Music

It appears the Kanye "Drink Champs" interview has been pulled from Revolt TV's YouTube.

N.O.R.E. called "The Breakfast Club" on Monday morning to apologize multiple times for the comments Kanye West made about George Floyd on the latest episode of "Drink Champs" his team put out over the weekend.

The "Drink Champs" host was in full damage control mode -- claiming he didn't know Ye's statements were going to be extremely hurtful to listeners.

N.O.R.E. says he later checked Kanye for the GF and "White Lives Matter" remarks later in the interview ... but says he was too drunk to make an impactful moment. He also claimed to have uploaded the wrong edit without combing through it ... an error he says the team will correct in the future.

The veteran rapper shamelessly admitted he didn't want Ye to walk out of the interview if he was silenced ... à la "The Breakfast Club's" infamous Birdman interview where he cursed them out and demanded "Respek."

BC further grilled N.O.R.E. on why he conducted the interview to start ... citing Tucker Carlson and HBO's 'The Shop's recent debacles.

N.O.R.E. defended his show's position, noting the show isn't named "Think Champs" to stage political theater ... but says his relationship with Ye is solid and wanted to give him the courtesy to speak.

He also noted that Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind and several other Jewish associates of his were in the room and used them as gauge meters for Ye's anti-Semitic rants.

N.O.R.E. says he previously spoke to Kanye that he would go on record to denounce Ye's comments and apologized to Stephen Jackson ... who may have cooked him anonymously on Instagram while slamming Ye.

Charlamagne seized an opportunity to hit him with a "told-you-so" zinger ... to which N.O.R.E. copped to, admitting he failed as a journalist.

Darius Slay Jr. sent Meek Mill home from "Sunday Night Football" with a gift ... the Philly rapper got the Eagles stars interception ball as a souvenir.

The Eagles had been leading the Cowboys, 17-0, on "SNF" ... when Slay intercepted a Cooper Rush pass intended for wide receiver Michael Gallup.

After a short return, Slay, with his teammates nearby, approached Meek and gave the INT ball to the "Dreams and Nightmares" rapper after dapping him up.

Meek -- who had performed his iconic "Dreams and Nightmares" song before the game -- had good reason to celebrate throughout the night ... Philly was dominating the Cowboys.

In his third year with the team, Slay is having a monster season in the Eagles' secondary ... and has made it a tradition to hand over INT footballs to A-list celebs at home games.

Earlier this season on "Monday Night Football," 31-year-old Slay gifted 76ers star James Harden his INT ball after picking off a pass from Vikings QB Kirk Cousins.

Speaking of Harden, his Sixers teammate Joel Embiid -- who hit up the Phillies' closeout game against the Braves on Saturday -- got some facetime with Jill Biden at the game.

The First Lady led the "Fly Eagles Fly" song pregame ... standing alongside cancer survivors right before the Eagles and Cowboys battled it out for NFL East supremacy.

Kanye West is following in the digital footsteps of Elon Musk and Donald Trump -- buying his own social media company to speak his mind ... one that leans in his direction, politically.

The rapper/producer just agreed to buy Parler -- a one-time defunct conservative platform similar to Twitter, which got yanked offline early last year and removed from a ton of apps ... including Apple, Google and Amazon.

Since then, it's been fighting to make a comeback, and Ye's stepping up to do just that.

He says, "In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves."

Parler, for its part, said it was a "groundbreaking move into the free speech media space and will never have to fear being removed from social media again."

The terms of the purchase haven't been disclosed, and Parler notes it still has to go into a formal contract with Kanye that it expects to execute in the fourth quarter. It'd been reported Parler had raised upwards of $56 million in funding to get the site back up.

Parler was first pulled down because internet provider services claimed it wasn't doing enough to prevent hate speech and potential violence from fomenting on its pages. Likewise, KW was also recently frozen out of both Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic remarks ... among other public attacks, not to mention his "White Lives Matter" statements.

We should note ... Ye's new BFF, Candace Owens, may have facilitated things. Her hubby, George Farmer, is Parler's CEO -- although, presumably, he'd take a back seat to Kanye if this goes through.

BTS might be the biggest boy band in the world, but when duty calls they're just ordinary citizens ... they've been ordered to put down their mics down and serve in the military STAT.

The agency behind the K-pop stars made the announcement Monday ... all 7 guys will be performing their mandatory military service ... and the oldest member, Jin, is up first.

Apparently, Jin has managed to put off going for as long as possible, but no more delays ... he'll serve the full two years.

