells TMZ ... the "Super Gremlin" rapper has battled chronic pain after getting shot in February during a scuffle in L.A. over Super Bowl weekend. Cohen says Kodak was prescribed pain pills to take as necessary to deal with that injury.

What's more, prior to the shooting, Kodak alleged he was assaulted by guards during his stint in a Kentucky federal prison, before Donald Trump commuted his sentence and released him. We're told he suffers ongoing pain from the attack and the meds help with that pain.

Cohen says he's handed over proof to prosecutors that the pills were legally prescribed, in an effort to resolve the matter STAT.

Nolan Neal, a contestant on both "America's Got Talent" and "The Voice," has died.

Nolan passed away Monday according to the medical examiner ... Nolan's cousin Dylan Seals tells TMZ he was found dead in his apartment in Nashville.

No official cause of death has been determined, but the singer has talked openly about his struggles with substance abuse. During an interview with WBIR in 2020, he admitted that he was still struggling with addiction while he was competing on "The Voice."

Dylan tells us Nolan lived with him for 4 months prior to the pandemic ... when Nolan was clean, jamming out and making music with him.

Nolan was featured on season 15 of "AGT" ... making it all the way to the quarterfinals where he performed an emotional original piece, "Send Me a Butterfly."

During his audition for the show, he sang a song called "Lost," which he said was the first thing he wrote after getting clean. The performance got a standing ovation from the crowd and all 4 judges.

Nolan also blew everyone away on season 10 of "The Voice," getting picked to be on Adam Levine's team, and making it to the knockout round before he was eliminated.

A Nolan Neal fan page posted Tuesday morning about his death, saying, "I can't believe you're gone from us" ... the caption ends with "Heaven just got a new music director."

Nolan was 41.

RIP

Curt Schilling clearly has no problem seeing Brittney Griner's detention in Russia drag on ... the ex-MLB star said Sunday night he believes the WNBA player should "pay the penalty for breaking another country's laws."

Schilling wrote the controversial statement on his Twitter page -- in a response to LeBron James' plea to bring Griner home.

"I know this may seem like a stretch," the 55-year-old said. "But something like 300 million people understand 'OBEY THE F***ING LAW', why is that such a challenge?"

"And why on earth should she NOT pay the penalty for breaking another country's laws?"

Griner has been locked in a cell in Russia since mid-February, after authorities said they found hashish oil in her luggage at an airport in Moscow. At a hearing in the case earlier this month, Griner pled guilty to the charges ... telling a judge at the time, "I didn't want to break the law."

Schilling obviously believes her plea and subsequent statements are justification for her to remain behind bars as long as Russia sees fit.

"She, as far as I know from every quote of hers," Schilling said, "has NEVER denied committing the crime, not once."

The United States government, meanwhile, has classified Griner as "wrongfully detained" and is in the process of negotiating with Russia to bring her home.

Kodak Black's weekend is off to an unfortunate start … the "Super Gremlin" was arrested after cops say they found a bunch of oxycodone pills in his car.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Kodak was traveling in a Dodge Durango Friday in Ft. Lauderdale with what cops believed was an illegal window tint.

After pulling the rapper over, cops say they smelled a strong odor of marijuana and eventually searched the car. Officers claim they found 31 oxycodone pills and $74,960 in cash during the search.

Our sources say Kodak's license and tags were also expired.

Kodak was then arrested and hauled off to Broward County jail.

Blake Jenner, one of the stars of "Glee," has a legal battle on his hands after cops hauled him in for an alleged DUI ... TMZ has learned.

The Burbank Police Department tells TMZ ... officers pulled over the 29-year-old actor when they noticed he failed to stop at a red light around 11:30 PM.

During the traffic stop last weekend, officers felt Jenner -- no relation to the you-know-whos, BTW -- was showing signs of intoxication, so they put him through the paces of field sobriety testing.

That didn't go so well for him, according to cops at least. Blake was arrested and booked for misdemeanor DUI. He was released shortly thereafter with a citation, and will have to appear before a judge at a later date.

Brittney Griner, wearing a Nirvana T-shirt, was back in court Friday, where the WNBA star's attorney told the judge BG, who's being tried on a drug charge, was prescribed cannabis for medical use ... the same substance she was caught carrying.

Griner's lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, told the court on Friday, "The attending physician gave Brittney recommendations for the use of medical cannabis."

"The permission was issued on behalf of the Arizona Department of Health," she added.

Blagovolina also submitted tests to the court ... showing 31-year-old Griner underwent testing to ensure she complied with anti-doping regulations, and the results revealed the hooper didn't have any prohibited substances in her system.

Griner appeared in court last week, bringing a photo of her wife, Cherelle, to the proceeding ... where she plead guilty to drug possession.

While addressing the court, Griner told the judge it wasn't her intent to break the law ... she simply packed hastily, and forgot about the cannabis.

