TV

Ex-'Dukes of Hazzard' star Tom Wopat is dodging possible prison time by pleading guilty to a lesser charge in his felony indecent assault case from last year.

Wopat pled guilty to annoying or accosting a person, and got a year of probation. TMZ broke the story ... he was busted last summer in Waltham, MA for groping multiple women in the cast of the play in which he was starring. Police reports said he had put his finger between the buttocks of one woman.

His original charges were indecent assault and battery, both felonies, plus cocaine possession and 2 charges of accosting annoying. Prosecutors dropped the felonies Friday as part of his plea deal.

The "waterboard kit" Sacha Baron Cohen got former Vice President Dick Cheney to sign for his new show has apparently hit the digital marketplace ... and bids are coming in fast.

A new eBay listing purports to be selling the original empty milk jug a disguised Sacha asked the ex-Veep to personally autograph in his new Showtime series, "Who Is America?"

The highest bid so far (as of this writing) tops out at $160.50. The listing claims all proceeds from the sale will be donated to Amnesty International -- a grassroots human rights org.

Hard to tell if this is the real McCoy, or if it's just more trolling in the name of Sacha's show -- which has already duped the likes of Sarah Palin and countless other GOP officials. Whatever the case ... it's funny to think about. The thing also looks pretty legit.

Hollywood's biggest stars got a chance to dress down from their superhero getups this weekend and talk to the people who love 'em the most ... their diehard fanboys (and girls).

Tons of celebs were in attendance Saturday for Comic-Con International: San Diego 2018, where a lot of them sat in on panels and got grilled by their biggest supporters.

Some of the A-listers who stepped up the mic ... Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, RZA, Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Eric Andre, Keegan-Michael Key, Joe Manganiello, Brandon Mychal Smith, Matt Groening, Norman Reedus, Tara Reid, Danai Gurira, Jude Law, Johnny Depp (yep) ... and tons more.

BTW ... Chris wasn't there promoting the new 'Guardians' movie (yet), but he reportedly avoided talking about the recent firing of director James Gunn from the franchise ... since the controversy apparently wasn't brought up in a Q&A with the audience.

Elmarie Wendel, who played Mrs. Mamie Dubcek on "3rd Rock from the Sun", has died.

Wendel's daughter J.C. confirmed the death, saying she was "a great mom and a badass dame."

Elmarie had a long history in show business. In addition to "3rd Rock" she was the voice of Aunt Grizelda in "The Lorax." She also was featured on "The George Lopez Show," "Seinfeld," "NYPD Blue," "Knight Rider," "General Hospital," "The Facts of Life," "The Jeffersons" and "Murphy Brown."

She has been an enduring presence in Hollywood and New York, and she kept up with the times. She was also featured in the video game "Fallout 4" back in 2015.

Acting runs in the family. Her daughter J.C. Wendel is also an actress.

Elmarie was 89.

RIP

Karlie Redd's recent engagement is very much the real deal and it was sealed with a $150k ring ... TMZ has learned.

Karlie got engaged last week to her boyfriend, Mo, during her single release party. Sources tell us the ring Mo used to pop the question to the "Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta" star was embedded with 18 carats in just diamonds alone.

Lots of people were surprised by the engagement, including Karlie who fell off a couch during the proposal, since not much is known about her fiance. They've only been dating for a few months.

Bianca Lawson says her "Westworld" audition was a fiasco because her bra -- that was filled with oil -- exploded as she angled to get the role.

Bianca was at LAX Friday night when she told our photog about her wonky bra. Sadly, she didn't get the part on the HBO monster hit.

Anthony Anderson is under criminal investigation for allegedly assaulting a woman ... a claim he strongly denies.

A woman filed a police report with LAPD claiming the "Black-ish" actor assaulted her months ago. We've confirmed Anderson is listed as the suspect on the police report.

Farrah Abraham thinks Bristol Palin's in for a huge shock on "Teen Mom OG" because her conservative views will not be welcome around producers.

The 'Teen Mom' alum tells us she's not surprised Bristol wanted to come on board the popular MTV series -- but, she is shocked the show's producers sought her out. Farrah referred to the showrunners as the "Trump Hate Cult."

Farrah tells us she's concerned for the safety of Bristol and her family because of politics, and she's not even convinced it will make for good TV. In fact, she's not impressed at all with Bristol's story or what she'll bring to the table.

She does have a better option than Bristol in mind, though -- someone who already has experience.

Roseanne's taking direct aim at ABC, saying the network canned her less than an hour after calling her ... and she believes it's because voting for Donald Trump is a major no-no in Hollywood.

Roseanne ripped ABC for immediately labeling her a racist and canceling her show without giving her a chance to publicly apologize. She's going on the attack with several new video clips.

TMZ broke the story ... Roseanne and her son, Jake Pentland, are creating new content for a still unnamed project. In another clip, she seems to be responding to being called racist for the infamous Valerie Jarrett tweet.

In front of her son and a couple members of her team, she says ... "F**k racism, f**k racism, f**k racism, f**k racism."

Jake captioned the vid, "The media narrative is mom is having a meltdown.... she’s more clear than ever. DON’T BELIEVE THE MEDIA"

As we reported, Jake's plan is to continue releasing the content on YouTube to provide an unfiltered and unedited version of his mom.

