Twitter

In-fighting at Warner Bros. has the studio officially apologizing to its WB counterparts in Japan, who are outraged about what they see as an insensitive Barbenheimer meme on the U.S. "Barbie" Twitter account.

So, here's the deal ... "Barbie" is a WB movie, and the film's official U.S. Twitter account replied to some fan-created fun art of Margot Robbie (as Barbie) riding Cillian Murphy's shoulder (as Oppenheimer) with an explosion and fire in the background.

It's a Barbenheimer gag obviously, and seemingly innocent on its own ... that is, until the U.S. "Barbie" Twitter account chimed in with the comment, "It's going to be a summer to remember," adding some cutesy emojis to boot.

That didn't sit well with folks in WB's Japanese arm -- the official Japanese "Barbie" Twitter account blasted its parent company for co-signing on the joking atomic bomb imagery.

It wrote, "We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans. We take this situation very seriously. We are asking the U.S. headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions. Warner Bros Japan."

Yep, that's a big yikes. 😬

So, in response to that public call-out, Warner issued its mea culpa -- "Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology."

BTW, Twitter/X itself didn't find the imagery very amusing, because the company actually slapped a fact check Twitter note underneath -- mentioning the hundreds of thousands of Japanese deaths that resulted from the U.S.'s decision to drop bombs during WWII.

There's been a lot of chatter about "Oppenheimer" and its handling of the depiction of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings -- namely, the fact the movie doesn't show it whatsoever. Some feel like the film glossed over the impact of the bombings ... and have found it insensitive to the countless lives lost in Japan.

That appears to be the position of Japan as a nation, too ... because it has yet to set a release date for the film within its borders.

Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber's non-feud is once again being resurrected via their overeager fans -- this time ... it's Hailey's supporters on the attack, calling Selena a copycat.

As you might notice ... Hailey is trending right now, and it all has to with stans of hers ripping into this innocent clip that Selena is featured in -- one posted by one of her good friends, Connar Franklin, who was the star at her own bachelorette party Friday.

What Twitter's bickering about now ... the fact Connar posted this video of her, Selena and other friends doing that catwalk lineup thing -- something Hailey also did earlier this month.

As you might recall ... Hailey and a bunch of her girlfriends pulled off a similar video during 4th of July weekend -- and it had tons of celebs in it, including Kim, Kylie, Kendall and Lori Harvey. BTW, this was Lori's video ... which is important.

Now, in the wake of Connar's vid -- which we suppose is kinda similar -- people (aka, Selena haters) are accusing SG of riding Hailey's wave ... suggesting Hailey would be slammed if the roles were reversed (namely, if Selena had done this first, and if Hailey had done it after). In other words, they're indicating there's a double standard at play in this ongoing dynamic.

What these "stans" fail to realize (or acknowledge) on both fronts is that neither video was carried out or posted by their respective idols -- they're both simply *in* the freakin' videos!

So, if this sounds like stupid high school s*** ... well, that's because it is -- and, in this case, the celebs themselves have absolutely nothing to do with it. Per usual, it's their fanbase that's running with BS ... trying to pit these two women against each other.

Funny enough, Selena had to call off her loyalists not too long ago -- telling them to back off of Hailey, as it appears they were dogpiling her during that whole "Mean Girl" thing.

She explicitly asked them to leave Hailey alone -- and Hailey thanked Selena afterward for speaking up on it. While their fans seem to think she's still bad blood between them, Selena and Hailey have, time and again, stamped that notion out ... and have even hung out.

LeBron James is breaking his silence on Bronny's medical scare ... assuring fans his family is "safe and healthy," and sharing his appreciation for all the support over the past few days.

"I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers," the Lakers superstar tweeted on Thursday morning. "We feel you and I'm so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love."

"Will have more to say when we’re ready," James added, "but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang👑"

Bronny initially suffered cardiac arrest on Monday ... while he was working out at USC. He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center -- but, thankfully, he's been making steady progress ever since.

