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Rob McElhenney's tale of rescuing a dog and reuniting him with his loving family will help you through ruff times ... especially when you see the pup's tail.

The "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" star says he and his wife -- and 'Sunny' costar -- Kaitlin Olson, stopped traffic on an L.A. freeway when they saw the "handsome motherf**ker" running alone.

After they got the dog -- which looks like a Pit Bull mix -- in their car with the help of another good Samaritan named Bridget, Rob and Kaitlin took him to a vet ... where they learned he wasn't chipped, but he was assigned the name "Brad Pitt" because he's "so damn beautiful."

Rob chronicled Pitt's story on IG, and it gets so much better. He says they decided to rename the pup, Frank Reynolds because of his body type -- an 'Always Sunny' jab at Danny DeVito's character. Then they learned the dog's loving owners were desperately searching for him, and they also learned his real name ... Chance!

Rob says they spoke to the family on the phone and they were crying with joy, and soon after they brought Chance home for the happiest of endings.

As McElhenney puts it ... "Social media may be ripping apart the fabric of our society but ... Sometimes it's pretty great."

The end.

Police officers stopped and detained 2 guys riding by on their bicycles ... apparently because they looked like two other guys they were after, but considering the current climate, it was a pretty scary encounter for the cyclists.

Check out this video ... you see 2 young men -- possibly minors -- cruising on the sidewalk in Orlando, when all of a sudden they come across a few police cruisers that have their lights flashing. The cops tell them to stop, get off the bikes and to get on the ground.

The guy recording -- who seems to be shooting from a GoPro -- asks what's going on and why they're being stopped. He even asks why the officers have their guns drawn, but it's hard to make out if they're actually pointing weapons from his vantage point.

Anyway, the video continues ... and you see the guy filming seated on the ground with his legs crossed, continuing to ask why they were stopped. One cop tells him they're being detained for matching the description of a couple suspects.

Unclear what crime was committed, but the dude recording -- who is Black -- continues to insist he and his pal are innocent, and that they'd just come from shopping at a 7-Eleven.

In a later video ... he further explained what happened after they were stopped and searched. He says the officers actually trotted out an alleged robbery victim to ID them -- but he told the officers the 2 guys on bikes weren't the ones who did him wrong ... so they were cut loose.

Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old from Columbus, OH, is dead after a cop shot her 4 times ... and newly released body cam shows why police were called, and why the incident's sparked new protests over another police-involved fatality.

The incident went down Tuesday -- about a half-hour before Derek Chauvin's guilty verdicts -- when police responded to a call for a fight between a few teenage girls ... one of them being Ma'Khia. The body cam shows a chaotic scene when cops arrived in the driveway of a home.

One girl was thrown to the ground at the feet of one of the officers, and you hear him yelling, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. Get down!" as Ma'Khia's seen apparently lunging with a knife at a different girl.

You see the officer quickly draw his gun and then fire 4 shots at Ma'Khia, who immediately falls to the ground. You can see a man standing nearby yell at the cop in shock, "You didn't have to shoot her. She's just a kid, man."

The cop responded, "She had a knife. She just went at her."

The shooting prompted protests near the scene of the incident, and in downtown Columbus. The officer's reportedly been taken off the streets while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigates.

Ma'Khia was reportedly taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Neighbors say she was living in a foster home on the block where she was shot.

The teenager whose video was seen 'round the world of George Floyd being murdered by Derek Chauvin has spoken on the guilty verdict that just came down ... and she's elated.

17-year-old Darnella Frazier just reacted to the news Chauvin was found guilty on all 3 counts, and now faces a max sentence of 40 years. She says, "I just cried so hard😩This last hour my heart was beating so fast, I was so anxious, anxiety bussing through the roof. But to know GUILTY ON ALL 3 CHARGES !!!"

Darnella shared her emotions on Facebook ... the same platform where she first posted the infamous 9 minute-plus video, which was the critical piece of evidence in Chauvin's trial.