South Korea requires men ages 18 to 28 to serve for at least 18 months. Jin is turning 30 in a few months, but he'll still have to put in his time.

"Jin will cancel the request to delay enlistment in late October 2022 and follow the Military Manpower Administration's relevant procedures for enlistment," BTS' management said.

The other boys in the band won't be putting it off much longer ... despite some lawmakers asking for them to be exempt, similar to other athletes and musicians have in SK.

SZA's album delay has been a cloud over the TDE singer for years, but it looks like she's been handling it by doing ... what else but recording songs. Lots of 'em!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught the Grammy winner in incognito mode at LAX, and took a shot at getting an update for the long-awaited follow-up to her 2017 monster album "Ctrl."

The album spawned 5 platinum singles -- and went 3x platinum itself -- and with music that good, it's no wonder fans have been fiending so hard.

SZA tells us her follow-up album could be dropping any day now ... which could mean tomorrow or February 2048, but she's optimistic listeners will receive the music well.

Since "Ctrl" dropped, SZA has breadcrumbed even more platinum singles ... such as "Good Days," "Hit Different" and "I Hate U" ... and says there's more where that comes from because she estimates she's sitting on 100 unreleased songs!!! 😱

There's never been a concrete reason for SZA's album delay ... she and TDE President Terrence "Punch" Henderson have traded blame for years in the public eye, but still have no project.

He recently sat down on Math Hoffa's 'Expert Opinion' podcast where he appeared to pass the hot potato to her ... hinting she can drop the album whenever she's ready.

Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford are definitely a thing -- 'cause they pretty much recreated the classic "Lady and the Tramp" date scene ... loving gazes and spaghetti included.

The two singers were out for dinner Thursday night at a vegan joint in L.A. called Crossroads Kitchen -- and they had a booth all to themselves for the lengthy meal ... as you can see in these new photos, obtained by TMZ.

Eyewitnesses tell us Billie and Jesse were there for at least three hours, if not longer -- leaving the place a bit before midnight and apparently arriving before 8:30 PM. Unclear what Jess was eating, but it looks like BE went with pasta ... slurping up some of the noodles.

We're told there was some PDA between Billie and Jesse as well -- including some smooches in between bites. Obviously, they kept that lovefest going into Friday, where they were seen at Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

As we reported ... a viral video showed Jesse and Billie walking out of a haunted house together, and grab hands as they strolled away. Her brother, Finneas, was with them too.

While it was somewhat unclear if they were actually romantically involved from that clip alone, this all but confirms they're an item ... something Twitter doesn't seem too keen on, based on the many reactions online.

Shawn Mendes is stopping to smell the roses lately -- which seems to be paying dividends, 'cause the dude's looking swole and refreshed as he continues to focus on his mental health.

The singer was out Sunday at a farmers market in L.A., where he stopped off for a little greenery. Looks like he sampled the options -- taking a big whiff of multi-colored flowers, but ultimately choosing what appears to be eucalyptus wrapped up and ready to go.

Unclear who exactly these might be for ... but at any rate, Shawn was happy to flex that he's a plant dad. Emphasis on flex -- indeed, the guy was showing off the fact he's yoked.

SM's been out and about a lot over the past few weeks ... and like we said, it looks like this break from touring that he's on is working out for him. Shawn appears pretty happy these days, focusing on himself and, of course, promo'ing his new movie ... "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile."

The hiatus from performing doesn't mean he's not thinking about music though -- on the contrary, Shawn's still proving he's got a song in his heart. He's been doing some acoustic stuff at home and posting on the Gram for his fans ... and yeah, the dude's still got it.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt just said the Floyd family is considering suing Kanye for his statements on his death -- saying it's slap in the face. He calls Kanye's remarks false -- but also notes, they can't technically be defamatory since GF has passed.

Kanye West is talking again, and this time he's saying A LOT ... with very pointed thoughts on George Floyd in particular, which is catching tons of backlash right now.

The guy sat down with N.O.R.E. for a new interview on "Drink Champs" -- and during the 43-minute chat, Ye got a lot off his chest ... including the fact that he's buying what Candace Owens is selling in her new doc 'The Greatest Lie Ever Sold,' which is about BLM.

Namely, Kanye repeats a point Candace makes ... which is that, from her POV, George Floyd actually died as a result of a drug overdose and other preexisting conditions like heart disease -- as opposed to Derek Chauvin pinning him down for upwards of 9 minutes.

