TMZ Live

Josh Seiter says he didn't correct the fake death post about him for a full 18 hours because his priority was figuring out who hacked into his Instagram account ... it's all very puzzling.

The ex-'Bachelorette' star appeared on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and we peppered him with questions about the long, long period of radio silence ... both from him and his family.

Josh says he was trying to manage a ton of texts and calls from concerned friends/family, which raises the question ... why didn't someone he called tell media outlets -- including TMZ -- the death post was a hoax?

Fact is ... we called Josh just after the death announcement was posted, but didn't get a call back until the next day. We also called family members, and they either hung up or said "no comment."

He recognizes he's going to get scrutinized, but he says he handled it the best way he knew how and is standing firm -- he was hacked.

Vivek Ramaswamy is calling for peaceful protests if Donald Trump is tried and convicted in any of his 4 criminal cases because he says he firmly believes violence is not the answer.

The 2024 Republican Presidential candidate joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" and we asked if he would publicly discourage and denounce violent protests in the wake of a potential Trump loss in court -- a scenario lots of folks fear could happen.

Vivek, who emerged victorious in the first GOP debate, says peaceful demonstrations and self-expression are a core part of American life ... but he says he's dead set against violence in this country.

That's in line with his publicly stated view of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The businessman-turned-politician says Trump's actions that fateful day were a "very bad decision," but he's not sure it rises to the level of a crime. That might seem like a backpedal from him ripping Trump's Jan. 6 behavior as "abhorrent" in his book, "Woke, Inc." ... but Ramaswamy says both statements can be true.

Vivek's also called Trump the best president in the 21st century, and yet, he told us would not be Trump's vice president ... if Trump wins the GOP nomination instead of him.

The conversation also features Vivek's thoughts, or lack thereof, on the strikes in Hollywood ... which he says don't have much of an impact on Americans by and large, so he hasn't given the issue much thought.

Vivek also touches on racism, white supremacy and discrimination ... and there's a pretty healthy debate.

Tan Mom Patricia Krentcil's run for the U.S. Senate is all about fixing healthcare, fighting for drag queens and, in general, having compassion for your fellow Americans ... principles she's laying out in her first campaign ad.

In the video, obtained by TMZ, Patricia lets Florida voters know she's changed a lot over the past decade, much like the rest of the country ... and says losing her husband to cancer and being in a medically induced coma opened her eyes to the Medicare and Medicaid struggles of millions of Americans.

On top of that, Patricia says she knows what it's like to look different -- saying drag queens shouldn't be targeted and harassed for being who they are.

She goes on to add they can be amazing role models for kids ... a pretty unique platform for any GOP candidate, these days.

As a mother of 5 kids growing up in a divided country, Patricia thinks she's more than qualified to tackle the nation's hot-button issues.

While Patricia's running as a Republican with views far left of most Republicans -- she joined us last week on "TMZ Live" to fill us in on her reasoning for choosing that party.

Calling it a comeback is an understatement, but Fyre Fest founder Billy McFarland is actually selling out tickets for a sequel to that infamous flop ... and he's telling us how he's pulling it off.

McFarland joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live," revealing the first round of FYRE Festival II pre-sale tickets were scooped up quickly ... and, interestingly, Billy thinks all the buzz around his 2017 tropical failure is driving curiosity and interest around his second attempt.

He tells us why the "no publicity is bad publicity" model really works in his favor. BTW, folks who've already purchased tix, dropped $500 bucks without knowing the exact location or which artists will perform!!!

Billy also chats with us about how the hell he found backers for Fyre Festival II ... saying it wasn't until a Broadway production company supported a musical based on the first Fyre that financiers got interested in his return to live events.

You'll recall, Billy teased the new festival last October -- about 6 months after he served 4 years in prison for wire fraud related to the OG Fyre Fest disaster.

