Kids

Drake Bell is at his breaking point with internet trolls calling him a pedophile, saying they're driving him to the point of suicide, and will have "blood on their hands" if things don't stop.

Bell's been replying to various Twitter accounts over the last few days -- specifically, those calling him "pedo" and claiming he's a registered sex offender -- and trying to defend himself against the false allegations.

Bell tweeted, "Noooo Immmm Nooooooottttt!!!! You people are going to kill me" in reply to someone who called him a sex offender. He responded to another with ... "Nooooo I wasn't!! You people are destroying my life."

In another back-and-forth, one fan wrote, "Let’s not forget he’s a pedo" ... but another actually defended Bell by saying, "He's not though."

Bell eventually chimed in on that convo with, "Do a second of research This is what I have to live with everyday they are literally going to kill me. Bloods on their hands..."

The examples are endless, and clearly, something that's had a serious effect on the actor/singer ... especially in the wake of going missing last week, and his wife filing for divorce.

As for why the trolls are teeing off on him -- remember, Drake was sentenced to 2 years probation back in 2021 after pleading guilty to one felony charge of attempted endangering children. A woman claimed she and Bell started exchanging sexual messages and photos when she was just 15, and eventually met at one of his shows, where she alleges she performed oral sex on him.

Bell did not have to register as a sex offender as a result of that case ... which is why he's so pissed about the repeated tweets accusing him of that.

TMZ broke the story, Bell was reported missing last Friday, and cops considered him "endangered" before they located him several hours later.

Bell's brother had told cops Drake threatened suicide over child custody issues.

His month got worse when we broke the story his estranged wife, Janet, filed for divorce Thursday.

Interestingly enough, Bell also sounded off about his divorce, tweeting, "I found out my wife filed for divorce from TMZ...check out my new song" and dropping a link to his song "Going Away."

Savannah Chrisley says she was barred from taking a Southwest Airlines flight after a heated argument with an employee ... and it all stemmed from an unchecked bag.

The "Chrisley Knows Best" star took to Instagram Thursday to detail on video what happened, explaining that she was about to board the plane from New York to Tennessee when the Southwest worker at the gate said she needed to check her bag.

Chrisley responded that she wanted to take her luggage on the flight to see if it would fit in the overhead bin, but the employee said she couldn't.

After she pushed back a bit, Chrisley says the employee labeled her an "unruly passenger" and a pilot -- who was standing nearby -- came over to try to calm the situation.

But the employee turned to the pilot and stated, "Stay out of it … ma’am you’re not flying on this flight,'” meaning Chrisley.

Pissed, Chrisley says she called the worker an asshole, and then tried to reason with him by pointing out that she had to get home to be with her 10-year-old niece Chloe.

But the worker was undeterred, saying, "I don't care," according to Chrisley, who added, “So Southwest, you’re awful but not going to lie … your pilot was kinda hot.”

Chrisley says she finally boarded a late flight and arrived home in Tennessee around 2 am.

Country star Jimmie Allen and his wife, Alexis Gale, have decided to go their separate ways after 3 years of marriage, 2 kids together ... and another on the way.

Sources close to the now-former pair tell us they've been off and on for the last few months, but have come to the decision it's best for their family that they separate.

Jimmie and Alexis currently have 2 kids together, and we're told Alexis is currently pregnant with the couple's 3rd ... he has another child from a previous relationship. It's unclear when either will file divorce docs.

Jimmie and Alexis got hitched back in 2020 during a secret wedding ... and have regularly shared photos and updates about their family over the years with Jimmie's fans.

Alexis posted to Instagram, "Our number one priority is and always will be ensuring that our children are healthy, happy and loved, and we remain committed to co-parenting with love and respect for one another."

Antonio Brown is a wanted man yet again ... this time, TMZ Sports has learned a judge has ordered cops to arrest the ex-NFL star over unpaid child support.

According to court documents, the order was issued by a Miami-Dade County, Fla. judge on April 14 ... after Brown had allegedly ducked payments that he had been required to make to his ex, Wiltrice Jackson.

The Broward County Sheriff's Office has been in receipt of the order ... a BCSO spokesperson confirmed on Friday morning.

But, according to the docs, Brown can be released from custody if he pays $30,000 ... which the Florida judge ruled is to be applied to his unpaid child support.

Brown and Jackson dated during the former Pittsburgh Steelers star's early football playing days -- and had a daughter together.

Their relationship, however, had more than its fair share of ups and downs -- with Jackson accusing Brown of shoving her during a domestic dispute in 2019. Brown was never charged over the claim.

Police have now been instructed to place Brown in custody multiple times over the last few years ... including late in 2022, when an arrest warrant was issued for the ex-NFL star after he was allegedly involved in a domestic battery incident with the mother of his children in Tampa. The warrant, however, was ultimately withdrawn after officials said the alleged victim recanted her story.

