Viral

Cleveland's mayor left a sour taste in the mouth's of many locals who tuned in to a discussion he had about the city ... referring to The Land as "The World's Butthole."

Mayor Frank Jackson was talking about his fair city and its charms on Wednesday -- but during the Facebook chat, he said yes, he's aware that many perceive Cleveland as Earth's anus ... so to speak. He very quickly made it clear, though, that HE doesn't actually believe that to be the case.

Check it out ... Frank says perception isn't always reality, and if you closely examine Cleveland's GDP and gross domestic capital -- it's actually fairly wealthy in that region of the country.

He's right, BTW ... there've been multiple studies and articles in recent years documenting Cleveland's output -- and the numbers, by and large, are on an upward trend dating back to the early 2000s. Even federal data backs up Cleveland's positive economic status.

Peaceful protesters have been under attack by the Minneapolis PD, often in violation of their First Amendment rights ... according to a new class-action lawsuit.

A woman named Annette Williams is suing the city on behalf of all other peaceful protesters like herself ... who she claims got sprayed by cops with a chemical irritant "in retaliation" for opposing police tactics in the arrest and killing of George Floyd.

Williams says she and her daughter were peacefully protesting on a public sidewalk on May 28 when the Minneapolis PD drove past and sprayed the crowd, which she claims was presenting no danger to police.

She says the irritant was not being used to clear a path for vehicles either, because it was directed at protesters on or around a sidewalk. Williams says it forced her and others to remove face masks worn for COVID-19, and they began coughing uncontrollably.

She says she's "suffered from labored breathing and chest pain interfering with her daily activities" ever since. She adds that the incident had a "chilling effect" and discouraged protesters from exercising their constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly.

On top of all this, Williams claims the arrest of a CNN news crew the following day -- which as we reported, and went down live on the air -- underscores "the city and police force’s open infringement on first amendment rights."

According to the suit ... police have also engaged in a "corral and combat" strategy against protesters in an effort to concentrate them in one location, then gas them and shoot non-lethal projectiles at them. Williams claims this has "no tactical purpose other than injuring otherwise peaceful protestors."

George Floyd's son and the family's attorney are making a powerful call for justice ... from the very site where he was killed.

George's son, Quincy Mason, stood alongside attorney Ben Crump Wednesday on the Minneapolis street where Floyd died. They kneeled to pay their respects, and Quincy spoke to the crowd, saying no man or woman should be without their father ... and he wants justice to be served.

Crump added that justice for the family goes beyond the arrest and now second-degree murder charge for ex-cop Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on George's neck for nearly 9 minutes.

Crump was speaking shortly before the announcement the other 3 ex-officers would also be charged ... but said their arrest and prosecution are also key to the family's pleas for justice.

As we reported ... the Minnesota Attorney general is expected to make an announcement Wednesday afternoon charging Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng in connection to Floyd's death.

Two radio hosts who made racists comments on-air during the Black Lives Matter protests are joining the ranks of the unemployed ... they woke up to find out they were fired.

Kimberly Ray and Barry Beck -- now formerly known as "Kimberly & Beck" on Radio 95.1 WAIO-FM in Rochester, NY -- were canned Wednesday morning after repeatedly referring to the "n-word" on-air Tuesday during their discussion of #BLM and local protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's death.

The former cohosts were talking about a viral video appearing to show a local couple being attacked by looters when Kimberly asked Barry, "Were they acting n-word-ish?"

Kimberly did not explicitly use the full racial slur, but she continued to ask her cohost if the alleged attackers were acting "n-word-ly."

Beck took a cue from Donald Trump and threw around words like "thugs," saying ... "If you look like a thug and if you act like a thug, and you’ve got three on one beating up a white woman with a two-by-four, by God, you’re a thug."

The fired hosts kept digging a bigger hole ... they also discussed whether they could even utter the phrase "n-word" and concluded, "no one's offended by that."

