Holidaze

A Louisiana mother believes a doctor refused to perform surgery on her son after racially profiling him over a Christmas sweater that jokes about Santa being a "gangsta wrapper."

Shelly Jack claims her 17-year-old son was refused medical service by a surgeon at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Ville Platte because the guy was offended by the funny shirt, allegedly believing it to be an endorsement of gang activity.

Jack says her son made an appointment to get a bullet removed from his leg by a surgeon, but after they arrived she claims the doctor went off about how the "gangsta gear" was disrespectful ... and told them he wouldn't help a gang member.

But, Shelly tells KATC3 ... her son is not involved with any gang -- he was shot trying to pull a friend away from a fight at an apartment when shots rang out and he got hit.

Fortunately, Jack says her son was able to make an appointment with another surgeon several days later, but she's filed a complaint with Mercy Regional.

Vin Diesel has a security problem ... with his neighbors, who say the actor's security team act like they own the hood.

Vin is renting a place in a gated community in the Dominican Republic, and neighbors say he has 12 aggressive security guards protecting him and his fam.

The neighbor next door says the last straw was this Easter, when the guards blocked pedestrians and traffic so Vin and his kids could bicycle.

The neighbor wrote a letter to Vin, obtained by TMZ, in which he says, "For a few weeks I have personally witnessed and heard from fellow homeowners the unprecedented and abusive display of your security people around our homes and beach. Interrogating us, blocking our street with five or six SUV's. Stopping residents while walking when you ride your bicycle."

The neighbor goes on ... "In over ten years the homeowners in Fundadores Juanillo Beach have never endured and suffered such absurd comportment by anyone renting a home in our very small, private and very secure community."

The neighbor, who's from New York, had a tinge of sarcasm when he wrote, "You should know that you are visiting a community where no one is a threat to you, or anyone else that visits us."

A source close to Vin tells TMZ, the actor's been going to the DR for 20 years, and he's gotten along great with everyone. As for the Easter incident, the source says Vin was riding his bike with his kids and handing out Easter baskets to workers in the community. The source adds there was extra security because Vin's entire family was there.

Aaron Rodgers and Shailene Woodley's tour of love continues -- the engaged couple hit up Disney World during Easter weekend ... and they couldn't keep their hands off each other!!

Of course, the NFL MVP and actress are fresh off a romantic getaway to Mexico ... which was the very first time we got a glimpse of the duo together since Rodgers announced their engagement back in February.

37-year-old Rodgers and 29-year-old Woodley now appear to be a lot more comfortable showing their love for each other out in public ... holding hands and hugging while walking through Disney in Orlando.

In fact, the couple adorably decided to wear matching Star Wars-themed masks ... and while Woodley added some Minnie Mouse ears, Rodgers settled for a ballcap and Star Wars shirt.

Remember -- Rodgers is a grade-A Star Wars super-nerd ... so we're sure he couldn't wait to get the VIP treatment while checking out the SW: Galaxy's Edge area during his visit.

The couple has a lot to celebrate -- Rodgers' debut episode as interim host of "Jeopardy!" premiered on Monday ... and Woodley hyped up her man by praising his man bun and "super sexy, super attractive" look.

What are ... relationship goals, Aaron??

The Easter bunny's back at the White House after a 1-year hiatus ... albeit with a different look this year, but, hey, something's better than nothing.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden brought out the Easter bunny Monday during a White House ceremony to commemorate the holiday. They took the opportunity to also urge Americans to get vaccinated.

It's pretty cool considering the bunny did NOT make an appearance last year due to the pandemic. It's also the second consecutive year the annual White House Easter Egg Roll -- which draws tons of kids and has been hosted on the South Lawn almost every year since 1878 -- was canceled due to the outbreak.

But now, Peter Cottontail and Co. are getting back in the biz ... the bunnies have hopped back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Things Lincoln Riley is good at ... coaching football, drawing up plays and winning games.

Things the OU head coach is bad at ... brisket -- clearly.

The 37-year-old Sooners head man showed off his Easter dinner on social media Sunday ... and the meat he cooked was so dry, some questioned whether it was actually pumpernickel!!

Check out the photo Riley shared ... the meat was cooked to a crisp -- and the poor dude was ROASTED over it!!!

The comments were relentless ...

"Dear Lord, please see what real TX brisket looks like and never cook a brisket again.  Ever."

"If you drop your phone in water you could put it in a bag with this brisket to dry it out."

"This mf loves football so much he eats it for dinner."

"Did you pull that out of Jesus’s tomb?"

"I don’t know why everyone is roasting this. That pumpernickel looks delicious."

For his part, Riley seemed to defend the cooked cow in the wake of the backlash ... writing to one critic, "Haha ask @BwylieSTRONG if it was legit....."

That guy, OU's Director of Sports Performance Bennie Wylie, had Riley's back ... adding, "Unbelievable... Brisket tacos on point!"

Good news, bad news for Chiefs fans ...

The good ... hey! Patrick Mahomes' family is absolutely adorable!!!

The bad ... despite having surgery TWO MONTHS AGO, the K.C. star quarterback's foot/ankle is still in a protective boot.