We reached out to Brown for comment ... but so far, no word back yet.

A school bus driver in Colorado reportedly got stripped from his job after getting caught using his brakes as a cruel way to teach students to stay seated -- and he's apparently now facing a slew of charges as a result.

Douglas County School District bus driver Brian Fitzgerald tried to turn a recent ride home from Castle Rock Elementary into a messed up & teachable moment for the kiddos in his vehicle last month, as the security footage shows.

You can see him ask them to sit down, but it seems to fall on deaf ears ... he then offers a word of warning if they don't behave, then suddenly slams on his brakes -- throwing the kids forward with a loud thud, and resulting in a few kids shouting as it happens.

Fitzgerald makes sure they got the message, before demanding again that they all sit down ... it sounds like one kid asks "Why did he do that?" One child was reportedly bleeding on their cheek after getting brake-checked.

He's reportedly been fired from the district, but now is looking at 30 misdemeanor counts of child abuse, as well as a count of child abuse with bodily injuries. Fitzgerald's scheduled to appear in court next month.

The youth wrestler who clocked his opponent in the face following a match earlier this month has been cited for assault ... TMZ Sports has learned.

The Oak Park Police Dept. tells us the 14-year-old eighth grader was officially issued the citation on Thursday ... after he admitted to officers he punched his counterpart because "he was angry that he had lost the match."

The boy is now facing fines and penalties depending on the outcome of an adjudication hearing in Oak Park, Ill. next month.

As we reported, the incident went down on April 8 at Oak Park River Forest H.S. in Oak Park, Ill. ... after a 14-year-old SPAR Academy wrestler had won a match, 14-2, and had looked to shake hands with his opponent out of a show of sportsmanship.

Cops tells us ... when they arrived on the scene following the altercation, the victim had sustained a bloody nose from the cheap shot, but declined further medical care.

Police say all parties cooperated with the ensuing investigation.

It's unclear if the puncher will face further discipline -- such as a lifetime ban from wrestling -- but MMA legend Chael Sonnen told us this week he was hopeful the boy would avoid any sort of lengthy time away from the mat.

"This was a terrible moment," Sonnen said, "but it could also be a teachable moment."

Ralph Yarl is alive today thanks, in part, to the actions of 2 neighbors who came to his assistance minutes after Andrew Lester shot the 16-year-old boy twice -- and one of those neighbors is tearfully sharing the traumatic experience.

Jodi Rae joined us Thursday on "TMZ Live," and was almost immediately choked up remembering when Ralph banged on her front door, desperately seeking help. She says she couldn't see out her front door, and was uncertain about what was going on outside.

She had not heard the gunshots, but says it was clear Ralph was in dire need of assistance ... so, she decided to call 911. The operator told her there was an active shooter in the area, and advised Jodi not to open her door.

This definitely created a massive dilemma for Jodi ... one that brought her to tears as she told us about it -- she wanted to make sure her own son remained safe in their home, but also wanted to help Ralph, who she could see through her window falling to his knees.

Jodi says once she saw another neighbor walking outside, she figured the danger must have passed ... and immediately ran to Ralph's side. When she saw pools of blood outside her door, she realized the teen had been shot.

The story gets even more gripping and emotional at this point ... Jodi says she and a male neighbor used a towel to apply pressure to Ralph's head wound, held his hand and talked to him about school ... anything to keep his mind off the pain he was clearly suffering.

She fought through tears to tell us what Ralph told them about getting shot. She says she's had very limited contact with the shooter, Lester, since moving to the Kansas City neighborhood last year.

Jodi says she just kept thinking, "That's somebody's son," and knew she had to do something to help him. Sadly, she says there's been some backlash against her and other neighbors ... people who are, incorrectly, assuming the community did nothing to help Ralph.

While that's clearly not what happened, Jodi says she's mostly concerned with Ralph's recovery. She says, "Nothing compares to what that young man is living through every day."

The spate of homeowner shootings got even more insane after a 6-year-old and her parents were shot by a neighbor who was pissed off because their basketball rolled onto his property.

Robert Louis Singletary went ballistic Tuesday in North Carolina ... apparently angry at a bunch of kids who were playing basketball nearby. The ball bounced onto Singletary's yard, and he responded by running down the street with a gun and shooting at a neighbor.

Singletary wasn't done ... he started shooting at the little girl and her parents. The girl, Kinsley White, was grazed on her face by a bullet, and her parents were struck as well.  Kinsley's dad, William White, was hit in the back and critically injured. White apparently stepped into the line of fire to protect his daughter.

Kinsley told a local TV outlet WSOC-TV, "Why did you shoot my daddy and me? Why did you shoot a kid's dad?"

Singletary has been charged with 4 counts of first-degree attempted murder, among other charges.

