Famous Food

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department's investigation has determined a cop's Starbucks drink was NOT tampered with a tampon -- instead it was a cleaning cloth ... which still ain't great.

You remember an off-duty LAPD cop made the accusation last month ... saying a Starbucks employee stuffed down a tampon in the Frapp drink he ordered. The cop claimed he used his police credit union debit card to buy the drink and says he found the feminine hygiene product inside his drink. This all went down at the height of social unrest over police brutality.

In any event ... the Sheriff's Dept. investigated and was unable to prove the store employee acted maliciously. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said, "Based on the evidence available at this time, the item in the drink was possibly a cleaning type cloth commonly used by store employees."

The more bizarre, the better, apparently -- a fashion collab between KFC and Crocs is a rousing success ... KFC says its fried chicken-scented shoes are already sold out!!!

Someone had the bright idea to pair the famous foam clog company with the fried chicken icon to make limited-edition kicks -- and they flew off (virtual) shelves Tuesday, selling out in less than 90 minutes.

The bucket clogs went for $60 a pair, with $3 from each sale going toward the KFC Foundation's employee scholarship fund. The Crocs look like a bucket of the Colonel's original and -- most shockingly -- have a chicken-scented Jibbitz charm shaped like a drumstick.

KFC says the bad news is the Crocs are sold out, the good news is real buckets of chicken are still available. We guess you could rub some secret recipe on your regular crocs. You'd fool your dog or cat, but that's about it.

This guy unleashed his anti-mask fury on a poor Smart & Final employee -- flipping out like a maniac, but he changed his tune real quick when cops showed up in force.

The maskless man's meltdown happened in Paso Robles, CA -- a normally chill town known for its wineries -- and everyone in the store probably needed a drink after witnessing this public freakout.

According to reports ... the guy entered without a mask, so the female employee you see in the video gave him one, but he refused to put it on.

When she followed and demanded he wear it -- as required by California state order -- he decided to make a scene, screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs ... RIGHT in her face. Maskless too.

He was a real tough guy ... incredibly aggressive, and even lunged toward her -- but watch how quickly he piped down in the face of cops.

Give her pizza or give her death! This no mask-wearing "Karen" blasted the staff at a Papa Murphy's pizza joint for refusing her service, insisting the founding fathers would back her up.

Of course they wouldn't, but that didn't stop her from throwing a fit at the pizza shop in Kennewick, WA when she was told, earlier this week, to get out because she didn't have a face covering.

This "Karen" believes -- as so many others do for some reason -- that the law is on her side. So, she spews a bunch of BS about how it's her right to go maskless due to the "American Disability Act" ... something that's just blatantly false.

She took it a step further by claiming she's hard of hearing, adding ... "I have a right to speak my mind, and I have a right to see your lips." So not only is she maskless, but she wants the workers to remove their masks too!

Fortunately, the cashier was steadfast in refusing service, as the woman continued to spout off make-believe rights ... including a Constitutional right to pizza.

"Karen" finally retreated when an employee offered to bring the pizza out to her truck -- and, naturally, her husband was out there offering free First Amendment lessons.

Richaun Holmes is revealing the meal that made him risk it all and leave the NBA bubble ... saying he was craving some delicious chicken wings!!!

Remember, the Sacramento Kings forward/center was forced back into a 10-day quarantine in Orlando earlier this month ... after he stepped off the Disney campus to pick up a food delivery.

The 26-year-old is back with the team after doing his time ... and he's breaking down the moment he messed up and popped the bubble.

"I ordered some food, ordered some wings and went to grab the wings and I wasn't really too aware of the borders," Holmes said.

"I stepped out, grabbed the food and came back and they just let me know they want me to be as safe as possible and had to enforce the rules and I completely understand that."

"Won't make that mistake again."

Of course, the league is taking the bubble VERY seriously ... which has resulted in ZERO new positive COVID-19 tests over the past week.

Holmes says he spent the 10 days working out and doing sprints in his room ... even using a punching bag to get out his aggression.

But, the REAL question is ... were the wings worth it?!?!

You know KFC means business when it sends a "food ambassador" -- apparently a really hot person who likes food -- to try out a new plant-based fried chicken.

The Colonel's messaging is pretty clear ... eat this and look like model Nicole Williams. We're not vouching for that, but Nicole was looking good at a KFC food truck in Southern California this week for the veggie chicken debut.

All jokes aside ... the new item comes courtesy of a partnership with Beyond Meat that's been about a year or so in the making.

They tried Beyond Fried Chicken in Atlanta in 2019 -- to some reported success -- and then expanded it to Nashville and Charlotte. Now, the faux pollo is coming to SoCal ... with the new menu item becoming available in locations throughout L.A. Orange County and SD.

Anyway, back to Nicole here -- who was decked out in some type of two-piece leotard outfit, complete with a luxury purse and Yeezy Boost 700s to boot. She doesn't exactly fit the typical drive-thru customer mold. Just sayin' ...

