The TMZ Podcast

In what could be a scene directly out of a horror movie ... Lahaina residents barely escape with their lives after diving into the ocean for relief from the city's deadly fires.

The terrifying clip shows residents -- many who appear to have grabbed whatever belongings they could last minute -- getting into the water for shelter. Some cling onto pieces of wood to stick together, while others appear to be solo.

The smoke and ash make it almost impossible for residents to see, let alone breathe ... and the diving into the water shows just how desperate the situation got on Maui.

As of Thursday night, the wildfires -- which spread at an unimaginable speed because of high winds -- were about 80% contained. However, there's still been a significant loss of life, with at least 55 people reported dead and more expected once rescue efforts conclude.

Lahaina has seemingly taken the worst hit of the towns in the area -- leaving it essentially flattened and thousands of residents without water, power and forms of communication.

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.

Luke Valentine's N-word fiasco was front and center in the latest installment of "Big Brother" ... and his fellow contestants struggled on how to deal with the fallout.

As you know, Valentine was booted from the CBS reality show this week after he used the racial slur during a discussion captured on a live feed with two white houseguests, Cory Wurtenberger and Hisam Goueli, and one black guest, Jared Fields.

The new episode starts off with Valentine heading to the Confession Room after he made the racially charged comment. The next day, contestant Reilly Smedley tells everyone Valentine has been tossed from the house because he violated the show's code of conduct by voicing the epithet.

The other contestants were stunned and started talking about it. Wurtenberger claimed the slur was directed at him in a casual way. Goueli said he didn't hear Valentine utter the word.

Fields chimed in, saying he didn't think it was appropriate to "have this as a family convo." He then stepped inside the confessional and explained it's hard to make people understand where he's coming from as the only Black man in the house. He went on to wish Valentine all the best.

During Thursday's episode, the show's host, Julie Chen Moonves, also addressed the drama, admitting it had been an emotional 24 hours for the Big Brother houseguests who learned of Valentine's exit the previous night.

Stay tuned. More drama to come for sure.

Floyd Mayweather is stepping up in a huge way for over 100 people displaced by the horrible wildfires in Maui … not only paying for almost 70 families to fly to safety, but also providing them with a place to stay, food to eat, and clothing to wear.

TMZ Sports has learned the 50-0 boxing legend personally paid for 68 families, impacted by the natural disaster, to fly from Maui to Honolulu over the last two days.

Mayweather is also providing the people with hotel rooms for several weeks, as well as food from local restaurants and clothing to wear while they’re away from their homes.

Our sources tell us Mayweather is working with H&M to get clothing for the men, women, and children he’s assisting.

Of course, Maui has been devastated by wildfires that ripped through the Hawaiian island, killing at least 53 people as of Thursday afternoon. on top of the tragic loss of life, over a thousand structures have burned down.

Many people have been forced to flee with just the clothing on their backs and nothing else.

Kevin Federline's family -- including his sons with ex-wife Britney Spears -- is safe in Hawaii amid the devastating Maui fires, but we're told the horrifying scenes in their new home state are upsetting the boys.

Sources close to Kevin tell TMZ ... he and Jayden James and Sean Preston -- along with Kevin's wife, Victoria -- aren't physically affected by the wildfires because they live on one of the neighboring islands, where they moved just 2 weeks ago.

The fam is settling into a new rental home, but we're told it's been traumatic for them to see all the death and devastation on Maui. As you'd expect, it's dominating all the news coverage on Hawaiian TV stations.

At least 36 people have died in Maui since the fires broke out Tuesday, making it the deadliest blaze in the U.S. since 2018 ... and all of the homes, schools and businesses in downtown Lahaina -- a tourism hot spot -- have been wiped off the map.

TMZ broke the story, Kevin and his sons packed their bags at the beginning of this month, flying to Hawaii with the boys, who opted to not say goodbye in-person to Britney.

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.

'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.

5:32 PM PT -- TMZ obtained the mug shot for Richard Roberts, who we're told is currently in jail.

11:23 AM PT -- Montgomery PD says the riverfront brawl has resulted in criminal charges -- with three white males getting rung up. However, there's still more potential charges to come ... and cops consulted with the FBI to determine if the incident was a hate crime.

Chief of Police Darryl Albert says 13 people were detained Saturday, and brought in for questioning after the fight but they were all released. After further investigation, warrants were issued for three men -- 48-year-old Richard Roberts (2 warrants for 3rd-degree assault); one warrant for 23--year-old Allen Todd (charged with 3rd-degree assault); and one warrant for 25-year-old Zachary Shipman (charged with 3rd-degree assault).

Albert says one of them is already in custody, and two are set to turn themselves in later today for booking and processing.

Now, as far as the Black man who was hitting people with a chair -- Chief Albert ID'd him as Reggie Gray, but notes he has not been charged yet ... although, MPD wants him to come in for further questioning.

One last thing ... Albert says Montgomery PD was consulting with the FBI to determine if hate crime charges are applicable or not. The investigation is ongoing -- and it sounds like this is far from over.