She added, "THANK YOU GOD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU😭🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽George Floyd we did it!!🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️justice has been served✊🏽"

Darnella elaborated even further on IG, saying ... "My heart goes out to George Floyd’s family!❤️🙏🏽Although no amount of charges will bring back a loved one, justice was served and his murderer will pay the price. We did it❤️❤️✊🏽#justicewasserved."

It's no exaggeration to say Chauvin's conviction is due in large part to the fact Darnella captured every painful minute his knee was on George Floyd's neck ... nearly 10 minutes.

Her video was played almost daily during Chauvin's trial and, in the end, clearly helped the jury reach its unanimous decision in under 11 hours.

It's been a long road for Darnella -- you might recall, she was going through a hard time in the immediate aftermath of the video going viral -- with some people questioning her motives and even asking why she didn't do more. She and her fam told us she might need therapy.

President Biden saying he's "praying the verdict is the right verdict" in Derek Chauvin's murder trial is a breath of fresh air for Rev. Al Sharpton, who believes the Prez didn't do anything wrong by weighing in ... and showing he's human.

The Rev. joined "TMZ Live" Tuesday shortly before it was announced the Chauvin jury had reached a verdict in his trial for murdering George Floyd. Obviously, collective anxiety is high in the country -- which is why Biden's comments Tuesday morning were surprising to some. But Sharpton notes ... the President has a connection to Floyd's family, which the Rev. says makes his remarks appropriate.

Not only that, but Al says Joe should be allowed as President to show some empathy about a case that has greatly impacted the Black community and the nation as a whole. He says he welcomes empathy over contempt, which he accuses former President Trump of consistently demonstrating.

Sharpton also points out ... Biden waited to comment on the Chauvin trial until the jury was sequestered, so his comments couldn't have an influence on the outcome of the trial.

Finally, he takes issue with Chauvin trial Judge Cahill going off on Rep. Maxine Waters in court Monday. Rev. Al told us he thinks the judge was out of line and totally misconstrued Waters' remarks about protesting if the jury returns a not guilty verdict.

Eric Nelson is defending Derek Chauvin in trial -- but another attorney with the same name as Chauvin's lawyer is getting mistaken for him... and it's causing a whole lot of grief, and potential danger.

Eric C. Nelson -- a Minneapolis-based family law attorney -- tells TMZ ... people think he's the Eric Nelson defending Chauvin against murder charges right now. It's easy to see how this happens -- same names, same profession and practicing in the same area.

Still, Nelson tells us he wants to set the record straight ... because the deluge of hate and harassment he's getting a result of the mistaken identity is becoming overwhelming, both personally and professionally.

We're told Nelson has been getting BLOWN-UP lately -- both online and over the phone. He says about 95% of calls coming in these days are from randos who think he's the other Nelson, and just wanna talk about the case. Nelson says he's also getting nonstop hate mail.

Be it via email or phone, Nelson tells us he's getting a mix of unsolicited advice from would-be experts ... plus, a ton of hateful voicemails too.

Speaking of those ... TMZ has obtained samples of the messages being left on Nelson's phone, and they're ominous to say the least. People have called him a "piece of s***" and levied veiled threats against his practice ... suggesting he's running a crooked business.

Nelson says he reported that latter message to cops, because he found it a bit too dubious and threatening -- but nothing ever came of it. Adding insult to injury -- Nelson tells us his ratings online have taken a gut punch because of the false assumption he's THAT Eric Nelson.

He says his Google stars went from 5 to 1 in a heartbeat -- but, fortunately, Google saw it was a big misunderstanding and fixed the issue themselves.

As for what Nelson's doing to deal ... he's been sending out automated replies to make it clear he's NOT the Eric Nelson everyone's coming for. His website even blares that warning. Oh, and Nelson's also considering tweaking his biz name to feature his middle name, Carlyle.

A mountain biker nearly became a black bear's lunch in Montana ... with the wild animal ferociously chasing the cyclist down a hill -- and the insane scene was caught on video!!

The tense moments all went down in Whitefish about a year ago (though the video was just released by Montana Knife Company this week) ... when a bike rider got the surprise of a lifetime as he barreled down a steep mountain path.

You can see in the footage ... as the guy pedaled his ride -- the black bear was in hot pursuit, trying to nab the dude on his way down the mountain!!