Griner faces up to 10 years in prison ... but reps for the Phoenix Mercury star told us they're hopeful her guilty plea will be the beginning of getting Griner freed from Russian custody.

For now, Brittney's detention has been authorized to go through Dec. 20, according to the Associated Press, and although she plead guilty at last week's court hearing, Russia's justice system differs from the United States ... meaning the trial is to go through the beginning of August.

Griner's next hearing is scheduled for July 26.

Boosie Badazz ended up in handcuffs during a Georgia traffic stop, which threw him into a rage, and we've obtained the wild body cam footage of the incident.

According to cops, Boosie was the passenger in a black Cadillac SUV on Wednesday morning with a 19-year-old man named De’Shun Lawrence … when they got pulled over for heavy window tint and concealed tags.

Cops claim they smelled marijuana, so they searched the vehicle and found a large bag of cash and a bag of weed ... and that's when they cuffed Boosie and Lawrence and told them to stand on the side of the ride.

It looks like Boosie reached his breaking point while waiting for the cops to finish up, and honestly, if not for the handcuffs … he might have broken something for real!

He barked at the officers, telling them he was only living in rural Georgia to get AWAY from police activity and he was a lover, not a fighter. He then fumed about the nearly 6 years he lost in prison -- before being found innocent -- and promised to raise hell ... be it with his fists, his spit or legit legal action.

Things also took a bizarre turn when he ranted about having 35 women at his house, at that very moment, performing sex acts. Yeah, Boosie was on one!

The intensity finally came down when Lawrence claimed ownership of the weed -- he was cited, and then he and Boosie were released. You can see Boosie’s mood lighten instantly.

Hard to tell who's "winning" the war on drugs in a Colombian town that's now completely shrouded in marijuana smoke, and it's all because the cops lit up a huge pile of pot at the wrong time.

Puff, puff, NO pass is in full effect for residents of Bello ... a suburb of Medellin, which of course is best known for a different drug, but we digress. This citywide hotboxing was set in motion 2 weeks ago, when cops and soldiers started to seize weed from local dealers ... eventually snatching up 1.5 tons of sticky icky from the streets.

Score one for law enforcement, right? Well, on Tuesday some genius decided to torch the confiscated ganja without doing a weather check. Big mistake. Huge.

When the winds shifted the pot cloud started drifting over Bello, and not shockingly residents started reporting a tremendous smell of marijuana. Sounds funny, but officials reportedly had to evacuate several towers in the area, while reassuring citizens there was no danger from fire.

Several members of Brittney Griner's Russian basketball team came to her aid at her trial in Moscow on Thursday ... praising her character and leadership skills in testimonies inside of the courtroom.

One week after pleading guilty to drug charges in the foreign country, Griner's trial pressed onward -- and during the proceedings, players and officials from UMMC Ekaterinburg, Griner's former basketball team in Russia, testified in support of the WNBA star.

Team captain Evgeniya Belyakova, according to NPR, told the court Griner was "the heart of our team." She added that fans in Russia "adored" the 31-year-old center.

One of Griner's attorneys added following the hearing that the director of UMMC Ekaterinburg, Maxim Ryabkov, also "gave a positive description of Brittney Griner during his speech in court, noting her outstanding abilities as a player and personal contribution to strengthening the team spirit, which allowed the team to achieve the highest results in the Russian basketball premier league and in international competitions for many years."

Griner showed up at the courtroom in a dark-colored t-shirt and glasses. She did not give a testimony during the proceedings. Her trial is expected to continue on Friday morning.

As we reported, Griner is facing up to 10 years behind bars after she pled guilty to charges that she had hashish oil in her luggage at a Moscow airport back in February.

This year's already given us the return of the reclusive Kendrick Lamar, and now there are strong signs Frank Ocean is getting set for his own grand return.

The R&B phenom debuted 2 new episodes of his "Blonded RADIO" show Sunday on Apple Music … cryptically discussing psychedelic drugs with Dr. James Fadiman on the episode titled, "Blonded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- a play on The Beatles' ode to LSD.

The rollout happens to mark the 10th anniversary of his Grammy-winning "Channel Orange" album and he decked out his website with new merch and memorabilia ... which fans treated like $3 gasoline, snapping up ALL of it with the quickness.

During the recent Apple Music broadcast, Frank also hinted he had been working on new music in Malibu … something that has clearly worked for Anderson .Paak in the past.

Of course, he's already been announced as a headliner for Coachella 2023, so some fresh tracks would be well-timed and highly appreciated by fans.

Nick Kyrgios came up short yesterday in his Wimbledon finals match against Novak Djokovic, but that didn't stop the tennis star from turning up ... hitting up a London nightclub to help him get over the tough loss.

The 27-year-old -- who had quite the run during the tournament -- partied at popular London hot spot Wyld Club with his girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi, and his sister, Halimah Kyrgios.

The club posted video of Kyrgios in the building on their social media ... and the Australian appears to be holding a bottle of Vodka, enjoying himself despite the heartbreaking loss.