Verdict's still out if the new grub is just as finger-licking good as the OG -- nothing's impossible though, we suppose.

These coffee beans are GUARANTEED to wake you up.

Italian police thwarted drug-smugglers who sliced hundreds of coffee beans open, stuffed them with cocaine and carefully encased them with dark brown tape.

The perps might have gotten away with it too ... if it wasn't for that darn John Wick.

According to police, they became suspicious of the package containing the coffee beans when someone noticed the name on it was Santino D'Antonio ... a mafia boss villain in "John Wick: Chapter 2" as well as the third film in the franchise.

The coked-up beans were shipped from Medellin in Colombia to Milan's Malpensa airport, and all in all ... the 2kg package contained 150g of cocaine powder via about 500 beans.

The package was addressed to a tobacco shop in Florence, and cops busted the 50-year-old man who came to collect it.

Italian police named their operation "Caffe' Scorretto" -- which means Improper Coffee, which plays off the name of the country's popular drink, '"Caffe' corretto" ... corrected coffee.

NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordyn Woods still can't get enough of each other ... throwing on their masks and hitting up Nobu in Malibu for a sushi dinner Wednesday night.

Which begs the question -- still buds, or is there something more going on here??

Of course, the rumors have been swirling since last year when they were spotted out in L.A. ... and the two have even appeared to quarantine together during the pandemic (which was pointed out by wildly-talented Instagram sleuths).

While all signs point to the duo becoming an item, Kylie Jenner's ex-bestie spoke out on the rumors back in August 2019 ... saying, "Karl is like a brother to me."

That may very well still be the truth ... OR all the time together has changed things ... after all, that patio at Nobu has a beautiful view and can get pretty romantic at night.

One thing that might throw a wrench in the BF/GF theory -- Jordyn's little sister, Jodie, was with them ... so who knows.

KAT previously dated model Kawahine Andrade ... and Woods infamously had her moment with Tristan Thompson (you know what we're talking about) ... and was also spotted out with James Harden in the past.

So .... y'all dating or what??

Here's yet another example of just how crafty bears can be in their never-ending search for human food -- which, if you leave out, WILL attract these beasts almost every time.

Check out this black bear effortlessly breaking his way into a Canadian home in Ontario, opening the front door with its paws and sauntering in like it's nobody's business. Luckily, no one seemed to be in this part of the house ... could've spelled big trouble.

Anyway, it was pretty clear what the creature was after as soon as it was inside -- PIZZA!!! You can see there are three boxes left out on the floor, and sure enough ... the bear here gets to work rummaging through them to see if there's any leftover scraps.

He/she comes up short on any extra pies -- but it just goes to show that even an empty pizza box (which might've been there for who knows how long) can still be detected by a bear.

Black bears are said to have an incredible sense of smell -- about 7 times that of a bloodhound, which is already nearly 1,000x greater than that of a human.

Back to the bear here ... it goes out the same way it came in, but seemed to have some trouble with an extra spring-y door. No worries though -- one good push, and it was on its way.

Matt Lauer is enjoying himself as a newly-single bachelor ... wining and dining his date and taking her for a ride on his $1.4 million floating escape that screams resilience.

The fired "Today" show host pulled out all the stops this week while on a date with a mystery brunette in Orient, NY, a picturesque town at the end of the North Fork of Long Island.

Check out these videos and pics of Matt and his mystery woman as they dine at Duryea's Orient Point. They're awfully chatty as they pick at a shared vegetable platter.

Things went well for Matt ... after an hour at their table, the two left the fancy restaurant and boarded his yacht, named "Resilient."

As you know ... Matt was canned from NBC in Nov. 2017 in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against him, and not long after his wife, Annette Roque, filed for divorce. He's now officially single.

Matt's on his best behavior here ... helping his date onto his expensive Hinckley T38 yacht before shoving off and taking the wheel as they head out into the beautiful blue waters for more summer fun. They even wore masks in public.

J.R. Smith says he was told to end an Instagram Live session Thursday from the Lakers' hotel inside the NBA bubble ... all because he was "exposing too much sh*t."

Smith -- who just signed with the Lakers last week -- had been critical of the team hotel during the IG sesh ... complaining about the food, the blankets and more.

At one point, Smith showed off a high-tech NBA-issued bracelet -- which reportedly will "help with early detection of coronavirus; track temperature, respiratory and heart rate."

Smith described it this way ... "Got my little band and sh*t so they can keep tabs on me. Tracking device. Stay woke."

He also showed a bunch of snack food in the rooms -- from candy bars to cookies -- and complained about that too.

"We're professional athletes and all that," Smith said ... pointing out how some players make "$30, $40, $50 million a year."

"But, then you be over there crying talking about somebody can't stay healthy and their body is breaking down and all this other sh*t?"

"You wanna motherf**king Ferrari to run like a Ferrari cause you paid for it as a Ferrari ... but you keep gassing it up with Chrysler sh*t."