It's unclear what caused the issue and when Bronny will be able to return home -- but when he does eventually get out ... several people who have suffered similar medical emergencies have already said they'll be there for him if he needs them.

LeBron's former teammate, Ronny Turiaf -- who needed open-heart surgery in 2005 -- said he'd be "always available" to talk.

Shareef O'Neal, meanwhile, said he too would be down to chat with Bronny -- revealing Thursday he's already reached out to his good friend.

Netflix is celebrating hip hop's 50th anniversary with a documentary dedicated to all the women of the culture -- well, almost every woman, as fans have peeped the trailer and noticed it excludes Nicki Minaj!!!

On Tuesday, Strong Black Lead pushed out the first look for "Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop" ... which appears to be a gripping depiction of several female rappers' rise to stardom.

The trailer for the doc features commentary from a generations-spanning group of women -- Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shanté, MC Lyte, Coi Leray, Kash Doll -- while also highlighting content from Ice Spice, Young M.A., Latto, Saweetie and others.

However, the preview had zero sign of Nicki, and when her Barbz fanbase picked up on the snub they exploded on Twitter X.

Livid fans made Nicki the subject of several trending topics while accusing Netflix of intentionally trying to erase her from the history books.

The "Pinkprint" rapper is the highest-selling female rapper of all time by several miles with well over 100 million records sold, which you'd think would be enough for a prominent spot in the doc and its trailer. It's worth noting, the trailer opens up with a shot of Cardi B, so lines in the sand were probably drawn!!!

Twitter is dead, and in its place -- a new name and logo live ... welcome to the world of X!

Indeed ... Elon Musk followed through on his promise from this weekend, rebranding the storied social media company and completely getting rid of the familiar white bird icon and blue background. Ditto for its moniker ... now, Twitter will forever be known simply as "X."

EM touted the big change by retweeting re-X'ing his new CEO's announcement, which reads ... "It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square."

She adds, "X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine."

Now, the actual site/app itself still pretty much looks the same in terms of design, function and format. In fact, you can actually still see remnants of the old Twitter floating around ... like on the search bar, for instance, where it continues to read "Search Twitter."

Even when it comes to retweets, those are labeled as such ... so on its face, it still very much feels like Twitter. It's unclear if more of a relaunch will take place over the coming days.

While Elon and co. really got the word out about the switch-up this weekend ... they'd actually been telegraphing this for a while, especially in official corporate docs tied to the organization.

The group of investors that came together to buy this thing -- again, for $44 billion -- had called themselves X Corp. earlier this year. Now, they'll be known as such going forward.

One last thing ... it appears the new "X" is going to be powered by AI -- at least according to this above-mentioned CEO. Funny enough, Elon was railing against AI not too long ago ... calling on a slow-down, if not a full-blown pause, because he thought it was dangerous.

Rami Malek has proven to be a scene-stealer in "Oppenheimer" -- something his biggest fans are ecstatic about ... especially considering his mixed-bag journey in Hollywood.

The Oscar-winning actor is one of several stars with a smaller role in Nolan's latest feature -- which is getting rave reviews. Ditto for a lot of the supporting performances, including RM ... who shows up for an impactful monologue at a critical moment in the movie.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! ... Rami's big scene comes toward the end, when Robert Downey Jr. is revealed to be the bad guy -- who's trying to smear Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer. Rami sits in as a witness in front of Congress, and he backs Oppenheimer in emphatic terms.

Essentially, his character -- who only had a couple of lines up until this point -- turns out to be a major game-changer in the trajectory of the film ... and it happens at the drop of a dime.

While brief, his work is getting hailed as a standout in a flick packed with talent -- especially on Twitter, where folks are (jokingly) saying they were right to hold onto their Rami Malek stock ... 'cause he's great. His resume of late hasn't always reflected that, unfortunately.

Fact is ... Rami's ascension in showbiz has, at times, felt stunted -- even after he won Best Actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody" ... which was controversial. Some felt he didn't deserve the win that year ... of course, others disagreed.

