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Don Lemon's arrest has got some people (Harvey) all fired up, and our Sydney Sweeney HOLLYWOOD Sign stories were crazy. So we gotta ask ...

Don Lemon says journalists at CNN, CBS and other news organization need to grow a spine and push back against corporate influences that want to skew news coverage to curry favor with President Trump.

A defiant Don made the call to action Friday on his online show ... admitting he was late after having a busy day fighting federal charges for covering a recent protest.

Don thanked all his friends in the media for reaching out and having his back, but he went a step further and said they need to stand up to corporations that are putting their paws on the news and trying to exert influence and bend the knee to Trump.

Don Lemon has been released from custody after being criminally charged for covering a church protest in Minneapolis, and he made it clear ... this will not silence him.

Lemon told the crowd ... he has been a reporter for 30 years, and he will not stop doing what he has always done -- covering the news.

As we reported, Lemon was arrested Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles, for allegedly co-conspiring with protesters to disrupt a church service in Minneapolis.

Federal prosecutors are explaining why they have the gall to arrest and charge Don Lemon in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service ... they claim he wasn't reporting from the sidelines, and was part of the plot to raid the church.

According to the federal indictment, obtained by TMZ, prosecutors allege Don conspired with protestors to "injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate" clergy, staff, and congregants at Cities Church in Minneapolis.

The feds say Don met up with the protestors before the demonstration and got instructions on where they would be protesting and how the "operation" would go down once at the church.

Prosecutors say Don started livestreaming the morning of the Jan. 18 protest, telling his audience he was in Minnesota with an organization that was gearing up for a "resistance" operation against the federal government's immigration policies.

The feds say Don took steps to "maintain operational secrecy" by not revealing the location of the planned protest to his audience ... and prosecutors say he stepped away from a live mic so he "would not accidentally divulge certain portions of the planning session."

Patrick Bet-David hopped into the "TMZ Live" hot seat over Don Lemon’s arrest Friday -- and it got fiery real quick, with PBD insisting Don blurred lines by mixing with protesters instead of just covering them.

The conservative podcast host and media personality doubled down hard ... even when Harvey Levin and Charles Latibeaudiere pushed back, saying Don got way too close to the protesters and perhaps even joined in their planning.

Patrick warned that Don's actions were a slippery slope -- pointing to footage that he says raises big questions about whether Lemon was observing or participating.

Elon Musk has been swept up in the new batch of Epstein files — with the Tesla CEO firing off a 2013 email to Jeffrey Epstein to make plans to hang out on Epstein island.

In December 2013, Musk sent the email to Epstein telling the late convicted pedophile that he would be in the British Virgin Islands over the holidays and wanted to know if it was a good time to visit the island. Previously, Elon claimed that he refused invitations from Epstein to visit the island, where alleged acts of pedophilia went down.

Two days later, Epstein wrote back to Musk that he could swing by at the start of the new year, adding that there's “always space for you.” Epstein sent a follow-up email Christmas Day, stating he would pick up Musk on January 2 or 3.

8:17 AM PT -- Don Lemon is being charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, and violation of the FACE Act -- interfering by force of someone’s First Amendment rights -- according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.

Don Lemon was arrested Thursday night by federal agents in Los Angeles in connection with his coverage of an ICE protest that disrupted a Minnesota church service.

Lemon was charged with violating a federal law by impeding people's right to worship during an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in Minneapolis on January 18, according to The New York Times.

In a statement Friday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says ... "At my direction, early this morning federal agents arrested Don Lemon, Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy, in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota."

Philippine Airlines may want to invest in a certified plumber to fly with the rest of its crew ... because a recent bathroom accident caught attendants with their pants down.

Horrifying video has come out from a recent 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to the Philippines ... which shows crew members manually removing human waste from the toilet and putting it in the sink after all 11 onboard toilets failed mid-flight.

Watch the video at your own risk ... a worker -- wearing gloves and a thin surgical mask -- repeatedly dips what looks like a bucket into the overflowing toilet and removes waste, which is then drained down the sink. It's unclear how long the worker had to repeat this action.

Nicki Minaj isn't backing down after controversially calling Don Lemon a homophobic slur ... she's doubling down on that remark in a new podcast promo that dropped amid his arrest.

Days before Don's Thursday night arrest, the rapper sat down for an interview on "The Katie Miller Podcast" ... and she was asked to respond to him calling her "racist, unhinged, homophobic and our of [her] depth" -- all comments he made on "TMZ Live."

Minaj replied simply, "C***sucker, stop" ... prompting laughs from Miller before the clip ends.

Luigi Mangione has a ton of fans rooting for his release ... and at least one of them who allegedly tried to take matters into his own hands by busting him out!