The Alabama riverfront brawl landed people in handcuffs, but not necessarily in jail -- which may all change starting Tuesday ... 'cause cops are about to provide a big update.

Montgomery PD is holding a press conference, where they're expected to discuss 4 arrest warrants that were issued Monday in relation to the melee that went down over the weekend. The names of the individuals who are now wanted and the exact charges they're facing have yet to be released ... that's presumably what the police are going to address.

Many assumed the fight participants were arrested on the spot Saturday at Riverfront Park -- where there's tons of video showing folks in police custody. However, authorities have since clarified that all those people were simply detained that day ... and none were arrested.

Montgomery's mayor signaled in his statement from this weekend that more consequences were coming -- and he seemed to point the finger at the group that originally started beating up the security guard/dock worker, who was trying to get them to move their boat.

Of course, all hell broke loose after that ... several others came running to this guy's defense, and a lot of 'em started whooping on the pontoon crew, pretty brutally as it turned out.

The whole thing ended up playing out along racial lines -- Black versus white, it seemed -- and there was a lot of commentary about it in the aftermath, with many championing what they perceived as an act of solidarity among the Black folks.

Time will tell who gets dragged into court over this, and how much trouble they're in.

Kevin Costner and his daughter hit up Taylor Swift's SoFi Stadium concert Monday, and it's safe to say, when she sang "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," they were experiencing 2 very different emotions!

Kevin and 13-year-old daughter Grace Avery were in a luxury suite as Taylor sang one of her most famous breakup songs -- Grace Avery was jamming to the song, singing along and dancing, while her more subdued dad took in the lyrics with an ever-so-slight grin.

It had to register ... Kevin's wife, Christine Baumgartner, has filed for divorce and it's become an all out war. Kevin just got Christine out of the house after a legal battle, but there's still a huge conflict over how much money she'll get in child support, not to mention that it seems she's going to challenge the prenup.

And there's this ... Christine was vacationing in Hawaii with Kevin's [former?] pal Josh Connor. Although our Christine/Josh sources say there was nothing romantic going on, our Kevin sources say he's "none too pleased" about it.

So, safe to say, the "Yellowstone" star saw the true meaning of art imitating life!

Iggy Azalea's letter of support for Tory Lanez -- ahead of his sentencing for shooting Megan Thee Stallion -- is triggering an avalanche of backlash, but the "Fancy" rapper says it's totally unfair.

For starters, she didn't know her passionate plea would be for public eyes, but she's doubling down on feeling Tory doesn't deserve more than 5 years for the shooting.

Iggy barked back at her haters after it came out in court that she asked the judge to give Tory a "transformational, not life-destroying" sentence -- a point with which she says many people agree.

Iggy's sliver of mercy for Tory was met with disrespect ... especially when it was revealed Megan herself felt the complete opposite, as she felt her attacker's shown a blatant lack of remorse since the July 2020 shooting.

Before the trial, Iggy and Tory were working on music together -- a project he was greatly excited about when we spoke to him about it, but it never happened.

Iggy says she and Tory haven't been in contact for months, but she still fully supports prisoners, in general, being rehabilitated.

A massive brawl along the docks of a river in the deep South unfolded this weekend -- and it was pretty black and white as far as what was going down ... quite literally.

This wild scene took place Saturday at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, AL -- where multiple eyewitnesses say a riverboat was trying to pull in, but couldn't ... because some locals in a smaller pontoon boat were blocking the space, something a security guard tried rectifying.

That's where this first video picks up ... the man in the white shirt -- who's Black -- is said to be a guard/dock worker of some sort, and he was telling these white dudes to move. It erupted into a 4-on-1 deal, with the white guys wailing on the man ... while others watched.

Soon, though ... other Black people jumped into the mix to come this gentleman's aid -- including somebody who threw themselves into the water from across the way to swim over.

Eventually, the initial fracas came to an end ... but it was far from over. Another group of Black individuals -- who were apparently staffers on the riverboat -- saw what happened and raced down to confront the white assailants ... and another beatdown ensued all over again.

This time, the 4 white men on the boat were very clearly outnumbered ... and all hell broke loose. People were getting punched, knocked down -- it was straight up pandemonium.

Naturally, the cops arrived and multiple people were arrested. While there might've been some confusion, at first, as to what started all this ... Montgomery's mayor, Steven Reed, made it clear it was the white guys who antagonized this ... and consequences are coming.

Jamie Foxx felt he had to apologize for his controversial social media post, but many in Hollywood are saying there was no need to do that ... and it's stirring a massive debate.

As you know ... Jamie's IG sparked outrage ... especially from people who felt Jamie's statement was antisemitic -- seeing how, on its face, it seemed to refer to a trope about Jews being responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. That's how many took it anyway.

Amid the mounting backlash, Jennifer Aniston distanced herself from Jamie's post, which she appeared to like.