Point is -- since then, he hasn't really blown up the way people thought he would, or should ... instead getting sprinkled into movies here and there, somewhat unremarkably.

However, now ... a lot of his supporters feel vindicated by what he did in 'Oppenheimer,' and are hoping he'll be put back on the leading man trajectory that they feel he deserves.

Doja Cat appears to be opening up a can of tough love on her staunchest fans -- rebuking a pet name they've given themselves ... and telling them to grow the hell up.

The rapper/singer has been getting some side-eye from her loyal supporters over the past few days -- and it all appears to have come to a head this weekend when she shot down a term a lot of them use ... which is kind of in the vein of Nicki Minaj stans.

Of course, we're referring to the Barbz -- something Nicki seems to have embraced with open arms ... but the same can't be said for Doja and her "Kittenz." It's a phrase some of her fans have affectionately used to brand themselves as followers of hers, but DC's telling them to drop it ... and more importantly, to get a life!

In a since-deleted tweet, Doja wrote ... "my fans don’t name themselves s***. if you call yourself a 'kitten' or f***ing 'kittenz' that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house."

There are other since-deleted tweets where she's telling fans of hers to delete their account if they're even referencing her in their profile pic or username ... and yeah, it's a bit combative.

On the one hand -- Doja crapping on the fandom is a refreshing assessment/slam of "stan" culture -- which has run rampant among some of the biggest artists out there (Swifties, Barbz, Harries, Beyhive etc.) But it's also jarringly honest ... so much so, in fact, Doja appears to be rubbing her "kittenz" the wrong way -- to the point they're kinda turning on her now.

You can hop into the Doja Cat trend for yourself to see how people are responding ... but it would seem they're not feeling Doja's hot-and-cold approach to being an A-list celeb. Sometimes she's very warm/welcoming, other times -- she's off-putting and cold. Her timeline and Twitter replies certainly suggest as much, anyway.

Here's hoping Doja can make nice with her potential ticket-buyers soon ... 'cause she's got a tour coming up in the Fall, and she's been promoting it like crazy.

The Twitter CEO posted a message to his social media platform early Sunday morning, announcing the huge makeover that will certainly bring the company into a new phase with an all-new look.

Musk wrote, "And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds."

In a second post, Musk added that the "X" logo could soon be unveiled if he finds an emblem suited to his tastes.

Musk followed up by offering an image of a glimmering "X," but he wouldn't say if that one qualified as the fresh face of Twitter.

Even "Barbie" cannot escape the great political divide in America, because the right has folded the flick into its culture wars, lambasting it as a "flaming garbage heap."

Ben Shapiro jumped on Twitter Friday, saying, "My producers dragged me to see 'Barbie' and it was one of the most woke movies I have ever seen."

Others on the right have jumped on social media, calling the movie "feminist cancer" and "man-hating trash."

There are also folks on the right attacking trans actor Hari Nef, who appears in the film, saying, "Women being forced to pretend men can be women."

And, of course, there's Rep. Matt Gaetz ... his wife, Ginger, mused Ken had "disappointingly low T."

A Boygenius track got some serious praise from former President Barack Obama ... but band member Lucy Dacus isn't thrilled about the shout-out.

"Not Strong Enough" by Lucy's group -- comprised of fellow female artists Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker -- snagged a spot on BO's summer playlist ... but Lucy replied to the news on Twitter Thursday, writing "war criminal :(."

It's unclear why Lucy called the former prez out -- he does annual lists like this with his favorite movies, books, and songs ... and creators are usually over the moon when their work ends with Obama's stamp of approval.

Other folks among the ranks of Boygenius -- according to Obama -- were Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Janelle Monae, Bob Dylan, SZA, Luke Combs, Ice Spice, and Nicki Minaj ... safe to say it's a HUGE compliment.

For what it's worth, Lucy's been pretty outspoken when it comes to politics over the years -- she's shown support for Bernie Sanders in the past, called Donald Trump an "evil, bigoted man," and Boygenius did a Nashville show in drag, protesting anti-drag bills.

