TV

Nick Cannon sent a big thank you to everyone for the support, kind words and love sent after yesterday's emotional announcement where he revealed the devastating news that his 5-month-old son, Zen, passed away.

The "Wild "N Out" creator shared his gratitude on the "The Nick Cannon Show" Wednesday afternoon... "of course, everyone knows I'm not fine, but you all are making me feel better."

Nick says he feels a bit of guilt because he never wanted to exploit the news, but he is appreciative of the outpour of support ... "The onslaught of love is new to me, so thank you is all I can say."

Nick kept his son's diagnosis private for months out of respect for Zen's mom, model Alyssa Scott, and everyone in their family. Cannon says she's been taking things "5 minutes at a time."

As we previously reported, Nick announced Tuesday that his youngest child Zen died from a brain tumor ... after his brain tumor began to grow quickly around thanksgiving. Nick says he got to hold Zen for the last time by the ocean last weekend, after he made a trip to California to spend time with his baby.

Zen was Nick's 7th child and 4th of Nick's kids born in the last year and a half.

The crime spree unfolding in L.A. has got celebs acting skittish, so much so that there's a big boom in security hiring ... which might sound great for them, but isn't a good sign big picture.

TMZ spoke with two different high-profile security companies that offer services for famous folks and other VIP types -- and they both tell us the same thing ... their business is on the upswing, and it seems to be aligned with what's going on in the City of Angels.

Alfredo Moosa and AJ Moosa of 2 Deep Executive Protection -- which has worked for people like French Montana, Maria, A1 Bentley and more --  tell us they're getting booked left and right these days, especially in L.A. ... where they say they're most in demand.

Take the Tank Davis fight in town this past weekend -- the Moosa's say there alone they had 8 different clients with their guards on hand, who are being hired for way longer shifts than anything they've done in the past (17+ hours) ... emblematic of what they say is happening generally. In the past year ... they tell us they've hired 15-16 new guards.

The Moosa's also say they've seen a lot of their clients lately ditch jewelry and other bling they may normally wear -- which they think has to do with the fact people are getting jacked in brazen attacks of late. 2 Deep is also doing a lot more house calls at the moment -- we're told now, they're being asked to stick around and patrol Airbnbs their clients might stay in ... whether they're actually there or not, a shift from what they're usually asked to do.

There's also Kings Protection -- having been hired by the likes of Quavo, Lil Pump, LeBron James, etc. -- whose CEO, Jack, tells us they too are getting a spike in bookings, and everything else that comes with their offerings.

Jack says they've seen an increase in day-to-day security needs, including clients being out and about in a nightlife setting ... or even just home patrols, something they specialize in. Kings have had to hire 200 more guards this year due to the phone constantly ringing.

Sharon Gless, the actress who famously played Cagney on "Cagney & Lacey -- says back in the day she was confused about her sexuality, and hit on Rosie O'Donnell.

Gless, who just wrote a memoir with a true 2021 title -- "Apparently There Were Complaints" -- recounted something that happened in 2005, when the actress starred in "Queer as Folk." There was a scene between her and guest star Rosie O'Donnell that called for the 2 to kiss. After the scene was shot, Rosie sent Gless a bouquet of roses with a note ... "You're a good kisser."

Gless's response ... "I was flattered ... It was the first time I'd heard that from a woman. But, then again, it was the first time I'd ever kissed a woman." Gless says in her book she started to question her sexuality.

Now, here's the crazy part ... Gless had dinner with Rosie and at one point she went out on a limb and said, "Ro, I love you so much. I mean, do you feel ... do you think?"

O'Donnell shut her down, responding, "Oh Glessy, no. Never. You are so straight."

Lots of fans of "Cagney & Lacey" thought Gless was gay ... her reaction in the book -- “Well, I gave it my best f–king shot with the number one lesbian on the planet."

Jussie Smollett just took the stand in his own defense, talking about his career and his sexual encounters with one of the men he says is responsible for attacking him.

Smollett was called as a witness for the defense Monday, and opened up about his family, the loss of his dad and finding success on "Empire." Jussie claimed to have made $25K-$35K per episode on the first season of the FOX show.