He also griped about the size of the NBA-issued hotel blankets ... claiming they're wayyyyy too small for the tall guys in the league.

There's more ... Smith also went into the hallway and live-streamed some of his Lakers teammates as they were getting food.

Soon after that, Smith suggested he'd been contacted by either Lakers or NBA management and was told to shut down his IG Live.

"Aw man, they mad at me bro," Smith said ... "I'm gone. Just got the text. Exposing too much sh*t. Gotta go. My bad. My bad."

Joe Burrow said he was gonna do it ... and now he's doing it in a BIG way.

The Cincinnati Bengals QB -- whose Heisman acceptance speech sparked more than $650k to his hometown's food pantry -- is taking things to the next level ... by starting a foundation to fight hunger and poverty in southeast Ohio.

Remember, TMZ Sports spoke with Burrow back in December (shortly after he accepted his Heisman) and he told us he was already planning on ways to use his platform to help.

That resulted in #9 announcing the "Joe Burrow Hunger Relief Fund" on Thursday ... which will keep food on the tables in his hometown of The Plains for years to come.

"When I mentioned my hometown in my Heisman speech, it wasn't really planned. I was just speaking from the heart," the 23-year-old QB said in the announcement.

The fund was kick-started with $350k of the money raised from the Heisman speech and a matched donation from the Foundation For Appalachian Ohio ... bringing the total to a $700k investment in the future.

"This initiative was made possible through the generosity of people from all over the country, and will have a tremendous effect on the food insecurity issues that many families face in Southeast Ohio."

If you think Joey Chestnut is ready to wind down his competitive eating career after setting a new hot dog record -- YOU'RE WRONG!!!

The greatest eater in the history on mankind tells TMZ Sports he'll be back ... as long as his doctors give him the green light.

Of course, Chestnut woofed down 75 dogs in 10 mins to set a new world record at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July. He also held the previous record of 74.

But, despite having ZERO rivals who truly pose a threat -- the Michael Jordan of wieners says he's still passionate about his sport.

"Oh my God, I still love it," Chestnut says ... "I love the whole thing, pushing myself, the prep, even the recovery."

"I love knowing I feel like garbage and then the next day I feel better. And now, naturally, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to eat something big."

He adds, "I'm addicted to it and as long as I'm healthy, as long as my doctor keeps saying that I can keep doing it and I'm not hurting myself, you can count me in!"

"I'll be back next year and we'll see where it takes me."

David Ruprecht wants in on the new "Supermarket Sweep" fun, but with a different J-O-B -- the former host says he's is in the running to be the announcer.

David, who hosted 'Sweep' from 1990 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2003, tells TMZ ... he auditioned with honchos at ABC for an announcing position and says he's still on the short list for the role.

If ya hadn't heard, the new host is former 'SNL' star Leslie Jones -- but David says he'd love to carry on the classic game show's legacy by putting on a new hat for the reboot. He even gave us his announcing pitch.

It sounds like he's in game shape ... ready to share play-by-play of shoppers running around grocery stores throwing hams and turkeys into their carts.

While David hosted the show for almost 10 years, he doubts his wealth of experience will help Leslie. While she hasn't reached out to him for hosting tips, he knows she doesn't need it because she's already a pro.

A bunch of idiots working at a Jimmy John's sandwich shop in Georgia are out of a job after a handful of them made a noose out of their grub ... and then "hanged" one of their own.

This went down in the city of Woodstock, where at least four JJ employees working on the 4th of July apparently thought it'd be funny to do a mock lynching with their supplies. They fashioned a noose out of dough they use to bake bread -- and proceeded to try it out.

One white worker slips the noose over around his neck while another holds the long end up ... as if to show the guy hanging. Two others are filming this ... and everyone's having a laugh about it. The whole thing is gross to watch -- especially how funny they think it is.

You know who didn't find it amusing? Jimmy John's themselves -- because the corporate headquarters responded to the video ... and says all of these fools have been fired.

They write, "We have zero tolerance for racism or discrimination in any form. The franchisee has taken immediate action and the employees have been terminated. The actions seen in this video are completely unacceptable and do not represent the Jimmy John's brand."

Video has surfaced of a violent confrontation at a Dick's Sporting Goods store where a customer was punched and put in a chokehold ... all over a candy bar.

It went down in Toledo, Ohio Thursday. Cops say they received a call from an employee at the store that a customer -- 36-year-old Aaron Buckenmeyer -- had stolen some merchandise.

The video begins with Buckenmeyer and an employee are standing toe-to-toe when the employee delivers a crushing blow that sends Buckenmeyer to the ground.

The employee told cops Buckenmeyer had headbutted him and that's what provoked the punches.

You see Buckenmeyer in a chokehold. The employee claims during the takedown Buckenmeyer was grabbing him by the genitals.

As for Buckenmeyer ... he repeatedly told the employee he had asthma and couldn't breathe.

In the end ... it appears the incident was triggered by a candy bar Buckenmeyer had put in a bag that fell out during the confrontation.