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The sister of the longtime Wendy's employee with Down Syndrome who was recently unceremoniously canned is lashing out at the franchise.

Dennis Peek worked at a Wendy's in Stanley, North Carolina for 20 years, was fired without notice a few days back, and now his sister claims managers at the fast food joint told her Dennis couldn't do his job like a "normal" person.

Dennis's sister, Cona Young Turner, wrote on Facebook, "I am heart broken to say they have fired him ... They told me was unable to perform the duties of a normal persons job."

She went on ... "His dream was to retire from there some day and he was looking forward to a huge retirement party, we may just give him that party and tell him he has retired because he does not understand being fired."

She now says Wendy's has offered Dennis his job back, but he's not biting. She also says she's looking into filing a wrongful termination lawsuit of a special needs worker.

Cona says Dennis was deeply hurt by the firing, but she's gonna throw him a big retirement bash.

Ryan Reynolds despises his one-time costar T.J. Miller -- at least according to T.J. Miller ... who's kinda giving the guy even more cause to not like him after these spicy remarks.

The ex-'Deadpool' star sat down for a chat on 'The Adam Carolla Show' -- where he revealed part of the reason why he believes he might not be in the forthcoming second sequel (aka, 'Deadpool 3') and, in his eyes, it all has to do with RR hating his guts for some reason.

He recounted a story in which he claims Ryan berated him during the filming of a scene in one of the first 2 films. He says Ryan, playing Wade/Deadpool, improvised some super mean lines while addressing him in character as Weasel ... but TJM thinks he was actually just operating under the guise of acting to take some pot shots at him personally.

Miller says Ryan, as Deadpool, told him/Weasel that no one really liked him and that he wasn't funny ... and that he only served as temporary comedic relief that nobody (including the audience) cared about ... basically calling him unnecessary for 'Deadpool' at large.

It was a pretty awkward exchange, so says T.J. -- who claims the crew was just as stunned by the on-set teardown which felt very real. Since then, he says, his relationship with Ryan has soured -- and, obviously, it has with the studio since he isn't going to be in 'DP3.'

But the way T.J. frames it here ... he makes it seem like he's the one who wants nothing to do with Ryan -- saying he wouldn't work with him ever again, going on to openly wonder why he dislikes him so much ... and going further by suggesting RR was jealous/insecure.

T.J. has a lot to say about what he perceives as flaws in Ryan's character ... especially as he got incredibly more famous with the Deadpool gig. He even makes some observations about Blake Lively and their image -- or "brand," as he and his pals call it -- as a couple.

It should be noted ... right as 'Deadpool 2' was coming out, Miller was dealing with very serious sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied. Still, you gotta imagine that may have played a part in either Ry and/or studio heads weighing his future involvement.

Rep. Sean Casten is revealing how his daughter died unexpectedly earlier this summer -- saying her heart simply gave out ... without any explanation whatsoever.

The U.S. congressman from Illinois broke the sad news Friday -- elaborating on his earth-shattering post from June ... when he told the world his 17-year-old, Gwen, had passed away suddenly. At the time, he didn't share any details ... but now, he's shedding some light.

Casten says Gwen died of a cardiac arrhythmia -- adding, "[S]he was fine, and then her heart stopped. We don't know what caused the arrhythmia, and likely never will."

The Representative says his daughter was a healthy teen who got regular checkups, exercised, ate well, didn't suffer from any behavioral health issues and had strong relationships with her friends and family. He notes ... she was also fully vaccinated.

Casten says Gwen came home one night after a night out with friends, and didn't wake up the next morning -- something doctors haven't been able to make sense of ... and ditto for the family. He says they're completely heartbroken and devastated -- exacerbated by such a freak thing with no real rational reason behind it. This is rare, he says, but it happens.

He ends his thoughts with a poignant remark ... "None of us know when our last heartbeat will come. The best we can hope for is when our loved ones do pass, we will have no regrets about the time we were lucky enough to share."

Casten finishes with this -- "So hug the folks you love a little harder today. Be present in their lives. And spread your love a little farther. Because in the end, it's all that matters."

The "Stranger Things" themed Halloween display taking the Internet by storm ... is also drawing too much attention for one neighbor -- that got it all shut down, but now the homeowners are striking back to turn it on again.

Aubrey Appel tells TMZ ... she and her husband, Dave, turned the lights off on their display Sunday, and took down the levitating Max figure after a neighbor called the police. However, no official complaint was filed.

