Viral

A Southern California strip club has finally slammed its doors shut after a local news station rightly ratted them out for staying open ... but it took undercover work first.

The story's pretty wild ... L.A.'s own Fox 11 news team got tipped off about a strip joint in an unincorporated part of town, called City of Industry, CA, which went by the name of Bliss Showgirls. Apparently, they refused to comply with the shutdown order of non-essential businesses across the city and state ... and were still operating all the way through Friday.

The local news team sent some reporters of theirs undercover out to the club to record footage of several patrons coming and out, clearly showing Bliss was open for business.

Not only that, but Bliss' own social media accounts had defiantly stated they weren't closing, something the owner of the club told Fox 11 was due to a disgruntled ex-employee who had hacked the account. When they pressed him though ... he told them to piss off.

As the coronavirus spreads, some animal shelters and private rescue orgs are throwing up their hands and leaving their animals in the wind -- fortunately for Angelenos, one place isn't.

TMZ called various shelters (which are usually run by local or county governments) as well as rescues (privately run) and it appears most of them are ill-equipped to handle the influx of people looking to foster and/or adopt a dog right now.

We're talking about locations in and around California, Philly, NYC, Chicago, Miami ... by and large, a lot of the calls we placed went straight to voicemail -- which isn't that unusual. But, what is strange is what happened next ... little to no information on ways to get in contact, book appointments or, most importantly, go about taking in a dog from their facility.

It's pretty shocking. Some of these shelters and rescues have voicemails that say "we're closed due to the coronavirus." The obvious question ... what about your dogs??? The sad truth ... a lot of these shelters appear to have thrown in the towel. BTW, more people are looking to foster/adopt than ever ... so there are plenty of potential homes out there.

Enter, L.A.-based private rescue -- Ace of Hearts -- which has NOT closed its doors ... and is actually managing the influx of both dogs and clients pretty well these days. Their voicemail system is organized and clear about how to get in touch, as is their website ... which walks folks through how to go into the dog process.

The rescue's founder, Kari Whitman, tells us ... there has never been a better time to get these poor abandoned pups into a decent home -- 'cause people are, in fact, at home and realizing a pet in their lives wouldn't be such a bad thing right about now.

As such, Kari says she's seeing a massive rush of interest on both ends of the business -- she tells us she's taking in and housing up to 31 dogs in a matter of 3 days (that's the number she'll normally see in 10 weeks) and she's getting up to 40 foster/adoption apps a day.

She tells us she and her staff are working around the clock to get back to everyone, and then to interview them and see which households would be a good fit for which dog. It's a whole lot of work, but Kari says it's a lifestyle, and not one she intends to put on pause.

As for how exactly she goes about pairing dogs to people, she's taking precautions ... doing virtual house checks first, and then bringing the would-be new dog owners to her rescue where they can get to know the doggo. Masks and gloves are worn for this part.

Bottom line ... she hasn't stopped working for the cause. If anything, she's working harder than ever when the demand has never been higher. It's a win-win for both the people and the animals, as far as she's concerned.

Kari says there was one particular shelter out in San Bernardino County's Victor Valley that seemed more inclined to put dogs down than facilitate a transfer to Kari's place ... which might very well be happening at other locations too.

Moral of the story here ... dogs are still sitting in shelters, and some of them are eager to help you make them part of your family. So, doggonit ... adopt or foster a dog today!

Quarantine and chill has video game connoisseurs going nuts, and the console that's scratching their itch is the Nintendo Switch ... something you'll have to pay big bucks for nowadays.

It's true ... Nintendo Switches are the go-to video game carrier right now during the outbreak, and it seems like folks who figured that out too late are now having to pony up and pay a premium price if they wanna get their hands on one. We're talking $200-$300 markups, maybe more.

We've spoken to big box and electronic retailers like Best Buy and Target out here in the L.A. area, as well as some locations in NYC ... they all tell us the same thing -- they're completely out of Switches. No locations within 250 miles of L.A. are shipping them either.

That's not to say you can't still get a hold of one -- we've heard of some lucky gamers in L.A. snagging one off of GameStop about a week ago out of sheer luck ... it just got delivered this weekend. GameStop's site says they're out and on backorder 'til April 30, but we know one person who recently checked and found they had a few in stock online for a brief time, and they jumped on it at the regular $299 price, too. That's a steal these days.

Fact is ... if you head on over to Amazon right now, you'll see they still have them available for purchase. You'll just have to pay upwards of $400 to $500 or more to get one, which is overpriced ... but also how the market works. Supply and demand, baby!

While tons of people who have a Nintendo Switch right now are resorting to classic Mario games -- like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc. -- and playing online with their friends ... the true hot ticket Switch item at the moment in Animal Crossing, which just came out with a new edition, "New Horizons," this past week to incredibly high fanfare.

