Reality TV

"RuPaul's Drag Race" star Pearl is apologizing after a look she deemed "'90s Britney-esque" took a ton of heat after many believed it to be blackface.

Pearl posted, then deleted, a series of photos to Instagram this week showing off the new look -- which featured bleached-blonde hair, a water cup, pink tracksuit and very tanned skin.

Fans jumped on her almost immediately, calling the look tone-deaf and comparing it to blackface. One wrote, "So y'all just gonna stay silent while Pearl from RuPaul's Drag race posts photos of themself in Blackface, all the while other non-Black queens were hyping it up like it wasn't clearly blackface?"

The pissed-off fan then, making a reference to the Alabama riverboat brawl, exclaimed, "Where's my damn folding chair?"

Clearly, the comments reached Pearl, who posted an apology Thursday, writing, "The character i posted this morning was not meant to resemble any other background other than my own. she's platinum blonde/blue eyes & meant to have 2000's britney-esque tan."

The "Big Brother" houseguest who got tossed, because he used the n-word, is NOT a racist ... according to his father, who says their family ties prove a lack of prejudice.

If ya missed it, Luke Valentine was booted this week after live feeds captured him using the racial slur in conversation with 2 other white houseguests, as well as a Black man. His dad, James, tells us his son's behavior was surprising and disappointing for a few reasons.

Luke's father says his son has many family members who are Black, including a stepmom and step-siblings, as well as biracial cousins ... and he says Luke is absolutely not a racist and was not raised in a racist family.

The dad says Luke's stepmother was also disappointed to hear him use the n-word on the live feeds, but we're told she feels he's a good kid regardless and they have a good relationship.

Luke's pops also says he's never heard Luke using the racial slur, and he believes his son was not intending to be racist, though he admits his kid said the wrong thing and has to be more mindful of what comes out of his mouth.

Needless to say, Thanksgiving's gonna be interesting.

TMZ broke the story ... CBS kicked Luke off the show the same day as the incident, telling us there's "zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur."

James says it's disappointing his son was kicked off the show, in part because he seemed to be enjoying himself, and the family wanted to see him on the program longer.

Tony Rock is ripping the white "Big Brother" houseguest who casually used the n-word in conversation ... setting the record straight on who can and can't use the racial slur.

We got the veteran comedian at LAX on Thursday and our photog asked him about Luke Valentine getting booted from 'BB' for dropping an n-bomb on the live feed.

Tony says no one named Luke Valentine should ever say the n-word ... and his rule of thumb is to refrain from using the slur unless you are a person of color.

Chris Rock's brother also finds it interesting Luke was so quick to apologize ... he says that should be a sign Luke should have known better in the first place. He also feels it's a trend whenever people or companies offend Black people.

Tony's fascinated by the reaction from Luke's fellow white houseguests to having the n-word dropped into a conversation ... he says the virtue signaling is in full effect.

Brody Jenner and his pro surfer fiancée, Tia Blanco, are parents for the first time ... welcoming their new bundle of joy via a home birth, and they happily shared the moment of truth!!!

The happy couple says their new baby girl, Honey Raye Jenner, arrived at the end of last month -- and they're "so incredibly in love and have been cherishing this precious time together as a family."

Brody and Tia had a small group around them on delivery day ... and they got pretty emotional as Mom held their new kiddo for the first time.

They've been met with a swarm of well-wishes online, BTW ... everyone's congratulating them on the big achievement, and rightfully so!

As we reported, Brody and Tia shared their pregnancy news at the beginning of this year, showing off an ultrasound of their kiddo ... who had them over the moon long before her arrival.

You'll recall, Brody got down on one knee and proposed at their baby shower back in June ... so now they've got a big wedding to look forward to on top of the new baby.

Bam Margera's got an avenue to maintain a relationship with his son ... but it looks like the former "Jackass" star will have to settle for FaceTime calls with Phoenix, at least for now.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Bam's estranged wife Nikki is getting sole legal and physical custody of their 5-year-old boy for the time being, while Bam's being limited to FaceTime visits.

The judge's ruling came down Tuesday ... Nikki was physically in court and Bam appeared via video conference, a foreshadowing of his upcoming interactions with Phoenix.

Remember ... Bam was requesting joint legal and physical custody of Phoenix, asking for overnight stays with his son every other weekend and accusing Nikki of doing everything she can to keep the boy away from him.