Jussie also got into how he met Abel, saying the two met at a gay club one night and went to a Chicago bathhouse where they did drugs, including cocaine and marijuana. During another visit to the bathhouse, Jussie says they made out and masturbated together.

We had Fox News correspondent Matt Finn on TMZ Live who was inside the courtroom when Jussie took the stand, and gave us a better idea of the actor's mood.

This is the second week of the trial, last week saw testimony from the Osundairo brothers, who Jussie says attacked him. Of course, the Osundairo brothers have maintained Jussie was in on the whole thing, and staged the attack with them for publicity.

Last week, Ola Osundairo fought back against previous claims Jussie had made calling him homophobic. He presented the court with a photo of himself dressed as a Trojan warrior and handing out condoms at a gay pride parade to show he was friendly with the gay community.

In describing the planning of the attack, the brothers testified Smollett originally wanted them to punch him, put a noose around his neck and pour gasoline on him. However, the gasoline was changed to bleach because the brothers felt gasoline could be too dangerous.

Toccara Jones is defending Tyra Banks from being canceled over what some are seeing as exploitation on "America's Next Top Model" ... saying it's unrealistic to pay contestants.

The ex-"America's Next Top Model" contestant tells TMZ ... Tyra did nothing wrong by collecting a fat paycheck on the long-running modeling competition show while the girls only got a $40 per diem and no residuals.

Toccara says that's just the way things go in the modeling industry ... and she says it's unheard of for people to be paid to be in a contest ... because the whole point of a competition is to win and get the prize money.

The 'ANTM' exposure certainly worked out for Toccara, even though she had her own struggles on season 3 ... in part because she was a plus-sized model.

Tyra and 'ANTM' are getting dragged back under the microscope after a fan of the show went viral this week by bringing up the fact Tyra pulled in a huge paycheck as a judge while the models got scraps.

'ANTM' alum Sarah Hartshorne tweeted the fan's complaint, saying models didn't get residuals and had to pay for their own food during the show.

The debate over an artist's responsibility to stop their show amid an emergency in the crowd had landed at George Lopez's feet ... although this one may not be cut and dried.

The comedian was performing Friday at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, when at one point during his set ... a man started falling into distress in the upper balcony area, to the point that the house lights were turned on.

Check out this video obtained by TMZ ... it shows what we're told were a few minutes after this gentleman, who's described as mid-aged, fell unconscious with people around him -- including what appears to be folks in his own party -- attending to him.

Eventually, people flagged down event staff ... and he was carried out and taken to an ambulance. San Antonio Fire confirms he regained consciousness and was stable at the hospital.

In the meantime ... you can see and hear George down at the stage level continuing on with his set, seemingly working all the commotion into his actual jokes -- which actually got some laughs. Of course, some in the crowd felt as if he should've done a hard pause -- even more, felt it was inappropriate for him to joke about whatever was going on at all.

"Guardians of The Glades" star Dusty Crum was involved in a scary car accident down in Florida ... and things were so bad he was in serious danger of losing his right leg.

The snake hunter from the Discovery show tells TMZ ... he was riding shotgun in a truck on a Florida highway last month when a tire blew on the trailer and the driver lost control, causing the truck to fishtail before flipping 3 times.

Dusty says the crash caused severe damage to his lower right leg and knee, and he was airlifted to a hospital in the Fort Meyers area, where doctors were able to save his leg with 5 different surgical procedures.

It's pretty scary ... Dusty says his window broke when the car flipped and his leg went out the window, and got crushed by the weight of the vehicle. He says as the vehicle kept rolling he managed to pull his leg back inside.

Dusty says he thought he was going to die after the accident ... using his shirt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding as he tried to keep himself awake waiting for paramedics from the side of the highway.

While doctors were able to save the leg, Dusty's been in the hospital for nearly 4 weeks ... and he's hopefully moving to a rehab facility in the next few days.

Dusty is not insured and will be facing a ton of medical bills, so a friend has started a GoFundMe and they are asking for people to consider buying holiday gifts from his store.