The trio used this year's Coachella performance to fight for equality ... with Lucy supporting the safety of transgender children, Phoebe told the crowd, "F*** Ron DeSantis."

Adam22 says there's no way he's letting Antonio Brown anywhere near Lena The Plug ... telling TMZ Sports the ex-NFL superstar better have security if they ever cross paths -- 'cause he's "pulling up."

AB caused quite a stir when he publicly hit up the popular podcaster on Twitter earlier this week ... saying he wanted to be "next" after Adam's porn star wife filmed a sex scene with another man, XXX actor Jason Luv, for the first time in their seven-year relationship.

We caught up with Adam outside the "No Jumper" studio in L.A. on Thursday ... and he's pissed off over AB's antics -- calling it blatant disrespect.

"Let me explain something," Adam tells us. "My wife worked with a trained adult male porn star, and it's not like she's up for grabs for any horny dude in the industry whose career has fallen apart who wants to get some."

As it turns out, Adam claims AB's team reached out to his people in hopes of setting up an interview over the whole interaction ... and he was down to make some "good content" with the Super Bowl champ -- that is, until he asked for $5,000 to make it happen.

"I was like, it's not happening," Adam tells us. "He must be broke, or something. I looked him up on Google, it says he's worth like $20 million. But, I mean, he's out here scrounging up, trying to get $5,000 out of me to do the interview."

"I'm like, why am I gonna give you $5,000 for disrespecting my wife on Twitter, you piece of s***?"

While Adam makes it clear Lena's work doesn't open the door for other guys, he mentions a guy he would consider way before he ever grants AB his wish -- controversial personality Andrew Tate.

"To be totally fair, Andrew Tate might be at the level where we would consider it," Adam says. "Antonio Brown, to me, is basically a homeless person."

"The idea that I'm gonna let this piece of s*** f*** my wife, it's not happening. And, I'm not giving you $5,000 for an interview, either."

Antonio Brown is horny as hell and he doesn't care who knows -- the controversial ex-NFL star just expressed his desire to have sex with Lena The Plug ... publicly asking her husband, Adam22, for permission.

The podcasting couple recently went viral after Lena filmed an XXX-rated scene with porn star Jason Luv ... the first time she worked with another man since she and Adam22 became a couple seven years ago.

If Lena and Adam decide to go down that road again, AB is volunteering as tribute ... going to Twitter to share his interest in getting in on the action.

"Lemme get next @Adam22," Brown tweeted for all to see.

Adam quickly responded ... but we're not going to include it here, 'cause it's a bit too graphic for us to share.

What we CAN say is Adam didn't flat-out say no ... and that might be because he recently told us Lena's new scene has been a cash cow, with their profits far exceeding their expectations.

It hasn't all been positive, though -- Adam and Jason have recently sparked a feud online ... with the former threatening to "expose" the porn star.

Sheryl Crow is coming after Jason Aldean -- saying his heavily-criticized new song spews nothing but violence -- echoing what many online have been up in arms about.

The "All I Wanna Do" singer didn't hold back on Twitter Wednesday morning about Jason's single, "Try That In A Small Town" ... which talks about bringing anti-police and anti-American views to a small community, saying "See how far ya make it down the road."

Sheryl, who says she is from a small town, thinks people in places like that are also tired of the rise in violence in the country ... calling the song "lame."

She adds, "You should know that better than anyone having survived a mass shooting."

For those unaware, Sheryl's referring to the horrifying 2017 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival -- Jason was performing when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd from Mandalay Bay.

As we reported, Jason's been receiving hate over this track ... and he responded to the communal noise Tuesday, saying the idea that it has racist and hateful undertones is BS.

Folks were pissed about his music video, too -- which was shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Tennessee ... the same place where 18-year-old African-American Henry Choate was lynched in 1927.

Luke Combs' cover of Tracy Chapman's hit, "Fast Car," has been dominating the country charts -- but amid its success ... some have wondered if racism is afoot in the genre.

