Viral

The famous TikTok lady you see acting like computer game characters on "LIVE" says she isn't trying to trick anyone into thinking she isn't Black ... despite claims of critics and some visual evidence.

We got internet sensation Pinkydoll at LAX Tuesday, where we asked what she made of people being demonstrably shocked over her recent appearance onstage at the 2023 Streamy Awards ... where she did her whole "NPC" shtick while presenting an award.

If you're unfamiliar ... it's a big fad on TikTok, and other live-streaming apps, where hosts repeat silly catchphrases and mimic a non-player character from video games -- something gamers apparently LOVE watching, so much so, they send her digital gifts and money!

Pinkydoll is easily the most recognizable face in that world lately ... but, as you can see here on camera, she's a dark-skinned African-American woman -- and looks quite different from how she usually does on her NPC livestreams, where her skin's much lighter.

Twitter was perplexed to see Pinkydoll is actually darker in the flesh ... and some accused her of trying to purposely bait people into thinking she's some race other than Black.

She's strongly denying that, though, telling our camera guy she's proud of her melanin -- and she offers an explanation for the obvious skin tone difference. Now, whether you buy it ... that's up to you.

One thing that isn't debatable is Pinkydoll's NPC personality is bleeding over into real life ... watch the video, 'cause it feels like we were talking to a bit of a robot in person.

With that said, she makes clear this profession is paying the bills and then some -- and she's gonna keep doing her thing, even though a ton of wannabes are hopping on her bandwagon.

Mmmm, ice cream ... thanks for the roses! 😋

For more influencer news, tune in to the TMZ Verified podcast. Dropping every Thursday on all podcast platforms.

Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was accosted out of nowhere by a couple of fans ... getting knocked to the ground during his team's Monday night game against the Colorado Rockies.

The bizarre incident went down in the 7th inning at Denver's Coors Field when one fan dashed into the outfield and gave Acuña a huge hug.

Check out the video ... the hugger won't let go of Acuña as security guards run up to them and try to break it up.

Eventually, the guards pull the dude off Acuña ... but Acuña isn't out of the woods just yet.

Another fan sprints up to Acuña and bumps into him, causing him to fall on his butt. More guards respond and haul away the two rowdy men.

As for Acuña ... he told reporters after the game he was okay, but felt a bit scared by the fans, who wanted to take photos with him.

We've reached out to Denver PD to see if they got involved ... so far no word back.

By the way, the Braves trounced the Rockies 14-4 ... and Acuña had one of his biggest games of the year despite the incident, logging 5 RBIs.

The guy who got chastised (and then defended) at Adele's concert is sorry the people behind him were bothered -- but says they have legs ... and should use them next time.

We talked to Juan Pablo -- who went viral after Adele stood up for him Saturday night in Vegas, this after security and other guests were trying to muzzle him -- and he tells TMZ he doesn't really have any regrets about how he handled things that night.

JP says he does feel bad for those who might've been blocked by him standing up in front of them -- but in the same breath, tells us they could've stood up too ... solving the problem.

The video he took of himself -- on a selfie stick, which some found obnoxious -- is one he hopes to hold on to forever ... that's what he's telling us, anyway. While critics have accused him of clout-chasing, Juan says he was just trying to preserve a memory in real-time.

Listen to what he wants Adele to know in the wake of all this ... he's clearly very grateful -- and can't thank her enough for making him feel included and not like a troublemaker.

BTW, it sounds like all's well that ends well -- 'cause after the whole incident, he actually made peace with the security guard who was talking to him ... posing for a selfie with the guy. Juan tells us the dude wasn't even all that confrontational -- and was just trying to get him to settle down a bit.

Adele was obviously fine with his level of enthusiasm, so his advice to the seat-fillers might be the best thing they can to enjoy themselves ... stand up and sing, it's Adele!

We covered the story on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.

The woman who went viral for freaking out on a plane is hitting the skies again, hoping for a different outcome -- but still doing her damnedest to keep people wondering what, if anything, she "saw" that day.

We got Tiffany Gomas Monday at LAX, where she'd just landed after flying in -- thankfully, incident-free -- from Dallas, but we had to ask her about the now infamous incident ... and where things stand now.

Check it out, our guy asks how she feels being back in a terminal again, and she says she's a little nervous considering her recent history.

She also admits she's just a bit more mindful about her actions while in the cabin of a plane and expects to keep her cool. In fact, she says she wishes she woulda done that to begin with.

Then we get to the million-dollar question Tiffany has yet to answer: What the hell did you see???

Even in her initial apology remarks to us a few weeks ago, she avoided the topic -- and sadly for people dying to know ... she continues to play coy, refusing to elaborate on the source of her meltdown.