Months after the teaser, Billy reunited with Andy King -- the guy who famously revealed Billy asked him to give oral sex to a customs officer to get shipments of bottled of water -- and they sold grilled cheeses in NYC to raise money for Bahamas workers who still haven't been paid from Fyre.

Billy says he won't be doing as much at next year's festival, but he's at least secured one job -- cookin' up those infamous cheese sandwiches with Andy!

Maui resident and former TV host Peter O'Riordan lost his home, car and belongings in the deadly wildfire, and says President Biden's visit is doing little to raise hope for victims like himself.

Peter, a former TMZ staffer who went on to host an Irish TV show before moving to Lahaina, joined us on Tuesday on "TMZ Live" ... revealing the devastating details of what's happened to his family and countless others just like him.

He says he's lost everything in the blaze, and its aftermath is wreaking havoc on his children's lives ... as they've been uprooted from their home, and have school left to attend.

Peter says his crying children were told to grab what they could, and flee for their lives as the fire advanced -- and it's that kind of lasting trauma that's so negatively impacting all kids in the Lahaina area.

As a business owner who relies on tourism, Peter says folks on Maui are super worried about the future and their island's economy ... and they don't feel like the federal government is a reliable source of help.

POTUS was met with jeers, and even outright chants of "f***k you" and residents flipping the bird, during his Monday tour of the devastation.

Peter tells us the President's delayed visit -- coming 13 days after the fire -- already pissed off many residents, but he added that Biden made it worse when he said "no comment" to a question about the federal government's reaction.

With Peter's home and belongings reduced to a pile of ash, he's crowdfunding for his snorkel biz, Sea Maui, and he's reminding tourists that most of Maui is open for business.

While they desperately need tourism dollars, he's also asking visitors to be respectful of what locals are going through right now.

Peter's also working with the Maui Pono Foundation and Lahaina Restoration Foundation to help rebuild homes and businesses.

The OnlyFans model banned by GoFundMe for selling nude photos to aid Maui wildfire relief is still raising tons of money ... all because she took her talents to a different platform.

Mariah Casillas, who goes by Lavagrll on social media, joined us on "TMZ Live" Monday and told us about her fundraising issues with GoFundMe.

The model says was up to $7,800 in donations on GoFundMe when the platform pulled the plug on her fundraiser, which involved sending one nude for every $10 donated.

As she explains, the nudes were never posted on GoFundMe ... but that didn't stop the crowdfunding giant from shutting her down for violating the website's terms of service, specifically, the "prohibited conduct section."

GoFundMe refunded all the money she raised, meaning displaced folks on Maui were out of luck ... but then she took her nude fundraiser over to OnlyFans and started fresh.

The move paid off, literally ... she tells us she's already raised $10,000 and counting for Maui residents who lost everything in the deadly blaze.

That's a lot of nudes!!!

Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson says she's been iced out of network TV amid her campaign ... but says moving to TikTok has done wonders.

Williamson, formerly known as the "spiritual advisor" to Oprah Winfrey, joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday, chatting about not being able to bring her campaign to TV. She says she eventually realized the social media app would bring a lot of power to her cause.

She says the platform's been a great way to reach young U.S. voters ... and according to her, there's a shocking difference in intelligence on TikTok compared to on big news orgs.

As for the old stigma that young folks aren't rocking the vote, she says that's BS -- and tells us exactly why.

For those unaware, Williamson is 1 of 2 Democrats -- RFK Jr. being the other -- running against current prez, Joe Biden ... and since the DNC doesn't normally hold debates when a current president is in the mix, her campaign has been crucial to getting the word out.

She also wasn't welcomed into the race by her fellow Democrats, and staffers from her 2020 campaign didn't think she should go for it, but her move to TikTok is seemingly helping.

Williamson has raked in over half a million followers -- the most on the app compared to other candidates -- and since making the switch, she's been polling above 20% with voters under 30.

Mike Posner says the emotional pain he's dealing with now is all part of life's plan to teach him lessons in order to learn and grow and then pass his knowledge along to others.