Dr. Mehmet Oz will be back on the air hosting his TV show much sooner than he'd like ... so says one of his opponents, who has some fighting words for the talk-show host turned politician.

Everett Stern -- CEO of a private intelligence agency, and one of at least 7 other Republican candidates vying for one of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seats -- is confident he will wipe the floor with the good doc once they hit the campaign trail.

Talking trash like he was Jake Paul, Stern predicts Oz won't last 5 minutes on a debate stage before he's forced to wave the white flag. He says Oz won't be able to read off a teleprompter the way he has for years on TV, and simply isn't prepared to hash out political issues.

Stern does, however, acknowledge support from the Trump-wing of the Republican party is up for grabs ... and Dr. Oz might appeal to those voters.

It's worth noting Oz hosted the former president on his TV show back in 2016, and Oz was later named to a White House advisory council on sports and nutrition.

TMZ broke the story ... "The Dr. Oz Show" will soon be yanked off the air in all Pennsylvania markets and a few others -- including New York City -- in an attempt to ensure all the other candidates get equal air-time.

Faith Evans sounds exhilarated about being back on stage after taking a long break from performing ... even though it meant wearing a heavy costume on "The Masked Singer."

The Grammy Award-winning singer joined us Thursday on "TMZ Live" to talk about her Wednesday night elimination in the show's semi-final round. Yep, that was Faith singing as The Skunk all season!!!

She went out with a bang, though ... belting out some Aretha Franklin classics and, as she told us, putting her "stank" on it, even though it wasn't enough to best the Bull.

It's been a while since we've seen Faith perform -- she's been taking time off to care for her autistic son -- and she explains what it was like to be back on stage, even with the heavy burden of that costume on her back.

Now, TMZ recently broke the story about Faith's husband, Stevie J, filing for divorce -- but based on some video of them in Malibu a week later, they seem pretty cool with each other.

Eddie Mekka, who most famously played Carmine, the "Big Ragu," on "Laverne & Shirley" has died ... TMZ has learned.

Eddie's brother, Warren Mekjian, tells TMZ ... Eddie was found dead at his home in Newhall, CA on Saturday. We're told friends and neighbors became concerned when they hadn't heard from him in a few days and called cops to go over and check on him.

Warren tells us Eddie had recently been hospitalized for blood clots and could barely walk ... there's no indication his death was suspicious or that there was any foul play involved.

Eddie played Carmine Ragusa -- Shirley's boyfriend on the show from 1976-1983. Carmine would regularly sing on the show. Eddie also had a role on one of "Laverne & Shirley" producer Garry Marshall's other shows, "Blansky's Beauties" -- and he'd been nominated for a Tony Award for his role in "The Lieutenant" ... prior to his TV career taking off.

Like a lot of 70s and 80s TV stars, Eddie also had guest roles on "Fantasy Island" and "The Love Boat" ... and later he was on the ABC hit, "Family Matters."

Eddie has one daughter, Mia, with Yvonne Marie Grace who he married in 1994.

He was 69.

The Pussycat Doll is taking the stage for the first time on "The Masked Singer" ... Nicole Scherzinger is getting out from behind her judge's table and grabbing the mic.

Production sources tell TMZ ... Nicole will perform on the FOX singing competition show after 6 seasons of fans begging to see her show off her pipes.

It sounds like this will be a duet ... we're told Nicole will join the stage with the Queen of Hearts.

While the performance is a long time coming, our sources say it wasn't exactly easy to pull off.

We're told Nicole wanted to make her debut extra special -- ya can't blame her after 6 seasons sitting back and judging everyone else -- so she had 3 outfits to pick from and did 3 wardrobe changes during rehearsals, asking production to rehearse the song 3 times before settling on her look.

Kenny G says he's not sweating the heavy criticism in a new documentary about his music career ... because he knows some real jazz legends are in his corner.

The famous saxophonist joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and we asked him about his reaction to the new HBO doc, "Listening To Kenny G," which is not always flattering.