For now, Bam's only being allowed to see Phoenix over FaceTime via 20-minute calls on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, plus 30-minute calls on Sundays. Nikki's not allowed to monitor the calls.

Bam and Nikki are due back in court in a few months, so it seems this will be the status quo until then. As we reported, Bam was taken into custody Wednesday morning in a suburb just outside of Philly, being cited for public intoxication.

Sources told us officers saw him arguing loudly with a woman outside a hotel, and claimed he smelled like booze and was slurring his speech.

Dr. Terry Dubrow gets emotional thinking about how his wife, Heather, sounded the alarm when he suffered subtle, stroke-like symptoms, and were it not for an argument and her persistence, Terry might not be here today.

The "Botched" star was on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to give us the blow-by-blow on what went down last Thursday at L.A.'s famed restaurant, The Ivy. Terry says he briefly started to slur his speech, which deeply concerned his spouse.

As Terry explains, Heather insisted on calling 911, which infuriated Terry -- he didn't think it was a big deal. An ambulance came, checked him out and said he was ok, but that wasn't good enough for Heather ... she insisted he get checked out at a hospital.

He made a rash decision to head home alone, but Heather didn't stop pestering him, and even got their circle of doctor friends to hound Terry and convince him to get to a hospital.

As we reported ... Terry was diagnosed with having suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA) which can be a precursor to a full-blown stroke.

Not just that, but doctors found a patent foramen ovale (PFO) -- a heart condition which can be incredibly dangerous. So, long story short, it was well worth his while to seek immediate medical treatment.

This is not lost on Terry whatsoever ... in fact, he's incredibly grateful to Heather -- and says she quite literally saved his life that night, despite his protests and insistence he was fine.

He's giving her major props in this interview, and it sounds like she deserves all the credit in the world. Terry also tells us the lesson he learned -- it's pretty fascinating.

'Big Brother 25' contestant Luke Valentine just got kicked out of the house after casually dropping the N-word in the middle of a conversation with other houseguests.

CBS and the reality show's producers tell TMZ ... "Luke violated the BIG BROTHER code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur. He has been removed from the house."

We're told Luke's departure will be addressed in Thursday's episode.

Wednesday morning's live feed captured Luke chatting with contests Jared, Cory, and Hisam as Luke says, "We were in the f****** (inaudible) room, n****."

Luke immediately tried to correct himself by saying "dude" ... and he laughs it off and later tells Jared, who is Black, that it was a slip of the tongue.

Jared didn't seem all too concerned with Luke using the slur, telling him ... "I don't give a f***" ... though it's possible Jared kept his cool for gameplay purposes.

'Big Brother 25' contestant Luke Valentine created a pretty tense situation after dropping the N-word mid-conversation with some fellow houseguests.

Luke was seen chatting on the live feeds early Wednesday morning with contestants Jared, Cory, and Hisam when he said, "We were in the f****** (inaudible) room, n****." Realizing his mistake immediately, Luke tries to correct himself by saying "dude" ... and laughs it off.

Cory and Hisam immediately tense up, and rightfully so ... Luke looks over to Jared, who's Black, before apologizing. It seemed to tick off Cory and Hisam, who definitely didn't laugh with him -- instead, they step out, leaving Luke alone with Jared.

Surprisingly, Jared doesn't seem all that concerned with the apparent slip-up -- it's possible he wanted to keep his cool for gameplay purposes -- later telling Luke, "I don't give a f***," in response to the slur.

White folks dropping the N-word on 'BB' has become a reoccurring theme ... it's happened quite a bit over the years, especially in 2018 when houseguest Kaitlyn said it while quoting Drake's "0 to 100."

BTW, producers just warned the cast about their language after 2 contestants were worried their tans would make them look "ghetto."

CBS has threatened to kick people off the show for situations just like Luke's ... but it's unclear if he'll be forced to pack his bags anytime soon.

Dr. Terry Dubrow experienced a medical emergency that could have gotten very bad, very fast ... but fortunately for him, his wife was by his side.

Dr. Dubrow tells TMZ ... last Thursday night, he was chowing down with his wife and son at The Ivy in L.A. ... when he suddenly began slurring his speech. Although it happened for less than a minute, Heather Dubrow wasn't going to let it pass. She told their son to call 911 ... which pissed off Terry because he says he felt fine.

Paramedics arrived on the scene, took Terry's vitals and said he was A-OK. Heather wasn't satisfied and insisted they take him to the hospital -- Terry refused and hopped out of the ambulance. Embarrassed by the whole situation, he called an Uber to take him home.

