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Sorry folks ... even if you like Donald Trump, come on -- now he thinks the coronavirus scare is something the media has cooked up to defeat him in November.

Trump flew off the handle on Twitter, saying, "The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success."

He goes on ... "The real people want to get back to work ASAP."

So, he says the media is the "dominant force." Well, Mr. President, how about Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has cautioned about the desperate need to flatten the curve? How about the Governor of New York, who has held daily news conferences begging people to stay inside and warning this could last a long time?

By the way ... you actually think people other than "the real people" don't want to get back to work? Absurd, and offensive.

How about a reality check. Trump is acting like this is all a media concoction, at the same time he's using his daily briefings in place of his campaign rallies ... trying to tell the world what a great job he's doing. He's essentially the M.C. of a news conference that doesn't need an M.C.

BTW ... 870 people have died so far in the U.S. alone, and DOCTORS think it's going to get worse.

Gigi Hadid has no problem standing up for her boyfriend, and she proved it in spectacular fashion early Sunday AM when she launched on Jake Paul.

Jake was at the Fury/Wilder fight Saturday night in Vegas and apparently ran into Zayn Malik. Apparently, Jake felt dissed because afterward he tweeted, "almost had to clap up zane from 1 direction because he is a little guy and has an attitude and basically told me to fuck off for no reason when I was being nice to him.... zane ik you’re reading this... stop being angry cause u came home alone to ur big ass hotel room hahaha."

And, Jake wasn't done ... "bro he literally started yelling and freaking the fuck out  “you wanna test me mate. lol I feel bad for childhood stars."

Gigi was more than ready to jump in ...  "Lol cause he doesn’t care to hang w you and your embarrassing crew of YouTube groupies ..? Home alone with his best friends like a respectful king cause he has me, sweetie. Unbothered by your irrelevant ugly ass. Go to bed."

Dallas Cowboys star wide out Amari Cooper was NOT shot in a parking garage in Texas -- despite rumors on social media ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Oh, and also Amari is saying it himself.

"That was fake news y'all. Everything good over here."

There were rumblings on social media the 25-year-old was attacked in a parking garage early Wednesday morning.

And, in the wake of the shooting death of rapper Pop Smoke, people were freaking out about the possibility of losing 2 notable figures to gun violence in less than 24 hours.

Obviously, Amari's statement should end the rumors -- but just for good measure, we also contacted the Dallas Police Dept. which confirmed nobody named Amari Cooper was involved in a shooting.

Amari's pal, Dez Bryant, says he also spoke with Amari today and confirmed all is well.

Mark Richt said to hell with a steak dinner at a 5-star restaurant for his birthday ... the ex-Georgia and Miami coach is going with "hot dog delight" for his big day.

And, it looks horrific.

Of course, the 60-year-old broke down the unique dish during Miami media day back in 2018 ... saying it's a combo of 2 pieces of bread, a sliced hot dog and American cheese HAMMERED with baked beans and ketchup.

Richt says it's "delightful." We're calling BS.

But, the birthday boy proved he's really about that HDD life on Tuesday ... and you gotta appreciate his dedication to the meal.

"Hot dog delight! My favorite birthday dinner!" the coach tweeted.

Naturally, the Twittersphere opened fire in the replies ... asking if the coach is okay, calling the dish a "dumpster fire" and predicting a long night in the bathroom is in his future.

Others were actually open to the idea ... asking how to copy the travesty.

Lynn Nottage -- a notable playwright -- suffered one hell of an ordeal getting locked in the bathroom at the Lincoln Center. And, thanks to her Twitter fingers ... she got help getting out!!!

Nottage -- the only woman to have won a Pulitzer Prize for drama twice -- didn't mince words when she tweeted Thursday morning to her nearly 20k followers she's locked in the bathroom, saying, "I have been banging and yelling if you see this tweet send help!"

Worth noting ... it appears she's tweeting from an iPad. Anyway ... about 13 minutes later the Lincoln Center's official account tweeted, "All is well! Thank you everyone for the speedy response. Lynn has been found and rescued. On with #IntimateAppaarel rehearsals!"

Yeah, that's the current opera being produced at the famous theater. Lynn -- who won a Pulitzer for her plays "Sweat" and "Ruined" -- is producing the show's libretto.

What's libretto you jabronis may be asking ... it's the text of an opera.