Take a look to see why she's opting to remain tight-lipped. Gotta say ... her not-so-clever tease reeks of shameless self-promotion. Welcome to Hollywood, we guess!

Even cops couldn't get a clear response out of her -- caught on bodycam -- when they interviewed her the day she declared, "That motherf***** is not real!!!"

The guy Adele defended this weekend in Vegas appeared to be getting hassled by security without due cause -- but he recorded the whole incident, so it's now clear why security came over, and why she stood up for him.

The fan in question goes by @juanp_lastra on TikTok, and he was filming himself Saturday night while attending Adele's Vegas residency at Caesars. As you can see -- he was very much into the festivities ... standing up and belting out every lyric while she performed.

On its face, this would seem like NBD -- it is a concert after all -- but it looks like some folks behind him were bothered by him blocking their view ... one of 'em came up and told him so.

Juan here was sorta shamed into sitting down and piping down for a bit -- but it wasn't long before he was up and singing again. Once again, someone came up to him to address it -- only this time, it was a security guard working the venue.

That's when Adele spoke up and asked what the heck was going on ... noting that she'd been seeing him get bothered the whole time she was up on stage. At first, security didn't appear to notice she was talking to them -- but as soon as they did, they dropped it.

Of course, this fella was ecstatic Adele came to his defense, and thanked her online -- but he's re-ignited the ol' debate about how amped a fan can/should be at concerts.

Quite a moment, indeed -- and once again, it proves Adele loves her loyal supporters.

It's just the latest example of her connecting with her fan base, and explains why people love her. Remember, she had other highlights this weekend too ... so this was the cherry on top.

This grandfather is lookin' his best and achieving celebrity status while he's at it ... because he's gained quite the following remaking iconic looks from a bunch of A-listers.

77-year-old Alojz Abram has garnered 1.7M followers on Instagram through the page of his grandson, Jannik Diefenbach, and fans are convinced gramps -- who emigrated from Slovenia to Germany more than 55 years ago -- is drowning in some serious drip.

Alojz and his grandson have made some near-perfect replicas of fashion choices by the likes of Kanye West, Kylie Jenner, and even Bernie Sanders' viral inauguration look from 2021.

The fashionable duo tells TMZ ... they've been doing these popular pics since Christmas 2016, and the followers started rolling in not long after that. We're told they pick and choose between celebs they're both into, as well as whoever's big at the moment.

Jannik does a lot of the research and prep -- finding the outfits and the right poses to recreate -- but it all goes to Grandpa for final approval.

Jannik says they've gotten DMs from celebs as their online presence continues to grow, and even got an invite to the DIOR x Travis Scott show at Paris Fashion Week ... which they say was their "favorite show ever."

'Barbie' has been beaten out for the second weekend in a row -- but not by much ... if anything, her competitors are barely squeaking by -- which says a lot about this juggernaut.

The box office numbers are in, and the latest big movie to hit theaters this weekend was "Gran Turismo" -- the film based on the video game, which chronicles the true story about how a gamer turned into a professional race car driver ... all from picking up a controller.

The movie -- starring Archie Madekwe, David Harbour and Orlando Bloom -- took first place, raking in only $17.3 million domestically ... this just ahead of 'Barbie's' $17.1 mil.

What that tells you ... people are still flocking to see Margot Robbie and co., even 5 weeks later. In other words, 'Barbie' has a lot of staying power -- and it continues to dominate.

Last week, WB's other release -- the superhero flick 'Blue Beetle' -- was the first to dethrone 'Barbie' from the top spot ... but, again, it did so by a hair. 'BB' made just $25 million or so during its debut weekend, only $4M-$5M more than 'Barbie' did that same weekend.

So, even then ... 'Barbie' still performed quite well, and that's likely to be the case for these next few weeks.

The immediate upcoming blockbusters that'll have a shot at 'Barbie' include ... Denzel in 'The Equalizer 3' (Sep. 1), 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3' and 'The Nun II (Sep. 8) and finally ... 'A Haunting in Venice' (Sep. 15). After that, there'll be a lot more heavyweights heading into October ... which will almost certainly knock 'Barbie' down a few pegs in the rankings.

Bottom line here is pretty simple ... 'Barbie' has proven to be the smash hit of the year (thus far), and it's rolling in the dough and then some as it continues to attract ticket sales. No word when it'll be on streaming services -- at this rate, Warner shouldn't be in a rush.

Bad Bunny probably ain't gonna be the face of Manscaped anytime soon -- especially south of the equator -- 'cause the dude's letting the hedges run wild ... just look for yourself.