For those unaware, the insane display in Plainfield, Illinois is highlighted by Max Mayfield from the Netflix series seemingly floating in midair ... a reference to the latest season of the show.

Their setup's gone viral during this Halloween season, apparently too viral for some! Aubrey says the neighbor in question called cops after someone pulled into their driveway and walked on their lawn to check out the Appels' home.

Aubrey and Dave tell us they had reached out to all their neighbors before putting up the 'ST' homage and had the neighborhoods' full support. After the one neighbor's complaint, they were planning on taking everything down this week -- but had a change of heart due to the overwhelming amount of support they were getting.

Dave met with City Manager James Capparelli Wednesday and was told they were doing nothing wrong and had nothing but support for their home haunt.

Moving forward, they'll only be in full operation on weekend nights ... people can still take a look during the day if they want, but the lights will be off. Max will be "levitating" as long as winds are below 10 MPH, otherwise she'll be at her stepbrother Billy's gravesite.

President Biden had another one of those moments, where he became so engrossed in a convo he forgot there was a hot mic ... and it was something!

The Prez was in Florida to survey the damage from Hurricane Ian, and had just held a joint news conference with FL Governor Ron DeSantis. He was talking to Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy. It's unclear what the 2 were chatting about, but at one point the President blurts out, "No one f***s with a Biden." The Mayor responds, "You're goddamn right!"

Biden then says, "You can't argue with your brother outside the house." The Mayor says, "That's exactly right."

It seems -- SEEMS -- they may be talking about the fact Biden and DeSantis -- who could end up going head-to-head in 2024 -- shared the stage and came together to deal with the disaster, but we don't know.

It's reminiscent of Biden's famous f-bomb that he dropped when he was Veep, turning to Barack Obama near a hot mic after their health care reform victory, saying, "This is a big f***ing deal!"

Mike Tyson accidentally duped fans with an intense sparring video he just posted on social media ... because while a ton of people assumed the clip was recent -- it's actually a few years old.

Iron Mike shared the workout footage earlier Tuesday morning ... captioning the post, "Roll with the punches."

56-year-old Mike looks incredible in the video ... so we had to reach out to his camp to find out if he was training for any particular reason.

The vid had people excited -- as a potential event could have been on the horizon.

As it turns out, we're told the vid is a throwback from before his fight against Roy Jones Jr. ... and Mike just wanted to share the moment with his 19.4 million followers.

As we previously reported, Mike recently dealt with a sciatica flare-up ... which forced him to use a cane and wheelchair.

But, don't give up hope just yet ... 'cause you never know in the fight game. After all, Tyson's just two years removed from the Jones fight.

The "Try Guys" are breaking down their decision to remove Ned Fulmer from the team ... after he admitted cheating on his wife with one of the group's producers.

Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld, and Eugene Lee Yang uploaded an explanation video Monday, simply titling it "what happened." The trio says they reached out to Ned and the producer after they were seen kissing in public.

The guys don't use the producer's name here, but Ned's confirmed it was Alex Herring ... and even admitted their relationship had been going on for some time.

Keith says the team had no idea this was going on behind the scenes -- adding they were just as shocked as everyone else when they learned the news.

The crew quickly started working with a slew of lawyers and HR sources to make sure every step of the process was handled. Eugene puts it plainly -- they weren't going to sweep this incident under the rug.

Ned's since been edited out of recent videos and merch -- they even had to scrap some videos that were unsalvagable, likely due to it heavily featuring Ned. However, they are moving forward with a new season of their Food Network show 'No Recipe Road Trip' ... and say they've done some heavy editing to remove Ned.

It's unclear what Alex's status is with the company following the scandal.

As we reported, Ned and his wife Ariel seem to be hashing things out after his termination ... they were spotted picking up their kids together last week -- both still wearing their wedding rings.

As Hurricane Ian's death toll climbs -- more than 100 people so far -- this terrifying clip shows the storm's destructive power ... as wind and waves rip entire buildings off their foundations.

The time-lapse footage shows a Fort Myers Beach street just as the flooding slowly begins, and then, over several hours, builds into a deadly 15-foot storm surge. Palm trees were nearly covered, and a red home starts swaying as the surf continues pounding at it.

Eventually, the floodwater completely washes away the building ... and you see it drift away as just another piece of debris in the deluge.

The storm chasers who uploaded the footage reported a family was in the house when it was ripped from the ground ... but somehow survived -- despite floating away in the building.