It's something Chauvin's defense attorney argued in court as well, despite expert witnesses testifying and refuting that ... which the jury ultimately believed through their verdict. BTW, this new take is ironic -- seeing how Kanye paid to cover George's daughter's college tuition.

At any rate, Ye's getting ripped on Twitter for this ... but it's far from the only controversial thing he talked about on 'DC.' He also went on to name-drop Pete Davidson, Trevor Noah, Diddy, Meek Mill, Jay-Z and his ex, Kim Kardashian ... hurling many, many accusations.

He also references Jews several times, again perpetuating antisemitic tropes that they "run the media" and are out to paint him as an abuser ... something he resents. Ye also called PD a "heroin addict" and decried the recent fireplace tidbit played up on "The Kardashians."

KW went after some of his own peers in the rap game as well ... Puff and Meek, specifically. He called them fake hard, and seemed to suggest one or both of them were a "fed."

Lastly, Kanye suggested that Drake has banged Kris Jenner at one point or another ... seemingly confirming it when he mentioned her current BF's name, Corey Gamble. He also called Drake the greatest rapper ever -- and even said he got his address on Google.

There's so much more -- including his gripes about JP Morgan Chase, MAGA, the Clintons, vaccines, White Lives Matter, etc. The full episode drops on Revolt TV Sunday.

Megan Thee Stallion is gonna take a break ... because she says she's both physically and emotionally spent.

Megan pulled double duty on 'SNL' Saturday night as host and musical guest, but before the show went live she told her fans, "Hotties im really sorry but after SNL I really gotta take a break I'm so tired, physically and emotionally."

You can understand why she's kinda at the end of her rope. TMZ broke the story Friday ... while she was in NYC preparing for the show, her home was burglarized and $300k-$400k in jewelry, cash and electronics were stolen.

And then there's the 2020 incident where she was shot in the foot ... Tory Lanez is now facing trial for the shooting.

And in 2019, her mom, Holly Thomas died from a brain tumor.

During her song, "Anxiety" on 'SNL,' Megan was fighting back tears.

A$AP Bari may have moved past his Miami car crash by scooping up a brand new Maybach, but the other guy involved sure hasn’t -- he's now suing the rapper.

A$AP Bari, whose real name is Jabari Shelton, has been hit with a lawsuit over the crash that happened back in July.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ Hip Hop ... the A$AP Mob co-founder was driving his Mercedes-Benz "carelessly, recklessly, and negligently" when his car collided with another vehicle driven by a guy named Jorge Baez.

As you can see, the car was banged up pretty badly.

Jorge's lawyer, Jared Newman tells TMZ ... the accident left Baez with serious injuries and a bunch of medical bills. He's suing for more than $30K in damages.

As we've reported ... Kanye West gifted Bari a new Mercedes Maybach SUV just days after the wreck.

Jared says, "It was nice of Kanye West to buy A$AP Bari a new Maybach and enable him to move on like nothing happened, but something did happen and A$AP Bari must pay for his negligence."

Billie Eilish might very well be dating The Neighbourhood's Jesse Rutherford -- and Twitter is in a tizzy over it ... calling out the big age difference as wildly inappropriate.

A video surfaced online this weekend that appears to show Billie and Jesse leaving a haunted maze at Halloween Horror Nights in L.A. Friday night ... and as they're exiting, you see the two of them hold hands and walk off with a group that's trailing them.

While you can't quite make out Jesse or Billie's faces too clearly in the video, there's no question this is them ... you see, the internet has already retraced their steps, and they were both out and about last night in the exact same clothes.

Based on pics that JR and Billie posted on their respective socials -- they're all wearing the outfits seen in the clip, as were the guys that Jesse was rolling with (Finneas included).

There are also photos of Billie hanging out with Jesse from back in August of this year, so it's possible they may have been romantic since then.

Whether it was then or now, though, the cat's kind of out of the bag at this point. And fans sure have a lot to say about it -- mostly bad things, BTW.

The reason this is picking up steam is because Billie's 20 years old and Jesse is 11 years her senior ... at 31. While that might not normally be a huge deal on its own, Twitter truthers are noting Billie and Jesse have actually known each other for a good long while now -- which, to them, makes this would-be relationship all the more problematic.

Additional photos of Billie and Jesse posing together at what looks like a Halloween party date back to at least 2017 ... when Billie was around 15 years old.

Point being ... a lot of people are cringing at the fact that Jesse knew Billie when she was underage, only to seemingly hook up with her in adulthood. Many are saying it's gross and creepy, but the reality is ... they're both adults now, and can do what they want.