Nicki Minaj is feeling regretful after a nasty exchange of outrageous allegations with her ex, Meek Mill, and she says she's given herself a stern talking to ... yet again.

The rapper was speaking at Wednesday's Pollstar Live! event at The Beverly Hilton -- just hours after beefing with Meek -- when she addressed the heated social media outburst.

She framed her answer as advice for up-and-coming artists. saying it's important to ignore the small stuff and keep your eye on the bigger picture, and specifically in her case ... put out music and shut the hell up.

Clearly, Minaj didn't practice what she was preaching, when she called her ex a clown and accused him of being a woman-beater ... after Meek apparently disrespected her husband, Kenneth Petty, by liking a meme about him.

Nicki says if she could do it over again, she would've fought the urge to go on the attack and suggests every time she does something like this ... 5 minutes later, she wishes she hadn't.

But, she's not one for phony excuses or backtracking either, so she tells the crowd she considers it a lesson in mastering her anger and emotions ... a lesson that bears repeating.

As we've reported ... Nicki and her hubby have been at odds with Meek Mill since running into him at a store last month and shouting at each other. Though things escalated quickly on social media Wednesday, they seem to have cooled considerably after Meek dropped one final tweet denying Nicki's allegations.

If Minaj sticks to her own advice, maybe things will be chill from here on out ... but we wouldn't bet on it.

Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill have taken their years-long beef to a whole new level -- or we should probably say a new LOW because they're both leveling disgusting, unproven allegations at each other.

It appears Nicki's fired the first shot ... going off on Meek after seeing that he liked a meme that took a shot at her hubby, Kenneth Petty. Mrs. Petty then posted on IG, calling Meek a clown and alleging he's a woman-beater. She wrote, "U do IT for likes. #TwitterFingers beat women, scared of men."

She made it a double-barrel social media attack by tweeting, "You beat your own sister and taped it. Spit on her & taped it. Kicked me in front [of] your mother and sent her to the hospital. Sucking drake d**k made u feel tough again. Move on."

There's no evidence to support any of those allegations.

It didn't take long for Meek to respond by roping Nicki's convict brother into the mudslinging. As we first reported, Jelani Maraj was found guilty of predatory sexual assault against a child, and just got 25 years to life.

Again, Meek's claims she knew about her bro's crimes and paid for his attorneys ... all unproven.

There's a lot more ... as the war of words continues, but you get the point.

As we've reported ... Nicki and Kenneth ran into Meek at a WeHo store last month. The confrontation nearly came to blows and an epic shouting match ensued.

So, the beef's been simmering since then. It's now on full boil. We've reached out to both camps for comment about the wave of unfounded allegations.

So far, neither side's saying a thing.

There's no ignoring this elephant in the room, especially because he's taking over multiple rooms ... in a hotel!!!

Ya gotta see this unbelievable video of a wild elephant roaming around the Jetwing Yala hotel in Sri Lanka. As you can imagine, it gets a wide berth upon entering the joint ... no one's rushing him at the check-in line. Yes, he packed his own trunk ... and as you can see, used it to poke around the place.

Best of all, the full-grown Asian bull elephant, -- named Natta Kota by locals -- is a repeat customer!!! The hotel says he's been wandering in from time to time since 2013, spending days napping in the shade and stomping through the resort's walkways.

The pachyderm used to be a seasonal visitor, according to the hotel, stealing fruit from vehicles and grub from the kitchen -- but now he's got a permanent residence at Jetwing and he's left in peace.

No word if he's racking up rewards points, but he's definitely a bull (elephant) in a china shop. Someone's gotta pay for that lamp!!!

Walmart's learning a valuable lesson about making Paul Walker jokes on Twitter, even if said joke is ripped from a funny TV show.

Here's what went down -- a Twitter user shared a story about Walmart selling Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with strawberry and cream-flavored icing ... and added a funny gif of a car wildly racing through traffic with the caption, "*me racin to the nearest Wally World*."

Innocent enough ... however, the person behind Walmart's Twitter account Thursday decided to take things up a notch and responded to the gif by saying, "Hey, Paul Walker. Click it, or ticket."

Donald Trump delivered a classy, gracious message to Cory Booker upon hearing the NJ Senator was no longer running for president -- just kidding! He taunted Booker so hard, he should get a 15-yard penalty.

POTUS fired off a tweet minutes after Booker announced he was suspending his campaign, saying ... "Really Big Breaking News (Kidding): Booker, who was in zero polling territory, just dropped out of the Democrat Presidential Primary Race."