The sky is eerily red when the storm finally passes ... showing all the destruction that Ian took with it.

The Fort Myers Beach Pier -- a famous landmark -- has also been ripped to shreds, with nothing but the foundation remaining.

Devin Booker is clapping back at the haters after the Suns lost to an Australian basketball team on Sunday ... by posting LeBron James' infamous reaction to losing the 2011 NBA Finals.

Booker and the Suns -- who played all five starters -- lost to the Adelaide 36ers, 134-124, in their first preseason game ... the first time an NBA team lost to a National Basketball League team.

After the L, Book posted a screenshot of LeBron's viral speech following the Heat's Finals loss ... adding the caption, "Mood."

Remember, LBJ was asked if he was bothered by fans rooting for his downfall ... and the King offered an honest, candid response -- but it was met with backlash for how it came across.

"At the end of the day, all the people that's rooting for me to fail, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today," James said.

"They can get a few days or a few months on being happy about not only myself but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point."

James would clarify his comments a few days later ... stating he wasn't saying he was superior to others, but rather everyone has to move on with their lives, good or bad.

Trouble on the waterfront in Ohio -- a couple of fishermen have been accused of cheating to make their catches seem heavier than they were ... and the video proof is damning.

Chase Cominski and Jake Runyan -- both locals -- were apparently caught stuffing their walleye with weights and other debris ... with things coming to a head on Friday as their fish were being weighed, and then cut open to expose the truth on Lake Erie.

As you can see, tourney officials started pulling out these little metal balls from the insides of the fish that Cominski and Runyan had up for consideration -- some are saying they're made of lead, but in any case ... they seem to have been jammed in for extra poundage.

There are also slices of what some claim are fish fillets -- in other words, these guys are alleged to have cut pieces of other fish and stuffed them inside as well, clandestinely.

Some outlets are reporting that these two fellas were actually the frontrunners of this tournament -- dubbed the Lake Erie Walleye Trail in Cleveland's Gordon Park -- but that obviously came to a screeching halt when everyone caught wind of what had happened.

You can hear the utter outrage from people on the ground ... they were screaming at these guys, demanding answers and even threatening to call the police. Runyan was asked on camera if he had anything to say for himself -- but he stayed silent and just looked on.

There are reports of the fisherman going on to win other contests in and around the area -- and now, all of the accolades (and prize money) they've racked up are coming into question.

The official event page on FB had a harsh statement, calling out these gentlemen as straight-up cheaters. They write, "Disgusted guys and gals, I’m sorry for letting you down for so long and I’m glad I caught cheating taking place in YOUR LEWT at the same time."

It's that time of the year again -- when everyone makes jokes about Billie Joe Armstrong ... and he's totally in on it, despite how difficult of a time this is in reality.

The Green Day frontman tried to get ahead of all the memes and posts that inevitably were posted anyway -- taking to the GD Instagram account to throw up a photo of himself floating on a giant rubber ducky with a drink in hand.

His caption is pretty simple ... "GOOD MORNING. YOU’RE WELCOME." BJA noted that he's in Singapore right now, and it seems he's on a bit of vacay -- which is also telling.

What we're talking about, of course, is his band's famous song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" ... and all the cracks that are online right now, making fun of the fact that Billie must be rising from his month-long slumber on October 1st.

It's all in good fun -- at least on the surface anyway. The problem, though, is that there's a bit of a dark origin story to that classic ditty ... and it has to do with Billie's father and him passing away when he was a young boy, back in September of '82 to be exact.

This is well-chronicled ... as BJA has gone on record many times over the years to explain this, noting that the song is about him dealing with a hard time in his life and having to process the death anniversary of his father -- which he did through this song.

Seems like most people are simply unaware of this hard truth -- which is fine, but going forward -- folks should probably chill on the Billie jokes every October 1st ... 'cause like we said, it's actually a sore subject for the guy. Although he's clowning around here, it's gotta be tough.

Elon Musk might need to step it up in Tesla robotics department -- because his signature droid doesn't hold a candle to the ones from Boston Dynamics ... so says Twitter anyway.

The CEO was on hand Friday as his company unveiled some new toys as part of their AI Day -- including a self-controlled humanoid bot that they call Optimus ... which actually trotted itself out on stage and moved around a bit in front of a (mostly less-than-impressed) crowd.