Here's the deal ... think pieces have been published of late that delve into this topic -- including one from WaPo, which really kick-started this conversation -- and they're all posing the same question ... why didn't TC resonate with the same audience Luke has???

The answer that a lot of these articles seem to land on -- after interviewing subjects, etc. -- is that, even today, it's hard for Black artists to break through in country. And they're using the example of Luke thrusting new life into "Fast Car" as their exhibit A for that argument.

Of course, in reaching this conclusion ... the word "racism" is getting thrown around a lot.

In fact, the author of the WaPo article put it quite succinctly in promoting her work -- writing, "As Luke Combs's hit cover of Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car' dominates the country charts, it’s bringing up some complicated emotions in fans & singers who know that Chapman, as a queer Black woman, would have an almost zero chance at that achievement herself."

Unfortunately for her, it doesn't sound like the Internet's accepting her theory at face value ... and pushing back on the implication that "Fast Car" was some obscure song that's only now getting mainstream recognition -- while also trolling WaPo as reaching for outrage.

You can see how folks are reacting for yourself, but as many of them are pointing out ... "Fast Car" was a monster hit when it was released in '88, and helped Tracy break out into music, not to mention accolades that followed after, including Grammys and other awards.

Even commercially, the song killed ... soaring on a number of charts around the world, and peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 list at the time. Bottom line ... it seems like people are scoffing at the notion that Tracy's missing out/getting snubbed amid Luke's use of it.

And as others are also clarifying ... "Fast Car" was not originally released as country song -- and that, perhaps, the reason it's booming in the country scene right now is because a huge country star did their own rendition with it. That's also known as ... a crossover cover.

We're also just now getting to a huge part of this ... namely, the fact that Tracy has gone on record to applaud Luke for his cover -- and more importantly, the enormous amount of royalties this has generated for her ... seeing how she's the original songwriter here.

Tracy said, "I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but I’m honored to be there. I’m happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and embraced 'Fast Car.'" In other words ... she seems to be more than fine with this.

Tom Holland is playing a gay man in a new TV show ... but it's not sitting well with some of his 'Spider-Man' fans while others are defending him.

Holland -- who recently announced he will return to the superhero role in "Spider Man 4" -- came under fire on social media Friday for his part in the Apple TV series, "The Crowded Room."

In one scene, Holland and another man have steamy sex, which sparked the online outrage.

One person tweeted, "Tom Gone Wrong #NotMySpiderMan."

Another wrote, "LMAOOOOOOO dis is really somebody’s favorite Spider-Man"

It's probably a mix of unabashed homophobia and people who think only a gay actor should play a gay role.

But some of Tom's fervent supporters responded to the online haters by arguing previous 'Spider-Man' actors had taken similar LGBTQ roles, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

Lincoln Riley can cook opposing defenses with his playbook, but he still needs some serious help when it comes to preparing food ... 'cause USC's head football coach is getting ripped apart AGAIN for his most recent kitchen creation.

Two years after he was mocked to hell for his awful-looking Easter brisket, the leader of the Trojans' sideline still hasn't learned his lesson ... and this time, his victim was an innocent tuna.

The 39-year-old coach shared a pic of a cooked fish caught by his WR coach Dennis Simmons (sorry to bring ya into this, coach) this week ... and a lot of his followers struggled to figure out what it was by the time he was done with it.

"Did you smoke a red velvet cake?" one confused Twitter user said.

"Feed the team this before the Oregon game," another user added. "Will clear a locker room out faster than Rona."

There's more -- "IDC if this is filet mignon or tuna. I don't trust this dude on the grill any more than I do with a defense."

"You can afford a private chef, for the love of god get one," a pretty logical tweet pointed out.

Some users were trying to help out by suggesting different temperatures and using other seasonings... but ultimately, the general consensus is the dude is pretty much hopeless.

Despite the backlash, it doesn't seem Lincoln will be feeding into the hate anytime soon ... and who knows -- maybe you'll see him on a future episode of "Worst Cooks in America!!!"