The white geriatric gunman who shot and nearly killed a 16-year-old Black youth in Missouri is a Trump supporter who has been radicalized by racist conservative views in recent years ... at least according to his grandson.

Klint Ludwig was on CNN Thursday, railing on his 84-year-old grandfather, Andrew Lester, who stands accused of shooting Ralph Yarl outside Lester's Kansas City home last week.

Ludwig said he was "disgusted" by Lester's alleged attack on Yarl, calling it a "horrible tragedy." Ludwig also said he was 100 percent in Yarl's corner.

Don Lemon asked Ludwig why he was speaking out against his own grandfather. Ludwig responded, "It was right thing to do," adding, "This country it happens over and over again where people get away with killing unarmed innocent Black people."

He continued, "People need to speak out and not make any excuses for this kind of behavior and violence."

Ludwig went even deeper, accusing his grandfather of being a "stock American Christian male" with "racist tendencies."

Ludwig also stated as Lester got older, he became conspiratorial and would say "weird racist things," which seemed to be the result of watching conservative media outlets, such as FOX News, all day long. Ludwig went on to say Lester is a Trump supporter and, within the last five years or so, he became radicalized with these toxic views.

As we reported, Yarl mistakenly arrived at Lester's home in Kansas City last week while trying to pick up his younger siblings, who were staying at a different address.

After Yarl rang the bell, Lester answered the door while armed with a loaded revolver. Lester then opened fire through a glass door, hitting Yarl in the head and then firing a second time, hitting him in the right arm. At no point did Yarl step foot inside Lester's house.

Yarl was rushed to a hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, but, miraculously, he survived. In fact, his attorney, Lee Merritt, posted a photo of the two back at Ralph's home Wednesday.

According to court documents, Lester told police he spotted Yarl yanking on an outer door handle and thought the teen was trying to break into his home. That's why, Lester says, he shot Yarl.

But Yarl allegedly gave a different story to investigators, telling them that he never pulled on the door handle and that he was standing patiently waiting for someone to answer the bell he rang.

Aside from being a child actress, this sweet girl -- rockin' her hair clip and showing off her beautiful smile -- was also a top figure skater and earned a black belt in Taekwondo while growing up on the Upper East Side of New York City.

After making her acting debut at just 6 years old in the television film "An Invasion of Privacy," her future spotlight was lookin' quite bright, and before she knew it was starring on the soap opera "All My Children." But, perhaps you know her from her days as Buffy Summers.

Need one more hint? She's acted alongside Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair!

R. Kelly has officially filed an appeal in his federal sex crimes case out of New York -- and he's got a laundry list of reasons why he thinks his conviction should be reversed.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the controversial singer -- who was found guilty in 2021 on 9 federal counts that included RICO charges as well as charges pertaining to sex crimes and human trafficking -- says he got a raw deal throughout the lengthy trial.

For starters, R. Kelly's legal team simply argues the government did not meet its burden of proof in court ... despite a jury convicting him on all counts. His lawyers have specific gripes about the jury and some of the evidence prosecutors were allowed to submit during trial.

For the jury, his attorneys say that at least 4 of the jurors selected have since admitted prejudging his guilt before handing down their official verdict -- and he says at least 2 of them had watched the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries, and should never have been seated on the jury.

As for the underage girls he's alleged to have groomed and molested ... Kelly seems to have an explanation for what happened in each case. He says some were, in fact, at least 18 years old when he met and engaged in sexual relationships with them -- despite prosecutors' insistence the alleged grooming started while they were still minors.

In the cases where Kelly is alleged to have met with actual minors ... his team claims he was misled by those girls at the time about their real age.

Now, on the evidence front -- his team claims there was a lot of stuff that was allowed in during the trial that shouldn't have been seen or heard by the jury ... and hurt his ability to get a fair trial.

For instance, he says details about his sex life and/or conduct and behavior with former partners or exes of his -- accounts of which dove into STDs, sexual preferences and behavior in the bedroom -- were not relevant to the crimes being alleged against him, and were simply a way for prosecutors to sway the jury.

He also pushes back on former employees/associates of his that were trotted out on the stand ... saying a lot of them falsely testified to things they had no real knowledge of and weren't privy to in their capacity as staffers.

He's asking the appeals court to reverse his convictions or, at a minimum, order a new trial. Of course, there's a second federal case in which he was also convicted out of Chicago. No appeal for that just yet

Passengers on a Southwest flight were annoyed by constant screams on board ... but not just from a baby, these were from a grown-ass adult throwing a tantrum over a crying child, swearing up a storm as they were stuck in the air!!!

We've all been a little annoyed with the crying baby thing, but this dude took it to a whole other level -- the freak-out was caught on camera as he loudly groused he paid for a comfortable flight and got this instead.