Well, tons of folks were offended ... Kimberly and Beck faced instant backlash on social media after their recorded comments went viral, and people called for their jobs and asked advertisers to drop their sponsorship.

As we reported ... former Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear also lost his job over controversial #BLM comments. Napear resigned Tuesday after facing major heat for tweeting "All Lives Matter."

Kimberly and Beck are no strangers to controversy ... they were booted from another Rochester radio station way back in 2014 after ridiculing transgender people. Four months later, Radio 95.1 hired them as afternoon weekday hosts.

A man was wrestled to the ground by cops, and then momentarily got the snot beat out of him ... before a vigilant eyewitness called them out and forced them to stop.

The outrageous scene was shot in Compton, CA, earlier this week, and it shows L.A. County Sheriff's deputies attempting to detain a guy from behind some type of wall, sorta hidden from plain view. Somebody is filming from afar, unbeknownst to the officers.

At first, it looks like the guy's resisting -- but eventually ... they get him on the ground, and he makes it clear that he's not fighting them anymore. Not enough for these deputies though, it seems, 'cause at least one more rushes over and they start to pound on him.

It's crazy too ... before the beating -- which involved fists and knees -- one of the deputies looks around, as if to see if anyone is watching them. A few seconds into the thrashing, somebody else aside from the cameraman calls out, asking why they're whooping on him.

That forces all the deputies to halt immediately, and that's where the video cuts out.

LASD tells us, yes, these are their guys ... and an investigation into the use of force by the deputies is underway. If misconduct is found, we're told a personnel complaint will be filed.

Cops pulled a drive-by on some black kids in Los Angeles. Seriously, and it's all on video.

To be fair to cops, the video doesn't show how this interaction started, but the conclusion is suspicious. The group of about 5 to 6 apparent teens -- many with backpacks and skateboards -- were walking on a sidewalk, and not in the middle of a protest.

Suddenly, an L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. cruiser pulled up on the street corner and unleashed a hail of rubber bullets on the group of kids ... who were already running away from the cops.

Again, we don't yet know what sparked this confrontation, but here's what's clear from the video -- at the moment the shooting started, the kids were calmly walking together down the street. The video caught the attention of Lil Nas X who tweeted, "This is why we need to push as hard as ever this time."

To Lil Nas' point ... this appears to be exactly the kind of police behavior against which millions are protesting right now.

We've reached out to the Sheriff's Dept for more information.

Carole Baskin's vanished husband's dying wishes appear to have been concocted by somebody other than him -- so says the local sheriff still investigating the case.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told WTSP where things stood in his investigation of Don Lewis' mysterious disappearance ... which was documented on 'Tiger King.'

He said they actually had some new developments -- namely, that they've confirmed his will was, in fact, a forgery.

Sheriff Chronister doesn't even try to hedge -- he says they had two experts take a look at it, and both concluded the same thing ... it's a fake. He also says that's something his office already knew, going on to say his team was following up on some promising new leads.

Here's why the will is so important ... it has a bizarre clause that says in case of Don's disappearance Carole gets everything. Talk to any estate planning expert and they will tell you ... they've NEVER seen a clause like that -- EVER.

Now, for some bad news for folks who want justice for Don ... Sheriff Chronister says despite what he and his detectives found -- including possible malfeasance on the part of Carole -- it might end up being moot by the end of it ... 'cause there's not much they can do to charge her criminally. It's the same that often foils cases like these ... too much time.

Even on the civil end of things, the Sheriff says a judge has already deemed the will valid ... which is what allowed Carole to inherit pretty much all of Don's assets and wealth. So, not much can be done there either. Still, dude sounds determined to get to the truth.

An apparent agitator in the middle of a peaceful protest's car is burned out ... after the firework he tried to leave got thrown back into his car by a protester.

