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Governor Ron DeSantis just announced his run for President on Twitter ... but not without massive technical failure as Elon Musk says the company's servers are to blame.

DeSantis made the big announcement Wednesday on the bird app ... dropping a campaign video that takes jabs at President Biden, blaming him for crime-filled streets and conflict at the border. He goes on to say he's the guy to lead the "great American comeback."

Of course, DeSantis was slated to drop the big news in a Twitter Spaces chat with Elon ... but apparent technical issues forced hundreds of thousands of listeners to listen as moderator David Sacks' audio kept cutting in and out.

Elon can be heard saying Twitter's servers are struggling to keep up -- and folks on the very same app are dragging him and the whole thing for the big mess ... with one calling it a "car crash," while another calling DeSantis' failed attempt "a perfect metaphor."

Even Biden took a jab at the whole thing -- with a tweet to his donation page that reads, "This link works."

You'll recall, TMZ confirmed Elon was set to join DeSantis for the declaration -- something that appears to be a push to make the app feel more like regular TV. Elon also called on ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon to start a show on his platform after Tucker Carlson said he'd be doing the same. Obviously, this mess might make Elon reconsider.

As for DeSantis, he's been seen as one of the only candidates that stands a chance at knocking down former President Donald Trump -- who announced his bid for the 2024 seat back in November.

DeSantis picking Twitter for his announcement spot doesn't just set him apart from the rest of his competition, but it appears to be a big "F-U" to Trump ... who infamously was taken off the platform after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Ron DeSantis is making his presidential run official with the help of Elon Musk, jumping on the bird app with its owner to make the big announcement -- something the tech mogul is, no doubt, seeing as a MAJOR win.

TMZ has confirmed ... the current Florida Governor will join Elon in a Twitter spaces chat Wednesday to announce he is, indeed, throwing his hat in the 2024 presidential race.

Tech entrepreneur David Sacks will moderate the meeting, and DeSantis will drop his first campaign video around the same time.

As you know, Elon's been pushing to get Twitter to become more like mainstream TV ... after ex-FOX News host Tucker Carlson took to the platform earlier this month to say he'd be launching a "new version" of his show on Twitter ... which Elon quickly embraced.

Following Tucker's announcement, Elon called out Don Lemon -- who's also out of a gig -- to have him come over to the same app and start his own show ... digging at CNN's ratings by adding, "Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger."

Looks like Elon's tryin' hard to get as many eyes on his platform as possible, and if recent history is any indication ... politics is the perfect way to do that.

An AI-generated image of a fake explosion outside the Pentagon stoked panic and sent stocks tumbling as the hoax spread on social media.

The fake image behind Monday's chaos shows smoke billowing from the grounds outside the Pentagon ... with the image spreading like wildfire online after being shared by tons of accounts, including a Russian state media outlet.

The AI-generated work was often posted with false accounts of an explosion happening at the Pentagon ... causing a panic and a stock selloff that saw the S&P 500 drop by 30 points.

The Arlington County Fire Department put out the fire by debunking the image as a hoax.

While some were fooled by the fake Pentagon photo, some weren't so easily duped ... with eagle-eyed accounts pointing out obvious flaws with the AI-generated image, mainly focusing on warped sections of the Pentagon fence.

Calls for more guard rails on AI are now getting stronger ... as debate about the future of AI rages on Capitol Hill.

The son of legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler -- Glenn "Shemy" Schembechler -- has issued an apology ... after he stepped down on Saturday from his new role with the Wolverines following the discovery of offensive behavior on his Twitter page.

In a lengthy mea culpa released late Sunday night, Shemy admitted to being "flippant" on the social media app ... after people had found he had "liked" multiple tweets that were insensitive -- and downright racist.

Some of the tweets that Shemy had put a heart on included ones that suggested Jim Crow laws benefitted Black people.