Roseanne Barr is hard at work, creating her own content where she gets to call all the shots, and that "I thought the bitch was white" rant is a sneak peek of what's to come ... TMZ has learned.

Barr's been holed up in her son Jake Pentland's Full Moon & High Tide studio all week shooting interviews with friends and family members. Jake tells us guests include himself, Barr's boyfriend, former "Roseanne" crew member Allan Stephan and her former campaign manager Thomas Muhammad -- who is black and Muslim.

Jake says the plan is to release the content on Roseanne's YouTube channel without any big networks getting involved. He says that's the only way to get a truly unfiltered and unedited version of his mom.

As for that bombastic clip of Roseanne revisiting her Valerie Jarrett tweet -- Jake tells us that was 100% genuine and the result of a lot of hours spent in the studio.

They don't have a name for the show yet, or a release date.

George Clooney's looking as good as new on set in Italy, and it's nothing short of a miracle ... considering his head-on scooter collision from less than 2 weeks ago.

George is filming "Catch-22" -- he's directing and acting in the miniseries -- and Friday he was moving quickly on set ... so quickly, it didn't even seem like there was a limp in his step from the accident. He was also lifting props without a problem.

TMZ broke the story ... George slammed into a car going 60 mph in Sardinia. He went flying, nearly 20 ft into the air, before slamming down to the ground. Still, he walked away from the accident with bruises and zero broken bones.

Roseanne Barr let out a primal scream with one of her many explanations for the racist tweet targeted at Valerie Jarrett ... "I THOUGHT THE BITCH WAS WHITE!!!!!"

Roseanne was being interviewed about her comment, comparing former Obama White House staffer Valerie Jarrett to an ape. ABC quickly fired her, cancelled her show and then re-rebooted it as "The Connors."

The interviewer, Roseanne's 40-year-old-son Jake, is asking her about a prior video in which it sounds like Roseanne had worn multiple outfits. Roseanne listened to Jake as she manically puffed away on a cig, clearly agitated.

That's when she lets out the primal scream ... twice.

Up to now, she's tried apologizing to both Jarrett -- who is African-American -- and America for her comment, saying it was a stupid comment made while on Ambien and accepting the blame.

Judge Jeanine Pirro doesn't say she regrets going on "The View" -- even though it ended in a shouting match -- but it doesn't seem like she's in a hurry to go back either.

We got the Fox News star in NYC Thursday and asked about her highly contentious appearance on the talk show earlier in the day, which got especially heated with Whoopi Goldberg.

Jeanine tells us she can handle debating people with opposing views -- even if she's outnumbered ... but says she's got a big problem with getting an invite to talk and then being treated like garbage.

As for Whoopi, the judge doesn't have much more to say other than what was said during their showdown and, as she points out ... it probably wouldn't resolve much anyway.

Congressman Matt Gaetz didn't fall for Sacha Baron Cohen's trap to promote putting guns in the hands of toddlers, but admits he was clueless about who he was talking to.

We got the Florida Representative Thursday at Reagan National Airport, and asked how he managed to avoid being duped like several of his Republican peers ... who shockingly read a fake PSA calling for school children to be armed.

Gaetz says he'll never let a teleprompter do him in.

Gaetz tells us he's still disappointed in himself for not recognizing Cohen in makeup, because he missed a chance to whip out his own Borat impressions to the man himself.

He also has some advice for folks, like Sarah Palin, who are complaining about getting played.

The Congressman didn't elaborate on his anxiety about teleprompters, but since he loves Borat, we're gonna guess he's also seen Ron Burgundy's work.

4:36 PM PT -- Reyes just filed an additional complaint -- this time naming Sherri as a defendant -- for the incident.

Sherri Shepherd's rant about being racially profiled got a Staples store employee fired, according to the employee, who's now suing media outlets that covered the story ... but not Sherri.

Instead, Janice Reyes is suing "The Wendy Williams Show" and CBS Television after they aired the video Sherri posted back in February -- she slammed Reyes as a racist for refusing to let her and a friend use the Hollywood store's restroom.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Reyes says she got canned 5 days after Sherri's post. Reyes says her supervisor told her the bathrooms were getting fixed, and instructed her to keep customers away. She says that's the only reason she stopped Sherri.

Reyes claims Shepherd and her friend confronted her while ringing them up ... calling her a liar and accusing her of racism. Reyes admits she said, "I'm not taking this s***" and walked away.

Reyes says she was told she was getting fired for swearing, but she thinks the real reason was Sherri accusing her of racism.

She's suing for loss of wages and other damages. She's suing CBS because it aired "Inside Edition" ... which also covered the story.

"Big Brother" houseguest JC Mounduix hurled a couple of nasty epithets Tuesday night -- in front of a black houseguest -- while trying to explain how NOT to offend people. No joke.

JC, who stands 4'8" tall, was trying to explain the difference between the words "midget" and "dwarf" ... and told Bayleigh Dayton, who's black, it's like "gay and f***ot or ni**er and black."

The lesson did NOT go over well with Bayleigh, who quickly reacted in anger.

This isn't the first time a 'BB' houseguest has gone there. Kaitlyn Herman dropped the n-word earlier this month while singing a Drake lyric, and that was AFTER producers had warned them about offensive language. Oh, and there were the two women who said their tans made 'em "look ghetto."