The crazy incident went down Tuesday in Riverside, CA after a man pulled into the middle of the street, stepped out and laid down what looks like a Molotov cocktail. You can see from the video the stunt immediately backfired on him because a protester -- trying to keep the march peaceful -- grabbed the smoking bottle and tried tossing it right back into dude's car!!!

The agitator made a failed attempt to get it out of the vehicle but ended up ducking for cover. The bottle never actually made it inside the car but it fired directly into the car's interior and you can see the fireworks go off. You can also see the unattended car roll in reverse before some good folks jumped in and put the car in park.

It's a stark illustration of what's been happening in a lot of the protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of ex-cop Derek Chauvin.

Peaceful demonstrations interrupted by agitators trying to amp up violence. This time peaceniks fought back.

Hollywood is showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement ... with tons of huge celebs taking to the streets of Los Angeles to protest in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Machine Gun Kelly carried a sign that read, "Stop Arresting Protesters! Arrest Killer Cops!!" as he marched alongside Travis Barker, who had his own sign saying, "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE."

Logan Paul reunited with his ex, Josie Canseco, for the protest through Hollywood ... and Halsey walked alongside her ex, Yungblud, for their second L.A. protest together. As you can see, Logan busted out a "BLACK LIVES MATTER" sign.

Other celebs joining the massive protest included ... Emily Ratajkowski and her husband, Sebastian McClard, plus Mod Sun, Cara Santana, DeRay Davis and Tinashe.

Ben Affleck and girlfriend Ana De Armas also joined the protest ranks ... with Ben carrying signs in support of #BLM and a Baptist church in Venice.

An NYPD officer was hit by a car and propelled in the air during disturbances early Tuesday morning in the Bronx.

An unmarked police car was responding to a commercial burglary at around 12:45 AM when cops saw a bunch of people at the location. A sergeant got out of his car and just as he stepped out a black sedan peeled off, striking the Sgt. ... hurling him into the air.

The sergeant -- a 30-year veteran of the NYPD -- was taken to the hospital where he's in serious but stable condition. Cops are looking for the sedan and the occupants.

The woman in the blue shirt at the center of the video -- her name is Monette -- later explained to the Fox11 reporter what happened ... and why she wasn't going to let looters get into the liquor store owned by her longtime friend.

Monette says her husband and brother-in-law were detained along with her before cops realized they were trying to help. Monette adds that she understands what these protests are all about and supports them ... but she doesn't want her community destroyed. She warns, though, that there will be further unrest until justice for George Floyd is served.

It's one of the most incredible things so far to play out on live TV following the brutal killing of George Floyd.

Several people who were protecting their community liquor store from would-be looters were grabbed, put up against a wall and cuffed ... and it might even underscore the root problems that have been festering for decades.

As you see in the video ... an African-American woman tries to protect the store. She's a community leader who was trying to restore peace, and she was joined by one or two people who either owned or worked in the store.

There were people right in their faces, and it's reasonable to believe the store was in danger. The woman ran for help, calling out for the police. When they came, they targeted her. The reporter, Christina Gonzalez, from Fox11, was pleading with the police to let them go, explaining they were not the looters. The police, who knew Christina well, were unmoved, at least temporarily.

Words don't do this justice ... watch the video.

This is heartbreaking and so hard to watch ... but rioters in Austin destroyed the small comfort of a homeless man by setting his mattress ablaze, and you hear his anger and torment.

It happened over the weekend ... you see a rioter toss the mattress onto a bonfire on the sidewalk, and the homeless man cries out, "I live here!"

He says, "I live here. What the f*** are you doing?" He's not yelling at the perpetrator ... that person fled as soon as he did the damage. The homeless man was speaking to the camera ... as if pleading for help from anyone who would listen.

The girl who captured George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis PD officers on video is getting through the trauma of the ordeal thanks to therapy and a change of scenery, while remaining an important part of the case ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... 17-year-old Darnella Frazier says she's utterly traumatized after recording the incident in which officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to suffocate George, largely because she's been the target of unfair criticism and backlash since the video got released.