Terry received a flurry of calls from his doctor buddies during his car ride -- after Heather filled them in on the situation ... which convinced him to make a pit stop at the hospital.

Doctors ran a series of tests, and discovered Terry experienced a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. TIAs are described as a brief blockage of blood flow to part of the brain, which can temporarily cause stroke-like symptoms. They're typically transitory and don't cause lasting damage.

Doctors also discovered Terry had a patent foramen ovale, or PFO, which is a hole in the heart that didn't close the way it should after birth. Doctors told Terry a blood clot passed through the PFO, traveled to his brain and caused the TIA.

Terry's medical scare is almost identical to that of Hailey Bieber. You'll recall, Hailey was rushed to the hospital in March 2022 after also experiencing stroke-like symptoms.

Fortunately, doctors fixed Terry's PFO on the spot and now he's fine. In fact, he's already doing high-intensity workouts and is cleared to perform surgery.

Jeff Lewis called Kyle Richards a "lesbian on Ozempic," and while he was certainly joking ... it's a toss-up as to whether the 'Housewives' star herself is laughing.

The famous interior designer -- known for appearing on Bravo's "Flipping Out" -- made the flippant comment on Andy Cohen's show "Watch What Happens Live" ... where they were running a silly segment called 'Jeff, What's Your Issue?' and flashing through faces of people.

Eventually, they landed on Kyle ... and Jeff made the crack, feigning outrage that she didn't tell him she was into women and that she was taking the diabetes weight-loss medication. You could tell it still had an impact though ... 'cause Andy was left blushing on the spot.

Heather McDonald was also on set for this moment, and she ran with the gag ... joking that one of Ozempic's side effects is that it makes people gay. Jeff, who's gay, kept going with it, and the whole thing was dealt with in a light-hearted manner, all told.

Of course ... Jeff's zing comes on the heels of recent speculation Kyle might be dating female country singer Morgan Wade ... this after spending a ton of time with her on the road, and right around the time she separated from her husband, Mauricio Umansky, no less.

Since then, we've learned that's not the case ... and that the reason Kyle's been hanging out with Morgan so much is because of a documentary she's producing about the artist's life.

Still, people have had their opinions about Kyle and Morgan regardless ... something they're well aware of, and which they leaned into in MW's latest music video -- poking fun at all the rumors.

We'll see how Jeff's remarks land with Kyle, who hasn't responded. Not yet.

"Big Brother" contestant Felicia Cannon is leaving a trail of destruction in her wake -- ruining several microphones in just the first week, with toilets and hot tubs proving to be her kryptonite.

Felicia, the oldest houseguest this season, has only been in the 'BB' house a few days ... and she's already dunked at least 3 microphones in water.

One incident happened when the houseguests first got access to the backyard, and Felicia literally fell into the hot tub ... which produced some hilarious audio.

Before the mic was ruined, it captured her scream and then the sound of bubbles as the mic was submerged.

Felicia's also destroying equipment in the bathroom, as the mics fall off her clothing and down into the toilet water when nature calls.

It's not like she can get away with it either -- the show's 24/7 online feed captured her exiting the bathroom with her skirt halfway down her butt as she tries to explain away her latest wet mic incident.

According to BB Live watchers there may have been a few other splash downs not captured by cameras.

Equipment loss aside, Felicia's proving to be the star of "Big Brother 25" ... she's a must-watch on the live feeds, and she's pretty funny when she laughs off the mic drops.

Rachel Leviss hasn't shown face for the next season of "Vanderpump Rules" -- and based on where she popped up Tuesday, that's not likely to change as filming continues.

The reality TV star -- who was at the center of last season's cheating scandal, aka 'Scandoval' -- surfaced at a Massage Envy in Tucson, AZ around noon -- where she was chatting with a front desk attendant, seemingly chatting about some services for herself.

In these images, obtained by TMZ, you can see she's not really trying to go incognito ... but we're told she was somewhat soft-spoken while interacting with the employee, and trying not to draw attention.

That's a tall order when you were the biggest thing on reality TV for several months.

We know Rachel has family there, so presumably she's staying with them right now ... on the heels of checking out of a mental health facility, where we're told she'd been for 100 days.

Considering RL was by herself for this outing, with no cameras around and no sign of any other 'Vanderpump' cast members ... this supports the growing sentiment Rachel's probably skipping out altogether on filming Season 11.