Kenny says the director actually warned him about the first 12 minutes because they were anything but kind ... but he says he can roll with the punches because he's been hearing the same critiques for years -- that he's not a great saxophonist and just puts out a bunch of records -- and he's confident in his body of work and almost numb to the noise.

This also helps ... Kenny says he's comforted by the fact folks like Miles Davis enjoy his art, and those opinions definitely outweigh anything coming out of a critics' mouth.

Kenny also takes us back to the time he famously helped Kanye West with a surprise Valentine's Day gift for Kim Kardashian, when the estranged couple was still going strong.

He's not wading into their divorce, except to say they are some of the nicest celebrities he's ever been around.

Dr. Mehmet Oz can't have his Senate cake and eat it too -- his decision to run for office means his TV fans in several major cities won't see his show for at least the next 11 months, potentially ... and maybe permanently.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us "The Dr. Oz Show" will be yanked off the air shortly in all Pennsylvania markets -- including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the capital of Harrisburg. But wait ... there's more bad news for Oz fans.

Cities neighboring the Pennsylvania area are also axing his show, and that includes the #1 TV market of NYC, and at least one midwestern city. The issue, of course, is fairness to all the other candidates. The reason ... folks in Pennsylvania can pick up Fox in NYC.

A FOX source tells us ... this is all about the FCC's equal time doctrine. Although it's unclear how much that's being enforced these days, we're told execs are concerned about providing each candidate the same amount of air time.

Remember, Oz's talk show is an hour daily, and there are currently 7 other Republican candidates and 7 Democrats vying for Sen. Pat Toomey's seat in the Senate. Ya get the potential issue. ... just ain't enough time in the day.

As for everywhere else in America ... Oz's show will be airing, but with guest hosts while he's busy on the campaign trail. No word on who's sitting in yet, but we're told they won't be doctors.

Vivica A. Fox is a ride or die friend, because she made it clear Tuesday night ... she stands by Jussie Smollett in bad times as well as good.

Vivica was at the TCL Chinese Theatre for the premiere of her movie, "True to the Game 3." Our photog asked about her ties with Jussie, and Vivica showed Smollett mad love.

What's interesting ... she never said if she believed he was actually attacked on the streets of Chicago back in 2019. Clearly, prosecutors don't believe him, because he's currently on trial for allegedly staging the incident. He's charged with 6 felonies and could be sent to prison for years if convicted.

A jury has been selected and testimony has begun. It's unclear if Jussie will take the stand in his own defense. Typically, defendants in criminal cases stay mum, but this case almost demands Jussie tell the jury his version of what happened.

Matthew McConaughey may have chickened out in running for Texas Governor, but we've learned Dr. Mehmet Oz is going full bore in Pennsylvania ... because our sources say he has decided to run for a U.S. Senate seat.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Dr. Oz has just made a multi-million dollar media buy in the state ... a media buy to push his impending candidacy.

Oz appeared on TMZ Live recently and was coy about running, but he sounded like he was leaning in that direction. Since then, we've learned he now has a full campaign staff, including Chris Hansen -- not the Chris Hansen from "To Catch a Predator" -- to manage the campaign. Hansen ran the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Dr. Oz will run as a Republican for Pat Toomey's seat ... Toomey is retiring.

As for his show, we haven't gotten official word, but it's likely Dr. Oz will step back from the talk show -- at least, over the next few months.

An episode of "The Simpsons" that lasers in on oppression in China has mysteriously disappeared from Disney+ in Hong Kong ... but there are clues as to who caused it to be yanked.

The episode -- titled "Goo Goo Gai Pan" -- aired in 2005, chronicling the Simpsons' trip to China. One of the main plotlines .... Marge's sister, Selma, is there to adopt a baby, but the infant is yanked from her arms by a Chinese official.

In another scene, the fam visits Tiananmen Square ... the legendary scene of protest, violence and defiance. A sign in the Square reads, "On this site, in 1989, nothing happened."  It's a not-so-subtle dig at China trying to sanitize what actually went down.

Tibet is also part of the show -- where religious oppression reigned supreme at the hands of Beijing.