Mark Anderson -- a 35-year-old Minnesota man -- was arrested at MDC Brooklyn in New York, the notorious prison that houses Mangione and other high-profile inmates such as former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, late Wednesday night.

According to a criminal complaint -- cited by NBC News -- Anderson was arrested after prison workers asked for his credentials ... and he only handed over an MN driver's license.

Nicki Minaj fans are taking sides after watching her cozy up to President Trump ... some are sticking by her, and others are dropping her like a bad habit.

The battle of the Barbz played out Thursday on "TMZ Live" when we had a couple supporters join our show and explain why Nicki's embrace of Trump is either a deal-breaker ... or no big deal.

Blair Thompson says he's cutting the cord when it comes to Nicki ... and he tells us why her politics feel like a slap in the face to lots of her longtime supporters who come from diverse backgrounds.

A Louisiana middle school counselor died by suicide Wednesday after he was accused of inappropriately messaging a minor, TMZ has learned.

Quinton Dixon -- a counselor at Westdale Middle Magnet School in Baton Rouge -- died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and his body was found on the campus of the now shuttered Glen Oaks Middle School, according to Baton Rouge Police Department.

Earlier this month, Dixon was accused of sending flirty Instagram messages to a 14-year-old beginning in early November 2025 through early January. An arrest warrant was issued on 4 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile.

The new video of Alex Pretti busting the taillight of a federal vehicle days before being shot to death is very critical to the shooting ... but not for the reasons you might think.

Harvey Levin's been stewing on the new footage of Pretti violently clashing with federal immigration officers -- with a gun in the waistband of his pants -- 11 days before being shot and killed by CBP agents ... and he's got a lot of thoughts, and even more questions.

First off, Harvey says Alex clearly crossed a line and is lucky he didn't get arrested ... and he's also giving these agents props for using the appropriate amount of force with Alex.

Ever wanted a robot personal assistant? You might be in luck, then ... because Elon Musk is gonna start building a lot of 'em ... at the expense of a big chunk of his automotive division.

The Tesla CEO announced his plans to ramp up production on his Optimus humanoid robots during an earnings call on Wednesday -- and revealed a Tesla-producing factory would be repurposed to focus on building the 'bots, reports CNBC.

Musk announced he'll double the company's capital spending ‌to more than $20 billion this year, Reuters reports. Musk said Tesla would stop producing its Model S and X vehicles, and described the planned end of production as an “honorable discharge” for the vehicles.

Models S and X are two of the car manufacturer’s oldest models -- but they're not selling ... combined, they accounted for less than 3 percent of Tesla's global sales last year.

Elon said Tesla was planning to replace the production line for Models S and X “with a 1 million unit per year line of Optimus.” Earlier this month, Musk also noted a goal of Optimus some day accounting for 80 percent of Tesla's total value.

The Optimus is intended to be capable of completing a wide variety of tasks ... so if you ever fantasized about a robot babysitter, this might be the right time to think about ordering one.

Sean Grayson, a former sheriff's deputy in Illinois, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for shooting Sonya Massey at her house after she called police to report an intruder in 2024.

Grayson was convicted of second-degree murder in October in the shooting death of Massey ... he and another Sangamon County sheriff's deputy responded to the woman's residence in July 2024 on a report of a prowler. In an escalating verbal dispute, he shot her three times in the face, and the whole interaction was recorded on body cam.

Grayson will get credit for time already served awaiting trial. He was additionally sentenced to two years of supervised probation tacked onto the end of his sentence, Springfield's WICS-TV reports.

Massey called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois -- about 200 miles south of Chicago -- on July 6, 2024.

Grayson and his partner responded to the call. He claimed he thought Massey threatened to throw a pot of boiling water at him. Massey's family retained Ben Crump as a lawyer, who's previously represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Grayson expressed remorse for the shooting during his hearing Thursday, ... "I wish there was something I could do to bring her back. I wish this didn’t happen. I wish they [Massey's family] didn’t have to go through this experience. I am very sorry."

Grayson's defense team filed for a retrial last November, according to WAND-TV ... but the motion was denied.

Holy open mic, Batman ... the Dark Knight rose up in Santa Clara earlier this week to slam the city council's cooperation with ICE!

A man dressed as the Caped Crusader -- identified as "Batman" on the monitor Tuesday -- swooped down on the podium like Gotham's defender himself ... instantly launching into a tirade which began with an expletive.

In the 3-minute speech, Batman accuses the city council of allowing the federal government to walk all over them ... and, he expresses his concern about hundreds of masked men coming to Santa Clara. As you know, the federal government announced in October ICE agents will be present at Levi's Stadium on Feb. 8, the day of the Super Bowl ... but sources told TMZ Sports today there is no plan for ICE to conduct immigration enforcement at the site, so details remain sketchy.