Mahomes' fiancee, Brittany Matthews, posted an Easter Sunday family pic featuring herself, Patrick and their newborn daughter ... and it created quite the stir in the NFL world.

You'll recall ... Mahomes injured his toe at some point in the Chiefs' playoff run last season, and the 25-year-old needed surgery just a few days after K.C.'s Super Bowl loss to repair the damage.

Most thought Patrick would be good to go for workouts at this point ... but Matthews' photo shows the quarterback still clearly has quite a bit of recovering left to do.

Thankfully, Mahomes said on Twitter late Sunday he's not worried about anything regarding the injury ... despite still being in the boot.

"Lolol yeah," Mahomes said in response to Pat McAfee asking about the injury. "all good."

The Chiefs are set to begin Organized Team Activities in just 2 weeks ... and seems unlikely Patrick will be good to go by then.

With the season 5 months away though ... probably not the time to be sweating things too much in K.C. yet.

The Easter bunny is long overdue for a major makeover ... and with these sexy stars slipping into some ears and a fluffy cottontail, it looks like the hare has some serious competition!

The hottest celebs hopped on the long-eared look and shared these sweet snaps in bunny costumes and in the spirit of the holiday we're sharing them with you ... And trust us, they're way sweeter than some stale Easter candy!

The Easter Bunny's making a comeback of sorts, and this time it doesn't just mean Spring is sprung, it's a sign Americans are getting ready to celebrate Easter like it's 2019 ... for better or worse.

The bellwether in this case -- bunny costume sales, and they're super hot with Easter less than 2 weeks away. A rep at HalloweenCostumes.com, the world's largest costume retailer, tells TMZ ... its Easter category sales are up over 75% year-to-year.

For instance, this time last year -- as the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns were beginning -- the retailer had sold just 49 bunny costumes. This year, with COVID cases flat or dropping in most places, they've sold 171 ... and expect to sell out before Easter, which is April 4.

The easy explanation for biz boomin' is two-fold -- the decrease in cases and the increase in availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Not to mention the loosening of restrictions in many states, and total lack of them in others.

What's more ... the CDC also recently said vaccinated people can visit indoors with unvaccinated people of a single household without masks or social distancing if unvaccinated people are in the low-risk category. Great news for grandma and grandpa heading into the holiday!

Important to note, though, that if no one in your family's been vaccinated, the CDC is still recommending keeping celebrations within your household, and gathering virtually with others. And, of course, outdoor gatherings, if weather permits, are most ideal.

More quarterback drama for the Seattle Seahawks ...

The guy who backs up Russell Wilson is being investigated by police for allegedly punching a man in the face at a bar on St. Patrick's Day ... TMZ Sports has learned.

25-year-old Alex McGough -- a 7th round pick in 2018 out of FIU -- was allegedly at the Green Parrot Pub in Tampa, FL when an altercation broke out ... and things got violent.

TMZ Sports spoke with the alleged victim, 24-year-old Anthony Albino -- who tells us he was reconnecting with an old friend at the bar when McGough approached him and accused him of shooting his shot at his girlfriend.

Anthony says the NFL player got heated -- and all of the sudden, McGough socked him in the face out of nowhere.

In video taken after the alleged incident -- and obtained by TMZ Sports -- you can see Anthony with red marks on his face ... surrounded by bloody paper towels he used to clean himself up.

Anthony says he suffered minor injuries from the incident ... including a bloody nose and a gash to his elbow.

We're told Anthony went to cops the following day and filled out a report with the intention of pressing charges.

So far, McGough has neither been arrested nor charged with a crime -- but our law enforcement sources confirm the incident is under investigation and officers are hoping to speak with McGough soon

We've reached out to McGough's camp for comment ... so far, no word back.

The Seahawks signed McGough to its practice squad back in December 2020 -- and he's currently listed as the #2 quarterback on the team depth chart.

It's the most wonderful time of the year for Conor McGregor ... and the UFC superstar is celebrating his St. Paddy's Day with some epic boozin' and dancin'!!

32-year-old McGregor and his fiancee, Dee Devlin, honored the patron saint of Ireland from the comfort of his own at-home bar ... which is complete with Guinness and Heineken ON DRAFT!!!

Conor kicked things off with an Irish jig to Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" blaring in the background ... all while holding a pint in his hands!!

Things then made it to the bar, where McGregor propped his feet up and continued to down some liquid goodness ... we're sure he had some of his signature Proper 12 whiskey in the mix.

"Tis’ the month of the Irish and I’m having my feet up and celebrating every last damn second of it," Conor said Wednesday. "For we will rise and then rise again! As you will never. And I mean NEVER beat Ireland!"

"Up the Irish ☘️ Happy Paddy’s Day everyone, enjoy it all month with me!"

Enjoy the big day, Conor ... and remember to mix some water in there at some point.

Burger King has a funny way of promoting gender equality -- because it said something totally sexist about women ... as a way to plug a new initiative supporting them.

Yes, this is what honchos at BK's British office thought would be a good campaign to hype a new scholarship program -- tweeting early Monday, "Women belong in the kitchen."