He says lots of wild stuff in the clip -- screaming at the top of his lungs, asking if the baby paid more for crying privileges. The flight attendants try pointing out he's yelling in the cabin, and the man responds "So is the baby!"

The attendant hits him back with the perfect response ... "You're a man!"

It doesn't end once the flight lands, BTW -- because he was greeted by cops at the airport and seemingly escorted out.

We've reached out to Southwest for comment ... so far, no word back.

A youth wrestler in Illinois was socked in the face while trying to shake hands with his opponent following a match earlier this month ... and the blow was so violent, police are now investigating.

The altercation went down at the "Beat The Streets" tournament on April 8 at Oak Park River Forest H.S. in Oak Park, Ill., where kids from ages 8-to-18 were participating in a wrestling competition.

In video of the incident shot by The Wrestling Spot at the event, you can see an 8th grader from SPAR Academy and his opponent finishing up on the mat during a 125-128 pound freestyle third-place match -- when things suddenly took a disturbing turn.

The video shows as the SPAR wrestler -- who won the match 14-2 -- looked to shake hands with his opponent ... he was leveled by a cheap shot to the face.

The strike connected flush, and the SPAR wrestler -- wearing an orange and tan singlet -- crumpled to the floor.

TMZ Sports has learned he suffered a nose injury and has since been forced to wear a face mask at events while it heals ... but, fortunately, we're told he's somehow doing OK.

"He is making the best of the situation and is already back to training," SPAR Academy founder Justin Pearch told us Tuesday.

"As you may know, wrestling matches can get heated but nothing leading up to the punch would give cause to such bad decision-making on the opponent's part."

"It’s not tolerated in our sport and Spar Wrestling will never condone that behavior," Pearch added.

As for cops, an Oak Park Police Dept. spokesperson said Tuesday the incident is under investigation ... and the parents of both minors are cooperating.

The wife of Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds is officially divorcing him ... after the estranged couple announced their separation last year.

According to court records, Dan's wife Aja Volkman filed Tuesday in L.A., pulling the plug on a marriage that lasted over a decade. They have four kids together.

As we reported, the soon-to-be exes called it quits in September, and a couple months later Dan was linked to his new GF Minka Kelly.

We've seen them on a handful of dates since then -- from grabbing dinner to holding hands on a walk to some lunchtime PDA.

Dan's been in pretty good spirits since his split from Aja ... and not only because of Minka. We recently saw him dancing up a storm on a cruise to Mexico last month.

The family of Ralph Yarl says justice can be served by locking up the 84-year-old shooter for the rest of his days ... and forcing him to financially support the Kansas City teen's future.

Ralph's attorney Lee Merritt tells TMZ ... the Yarl family sees life in prison as the appropriate punishment for Andrew Lester, the man charged with shooting Ralph after he mistakenly rang Lester's doorbell. He also says all of Lester's assets should go into a college fund for Ralph.

On top of that, the family's calling on Missouri to implement more robust hate crime laws that could be applied in situations like Ralph's. They also want the DOJ to perform a review of the KC Police Department's to assess any possible internal racial biases in its practices, noting they don't think the department took the incident seriously enough at first.

As you know, Ralph was shot twice by Lester last week, including once in the head -- and police say Lester claims he thought Ralph was trying to break into his home. Lester surrendered to cops Tuesday, the day after he was charged with 2 felonies -- assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.

Merritt says Ralph's head injury damaged the part of his brain that handles emotions, so he's been struggling with controlling them since the ordeal.

We're also told the family's looking at the possibility of a lawsuit against Lester as well as the city ... because they had to fight so hard just to get Lester charged and arrested.

The White House encountered a major breach, a potential threat to our national security like never before -- nah, we're kidding, and we sorta mean that literally this time.

A very young boy was too little to be held back Tuesday by a North Lawn gate at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The fencing is generally an effective way to keep tourists far away from the President's residence, but this kid found a way onto White House grounds.

It's unclear exactly how the toddler got by, but, presumably, he just wormed through the metal rods -- as he certainly looks small enough to squeeze in without issue.

In any case, this little rascal doesn't appear to have gotten far. As you can see in these pics, WH security intercepted him pretty quickly -- and then escorted him back to his parents on the north side. In one photo, he looks like he's being carried by 2 guards -- almost like he's getting a perp walk or something. 😅

Of course, in reality, they were handling him with care ... the boy doesn't look any older than 4 or so. It also seems the security personnel had a good laugh over the whole thing.

Federal law enforcement sources tell TMZ the boy is Canadian and had stopped at the White House with his family to take a picture.

Like we said, the little guy was reunited with Mama and Papa Bear on the other side -- who appeared relieved ... and maybe a little embarrassed. All's well that ends well, though ... the Secret Service called their impromptu guest a "curious young visitor" who triggered their alarms instantly and who was returned without issue. Sources said Secret Service interviewed the family and determined they posed no threat.