Eventually, Jamie said he was sorry and that he meant no harm ... but like we said, there are a ton of folks who think he was forced into an apology that wasn't even warranted, as some are arguing that his language wasn't in any way aimed at Jewish people.

This comes down to cultural differences -- and there's a lot of takes referencing AAVE when breaking this down -- but the bottom line here is ... people are defending Jamie and lamenting the fact he was seemingly cajoled into a clarification -- including a lot of stars.

Among the famous faces who are standing in his corner ... Winnie Harlow, Waka Flocka, Jay Pharoah, and others -- all of whom explicitly questioned why he was apologizing at all.

TBH, this is part of a larger conversation relating to marginalized groups and the levels of outrage/reverence some feel are mustered among certain identities versus others. We'll leave that discussion for the internet to fight over, though.

FWIW, the Anti-Defamation League welcomed Jamie's apology with open arms.

Jamie Foxx is apologizing for anti-Semitic remarks he made on social media about Jews killing Jesus ... while making a cryptic reference to being betrayed by a "fake friend."

The actor posted a message on Instagram Saturday, saying, "I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post."

Jamie continued, "I now know my choice of words have caused offense and I'm sorry. That was never my intent. To clarify, I was betrayed by a fake friend and that's what I meant with "they" not anything more."

He went on to say, "I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community. My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended."

As you may know, Jamie posted his controversial remarks on Instagram Friday, stating, "They killed this dude name Jesus… what do you think they’ll do to you?" The message was soon deleted, but not before users took snapshots and posted them to social media.

Jewish groups spotted the message and started spreading it online, which caught the interest of Jennifer Aniston. The actress was thought to have liked Jamie's post, but later clarified that she hadn't and was horrified by his words.

Jennifer said, "I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feeds – I do NOT support any form of antisemitism. I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind. Period."

Meanwhile, Jamie recently broke his silence about his major health scare in April, which landed him in the hospital for a little over a month. He's recently been seen around Chicago doing some fun activities as he recovers from his medical condition, which has not been publicly revealed. Jamie personally thanked his family and friend in a video posted online.

Taylor Swift's L.A. concert is the biggest event of the year for sure, which is why 70,000 people packed into Sofi Stadium Thursday night, shouting lyrics that can be heard far and wide ... much to the chagrin of some very tired homeowners!

Taylor's first of 6 concerts ended at 11:45 PM, depriving some residents of their 8 hours of shuteye. One person in particular -- truth be told it's a dude who works at TMZ -- groused as he recorded Taylor and her legion of fans singing "You Belong with Me," complaining of the loud noise seeping from the stadium.

Fact is ... this guy is a known curmudgeon, so discount his displeasure. Nonetheless, the noise is really loud.

It's interesting ... in 2021, during rehearsals for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, when Dr. Dre and his crew wanted to keep the performances top secret, Stadium staff blasted rock music outside so neighbors couldn't tattle on the set list and the surprise guest (50 Cent). That too pissed off some residents, including our guy, so this is all par for the course.

The City of Angels is officially the City of Swifties -- Taylor Swift has kicked off her 6 sold-out shows in Los Angeles, and fans had a lot to go wild over on night number 1.

Taylor took the stage Thursday night at SoFi Stadium for her "Eras" tour ... rockin' the crowd of over 70,000 after a killer opening act by HAIM. She brought the sister group back out later in the night to perform "No Body, No Crime" together.

TS had a surprise for her L.A. fans ... dusting off "I Can See You" from "Speak Now (Taylor's Version") -- the first time she's ever performed it live. Safe to say, the crowd went ballistic.

Swifties also pointed out a fun fact -- Taylor sang "August" from her "Folklore" album in August for the first time ... pretty neat.

It was a star-studded event at SoFi ... Vanessa Bryant was there with her daughters, Natalia and Bianka. tWitch's wife Allison Holker was in the crowd, as was Ashley Tisdale, Nick and Vanessa Lachey, and "Outer Banks" star Madelyn Cline -- and that was just Thursday.

As we reported, the LAPD is working with Metro to help with the flood of fans heading to and from SoFi while Taylor's in town ... beefing up the amount of officers throughout the big Metro system.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department said it's "providing a similar level of visibility as the 2022 Superbowl" ... in other words, LAPD ain't messing around when it comes to Taylor!!

L.A. ain't messing around with Taylor Swift in town ... cops are beefing up security for public transit, with an operation that'll be taken as seriously as football's biggest day.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday that LAPD is working with Metro to support the swarm of folks heading to and from Taylor's 6 shows at SoFi Stadium -- providing a ton of officers through the spread out Metro system.

The dept. says, "The Department is providing a similar level of visibility as the 2022 Superbowl in order to ensure the safety of the public throughout the Metro System."

In case ya forgot, tickets for her SoFi shows sold out instantly on Ticketmaster, so the only way to score tix at this point is by shelling out thousands for resale.

Swifties in L.A. have been going nuts over her arrival -- with fans already waiting for hours just to grab some merch!!!