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Esports star Karel Asenbrener -- famously known as "Twisten" -- died at 19 years old on Tuesday ... shortly after he posted a chilling tweet that read nothing more than "Good night."

Twisten's gaming org, Team Vitality, made the heartbreaking announcement on Wednesday ... saying its "deeply saddened" by the "devastating loss" of its star.

"Our first thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this difficult time," the French esports team wrote in a statement. "Rest in peace Karel."

One of the organization's coaches, Harry "Gorilla" Mepham, said in a tweet that Asenbrener had died by suicide.

"Words can not describe the grief or emptiness i’m feeling right now," Mepham said. "I loved him and forever will."

In its announcement of Asenbrener's passing, Team Vitality also shared a tweet encouraging anyone struggling with mental health to reach out for help.

Asenbrener had previously opened up about a battle with depression back in February ... but the "Valorant" player said he had gotten into a better place after spending time at a mental health hospital.

"After that I had a new fresh start and was able to thankfully get my s*** together," Asenbrener wrote.

"It was hardest time for me as a person and as a professional esport athlete. But after that time I knew why I'm playing games and what my team means to me."

He added at the time, "Take care of yourself and if you're experiencing something like I did, dont be scared to reach out to your close friends, to your family or your team."

According to Escorenews, the Czech player last competed on May 25 ... and earned $10,000 in his gaming career.

RIP

Zion Williamson didn't get much time to celebrate being a girl dad before becoming the center of some bombshell allegations ... 'cause a popular porn star says the hooper "better pray" he's not about to be a father of two.

32-year-old Moriah Mills -- a music artist and OnlyFans model with more than a million followers on Twitter -- alleged she is in a romantic relationship with the New Orleans Pelicans forward in a Twitter rant on Wednesday ... claiming she had no idea he was seeing someone else, let alone expecting a baby, too.

Mills says she was intimate with Zion as recently as last week ... and posted alleged Snapchat messages that appear to show him arranging to have her move to New Orleans.

Moriah gave X-rated details about her alleged experiences with Zion -- she also took credit for getting him get back into shape as he sat out the majority of the season with an injury.

"Better pray I’m not pregnant too because I’m definitely late @Zionwilliamson," Moriah added.

Zion's GF, Ahkeema, appeared to respond to Moriah's tirade ... saying, "Happy hoes ain't hating and hating hoes ain't happy."

Moriah clapped back ... saying, "You not on my level mah believe that."

Zion and Ahkeema shared footage of their gender reveal party on Tuesday ... which showed they are expecting a baby girl together.

Galyn Susman -- the longtime Disney producer who's credited with saving "Toy Story 2" -- just got the boot alongside several other Pixar employees ... and fans are pissed.

The news came down Saturday from Reuters, which reported Susman was one of 75 Pixar workers who recently gotten the axe in mass layoffs. She was one of 3 key Pixar people to be let go ... the others included Michael Agulnek -- Pixar's VP of worldwide publicity -- and 'Lightyear' director Angus MacLane, who was involved in other Pixar flicks too.

The firings are reportedly tied to the bomb that was last year's 'Lightyear' ... a movie based on the "real" Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Chris Evans. It had a budget of about $200 mil, and only made $226 mil at the worldwide box office ... not to mention middling reviews.

While the film didn't do well, many are saying that scapegoating -- and ultimately canning -- the execs/producers tied to its development is cold-blooded ... especially as it pertains to Galyn, who played a very important in preserving what was left of 'TS2' at the time.

It's the stuff of legends -- and this story's been repeated several times by Disney execs over the years. There was some kind of glitch in Disney's computers that literally deleted upwards of 90% of the movie back then as it was about a year out from its imminent release date.

The studio was scrambling to preserve whatever was left, but from the looks of it ... they were going to have to start from scratch -- that is, until Galyn came to the rescue with a backup copy ... which she fortunately had in her possession due to her WFH/maternity leave.

In the end, Disney remade the movie anyway -- creating a different version from what Galyn had saved -- but her extra files undoubtedly saved them a lot of time/work/money.

Damian Lillard agrees with former head coach turned broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy ... halftime's pointless, and the league would be wise to eliminate the 15-minute break!

"I’m w [Van Gundy] on halftime lol… I do not fw it," the 7x All-Star proclaimed on social media, responding to the former Knicks coach's proposed rule change.

It was during a recent interview with The Athletic that Van Gundy suggested several substantial ways to speed up/improve the game.

"This whole idea of what goes on at halftime, I think is so misunderstood," Jeff told the outlet. "It’s a lot of either praising what just happened or correcting. But you could do that in two minutes out by the bench in an elongated timeout."

Bottom line, Jeff feels halftime is too long and drawn out, describing it as "the biggest waste of time," adding players only need time to go to the bathroom and possibly make a few adjustments, which could be done within 5 minutes.

The 61-year-old analyst didn't stop at halftime ... JVG also said the NBA should save free throws for crunch time.

“So my most radical one is to eliminate free throws until the last four minutes,” Van Gundy said. "If you get fouled on a shooting foul, you just get the points. You don’t go to the line. And you don’t go to the line for technical free throws."

While the networks probably won't love Jeff's halftime idea (commercials!) -- likely making it a nonstarter -- Van Gundy is adamant his free throw rule change needs to be adopted.