"By inexplicably and irresponsibly liking things on social media I owe an unabashed and unequivocal apology to my hundreds of friends and fellow coaches in the Black community, all communities, the University of Michigan, my father's legacy and my family," Shemy wrote in his apology statement.

"Any words or philosophies that in any way seek to underplay the immeasurable suffering and long-term economic and social inequities that hundreds of years of slavery and the 'Jim Crow' era caused for Black Americans is wrong."

"I was wrong," he continued. "We must never sanitize morally unsanitary, historical behaviors that have hindered the Black community, or any other community. There are no historical silver linings for the experience of our brothers and sisters."

Shemy had been hired by UM on Wednesday to be its assistant director of football recruiting. But, on Saturday, Jim Harbaugh and athletic director Warde Manuel announced he'd no longer be in that role.

"We are aware of some comments and likes on social media that have caused concern and pain for individuals in our community," the two said in a joint statement. "Michigan Athletics is fully committed to a place where our coaches, staff and student-athletes feel welcome and where we fully support the University’s and Athletic Department’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion."

Shemy's Twitter account is now deactivated.

Not even Elon Musk can escape Twitter's community notes -- aimed at dispelling misinformation and lies on the platform -- though one note, correcting Elon himself, has seemingly disappeared.

The Twitter honcho sat down with CNBC Tuesday in an interview that's making a lot of noise ... namely because of what Elon falsely stated about the gunman who killed 8 people at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas earlier this month.

It was widely reported, and confirmed by The TX Dept. of Public Safety, that the shooter had neo-Nazi tattoos and beliefs, and wore a patch that said, “RWDS,” an acronym for Right Wing Death Squad.

However, Musk claimed to CNBC, "there's no proof he is" a white supremacist and, "We should not be ascribing things to white supremacy if it's false."

One Twitter user noticed Elon's gaffe, and posted the CNBC clip with the caption, "Musk doubles down on his claims that there's no evidence the Allen, Texas mall shooter had white supremacist beliefs."

That tweet was quickly flagged by Twitter community notes, with a footnote that read, "Texas police have confirmed that Allen mall shooter "had neo-Nazi tattoos and beliefs" and wore a patch signifying "right wing death squad."

A clip of Jerry Springer has gone viral on Twitter, showing him reading a last will and testament with a bunch of juicy details ... and some fans think it's the real deal, but it turns out to be more fiction than fact.

The vid shows Jerry in a Zoom call, divvying up his assets to his children ... more specifically, leaving a good portion to 2 Black kids he had out of wedlock -- of course, this is in no way rooted in reality.

It's actually a pandemic-era virtual play called, "Blood Money." Jerry made a cameo in the production, which was featured in "REFRAMED 2020: A Festival of New Plays on Social Justice," presented by Tulane University ... the school where he once was a student.

It's a pretty interesting piece, but gullible folks online took it and ran ... with one saying, "Only Jerry Springer could go out like this."

Another person said Jerry "wrote" the best episode of his drama-filled reality show yet.

As if the evidence against this being legit wasn't enough, a source connected to Jerry tells us this obviously isn't real, adding he only had one daughter throughout his life.

You'll recall, Jerry was laid to rest earlier this month in a Chicago suburb ... after dying from pancreatic cancer.

Elon Musk is having the time of his life, dancing the night away in a huge crowd in Mexico for a huge music festival -- and it looks like SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla are officially on the back burner!!!

One of the world's richest men showed off a different side of himself in Cabo San Lucas Saturday night, jamming out with his hands up to some Rüfüs Du Sol with a swarm of other ravers around him.

Elon was feelin' the music at Sundream Baja, BTW -- a 2-weekend long festival, similar to Coachella, just outside San Jose Del Cabo.

Sure, his moves might need some work, but hey ... the guy's just not known for dancing.

Kinda makes sense he headed down to Mexico for some R&R ... Elon just named former NBCUniversal advertising exec Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter last week, following months of backlash from users who weren't cool with how he was running things.