At some points during the chase ... it got a little too close for comfort, 'cause the black bear tried to cut corners to get to the guy quicker!!

A spokesperson for Montana Knife Company tells us, "This is why even bikers and hikers should be carrying out knives!"

Fortunately, MKC tells us the bike rider was able to out pedal the beast and make it down the hill safely -- "Didn't get the guy!"

Britney Spears is getting behind the Black Lives Matter movement -- seemingly the first time she's publicly spoken out on the issue, but some social media followers think she's crossed a line.

The singer posted an image Monday of a Black man wearing a mask and holding a sign that reads, "White people have generational wealth. Black people have generational trauma #WeAreNotTheSame! #BLM."

Brit captioned the post too, with ... "Just sayin'," and the #BLM and #BlackLivesMatter hashtags.

Let's face it ... Britney doesn't typically weigh in on anything political, social or controversial ... besides her conservatorship, of course.

She usually keeps her IG posts pretty light ... and while the change had most of her fans applauding her apparent stance -- others ripped her for what they saw as "profiling," and pointed out many white people don't have generational wealth. One Brit follower reportedly begged, "Please don't go down this rabbit hole."

And, as you might expect, some of the "Free Britney" faithful took her BLM post as a sign she and her social media are being controlled.

Of course, Britney's BLM support comes as the Derek Chauvin jury is deliberating to decide if he murdered George Floyd -- the tragedy that fueled BLM marches and protests around the world.

The man who screamed violent threats at U.S. Olympic karate athlete Sakura Kokumai earlier this month has been arrested, officials say.

... and law enforcement says the suspect was also involved in a violent attack on an elderly Asian-American couple over the weekend.

As we previously reported, 28-year-old Kokumai -- a 7-time USA National Champion -- was hanging out at a park in Orange, CA on April 1 when some guy began yelling at her for no apparent reason.

Kokumai smartly recorded the incident -- capturing the man calling her a "stupid b***h" and yelling, "I'll f**k you up."

At the end of his tirade, Kokumai -- who is Japanese-American -- says she heard the man scream out something about her being "Chinese" and "sashimi" ... which you can sort of hear in the video.

Now, the Orange Police Dept. says they have arrested the suspect -- 25-year-old Michael Orlando Vivona.

Unfortunately, cops say they busted Vivona on April 18 after he was suspected of assaulting an elderly couple at a park,

"The suspect punched a 79-year-old Korean American male and his 80-year-old Korean American wife in the face," cops say,

"The assault was unprovoked and caused both elderly victims to fall down.  Community members at the park surrounded the suspect until officers arrived."

Cops say Vivona was arrested for elder abuse and committing a hate crime.

Once they realized he's the same guy from the Kokumai incident, he "was also arrested for threatening a Japanese American on April 1, 2021 at the same location."

Elon Musk claims the fatal Tesla crash this weekend in Texas was not the result of Autopilot failure ... but 2 federal agencies are not convinced.

The Tesla founder was responding to a Twitter comment disputing the working theory ... the 2 men who died in the crash were not behind the wheel ... likely because they were using the car's Autopilot feature.

The Twitter user pointed out Autopilot has safety features in place requiring someone to be in the driver's seat, and Musk responded by saying this person's research is better than reporters.

Elon went on to deny Autopilot was involved at all in the wreck, tweeting ... "Data logs recovered so far show Autopilot was not enabled & this car did not purchase FSD." FSD stands for Tesla's Full Self-Driving feature.

Musk goes on to say "standard Autopilot would require lane lines to turn on" and claims the street where the crash occurred in Spring, TX doesn't have them.

As we first told you ... the authorities have issued subpoenas to get data on the crash vehicle, and are working with Tesla experts on the investigation. Along with that, 2 federal agencies -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board -- are on the case.

According to authorities ... the 2 men who were killed in the Saturday night accident were talking to their wives about taking the Tesla for a drive and testing the driver-assistance technology just minutes before they took off and crashed.

Based on the initial investigation ... cops say one man was in the passenger seat and one was in the rear seat, but nobody was driving.  If neither was in the driver's seat, how did the car gain speed and crash if Autopilot wasn't engaged? After all, why else would one guy be in the back seat and the other in the passenger seat, other than to drive on Autopilot?