Longtime NBA referee Eric Lewis won't be needing his whistle anytime soon ... the league just announced he will not work the Finals amid an investigation into claims he used a Twitter burner account to defend himself and his colleagues.

The Association just announced the officials for the Denver Nuggets vs. Miami Heat series ... and Lewis, who previously worked the last four NBA Finals, was not one of the 12 individuals selected for the matchup.

NBA spokesperson Mike Bass confirmed the omission is directly related to the investigation ... saying, "Regarding Eric Lewis and the social media posts, we are continuing to review the matter, and he will not be working the Finals."

The NBA launched a probe into Lewis, a 19-year veteran who has officiated over 1,200 regular and postseason games, after a Twitter account responded to posts on league officiating, seemingly defending Lewis and his contemporaries.

The tweets in question have reportedly been deleted, but the account, listed under "Blair Cuttliff" with the handle @CuttliffBlair, is still active.

It's unclear if Lewis was really behind the burner account. It's a big problem if he was ... as the NBA has a rule prohibiting referees from publicly commenting on officiating without authorization.

Something about the new live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" isn't sitting right with singer Paloma Faith ... who says the movie's plot is a really hard one to explain to her kiddos.

Paloma took to social media over the weekend, first congratulating Halle Bailey for her performance in the new Disney flick -- before dragging the story's main focus, saying "I don’t want my kids to think it’s ok to give up your entire voice and your powers to love a man."

She added, "Wtf is this s***?! Not what I want to be teaching next gen women at all.” Of course, she's referring to Ariel giving up her own voice to become a human to be with her love interest, Prince Eric.

For those unaware, it's the same trope that was used in the original 1989 version, so it seems Paloma might've forgotten the story before watching this new adaptation.

However, Halle told Edition earlier this year that her new version "definitely changed that perspective of just her wanting to leave the ocean for a boy ... It’s way bigger than that. It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life and what she wants.”

A former toy owner has claimed Barbie was never for the broke and downtrodden but, rather, for the rich/privileged -- however, as the Queen once said ... recollections may vary.

A fierce debate -- which has largely been one-sided -- unfolded on Twitter this weekend ... this, after comedian Avery Edison posted a tweet that clearly PO'd Barbie fans everywhere, who came out in droves to correct her take on the doll's affordability, historically.

In her OG remarks, which have been deleted, she wrote ... "don't know if this is entirely fair but when someone says 'I grew up loving Barbie' I hear 'my family was not poor.'" She goes on to describe kids who had Barbies growing up as ones who "had savings accounts and went on vacations." Avery also cheekily invited Barbie discourse in a follow-up tweet.

Welp, Twitter was definitely up for it -- users flooded her comments and retweets en masse with a lot of eyebrow-raising and questions ... like, where were you buying your Barbies?

The reason ... it appears Barbie dolls are actually pretty damn cheap, and perhaps always have been -- which flies in the face of what AE was suggesting -- namely, that they were indicators of class and wealth, which is something most people don't seem to agree with.

In fact, some even pulled up old catalogs dating back to the '60s and '70s ... and there, too, the dolls look to have been reasonably priced. American Girl dolls, by contrast, are the "rich kid" toys -- at least that seems to be consensus on Twitter. In other words, Twitter was screaming "WRONG!!!" and quite loudly too. So, what does the original tweeter think now?

Well, she's lamenting the fact this has turned into such an aggressive virtual dunking at her expense, and she's defending herself by saying she was simply sharing her personal memories and offering musings/light-hearted analysis as it relates to the upcoming movie.

AE also slams people resorting to personal attacks for her take, noting how toxic the app truly is ... regardless of who owns it. It's a double-edged sword, really -- Twitter is the town square for debate, but dogpiles are common ... oftentimes over something as silly as this.

Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable character is sparking a furious online debate over whether he should be named one of the top 10 TV dads -- this after all of his legal woes involving sexual assault.

Cosby played the role of Cliff -- the beloved doctor -- in the popular '80s sitcom, "The Cosby Show," and, as a result, became an instant icon to all families.

But all that came to a crashing halt in the 2010s when he was accused of drugging and raping multiple women. In one case, Cosby was prosecuted and convicted of aggravated indecent assault, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But Cosby's conviction was later overturned, and he was released after nearly 3 years behind bars.

Twitter users have compiled a list of the 10 best TV dads -- starting with Danny Tanner (Full House), then Dan Conner (Roseanne), Tim Taylor (Home Improvement), Philip Banks (Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air), Carl Winslow (Family Matters), Phil Dunphy (Modern Family), George Lopez (The George Lopez Show), Andy Griffith (The Andy Griffith Show), Mike Brady (The Brady Bunch) and Al Bundy (Married... with Children).

People are asking whether Huxtable should be on the list for obvious reasons -- but it seems many on Twitter are arguing on his behalf, although they still have mixed feelings.

One person wrote, "So Cliff Huxtable is trending because he wasn't included in a list of top 10 TV dads. Who can't forget about a rapist who played an OBGYN that conducted vaginal exams in his basement?"

Another person said, "Cliff Huxtable was one of the greatest TV dads of all time. Bill Cosby is a sexual deviant who got away with rape because of a technicality. We can say one without compromising the other."

A third individual pointed out ... "Separating Cosby from Cliff Huxtable is a tough ask, but the character was undeniably a great one -- and an important one. He belongs on the list."

So we gotta ask ...

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?