At one point during the evening, Kyrgios' GF jokingly wrote on social media that Nick's sister, Halimah, was a bad influence while holding two bottles of alcohol.

Of course, the always fiery Kyrgios is known to speak his mind, and yesterday, he did just that, complaining to the chair umpire that a fan should be removed after nearly costing him a game.

"She's distracting me when I'm serving in a Wimbledon Final," a visibly ticked-off Kyrgios said. "There's no other bigger occasion ... She's drunk out of her mind in the first row speaking to me in the middle of the game."

When the chair umpire asked Kyrgios to identify the woman he was referring to, Kyrgios said, "She's the one who looks like she's had 700 drinks."

Kyrgios ended up losing in four sets to Djokovic, after taking the first set.

San Francisco has a new District Attorney that's promising to clean up the city in terms of drug use and drug crimes -- a problem crystalized with a new viral video that's unsettling.

Check out this clip that was shot and posted this week by an SF resident named Ricci Wynne ... who filmed himself getting off at a bus stop near downtown SF -- around Mission St. and 8th St. -- while a ton of school kids were also disembarking at the same time.

The reason many found this disturbing ... a massive crowd had formed at this particular stop, a majority of whom have been labeled as alleged drug users or homeless. Wynne took in the scene ... and it's not pretty. You can see some of the children wading through what some might characterize as a dangerous area. And yet, they act like it's normal.

Wynne, meanwhile, is sending the kids off with good luck messages ... telling them to be safe, using a juxtaposition to show what sort of environment they're forced to navigate.

He later did an interview with a local CBS news station to explain why he recorded this ... saying he felt anger that the local leaders there have allowed things to get this bad.

Speaking of those leaders, the recently-recalled DA Chesa Boudin has now been replaced by a woman named Brooke Jenkins ... who's touted herself as tough on crime, and who vowed during her introduction ceremony last week to end open-air drug markets with ferocity.

During her speech, she appeared to address this exact incident, saying the city's kids shouldn't have to endure this out in the open. So, a new philosophy change, it seems.

New Orleans Pelicans guard Devonte' Graham was busted for driving while impaired early Thursday morning, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

27-year-old Graham -- the 34th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft -- was arrested by the State Highway Patrol in Raleigh, North Carolina around 3 AM, according to arrest records.

TMZ Sports has obtained Graham's mug shot, which shows the hooper expressionless and staring into the camera.

Graham is entering his fifth year in the Association ... averaging 12.8 points a game. He had a breakout season for the Charlotte Hornets in 2019-20 ... averaging more than 18 points and 7 assists per game.

The former Kansas Jayhawks star and 2018 Big 12 Player of the Year is approaching his second year with the Pelicans. He's in the middle of a 4-year, $47.3 million deal.

We've reached out to law enforcement for more information on the arrest.

Brittney Griner is back in court in Russia as her trial continues onward ... but this time, she made sure to bring a very personal item with her -- a photo of her wife.

Cameras captured the WNBA superstar walking into a Moscow courtroom for another hearing in her drug case on Thursday morning ... and you can see in her hand, very clearly, was a photo of Cherelle Griner.

The picture appears to be a screen grab from one of Cherelle's recent television interviews ... and next to it, there was also a photo of Brittney holding a basketball.

Brittney seemed to want to make sure cameras snapped her holding the pics ... as she held out the paper and stared at photogs camped inside the halls of the courthouse on her way inside.

The 33-year-old hooper wore a red Crenshaw T-shirt, red sweats ... and had a stern look on her face.

The loud-and-clear message from Brittney comes just one day after both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Cherelle about Brittney's case.

White House officials said Biden and Harris assured Cherelle on the call they're pursuing "every avenue to bring Brittney home" and promised that they're "working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible."

Cherelle said in a statement shortly after the call she was "grateful" for the U.S. officials' contact ... but added at a rally for Brittney at the Footprint Center in Phoenix hours later that she "honestly can't rest until" Brittney is back on U.S. soil.

As we reported, Brittney is facing up to 10 years behind bars in Russia after she was accused of having drugs in her luggage at a Moscow airport back in mid-February.

Hayden Panettiere's making all sorts of big changes in her life -- in addition to speaking out about her addiction issues, she's also ended a very toxic and abusive relationship with Brian Hickerson.

Her now ex-boyfriend was out Wednesday in L.A. when a photog asked him about Hayden's 'GMA' interview ... where she said she was hooked on opioids and alcohol for years. Hickerson saw the segment, and said he's happy for her.

When asked if they're doing well, he said ... "Just friends."

Hayden and Brian had dated on and off since 2018, and they've split up before. Remember, he's been arrested multiple times for domestic violence incidents involving Hayden, and is currently on probation until 2025.

But, Hickerson says this time they've gone their separate ways for good. As he put it, "Looking forward to new chapters" ... but he's still very supportive of his ex-gf and her career.