A new debate took over the internet this weekend, and it's one for the ages -- who was hotter ... young Robert De Niro or young Al Pacino??? Of course, everyone's torn!

The question was posed by a Twitter user named Ashley Reese, whose tweet about this has garnered over 5 million views ... and a crap ton of responses. Those replies include several photos of De Niro and Pacino in their prime -- and it sure makes for some good content.

She openly asked 59k followers ... "At a wedding and having a big debate rn. Please vote. Who was hotter?" This was thrown up as a poll, BTW ... and the people have spoken.

With about 7 hours left to go (meaning you can still vote, even now) ... the Twitter-verse seems to think Al takes the cake -- but only by a slim margin. Nearly 130,000 people have voted, and about 51% of them think AP was the greater looker ... Bob's got around 48%.

While it seems Al's got the edge, there's a strong case for RDN ... whom, you could argue, was a tad more handsome for longer. But as far as who was the runaway smoke show in their prime -- it seems like Don Corleone's the favorite. The poller certainly thinks so.

Each guy was a heartthrob in their day ... especially Al in the '70s, who was on fire with a string of great movies that put his good looks on display -- 'The Godfather' flicks, obviously, but also ... "Dog Day Afternoon," "Serpico," "Bobby Deerfield," "...And Justice for All," etc.

Bob, by comparison, also had several standout hits in the '70s -- "Taxi Driver," "G2," "The Deer Hunter" -- ... but went on to transform himself time and again in several films into the '80s and '90s ("Raging Bull" and "Cape Fear" come to mind) where he was looking pretty hunky.

Mind you, this isn't a debate about who the better actor is ... that's one nobody will ever be able to agree on, as both artists are titans in their own right. This is purely on attractiveness.

At the end of the day, both dudes were great looking ... but we suppose it boils down to your own cup of tea. Al had more of an artsy and somewhat soft-spoken allure about him ... meanwhile, Bob had more of the classic man vibe radiating from head to toe.

To each their own. Naturally, we gotta ask ourselves ... who'd you rather in a perfect world?

Taylor Swift fans are very protective of their idol, and Saturday night she returned the favor.

Taylor was in Philly for a 2-night stand with her Eras tour, when it appears -- at least to fans on social media -- a security guard may have come down a little too hard on an attendee.

It went down as she was singing "Bad Blood" ... it looks like Taylor spotted something in the crowd. You see her gesture with a tinge of anger, trying to calm things down, and then she stops singing and shouts, "She's fine. She wasn't doing anything!!!"

Taylor's concerts are choreographed with precision, so for her to break from the playbook is unusual.

It was a momentary distraction and the concert went on without another hitch.

We reached out to Taylor's rep ... so far, no word back.

Taylor Swift and Matt Healy are the real deal ... because they're on a double date with Taylor's pal and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff and his fiancée.

Taylor and Matt joined Jack and actress Margaret Qualley for a romantic double date Thursday in New York City ... and we've learned they were all hanging out at the swanky Casa Cipriani.

Anyone who thought Taylor and Matt were just spending time together for a music collab are wrong ... the two are clearly dating.

In images circulating on social media, Taylor and Matt can be seen holding hands on a rooftop while walking around and sitting next to one another.

Taylor's back in NYC again during another break in her Eras Tour, and Matt's right by her side ... this on the heels of The 1975 frontman spending last weekend taking in all 3 of her shows.

The pair left together in the same car after Taylor's Saturday show in Nashville, and she's scheduled to perform Friday night in Philadelphia.

It will be interesting to see if Matt is at Taylor's Philly show too.

Stay tuned ...

Elon Musk is making a push to land a Don Lemon show on Twitter, just as Tucker Carlson's started his own show on the platform -- and Elon's goal seems to be balancing right and left.

Elon made his pitch to Don Wednesday morning with a tweet inviting him to do a show on the bird app. He included a dig at CNN's ratings, saying, "Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger."