We've heard of lines out the door -- even with quarantine regulations and social distancing in place -- over the past few days at places like Walmart, Best Buy and others, so people could pick up their pre-ordered copy. It's a simulation-type video game ... escapism at its finest.

Jon Bon Jovi's already got some winning song lyrics to his finish-the-story type community song -- and he might wanna consider hiring some of these folks ... 'cause they're good.

The rocker picked out three verses to finish out his made-up tune called "Do What You Can, Our Story" -- which he kicked off last weekend with a verse of his own and the chorus. Welp, people heard his call loud and clear ... JBJ says he's received countless submissions across several different platforms. Some performed it, others just wrote their lyrics.

The three submissions Jon played out live on camera were incredibly well-written and, obviously, topical to the coronavirus outbreak everyone's dealing with right now. Our particular favorite ... Jeffrey Baron, via YouTube, whose verse sounds like it's from Bob Dylan's songbook or something. Well done.

The whole venture's pretty neat -- because Jon set up the rhythm and cadence of the song fairly easily in his first post ... it's relatively easy for people to plug in their own verses seamlessly. Jon sings off their verse, and then weaves in his own hook right after.

He says he's gonna keep it going and keep singing people's lyrics, so he encourages more submissions and more participation. Unclear if he'll eventually pick a few verses as his favorite and deem the ultimate winner, but for now ... it seems like there's a lot he likes.

Miami's first COVID-19 related death was a guy who went to an annual beach party only weeks ago -- tragically, the national alarms didn't fully sound off in time to warn him.

Israel Carreras is the 40-year-old man who passed due to complications he developed after contracting coronavirus. He died in a Miami-area hospital Friday night after developing a severe cough, which reportedly left him mute ... with extreme breathing difficulty.

Earlier this month, Israel and his boyfriend, Franco, attended the Winter Party Festival along the shores of Nikki Beach, South Beach and others between the dates of March 4 and March 10. Thousands of people attend each year, and 2020 was no different, as you can see.

People packed the beaches, and were pretty much crammed in like sardines. Practically nobody was practicing social distancing at that point, and the danger of coronavirus spreading as fast as it ultimately did hadn't quite registered like it did the week after WPF ended.

The week of March 8 started seeing multiple events being shut down, canceled, postponed in droves -- and even scheduled sporting events and entire seasons were getting scrapped outright. But, for events like Winter Party, it was already in full swing by then ... clearly not everybody got the message or understood the importance of staying away from crowds as of early March.

As for Israel, his partner says the positive diagnosis came down just this past Monday ... and his condition quickly deteriorated. He says he couldn't even see his boyfriend in person, and could only FaceTime ... at which point they were signing because Israel couldn't speak.

At least 9 other people, so far, who attended Winter Party Festival have reportedly contracted COVID-19 as well.

RIP

Evangeline Lilly's apologizing for the "insensitivity" she showed toward the very serious coronavirus crisis facing the world, saying she was trying to infuse "calm into the hysteria" ... but she was scared too.

The actress sent out her sorries on Instagram Thursday, saying she's realized her original message suggesting she was against self-quarantining and subsequent silence since then "has sent a dismissive, arrogant and cryptic message" ... and she seems to want everyone to know she's on their same page now.

Lilly says she's been social distancing where she lives since March 18 and doing her part to "flatten the curve" by staying home with her family.

She suggests when she first stated she valued freedom over life and was making the choice to not self-quarantine with her kids ... she didn't grasp the gravity of the situation.

Evangeline says she began to change her mind when precautionary directives changed and decided to follow the rules.

Now, she says she's realized her original message was hurtful to people who've been greatly impacted by the suffering COVID-19 has brought ... and sends her "direct and special apologies" to them.

Joe Rogan is blasting Gal Gadot for what he sees as a serious case of tone-deafness ... Joe says she's a "f***ing idiot" for singing "imagine there's no heaven."

Joe just gave Gal an epic dressing down on his podcast, ripping her for getting tons of her celebrity friends to sing John Lennon's "Imagine" in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

The way Joe sees it ... "This is not the time when everyone's grannie is dying, you f***ing idiot, to sing, 'Imagine there's no heaven.' It's such a dumb move."

As you know ... Gal and her famous friends -- including Will Ferrell, Natalie Portman, Amy Adams, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Kravitz, Kristen Wiig and Sarah Silverman -- sang parts of Lennon's famous tune and posted it on social media while in self-isolation.

Joe says they're all a bunch of "knuckleheads" ... he thinks it's really not what the country needs at this time, and says they all stink at singing anyways.

Comedian Tom Segura, Joe's podcast guest, thinks Gal and her buddies probably feel like they did something significant, but he says it's really a slap in the face to many.

Idris Elba is on the mend in his bout with coronavirus ... and pretty soon he could be immune to the disease, so he says.

The actor gave his fans a huge health update and said his doctor told him that after quarantine "we will be immune for a certain time since our antibodies fought this." Idris says he and wife, Sabrina, are still under quarantine and feel okay, with no changes.