Production has been underway since June, and we're already into August ... with the rest of the cast ensconced in whatever storylines have cropped up at this point. As we reported -- several cast members are feeling like it's a no-go for Rachel, and that they won't see her.

That's definitely crappy for Bravo, which almost certainly wanted her to be in the mix to keep the drama going -- but there's no telling what this season is shaping up to be with her MIA.

In the meantime, Rachel's doing what's best for her.

"The Bachelorette" alum Kaitlyn Bristowe is opening up about her split from Jason Tartick ... and she's hinting at the possibility of a second chance between them.

Kaitlyn shared her post-breakup thoughts Monday at LAX, admitting she's holding up alright in the days following their called-off engagement ... and says it's been easier because they have so much respect for each other.

She was asked who made the call to split up, and says it was a mutual decision ... but then quickly raises this interesting possibility -- she says all hope for reconciliation isn't lost, and the door "isn't permanently closed."

As for their 2 dogs, Ramen and Pinot, Kaitlyn says she'd take full ownership if it was up to her ... but admits she and Jason are happily co-parenting the pups, for now.

You'll recall, Kaitlyn and Jason announced their breakup Sunday on social media, saying they'd called off their engagement after 4 years together.

Kim Kardashian used her voice to try to spring Master P's incarcerated brother C-Murder from prison, but the gesture was a slap in the face to his alleged victim's family.

George Thomas, brother of the slain Steve Thomas, tells TMZ Hip Hop ... whenever a celebrity such as Kim Kardashian advocates for C-Murder, it's like reopening the same wound that cut the family so deep years ago.

He says the advocacy from Kim K and other celebs has made it impossible to properly mourn Steve, who was only 16 at the time of his death, adding the family is constantly reliving the pain.

George says there's a mountain of evidence pointing to C-Murder as the killer, and thinks it's just celebs -- not the common man -- who want the ex-No Limit rapper freed from prison.

Kim jumped on a new Louisiana law Thursday that allows the incarcerated to prove their innocence, and seems to think it could be C-Murder's ticket out. She noted C's conviction is based on the testimony of two men -- both of whom have now recanted their testimony.

George says he's all for Kim using her voice to help innocent people, C-Murder is not that guy -- his conviction was upheld in 2011 and he even appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

C-Murder was found guilty of second-degree murder for the beating and shooting death of Steve. He was sentenced to mandatory life in prison.

"The Bachelorette" alums Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick have said their goodbyes ... calling it quits on their engagement after 4 years together.

They announced the split in a joint statement, posted on Instagram Sunday ... saying they're "saddened with heavy hearts to share that we have decided to end our engagement," breaking the news after filling in family and close friends.

Kaitlyn and Jason say they're thankful for those that gave them "time and space to process the life-altering decision as there are many emotions and changes to navigate."

They add they'll be co-parenting their 2 dogs, Ramen and Pinot ... and say they'll be remaining friends despite the breakup -- writing, "We feel grateful to be ending our engagement with love and respect for each other," adding it's "heartbreaking" to say goodbye.

Fans of the show remember Kaitlyn first appeared on Chris Soules' season of "The Bachelor," then returned to "The Bachelorette" the same year as the season's lead. As for Jason, he was on Becca Kufrin's season in 2018.

Kaitlyn and Jason met in 2019 when he jumped on an episode of her "Off the Vine" podcast -- they started dating that same year and announced their engagement in May of 2021.

Bella Hadid is celebrating a major milestone as she continues to battle Lyme disease ... completing over 100 days of intense medical treatment.

On Sunday, Bella shared a handful of meaningful photos ... you see wires connected to her body while laying in a hospital bed, nurses by her side, and even some blood, too.

Bella spells out the mental anguish Lyme disease has taken on her ... "Living in this state, worsening with time and work while trying to make myself, my family and the people who support me, proud, had taken a toll on me in ways I can’t really explain."

She continues ... "To be that sad and sick with the most blessings/privilege/opportunity/love around me was quite possibly the most confusing thing ever."

With that said, Bella is feeling optimistic for the first time in a while ... saying the treatment was well worth it if she can now live her life to the fullest for the first time ever.

Bella also gives a big shout-out to her mother, Yolanda -- who also has Lyme disease -- for keeping all of her medical records and sticking by her side through the whole process.

You'll recall ... Bella and her brother, Anwar, were both diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2012. Bella shared a letter from her doctor dated back to 2014 ... saying she was suffering from fatigue, depression, headaches, and night sweats, among other things.