The singer joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" and we asked him how things are going after he recently got brutally honest with one of our photogs ... saying he was embarking on a spiritual warpath to deal with some life challenges.

Mike says he's doing better now and his latest challenge helped him change and grow for the better ... just like a lot of the hurdles he's faced in life and in his career.

He tells us he's grateful for his life in general and all the highs he's experienced -- like Grammy nominations -- and, with that, he's also grateful for all the pain as well.

In Mike's case, there is another silver lining with life's hardships -- they can make for great music, as he points out ... art is a great outlet for sadness, depression, rage, anger and fear.

For Mike, life's teaching him what he needs to learn in order for him to teach others ... and he's got an opportunity coming up to do just that ... with a curated trip to Iceland.

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.

The heir to the Anheuser-Busch fortune is appalled the company that bought his family out used a transgender person to advertise Bud Light ... saying, "My ancestors would have rolled over in their graves."

Billy Busch (not the host of "Extra") appeared on "TMZ Live" Friday to discuss his new book, "Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty," when Harvey asked him about the Bud Light ad featuring Dylan Mulvaney -- a move which triggered a massive boycott.

Busch believes the company that succeeded his family should never have put a transgender person on a Bud Light can, arguing beer drinkers "want their beer to be truly American," adding, "I just don't think the audience that drinks beer is into transgenders."

He went on, saying, "People who drink beer care about wholesome things."

Busch argued being a transgender person is a sexual preference, and Harvey shot back, "It's a matter of identity, not sexual preference."

That triggered a whole argument about prejudice, but Busch was adamant -- he feels the successors to Anheuser-Busch screwed up royally.

Lizzo makes it clear her backup dancers will face repercussions if they don't do what she asks, even if that means getting freaky at a live sex show ... at least, that's what 2 of the women suing her are claiming.

The singer's former backup dancers, Arianna Davis, and Crystal Williams, joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and told us about their experiences working under Lizzo.

Arianna and Crystal accused Lizzo of coercing backup dancers to participate in nude cabaret shows ... and they say there's an unspoken feeling among the group of having to bend to Lizzo's demands or be fired if they don't play ball.

As they allege in the lawsuit, sometimes that means eating bananas out of sex performers' vaginas in Amsterdam -- and they told us dancers who went along with Lizzo's idea of fun were rewarded with lavish private jet trips to tropical locations.

On the flip side, they claim dancers who didn't feel comfortable doing everything Lizzo wanted would be threatened with termination.

As for why they're no longer working with Lizzo -- Crystal says she was accused of drinking before performances, and Arianna claims Lizzo body-shamed her for gaining weight ... and she claims Lizzo used an admission of an eating disorder to justify firing her.

Lizzo has yet to comment publicly, or respond to the lawsuit in court ... but her accusers have a lot to say here.

Stephen Amell is explaining why he supports his union, SAG-AFTRA, but doesn't support leadership's decision to strike ... he believes that's not the only way to hammer out a good deal.

The "Arrow" star joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and shared his thought process behind opposing the strikes in Hollywood, and admitted he's walking a fine line between supporting his union and wanting to work.

Stephen says SAG-AFTRA absolutely should fight for a better contract for its members ... but instead of marching in picket lines outside studios, he recommends getting back to the table to negotiate with the studios.

While Stephen's been one of the only actors to speak out against the strike, he tells us dozens of his colleagues are privately reaching out to him ... and he says his fellow actors agree with his strike outlook, even if the outside noise is against him.

Stephen's also caught the attention of SAG leadership ... and he said he's meeting with them later on Tuesday. He told us his goal for the meeting is to show union leaders he supports them while also offering up alternatives to striking.

Hollywood actors are stuck between a rock and a hard place amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike -- best exemplified by one particular thespian, who's now doing odd jobs to keep afloat.