As we reported ... Idris tested positive not long ago and said he wasn't experiencing ANY symptoms. He told fans the day he got tested after he had body aches and a headache.

As for his claim that he'll be immune to COVID-19 -- that's a fact, according to the experts.

The FDA, earlier this week, approved the use of plasma from patients who've recovered patients to treat some of the more severe cases. New York became the first state to begin such testing.

And, even if the antibody protection is short-lasting ... experts reportedly say those who get infected a second time with coronavirus will likely have a milder case than the first time.

Folks across the country are learning a new skill during the coronavirus pandemic ... how to cut hair from the comfort of their own home.

With barber shops and salons shuttering because of the outbreak, more and more people are boning up on hair styling, and they're buying clippers ... according to the company that invented the first electric hair clipper over a century ago.

Honchos at Wahl, which invented the electric clipper back in 1919, tell TMZ ... they've already sold out of their top-selling clippers on Amazon, and their own online shop is about to be cleaned out.

But, clippers are no good unless you know how to handle them, and Wahl says their website is being flooded with visitors to their men's haircut tutorials. We're told people are reading how to do fades, tousled cuts, brush cuts, easy cuts and business hair cuts.

Overall, Wahl says website traffic is up a whopping 287% over the same period last year ... and search traffic is up double-digits in nearly all 50 states, led by New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut, Washington and West Virginia.

Remember, Supercuts took a huge hit at the start of the outbreak ... and now folks are channeling their inner Edward Scissorhands.

Michael Rapaport's had it up to here politely trying to ask the youth -- and their parents -- to stay indoors ... he's demanding it now, and with some cuss words to spare.

The actor and sports fanatic hopped online Tuesday with a VERY blunt PSA ... except, it ain't anywhere near as calm and collected as some of the others you've seen from your fave celebs over the past few days. Mike's getting nasty, and maybe rightly so.

"GET YOUR F****ING KIDS INSIDE!" -- it's a message to the parents of teens and young adults (probably dumb college kids, mostly) who either still live at home or rely on their parents for dough. In any case, if parents have some authority -- MR wants them to flex it to the fullest extent so their children stop infecting everyone else.

Check out the full 2-and-a-half minute message yourself, 'cause we really can't do it justice. Mike -- never one who's at a loss of words -- finds just the right ones to describe the dummies who disregard social distancing and quarantining ... and insist on partying.

It's kinda crazy -- he says he was asked by the powers that be to do a kosher PSA like most everyone else has been doing ... but he said screw that, and did one that'll resonate and accurately reflect society's outrage. BTW, his message applies to more than the "s**t-stained" kids he's talking to -- anyone screwing around with this outbreak needs to listen up.

Two airline pilots in Southeast Asia abandoned airship after hearing they had potential coronavirus-infected passengers aboard -- and their escape is bonkers.

The video, shot Friday, shows the AirAsia pilots -- moments after they landed in New Dehli, India -- popping out of the cockpit window and getting down to the tarmac that way ... rather than go through the cabin with the rest of the crew and passengers. The reason for their hasty, and awkward, retreat -- there was a rumor they had a couple sneezy travelers.

Check it out ... one pilot opens up a hatch and slithers through, safely making his way onto the airstairs before helping his buddy out. They were acting pretty caj about it, but c'mon ... this ain't normal.

Apparently, word started circulating mid-flight about suspected cases of COVID-19 in the first row -- so it looks like the pilots didn't wanna chance being anywhere near those seats. As it turns out, nobody was actually infected -- AirAsia says the passengers were screened and tested negative. The plane was fumigated and cleansed too.

Still though ... better safe than sorry.

Greta Thunberg -- the 17-year-old climate activist -- says she spent the last 10 days in isolation after coming down with what she believes is COVID-19.

Yeah, listen up young people ... this is important.

Thunberg says she started to feel symptoms -- fatigue, shivers, sore throat and cough -- when she returned to Sweden from a trip around Central Europe roughly 2 weeks ago. Her father, who also traveled with her, had similar symptoms but "much more intense."

In Sweden, Greta says, people are not allowed to test for coronavirus unless they need emergency medical treatment -- so instead of clogging up the healthcare system, she self-isolated instead "in a borrowed apartment away from my mother and sister."

"I have therefore not been tested for COVID-19, but it’s extremely likely that I’ve had it, given the combined symptoms and circumstances."

The good news ... Greta says she's "basically recovered" but she's sending a strong message to young people -- warning them to TAKE EXTREME PRECAUTIONS so they don't infect someone else who might not handle it as well.

"THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE: I almost didn’t feel ill. My last cold was much worse than this! Had it not been for someone else having the virus simultaneously I might not even have suspected anything."

"We who don’t belong to a risk group have an enormous responsibility, our actions can be the difference between life and death for many others."