Billie has been linked to a small handful of guys since blowing up and becoming famous -- but has never really embraced anyone super publicly. She has said she likes to keep her personal affairs -- including SOs -- private because of the frenzy that fires up when the world gets a taste of her love life.

Tsu Surf is looking at a different fight at the moment ... the renowned battle rapper was arrested in Jersey City by U.S. Marshals on Thursday after the feds indicted him over his alleged involvement with a criminal gang enterprise under the Rollin' 60s Crips umbrella.

TMZ Hip Hop has obtained the 52-page indictment in which Tsu (real name Rahjon Cox) has been charged with racketeering conspiracy and possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felony.

Nine other people have been hit with a litany of crimes in the indictment, including carjacking, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, and more.

Feds claim he assisted in the shooting against a rival "Crips" gang member in March 2017 and also used his official Instagram page to coordinate an MMDA drug deal in April 2018.

Prosecutors also claim Tsu Surf had an illegal Beretta Px4 Storm .40 caliber firearm in July 2019 and later jokingly mourned law enforcement seizing the weapon on his IG a month later.

An additional October 2020 date also alleges Tsu Surf was involved in an IG drug deal for marijuana.

Does Usher like surprise birthday parties? F*** Yeah!

The superstar crooner was surprised Friday night when a bunch of his closest star pals came out to say HBD to Mr. Raymond at Nomad Library in Vegas hosted by Amazon Music.

Usher has a residency at MGM, and during his show, Chris Brown, Jermaine Dupri and Anita Baker showed up to perform, wishing the R&B legend a happy 44th. Baker sang "Happy Birthday" ... and she wasn't the only one.

After the concert, Usher got the big SURPRISE at Nomad. Dupri and Bryan Michael Cox were on the 1s and 2s as DJs for the festivities ... but stopped the music so everyone at the shindig could sing their own "Happy Birthday."

As for who showed up ... Polow Da Don, Keith Thomas, Hazel E, Kendrick Sampson, Floyd Mayweather and Johntá Austin.

The party moved to Mayweather’s Vegas skating rink at around 3:30 AM, Skate Rock City, for some late-night skating.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West aren’t talking, but that doesn’t mean they can’t share the same space for their kids.

Ye and Kim K both showed up for North’s game Friday. North arrived with a teammate, Kim with Saint, Psalm and Chicago ... and Kanye solo.

It’s the second time in a few weeks we’ve seen both Kim and Kanye at one of North’s events … as we first told you, Kim didn’t talk with nor even look in Kanye’s direction as he showed up wearing a 'White Lives Matter' shirt to the last one.

Kim wasn’t the only familiar face for Kanye at Friday’s game … giving Nick Cannon a hug as he made his way inside.

Sources at the game tell us Kanye left before it was over, Kim stayed with all 4 kids.

TMZ broke the story, Kim’s cut off all communication from Ye in the midst of an apparent mental health episode.

In times past, sources tell us even when Kim was the target of his attacks, she’d still work behind the scenes to get him help and repair fractured relationships.

Jeffrey Dahmer costumes seem to be all the rage for this year's Halloween season, but people are up in arms over the tone-deaf outfit choice ... so we're taking a look at some of the most controversial costumes worn by celebs.

Chris Brown took the terrorist route for an outfit on Halloween ... complete with a beard and a turban.

Shaun White caught some flack when he once dressed up as Simple Jack from the film, "Tropic Thunder" ... a character mentally disabled in the flick.

Several celebs thought showin' up in blackface would be alright ... like Colton Haynes as Kanye or Canadian PM Justin Trudeau -- but none might've taken the controversial cake quite like Julianne Hough, who got a ton of backlash for portraying Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren from "OITNB."

Megan Thee Stallion's L.A. home was ransacked by a pair of thieves who made their way into her bedroom -- taking hundreds of thousands in goods.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ two men, wearing hoodies and gloves smashed a glass door at the back of Meg's pad Thursday night ... giving them access inside. We're told from there, the men went into the primary bedroom.

Our sources say the crooks took an estimated $300-$400K in jewelry, cash and electronics from inside the home. Luckily, we're told Meg was not home when the men broke in.

At this time, police have not made any arrests, but we're told there's home surveillance of the break-in, and detectives are working to obtain more video and evidence from neighbors that could help them catch those responsible.

As for Meg ... she's set to host "Saturday Night Live" this Saturday. Usually, rehearsals will start Tuesday for celeb guest hosts, so it's likely that Meg's been out of town the whole week.