The Latin rapper/pop star appears to be on vacation right now -- or, at the very least, recently was -- and he's throwing up a crap ton of pictures on his Instagram story right now that's documenting the trip, which appears to be somewhere quite scenic and outdoorsy.

Of all the photos he's posting, one in particular has caught the Internet's attention -- it's a nude selfie, which shows BB silhouetted ... and which teases his junk toward the bottom.

His penis isn't totally exposed, but the top of it most certainly is ... a tease for the ages.

Yes, Twitter's losing right now over his hot shot ... but what's also noticeable are his pubes -- which are robust and aplenty. In other words, he's rocking a very vintage look. BTW, the way people know this is because his original photo has been brightened -- including by us -- so we can all get a peek at the goods. Dude isn't shy about it ... take a gander!

What also stands out is that Bad Bunny is looking yolked these days -- he threw up some other shots of himself shirtless and in the gym ... and yeah, homeboy's putting in work.

Again, we don't know when this was all taken -- despite it being posted Sunday -- 'cause there's a clip in there that appears to feature Kendall Jenner ... and BB calling her "mami."

Adele continues to be the people's champion ... turning on her own security for bothering a fan of hers in the crowd, and stopping the whole show to do it.

The singer was performing Saturday at her Vegas residency -- getting ready to belt out "Water Under The Bridge" -- and right as she seemed ready to start crooning ... she came to an abrupt halt, telling the band to stand down as she addressed something out in the audience.

Watch ... Adele zeroes in on a man out in the seats that she can see is being hassled by security, and she wasn't having it -- demanding to know what was going on/what he'd done.

Adele says she noticed he'd been getting bothered by security almost the entire time she'd been on stage, and when she didn't get an adequate response ... she ordered the guards to leave the dude alone -- noting he was just there to have fun, as was everyone else.

There's another angle that captures the action from a further vantage point, and you can actually see the security guard in question. He's a bald guy, and he's aggressively talking to this man before Adele calls him out. Sounds like it might've been over him standing up.

As you can tell, the rest of the concert-goers were thrilled that Adele was defending her own ... and they cheered as she scolded the staff. Once again -- Adele speaks to the people.

This might be a sign -- but what's being communicated is in the eye of the beholder ... Donald Trump was floating sky-high over the great state of Florida this weekend! Eh, sorta.

Here's the deal ... a happy family was leaving Universal Studios in Orlando Saturday evening when they looked up during their drive back and saw what can only be described as the side profile of the ex-Prez -- only, it appeared in Cumulus form ... and the footage is unreal.

Take a look at this video -- obtained by TMZ -- which caught the uncanny celestial moment ... indeed, you can see the massive cloud blocking the setting sun -- and it looks like DT!

The coiffed hair, protruding nose, and puckered lips are unmistakably linked to Trump ... and there it was, just casually cruising across the gorgeous skies -- staying perfectly intact.

To make this story even crazier is what this family says they were doing right before they saw this. The hubby, Sonny Ritacca, tells TMZ that as they were exiting the park ... he and his wife had just seen Trump's mug shot for themselves -- which was released Friday evening.

Right at that moment, Ritacca says his spouse looked up ... and saw this heavenly being. He tells us the wife pointed it out and he agreed, it bared a passing resemblance -- with an added jab, "Yeah, that cloud is 6'3 and 215 pounds." Of course, that's a whole thing. 😅

The couple kept on driving and didn't get out -- neither did anyone else, it seems -- and they thought it was just an odd sight, which it is. Now, for the MAGA crowd ... they probably see this as a divine omen from the G-O-D himself, but others might view it a little differently.

Check out the sign this family captured as they were driving ... it's a "buckle up" warning.

Taylor Swift's international popularity was pretty obvious Saturday night in Mexico ... not only did she fill the venue, there were hundreds of fans who sat outside on bleachers ... just to get an earful.

Taylor performed in Mexico City Saturday night -- she's had 4 shows in the country -- and it seems there wasn't a venue big enough to satisfy all the Swifties.

The next best thing to seeing Taylor is hearing her, and that they did. Hundreds of fans plopped down to hear the Eras concert. The bleachers were actually filled to capacity and people were turned away.

During the show, Taylor began the show with "Hola!" ... and encouraged her dancers to speak Spanish during the show.

She told the crowd ... "Welcome to the acoustic section! Can I say that, to everyone in the back, you are absolutely incredible. I've been watching you all night. You've been so into it."

Her surprise song last night -- "Cornelia Street."  That was a big deal, and Taylor knew it, telling the crowd, “You guys have been beyond patient and supportive, and it’s taken us this long to come here and play for you, So I wanted to give you a song tonight that a lot of fans have been requesting the whole tour.”