For starters, this thing walked very slowly and gingerly ... and did a little examination of his five-fingered hands, plus a wave, before walking back at tortoise-like speed. It also didn't look all that aesthetically pleasing. EM said this was the first time Optimus had walked alone without a tether, so they were taking it easy ... as he didn't want it to "fall on its face." Oof.

He went on to claim Optimus is capable of doing fairly complex tasks (even now) that humans will eventually be able to ask for on-demand on the market -- but much of Tech Twitter wasn't buying it ... especially as a bunch of BD videos popped up in comparison.

The reason ... Boston Dynamics' bots -- especially Atlas -- are VERY advanced, and can apparently do a heck of a lot more than what Elon's creation can at this point. Their videos often go viral, particularly when they do complex dance routines and backflips, etc.

Aside from the mocking, there was genuine disappointment in Elon's demonstration ... with many saying he should've just waited until he had something more flashy to show.

Minnesota Wild player Brandon Baddock inadvertently socked a linesman in the face while fighting with Dallas Stars winger Jerad Rosburg during a preseason game ... and gotta say, refs got a chin!

It all went down Thursday night during the Minnesota Wild's game against the Stars ... Baddock was fighting Rosburg on the ice when linesman CJ Murray attempted to break up the scrap.

In the clip, you see Baddock elbow Rosburg, whose jersey was over his face ... prompting Murray to separate the two players.

At that moment, Baddock fired a straight right ... and it connected with the referee.

Murray, a former hockey player (probably why he didn't crumble to the ground), eventually restored order -- separating both players -- and it appears nobody was injured.

It was obviously an accident ... but, good luck getting a favorable call now.

While the state of Florida is waking up to total devastation, there's at least one woman who owes her life to some brave firefighters who pulled her from her submerged vehicle.

Hurricane Ian ravaged Naples Wednesday, and one woman clearly thought she'd be OK to drive, before getting swept up in the current. Wild footage from the rescue shows a firefighter smashing the rear passenger window -- as the water continues to rise over the hood of the woman's car.

You can tell from the video, the woman was unable to get her door open, so the firefighter almost certainly saved her life. Securing her with a lifejacket before moving her to safety.

Collier County officials announced half the streets in Naples weren't passable due to high water ... so unclear if the woman just hadn't gotten the warning, or thought she was good to go.

Whoever said "necessity is the mother of invention" probably wasn't thinking about TV reporters putting condoms up to their mouths in the middle of a hurricane ... but, yeah, that's a thing now!

NBC's Kyla Galer is practicing safe reporting down in Florida as Hurricane Ian roars across the state -- proudly, and gently we're sure, rolling out latex protection for her microphones while out in the field.

As Kyla's pointing out to curious viewers ... "It is what you think it is. It's a condom. We can't get these mics wet ... so, we gotta do what we gotta do."

Translation: No glove, no love live shots from this reporter!

Just to wrap this up ... Kyla's getting pounded in the Naples area, just south of where Ian's eye came onshore Wednesday. She, and tons of other TV reporters, are out in the elements getting whipped by heavy wind and rain -- but a little prophylactic preparation goes a long way.

A Florida weatherman is feeling Twitter's wrath after posting a video of a struggling kitten in Hurricane Ian -- and not being able to bring it to safety -- as conditions in the area continue to worsen and pose life-threatening risks to anyone who dares to go out in the storm.

WINK-TV meteorologist Dylan Federico posted a short clip of the kitten outside the Fort Myers TV station clinging to a bench with water and wind thrashing all around it. Federico's caption read, "Storm surge is rising rapidly outside WINK News. A kitten is on the bench trying to escape the water. The doors are locked but we're trying to get the kitten inside."

More than an hour passed without an update on the kitten from Federico ... and his followers got PISSED.

One Twitter user wrote, "Less filming, more saving. If the water ain’t as high as a bench, you sure as heck can go out there and get that baby." Another said, "bro, save the cat! For the love of god!"

Dylan eventually deleted the post -- and the anger on social media continued. Another person wrote, "You may have deleted the video but none of us will ever forgive you. Cowardly, cruel and inhumane."

Finally, a couple hours after the video first went up, Federico Tweeted, "Right after the video was posted we attempted to get to the cat but it swam in a different direction out of view. I waited to post an update in hopes we could grab it. Please take your companions with you when you evacuate."

What's more, a source with direct knowledge tells us staffers were given strict instructions to stay inside the building as conditions continue to worsen and going outside could prove deadly.

On a better note ... one video showed a dog and a kitten rescued from a sailboat Wednesday while the storm hammered boats in a harbor.