Josh Hooks, who's been on shows like "Will Trent," "Swagger" and "The Game," among others ... joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" to explain how he -- like tens of thousands of other actors and writers -- is maintaining job/money-wise during the labor stalemate.

One gig Josh has picked up is cleaning houses, plus several other odd jobs -- as he explains, it's a great time to be a jack of all trades. Sounds like Craigslist is his best friend these days.

There are methods JH and his fellow striking actors are implementing to get by during this hard time -- including leaning on each other for support, which he says entails cooking and sharing grub, or referring somebody to a new gig if there's work on the table to go around.

He also reflects on how frustrating his journey in showbiz has been in these recent years. First, his momentum from 2019 got derailed because of COVID ... which halted a lot of productions for a good long while. Now that he's got some mojo again ... it's the strike.

Despite this ... Josh fully backs his union in hitting the picket lines, adding that he's happy to serve as a voice for countless people who are fighting for better working conditions.

He's hoping these differences can be resolved sooner than later, but in the meantime -- he's clearly making do however he can ... just like so many others are as well.

Tough times.

Lots of actors who are on strike are getting work ... courtesy of Beverly Hills plastic surgeons!

Business is booming ... so says Dr. Ben Talei of the Beverly Hills Center for Plastic Surgery. He told Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" he's working 7 days a week, because actors are using the downtime to go under the knife and recover without being noticed or missing work.

Dr. Talei says it's the A and B-listers who are swarming his office ... mostly because they can afford it. He's been doing work on some of his favorite sports stars and actors, and there's an interesting story about a famous Scientologist who went under his knife.

And here's the most fascinating part ... he says some actors made contingency plans -- if it seemed the strike wouldn't last long, they'd get minor, filler work, but if it was prolonged, they get the full monty.

Rep. Tim Burchett says he's determined to get to the bottom of several disturbing UFO allegations ... and that means digging deeper into the bombshell claims that just came out in Congress.

The U.S. Congressman from Tennessee joined us Thursday on "TMZ Live," and we asked how he and other lawmakers intend to follow up on former Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch's suggestion murders were committed as part of a government conspiracy to hide evidence of extraterrestrials ... including recovered spacecraft and non-human lifeforms piloting them.

Rep. Burchett says he's hoping to get into a super secret room with Grusch to get specific details on who was allegedly killed as part of a UFO conspiracy ... and to get more info about what kind of alien craft our government might have in its possession.

Remember ... Wednesday's historic Congressional hearings on UFOs included some bombshell testimony from Grusch, and Burchett explains the meaning behind a term that kept coming up -- "SCIF," short for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility -- and why it's so important here.

Rep. Burchett is among the lawmakers most determined to share information on UFOs, and possibly alien life -- and he says some of his colleagues have actually seen UFOs, but were scared to come forward.

President Biden's dog Commander doesn't have to be a recidivist biter ... a former Secret Service agent -- who's trained other White House pups -- says the pup can be trained to stop sinking his teeth into people.

Marshall Mirarchi was in the Secret Service's K-9 division during the Obama administration -- when Biden was VP -- and he joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" to explain why Commander's bitten 7 people over a 4-month span, and to tell us what the hell can be done about it.

Marshall says Commander absolutely can have the urge to bite trained out of him ... offering up his own dog, Hurricane, as a living, breathing example of a dog that can go from harmless to menace on command.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed off Commander's biting problem Tuesday as a casualty of the stressful conditions at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

That's not just spin, according to Marshall -- he confirmed there are plenty of stressors for a White House dog, but he also believes the Secret Service can get the German shepherd to stop attacking folks.

Of course, Marshall says it's going to take a lot of training and patience to see a change in Commander ... but he's confident it can be done, and that the Secret Service has the right agents for the job.

For what it's worth, Marshall trained dogs for Barack Obama and G.W. Bush, and there were no known biting incidents with them. He says that's partly due to differences in breeds, but the guy clearly knows his stuff.