NASCAR speed demon Ryan Preece is lucky to be alive after his car wildly flipped over nearly a dozen times during a race in Florida.

Preece was zooming around the track in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs stock car race at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night when he ran into some serious trouble.

Check out the video ... with just six laps to go, Preece's car suddenly cuts across the track and goes airborne before tumbling over 10 times and coming to a stop in the infield.

A medical team responded, helping Preece out of his mangled car, which appeared to be on fire. Preece was placed on a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

It's not clear what caused the accident in the 16-car race, which was won by Chris Buescher. As a result of his loss, Preece was eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The "Riverdale" series finale left viewers puzzled, putting the show's main characters in a four-way relationship ... a decision that's really pissed off the polyamorous community.

If you didn't catch the episode, it was a strange one -- which became par for the show -- but the "shocking twist" included a sequence where Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica were part of a quad-relationship.

Reactions were mixed, but many fans felt show creators only used the relationship for a "wow factor."

We spoke to Brett Chamberlin, Executive Director, OPEN (Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy) who tells us, though "tempting to celebrate every portrayal of non-monogamy in popular media," it needs to be done both responsibly and from a place of understanding.

He continues... "It's frustrating that Riverdale used its characters' non-monogamous relationship as a 'shocking twist' rather than engaging with an authentic portrayal of non-monogamy as simply being part of people's identities."

Chamberlin continues, "We didn't see or hear anything about why these characters practice non-monogamy, what it means for them, the substance of their relationship agreements and communication practices, or any of the other underlying motivations and work that makes relationships of any type function."

Steve Harvey asked fans which comedian they thought was the worst , and it sounds like word of that just made its way back to the man himself ... 'cause he's apologizing.

The veteran comic and jack-of-all-trades host hopped online with a personal video Friday -- showing that he's out in nature -- and he addresses a recent tweet posted by his personal account. A simple question was posed ... "A Comedian you don't find funny at all?"

Steve says he's got official social media people handling his accounts, and insists it wasn't him who posted it ... going on to lament the tweet as mean-spirited and downright negative.

It's unclear what sorts of names people responded with ... but the fact Steve felt he needed to clarify his/his team's intent suggests it got some traction on X.

A screenshot of the since-deleted tweet shows that it was viewed at least a million times, so folks definitely saw it.

Anyway, Steve says the explanation he got from his handlers was that they were just trying to get some engagement ... but he adds they're gonna be needing new employment now.

Nicki Minaj fans are on the hunt for "Stephanie Bell," who has a warrant for arrest after allegedly swatting the rapper, but lots of folks with the same name are getting caught in the crossfire.

Here's the deal, Stephanie Bell just isn't the most unique name, and ever since Nicki name-dropped her alleged harasser ... everyone with that name is taking it on the chin, at least on social media.

Some of the Stephanies are coming forward to air their grievances.

One wrote, "I've never been so angry at another Stephanie Bell. You're f***ing it up for all of us.." and another said, "Why y'all still in my inbox."

For what it's worth, some Stephanie Bells online know all about Nicki, but not about her swatting issue ... so, they're pretty confused about why the Barbz are swarming.

BTW, it doesn't sound like anyone getting dragged is the real Stephanie in question ... at least, not yet.

As we reported, law enforcement sources told us Bell, who Nicki put on blast Wednesday, is facing 2 charges of deliberately reporting a false emergency.

We also confirmed there is, indeed, a warrant out for her arrest, as Nicki claimed.

TMZ broke the story, cops told us the attempted swatting occurred in June, with an anonymous caller claiming child abuse was going down at Nicki's L.A.-area home.

Miguel put on a spine-tingling performance at his album party Friday night ... getting hooks inserted into his back before he was hoisted high up in the air by suspension equipment.

The singer hit the stage at Sony Studios in Los Angeles for a 4-song set to promote his upcoming album, VISCERA, after the crowd was told beforehand Miguel would be putting on an innovative, "boundary-pushing" show.

And the dude wasn't lying. Check out the video ... Miguel, shirtless, parked himself on a sitting cube as three assistants stuck two metal hooks through temporary piercings in his skin on either side of his back.

The hooks were then connected to a suspension machine, which lifted Miguel off the ground and close to the ceiling as he belted out his tune, "Rope."

After hovering for about 4 minutes, the machine lowered Miguel to the stage, where his assistants removed the hooks from his back.

The audience loved it and wildly clapped at the end.

We're told Miguel prepped for this event for months, doing test runs with his team of experts who specialize in body suspension.