The move comes after Tucker's Tuesday video tweet, announcing he'd be launching a "new version" of his TV show on Twitter -- a move that was quickly welcomed by the platform's owner.

Elon boasted, "On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever [Tucker] or anyone may say."

He also made it clear he's not involved in Tucker's show or programming -- "We have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators."

Of course, Don and Tucker were fired from CNN and Fox News, respectively, on the same day last month. On the heels of Carlson's announcement, Elon said he wanted more content creators, "particularly from the left" to follow suit.

He clearly thinks Don should be one of them.

As Jonathan Majors continues to fight his DV case, it appears the internet has already settled on a possible replacement in the MCU ... another bad guy in a new superhero movie.

We're talking about Chukwudi Iwuji -- who made a splash this weekend in the third 'Guardians of the Galaxy' flick as the big bad, the High Evolutionary ... and who left audiences and comic book fans more than impressed with his epic performance.

While HE meets his grisly demise in the end (spoiler) ... a lot of folks on the bird app are nominating Iwuji as the next would-be Kang the Conqueror if things go south for JM.

There's chatter about how Iwuji's take on his supervillain is how Kang should've been portrayed in the 'Ant-Man' film that recently featured him ... namely, over the top and downright ruthless -- which is certainly how Iwuji's High Evolutionary comes across.

As the comparisons continue to fly ... a good handful of Twitter users are also straight-up saying Iwuji should be considered to step in as Kang if Disney decides to ultimately drop Majors -- which they have not done yet, and which may be premature at this point.

This "what if" speculation seems to be a mix of praise for Iwuji and jumping the gun on Majors' MCU future. Frankly, ever since he was arrested -- a lot of names have been floated as possible stand-ins ... but now, it would seem Iwuji's at the front of the line in fans' eyes.

Again ... there's been no indication from Disney that they're considering cutting Majors loose just yet -- despite the fact that he's been dropped from other projects and organizations.

As we've reported ... his team has repeatedly denied he did anything wrong from the beginning and has even suggested he was the victim here -- while also claiming to have evidence that they say will exonerate him. We've seen surveillance footage of the woman in question out partying after the alleged incident ... and she appears to be fine/uninjured.

Of course, he'll have his day in court soon enough. The guy's scheduled to appear before a judge on Tuesday -- where his team will undoubtedly push for the charges to be dropped.

Like everyone else, we're sure Disney will be monitoring ... as Majors is a key figure in their Marvel plans, with scheduled appearances in several more films and TV shows as Kang.

Kevin Costner has become the target of nasty rumors since his wife filed for divorce, including one accusing the actor of getting a woman working on the set of "Yellowstone" pregnant ... a tale we're told could not be further from the truth.

Sources close to Costner say the latest bit of gossip surrounding the star is "total BS," and has been baselessly circulating online.

It's unclear who started the rumor, or even who Costner allegedly got pregnant, but the fake story has been buzzing on social media since his wife, Christine, filed for divorce Monday.

One Twitter user wrote, "I wonder now, if the drama surrounding Kevin Costner and Yellowstone 'scheduling,' was due to the rumor of him potentially getting someone on set pregnant?" Another said, "So it wasn’t Bentley who got a girl pregnant on the Yellowstone set ... it was Costner."

TMZ broke the story, Costner was blindsided by Christine's filing ... the actor's rep made that clear in telling us, " ... circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action."

We're told Kevin had no prior warning Christine was filing to end their 18-year marriage, and he's still in the dark.

In her divorce docs, Christine lists the date of separation as last month -- they got hitched back in 2004. Interesting, since sources say Kevin had no inkling the marriage was ending.

Costner filed a response to the divorce petition in which the prenup is referenced requiring  Christine to vacate Kevin's 3 homes.

Jennette McCurdy owes Josh Peck and his podcast partner for scrapping their debut episode at her request -- so says Josh Peck ... who's now catching flak over this.