As the Internet started dragging them, BK added ... "If they want to, of course. Yet only 20% of chefs are women. We're on a mission to change the gender ratio in the restaurant industry by empowering female employees with the opportunity to pursue a culinary career. #IWD."

See what they did there? Piss off everyone with one disgustingly misogynistic tweet, then hit 'em with ... wait, we're doing a good thing!

BK says the scholarship is meant to uplift their female employees, who wanna move past fry cook and be bona fide chefs.

BTW ... March 8 is International Women's Day -- a worldwide holiday aimed at celebrating ladies everywhere. For some reason, Burger King ran with this as their #IWD campaign.

A couple hours after the in-poor-taste rollout ... Burger King UK added one last clarifying tweet -- "We are proud to be launching a new scholarship programme which will help female Burger King employees pursue their culinary dreams!"

Timothy V. Murphy is ready to throw back some Irish whiskey and beer for St. Patrick's Day ... and he'll be doing it at a pub, even though the CDC wants the holiday to go virtual.

We got the "Sons of Anarchy" star at LAX Friday afternoon and our photog asked the famous Irishman about his St. Paddy's Day plans.

Timothy says he's looking forward to drinking at some popular Irish pubs in L.A. and he's not about to cancel the holiday for the second year in a row, despite the CDC urging folks to stay home and celebrate.

The way Timothy sees it ... St. Patrick's Day just doesn't work in a virtual setting, so he's keeping it live and in person. L.A. has outdoor dining (and drinking) again, so he'll have options.

Our guy also asked Timothy about Conor McGregor catching heat for buying a bottle of Proper 12 inside a liquor store without wearing a mask. Sounds like Timothy's glad he's not back in Ireland, or New York City, for that matter.

Mardi Gras is a muted scene in 2021 due to coronavirus cancellations of almost all the festivities New Orleans is famous for this time of year ... and it's an eerie sight.

Bars are closed, Bourbon Street's blocked off, there are no parades ... and revelers loaded with beads and booze are not packing the streets to celebrate Fat Tuesday.

Compared to what went down in 2020 -- right before the COVID-19 pandemic really hit the fan -- it's pretty incredible, and a little depressing.

However, after the city announced it would be shutting down Mardi Gras events because of the pandemic, a silver lining emerged ... a house floats movement.

According to reports ... roughly 3,000 house floats have sprung up in the greater NOLA area in tribute to all the absent parades, and they're pretty awesome. They're calling it Yardi Gras!

Roses are red ...
Violets are grand ...
Hey, is that blood?!?!?!
Ayesha Curry just sliced open her hand!!!!

Yep, Steph Curry spent his Valentine's Day rushing his wife to the doctor Sunday night after she gashed her hand open in a freak champagne bottle accident!!!

Ayesha says she wasn't doing anything crazy with the champagne bottle -- something just went wrong, resulting in a wound that needed 4 stitches to close!

"It's important to know that I was not sabering a bottle of champagne when this happened to me," Ayesha says ... "I was opening it the normal way."

FYI, "sabering" is when you take a blade (like a sword or something) and run it along the champagne bottle, usually resulting in a cool explosion that rips off the neck of the glass. It looks cool but can be dangerous if done incorrectly.

The good news ... Curry says she hit the good people at Kaiser Permanente, who tended to her wound quickly so she could resume her V-Day plans, which mostly included watching movies with her NBA star husband.

It's official -- Mason Rudolph and tennis star Genie Bouchard are an item ... and we know this, 'cause the NFL QB made the announcement Sunday with a steamy IG pic of the two in Cabo!

As we previously reported, Bouchard and Rudolph began dating in the fall ... but the two had carefully avoided any public appearances or social media shoutouts.

That all changed Sunday, though ... when 25-year-old Rudolph posted a smokin'-hot flick of the couple in swimsuits on a beach in Mexico.

"My valentine," Rudolph captioned the photo, adding a heart emoji.

Interestingly, 26-year-old Bouchard did NOT post Rudolph ... though she did confirm her Cabo vacay was a "quick vday getaway."

A few of Rudolph's Steelers teammates congratulated the quarterback on the relationship ... with Eric Ebron, Zach Banner and Terrell Edmunds all showing love.

Of course, Bouchard and Rudolph are no strangers to high-profile relationships ... Rudolph was just spotted last year with "Bachelor" star Hannah Ann, while Bouchard famously went on a date with a guy after losing a Super Bowl bet.

Apparently, things got bloody on Valentine's Day for Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox ... and they loved it.

The actress and rapper's love day celebration was more odd/unique than yours, as MGK rocked an orb with a drop of Megan's blood inside it. He proudly displayed the first blood Valentine piece on a necklace.

Megan seemed pretty excited about it ... saying, "There goes my heart manifest outside of my body draped in the towering silhouette of a most unusually handsome boy." Pretty damn poetic!

She added, "The journey will likely be perilous but there is no destination without him."

MGK's bloody pendant ain't all that unique -- both Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie famously wore vials of each other's blood while they were married in the early 2000s.

Didn't exactly work out for that duo, but Megan and MGK are going for it, anyway.