She's also been facing a media frenzy -- dealing with reporters and an onslaught of attention -- and, of course, there's the trauma of just witnessing George's death firsthand.

Darnella's attorney, Seth B. Cobin, tells us that she and her family are no longer staying at her house in South Minneapolis, which is literally around the corner from the scene where Floyd was brutally killed.

We're told the family decided to relocate to an undisclosed spot -- police were not involved -- to remove themselves from the constant attention and strangers coming to their door.

Darnella's neighborhood has understandably become a flashpoint for Minneapolis protests, so the family felt it was best to get away from that for now.

Cobin tells us Darnella's also begun seeing a therapist who specializes in trauma, and it's working for her. Otherwise, she's keeping her mind busy with her school work.

As for her role in Floyd's murder case ... Darnella -- along with her mother and Attorney Cobin -- met with investigators from the FBI Civil Rights Divison and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Saturday to give them her statement.

Cobin says it was a very important step for them to speak to the main witness, and Darnella is doing her part. Cobin says, "It's not an easy story to tell. You're going back to that place in your head and that's not an easy way to go back. It was emotional for her to recount her story, and for all of us to hear it."

Darnella's phone was taken to a crime lab so they can extract the original video and use it as evidence in Chauvin's trial. We're told investigators are trying to get in touch with other witnesses seen or heard in her video, as well.

Folks who looted the Apple Store at The Grove are in for a rude awakening ... they won't be able to use or pawn the stolen gadgets, thanks to some tech foresight and amateur thievery.

Here's the deal ... while looters probably thought they were getting away with grabbing an expensive toy off the showroom shelves at the Apple Store, they basically ended up with paperweights.

Our sources tell us ... the phones and laptops stolen from the Apple Store are demos, and they come equipped with special programs that prevent the products from being reset to factory settings, rendering them almost useless.

The looters are already figuring it out ... looted phones are displaying messages that read, "This device has been disabled and is being tracked. Local authorities will be alerted."

We're told the looters, who ransacked the popular outdoor shopping mall over the weekend, were unable to break into the Apple Store's highly-secured area, where the goods for sale are kept.

It's good news for Apple ... our sources say the recent looting at Apple Stores across the country, which includes at least two Apple Stores in L.A., is not as bad as it looked at first glance.

Here is the $88,500 check that Floyd Mayweather is sending to the Fort Bend Memorial funeral home ... to cover the costs of George Floyd's funeral services.

A rep for Mayweather tells us George Floyd's family has accepted FM's offer to pay for the funeral services.

Floyd Mayweather has offered to pay for George Floyd's funeral services ... with the boxing superstar personally vowing to help Floyd's family grieve their loss.

TMZ Sports has confirmed ... Mayweather is offering to finance all 4 services for Floyd in Houston, Minnesota, Charlotte and another location to be named at a later date.

We're told Mayweather felt it was the right thing to do after learning Anzel Jennings -- CEO of the TMT music label -- grew up with George.

Mayweather's people added ... Floyd is just doing what he feels is right in his heart.

It's unclear if George Floyd's family has accepted Mayweather's offer.

Hollywood Unlocked first reported the story.

George Floyd had fentanyl in his system when he was killed, and died from a  heart attack ... according to the medical examiner.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner released its toxicology findings and say George died from cardiopulmonary arrest ... which complicated law enforcement's subdual, restraint and neck compression of him. That is critical, but the report also says this under "how the injury occurred" -- it says George experienced "a cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement."

In other words ... he suffered a heart attack while they were arresting him, and that complicated their efforts to subdue him.

The report says George had fentanyl in his system, and they also found signs of recent methamphetamine use. It also says his manner of death is homicide.

The results were released just hours after the Floyd family's independent autopsy showed he died from "mechanical asphyxia" ... due to Derek Chauvin's knee on his neck, and another officer on his back.