Britney Spears told fans directly that she's fine and more than happy -- but they still don't believe her, suspecting she's being forced to say so.

Fans have been buzzing since Britney's video late last week in which she said herself she IS okay, and she's just taking some time off professionally as she enjoys herself.

You'd think that'd be enough for the #FB crowd -- but as it turns out, it wasn't ... 'cause folks were leaving tons of comments speculating she was reading a script or the video was edited in a way to mask some more insidious stuff happening behind the scenes.

Unfortunately for the conspiracy crowd ... that is NOT the case -- in fact, sources close to Britney say the exact opposite is true. Namely, the way the video is edited is actually all Britney's doing, and she edited the clip herself. There is NO longer version in existence.

And no ... our sources say Britney is not reading from a script. As for why she's "swaying" as many people noted -- we're told she's just shy and a little fidgety. That's it ... nothing else to it.

If you're wondering why Britney chose this time to address the "are you okay?" question -- we're told it's because Britney does, indeed, read comments left on her posts ... and noticed a lot of folks asking. So, she figured she'd assure everyone she's fine ... despite the concern.

Demi Lovato isn't backing down in her diet food war with a frozen yogurt shop -- she's now warning the store about messing with her ... but also walking back her comments a bit, saying she was having a really bad day.

The singer continued going back and forth with The Bigg Chill -- the fro-yo shop she attacked Sunday for its placement of sugar-free items -- by sending a DM to them, complaining about the "GUILT FREE" label on cookies in the store. TBC defended itself saying the pic was old.

Demi swatted back ... insisting they carried another, similar "diet culture" cookie -- and also warned TBC to stop fighting with her, and that they didn't wanna mess with her. She even dropped the ol' ... "customer is always right" on 'em.

However, Demi's apparently seen the some of the backlash against her, because she just went live on IG, and restated her initial complaint -- her visit to TBC seriously triggered her eating disorder issues -- but she hopes she's opened a dialogue with TBC about relabeling some products.

She added that she had a very bad day and weekend afterward, and feels like she needs a mental health day. Demi apologized if it seems like she's a big celeb using her power to take down a small biz.

Bryce Hall and his boys are getting sued for throwing down in a Mexican restaurant in L.A., and one of the owners thinks they swung on him because he's a Mexican immigrant.

Hernan Fernando is the co-owner of Cinco, and says Bryce and 3 other guys, including Bryce's pal Rory Fitzpatrick, came into the joint back in October and ordered a few rounds of shots and beers. All good, right?

Nope. Not according to the video TMZ obtained of the fight that broke out -- or according to Hernan, who claims in the lawsuit, Bryce and co. started vaping while seated at their table. He claims they blew off a warning from the bar manager to stop, and also a second warning from Hernan himself.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Hernan told his staff to close out Bryce's tab, and shortly thereafter a server alleges she heard Bryce refer to Hernan as a "wetback" and "the Mexican."

As you can imagine, things quickly went downhill after that -- in the suit, Hernan says Bryce blew vape smoke in his face, his pal Rory got physical when staffers tried to show them to the exit -- and then the fight erupted.

In the suit, Hernan claims he was repeatedly pummeled by Bryce and Rory, with Bryce allegedly trying to choke him ... until a Cinco staffer pulled him off Hernan.

They called cops and held Bryce's credit card so he wouldn't flee the scene. The Cinco co-owner claims Bryce popped off one more time while they were waiting, telling Hernan, "Who the f*ck are you? I"m from Bel-Air, and you're just a fat Mexican who works at a restaurant."

Hernan alleges there were a few more racial epithets hurled his way, and that he suffered a broken hand and lots of bumps and bruises from the punches. He's suing Bryce, Rory and their pals for assault, battery, emotional distress, and for attacking him based on his ethnicity.

Derek Chauvin's defense attorney says his actions as a police officer were reasonable if one takes into account the full scope of George Floyd's arrest ... not just the notorious 9 minutes and 29 seconds he held his knee on Floyd's neck.