Trump sarcastically added ... "Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him!"

Cardi B could be headed to the White House one day -- but first, she might try her hand at local government ... or perhaps, something in the middle.

The rapper tweeted Sunday what seemed to be a pretty serious idea of hers ... "I think I want to be a politician. I really love government even tho I don't agree with Goverment [sic]."

She followed up with an explainer, saying ... "No matter how many weapons a country have you need people! How are you trying to go against a country and possibly start a war when this country lacks patriotism? I barely see people claiming they LOVE being American."

Seems Cardi's talking about the U.S.-Iran conflict here. She finished by saying there's more she has to say on the subject and acknowledged she would have to do it later in a video. Unclear if that means Iran specifically, or politics in general. Stay tuned ...

President Trump just did something you might never have expected him to do -- tweet in another language ... and that language happens to be aimed at the people of Iran.

DT took to Twitter Saturday with a message to the folks protesting in Tehran right now, decrying their government recently shooting down a Ukraine International Airlines plane by mistake ... and killing over 150 passengers, many of whom were Canadian citizens.

The Prez wrote, "به مردم شجاع و رنج کشیده ایران: من از ابتدای دوره ریاست جمهوریم با شما ایستاده‌ام و دولت من همچنان با شما خواهد ایستاد. ما اعتراضات شما را از نزدیک دنبال می کنیم. شجاعت شما الهام بخش است."

We know what you might be thinking if you're a native English speaker ... THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!? Not to worry, 'cause 45 sent out an accompanying translation. En ingles, it means ... "To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you." He adds, "We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage."

He wasn't done with the Farsi ... Trump followed up by tweeting the above message, which translates, "The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching."

Don't worry ... we Google Translated it ourselves, and it looks like Donnie got it right here.

If you haven't seen the protests on the ground in Tehran yet, they're pretty crazy -- with thousands taking to the streets and demanding the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resign after Iranian officials admitted they shot the Flight 752 in error ... mistaking it for a threat, this amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran after Soleimani's death.

Some folks were even reportedly chanting "Death to liars" during the demonstrations, in their own language of course.

Kendrick Perkins thinks Kevin Durant is a "coward" for signing with Golden State in 2016.

Kevin Durant thinks Perkins was a trash player who constantly underperformed.

... This was just the beginning of an epic Twitter war between the former NBA teammates on Thursday -- and it's clear, the beef is REAL.

It all started with Perkins saying Russell Westbrook is the best OKC Thunder player ever -- even calling Russ, "Mr. Thunder!"

When NBA analyst Marc D'Amico challenged Perk, saying KD has the better resume, Perk took another swipe at Durant.

"KD lost in the second round without Russ when I was there. So what that mean?"

That's when Durant got involved -- clapping back HARD at Perk.

"Yeah and our starting center [Kendrick Perkins] averaged a whopping 2 and 3 during that series. U played hard tho champ lol."

Perk didn't back down and responded again ... burning Durant for leaving OKC to go to the Warriors.

"Boy stop you did the weakest move in NBA History!!! Up on a team 3-1 in the western conference finals and then go join them the following season?! Heart of Champion right there."

Again, KD clapped back ...

"Weak is starting at center, playing real minutes with no production. Should've worked on your skills as much as I did."

Perk ...

"That's fine!!! You worked that hard and still had to go join a 73-9 team. Truth be told, you don't even feel like a real champ, you have hard time sleeping at night huh knowing that you took the coward way out!!!"

Gene Simmons doesn't understand why the Internet can't stop talking about his preference for ice cubes in cereal ... he says folks should be worried about more pressing issues, like Vladimir Putin!!!

We got the KISS rocker heading into Beverly Glen Deli for a quick bite to eat and had to ask about his weird eating habit -- putting ice in his cereal to keep the milk cold.

As you know ... Gene got a rise on Twitter New Year's Day by sharing his ingenious way to keep his cereal from soaking in lukewarm milk, setting off an endless debate about the practice.

Gene tells us how his "snooping" daughter got the whole thing started ... and says it makes a lot of sense why his ice usage is dominating social spheres. See if you can detect his sarcasm.

After getting serious for a moment about the dangers facing our society, Gene goes back to his happy-go-lucky ways and shows everyone how they can enjoy their breakfast like a rock star.