The ex-Nickelodeon child star is trending this weekend over an episode of his pod, 'Good Guys,' that aired earlier this month ... which the internet is just learning about right now. The reason he's getting dragged -- JP, according to some, comes across as a bit of a jerk.

Here's the context ... Josh and his right-hand man, Ben Soffer, are talking to Tana Mongeau -- who brings up Jennette's memoir from last year, in which she addresses some childhood trauma she went through at the hands of her family and Nickelodeon execs back in the day.

Tana praises Jennette for speaking her truth -- something Josh/Ben say they also tried to do by having her on as their first guest in August ... in an episode that was never released.

Josh and Ben are giving themselves pats on the back for being "good guys" and nixing the episode after Jennette apparently asked them to (unclear why). However, after some time passed, Josh says he reached out to her again in hopes of getting her back on for a redo.

He says it seemed like she'd inexplicably blocked him -- after which, he says he felt like a little quid pro quo was in order since they did her a solid. Twitter doesn't agree, though.

You can go through the "Josh Peck" trend for yourself to see how people are tearing into the guy -- but bottom line ... they feel like he sounds entitled and completely insensitive here.

Mila Kunis may just be tapped to play The Thing in the new "Fantastic 4" movie -- that is ... if you buy a rumor that's running rampant on Twitter this morning.

A movie insider named @MyTimeToShineH -- who's credited with getting scoops before trade publications, and generally being in the know on superhero news -- sent the bird app into a frenzy Friday when they claimed Mila was in talks to portray a female version of Ben Grimm.

Grimm is the name of the dude in the comics who becomes The Thing ... a giant orange rock figure who fights crime alongside Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman and the Human Torch.

MTTSH writes, "They are looking at Jewish actors, both male AND female for The Thing in Fantastic Four. Mila Kunis is one of them." They added that the director of the upcoming 2025 flick, Matt Shakman, insisted Grimm be portrayed be a real-life Jewish actor ... as the character is explicitly depicted as Jewish in the comic books, albeit in later iterations.

Now, in case it went over your head -- The Thing is a male character ... and has always been portrayed as such. Whether it was Chuck McCann in the '90s cartoon, Michael Chiklis from the 2000s flick, or Jamie Bell from the 2010s version -- The Thing's known as a guy.

Now, however, based on this report -- or gossip, more like -- it sounds like Marvel's possibly looking to switch things up with a little gender swap ... or at the very least, considering it.

As you might imagine ... Twitter users, by and large, aren't reacting well to the news. The jokes are flying -- and the consensus seems to be, if Kevin Feige and co. go down this road, much of the fanbase will turn their backs on the studio ... as they view this as a step too far.

Of course, it wouldn't be the first time a woman replaced a role usually played by a man -- it notably happened in "Ghostbusters" ... and more recently, in 'Black Panther 2' and "She-Hulk." among other examples. Point is ... it's been done before, and sometimes with success.

As for Mila potentially being eyed for the job ... she wouldn't be half bad. Big star with name recognition and a good range of films under her belt, including action movies and comedies.

Elon Musk has taken nothing but heat for a while, but he had an ally Friday night -- one Bill Maher.

Elon appeared one-on-one with the 'Real Time' host, and Bill was more than complimentary. He essentially said, like him or not, Elon Musk is changing the world in profound ways.

As Bill says, the most transformative things in society have come from technology ... the printing press, the light bulb, the phone, the internet, flying, and on and on.

BM gave Elon mad props for his work with reusable rockets, electric cars, the Neuralink, just to mention a few.

Elon was actually funny in the interview, getting laughs and applause from the audience.

As for Twitter, Musk explained he bought the platform because it was censoring too much. As he said, it's easy to allow speech you agree with -- the point of free speech is to allow people to make remarks you may find abhorrent ... presumably still within limits.

They get into cancel culture, politics, the works.