That's the crux of attorney Eric Nelson's closing argument for Chauvin, who Nelson says had to take into account the 17 minutes of action that led up to the 9-plus minutes, upon which he claims the prosecution is unfairly focusing.

According to Nelson ... Chauvin used his training and instincts as a police officer to respond to the situation in a way that was reasonable, arguing that his use of force on Floyd was justified.

However, Nelson also delved into the difficulty of interpreting the rules regarding "use of force," telling the jury it's incredibly hard to analyze, and once again ... can't be limited to 9 minutes and 29 seconds.

Nelson argued Chauvin's case needs to be examined from the point of view of an officer who is human and therefore "capable of making mistakes in highly stressful situations."

He adds ... "In this case, the totality of the circumstances that were known to a reasonable police officer in the precise moment the force was used demonstrates that this was an authorized use of force, as unattractive as it may be."

During his attorney's closing argument -- which lasted more than 2 hours before the judge let the jury break for lunch -- Chauvin removed his mask for an extended period of time. It was a bit odd, considering he'd been masked up all trial.

As we reported, the prosecution gave its closing argument earlier Monday, and stated Chauvin "had to know" he killed Floyd ... and that it was not an accident.

Demi Lovato has a lot of people scratching their heads over this one -- she got mad that a fro-yo shop advertises "diet" options ... something she considers triggering and harmful.

The singer took to IG Saturday to call out a frozen yogurt joint called The Bigg Chill ... which apparently has low-sugar/low-fat/fat-free goodies positioned toward the front of one of their stores and/or checkout counters.

She writes, "Finding it extremely hard to order froyo from @thebiggchillofficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter."

Demi went on to tell them to "do better" ... and hashtagged her gripe with #dietculturevultures. If you're confused about what the heck she's upset about ... you’re not alone.

However, she elaborated with another comment, saying she's gonna use that hashtag to call out "harmful messaging" from brands that she believes perpetuate a society that enables and also praises disordered eating.

What she SEEMS to be saying ... by this place putting these low-cal foods in people's faces like this, they're also gaslighting/shaming them, and making them feel bad for wanting a treat, which Demi sees as hurtful -- especially for those who have eating disorders and body issues.

TBC responded to Demi in her DMs, which she published. They explained they have those alternatives for diabetics, folks with Celiac disease, vegans and a host of others who might want (or need) the so-called "diet" options. Demi appears to have realized ... she jumped to conclusions and perhaps even overreacted, as noted in her response.

She recommends that they label things better to be more inclusive. 🤷🏽‍♂️

The NYPD made the point traffic stops can go south fast -- but in doing so, they appear to have confused H2O for a harmful substance ... that's what the Internet's saying, anyway.

The department's news division posted a video Saturday that shows body cam footage of an NYPD officer making a "routine traffic stop" as they dubbed it. The cop asks for license/registration, and then the man gets out of the car ... to the confusion of the officer.

Before you know it, the guy chucks some type of liquid into the cop's mug, who stumbles back ... clearly shocked by what just happened. You hear his partner seem to ask what it was he threw, but then the video cuts out before you can see what happens next.

Now, NYPD claims this suspect doused the cop with a "chemical" before fleeing, tossing a Molotov cocktail ... before finally being arrested. They add the officer wasn't hurt.

Internet sleuths quickly attempted to pick this apart, however, and pulled screen grabs from the moment this guy threw whatever it was into the cop's face ... and at first glance, they're saying it looks an awful lot like a cup full of ice water without a lid or top -- nothing more.

Unclear if that is, in fact, what it was ... but to us, it does look like agua. Technically, that is a "chemical" in that it's made up of elements from the periodic table ... but the police make it seem like bleach or something that was tossed here. The NYPD hasn't elaborated.

Folks are also questioning their "Molotov cocktail" description ... wondering if it was actually what you'd consider a traditional bottle firebomb, or if it was just the container seen in this video. The NYPD posted an additional photo of what they say is a Molotov cocktail recovered from a traffic stop, but they don't directly connect it to this suspect/sitch here.

We've reached out to the NYPD for clarification ... so far, no word back.