Viral

Somebody took to the skies of Los Angeles to ask for a woman's hand in marriage -- but apparently, they shelled out a little extra to make fun of ... Joe Rogan.

A skywriting message marriage proposal was seen up above West Hollywood and the surrounding areas Saturday, which asked somebody named Mollie Pratt to marry them ... reportedly followed up with "SHE SAID YES" ... and then one last random train of thought.

After the Mollie stuff flew by -- which purportedly had trailing messages like "I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING" and "UNTIL DEATH DO US PART" ... the writing followed with something to the effect of, "ONE MORE THING ... JOE ROGAN IS LITEALLY (sic) 5 FOOT 3."

Indeed, several different photos and videos capture that last part ... and it has left a lot of people equally confused and amused. For one -- why bring up JR in a proposal at all???

Of course, his listed height here is wrong ... the guy's pegged at 5'7" -- so it's clear whoever commissioned this did it to slight Joe and to chide, in the most extra way possible. The party responsible is still a mystery -- but they definitely shelled out big time for the stunt.

Skywriting messages cost thousands of dollars per message -- and it sounds like this person had a whole bunch of them as part of their engagement announcement, on top of the Rogan shot. We're guessing this whole thing might've cost upwards of $10k, or around there.

Some high roller just dropped a fortune and a half to be one of two people who will fly up into space next month alongside the Bezos brothers ... all for a quick 11-minute trip!

Blue Origin auctioned off the third seat of the manned-voyage that's set to go down in late July -- the first of its kind for the company -- and they're saying the winning bid went to somebody who dropped ... wait for it ... a whopping $28 MILLION for the opportunity.

The sale closed Saturday, and it reportedly follows a month of bidding wars that didn't start getting into stupid rich territory until this past week ... when Jeff announced he'd be one of the four people going up there, with none other than his own brother, Mark, as person #2.

Whoever spent this absurd amount hasn't been revealed just yet -- but their identity is expected to surface closer to the launch date. The fourth passenger will also be revealed in the near future -- although it's unclear what the criteria is for whoever gets picked.

Remember, Jeff announced Monday that he himself would be going up for BO's maiden voyage with people inside ... putting his ass on the line, and kinda roping his bro in by extension.

We know we've said this before, but it's worth stating again ... what they're essentially doing is shooting themselves up in a rocket, which will then propel a separate capsule even higher up to the point that it breaks the stratosphere and technically reaches "space."

All in all, they'll be some 62 miles above ground -- and it'll take about 10 minutes or so to get there. Once they're above the Earth, they'll take a quick gander around, soak in the scene ... and then descend back down. Bottom line ... it's a sightseeing expedition.

Gladys Knight is doing something she probably hasn't done a lot of during her career -- and that's taking the backseat on a ditty ... which is exactly what she did for her hubby.

Check out this music video that Gladys helped produce for her husband of 20 years, William McDowell, who's apparently diving into the country music scene ... and making a splash with his first offering called "Country Water" -- which is all about homegrown moonshine!

Watch it for yourself ... it's pretty damn catchy, as Will takes lead singing duties -- and his iconic wife actually backs him up. Sounds like she makes a cameo on the chorus.

We're hearing from people close to GK that this video was actually shot on her and Will's property in North Carolina -- and that it was created during the pandemic. We're told Gladys surprised Will by getting it made ... and we gotta say, it looks (and sounds) great.

Will -- who married Gladys in 2001, and is a whopping 14 years younger than her too -- might seriously have a potential recording career on his hands if he wants to pursue this any further. And, who better to guide him than the one and only?!?

David Archuleta -- one of "American Idol's" famous runner-ups throughout its history -- just came out as being part of the LGBTQ+ community ... which he explains is especially difficult considering his religious upbringing.

The 'AI' alum -- who placed second during the 7th season of 'Idol,' losing to David Cook -- just shared his truth online, posting a heartfelt IG that revealed he identifies as both bisexual and asexual ... even though he says he initially thought he might've been gay.

David writes, "I came out in 2014 as gay to my family. But then I had similar feelings for both genders so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also have learned I don’t have too much sexual desires and urges as most people which works I guess because I have a commitment to save myself until marriage." He goes on to explain asexual seems to, at times, describe him best ... while adding he's doing this to help others who might be in similar situations.

Namely, DA says he wants folks who are devoted to their religion and who might also be gay, bi or anything else that they are not alone ... as he explains that he comes from a Mormon background himself. Basically, David says you can both be religious and identify as LGBTQ+.

He says, "[P]lease consider making room to be more understanding and compassionate to those who are LGBTQIA+, and those who are a part of that community and trying to find that balance with their faith which also is a huge part of their identity like myself." DA goes on, "I think we can do better as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, to listen more to the wrestle between being LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith."

Queen Elizabeth II isn't blind ... something she reminded an aide of when they tried giving her another option for cake-cutting ... other than the 3-foot sword she ended up using.

Her Majesty celebrated her "official" birthday Saturday -- which is actually different than her real DOB, April 21 -- but the day prior, Liz cut a ceremonial slice of a cake that had been trotted out to her at the Eden Project in Cornwall ... where she was on hand for G7 duties, among other world leaders -- including Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and others.

Camilla Bowles was actually there too, as was Kate Middleton ... who watched QE2 attempt to cut her bday cake with a super long blade which we guess is ... tradition??? Who the hell knows -- point is, the Queen seemed dead-set on getting it done, despite her vocal hesitations.

At one point, someone on her staff made a quick note as HRH seemed to struggle a bit with the awkward feat -- noting there was a knife there too, if that was easier for her.

Watch what happens ... Elizabeth shot the aide a WTF look, and told her straight ... "I know there is." Her quick wit and sharp tongue got a huge chuckle from everyone around her. No harm, no foul obviously -- but we must say ... her putting the aide in her place is hilarious.

BTW, the jokes from the Queen didn't end there ... she got even more laughs that same day when she was posing on stage with the shot-callers of the free world -- openly asking if they were just supposed to sit there and seem like they were enjoying themselves. Great delivery!

Oh, and we should also mention ... QE2 got a proper celebration at Windsor to kick off her weekend on Saturday itself -- with a giant procession that was full of pomp and circumstance ... and rightly so. She's a ripe 95 years old now -- and still going strong even at this age.

Normies riding passenger aboard a Delta flight from L.A. to Atlanta received a Bat-signal of sorts from the crew while up in the air ... help us detain this idiot up front, please.

This wild encounter went down Friday on a plane that left LAX and was on its way to ATL ... which had to reroute for an emergency landing in OKC because some guy -- reportedly an off-duty flight attendant, no less -- tried opening some of the emergency exit doors.

Unclear what set him off ... but suddenly, other attendants and crew members were scuffling with him up near the cockpit area -- and they needed backup to get him under control.

Different passengers claim someone came over the loudspeaker and asked for any able-bodied men to come to the front for immediate assistance ... and it looks like at least two fellas answered the call for help, as they were seen pulling the man down in regular clothes.

Eventually, once they were on the ground, the authorities got involved ... and the suspect, ID'd as Stephon Duncan, was arrested for making terroristic threats, among other charges.

The crazy thing about this -- besides the nature of what happened in general -- is that this is at LEAST the second such attempted takedown encounter that's happened on a Delta flight in recent weeks ... another one occurred sometime last week, also leaving from LAX.

One of the flight attendants -- who was decked out in a dapper uniform -- did most of the heavy lifting in that case ... where some dumbass tried rushing the cockpit doors. They got him in zip-ties and hauled him to the back until they could land safely. Freaky stuff, really.

Coby Daniel, the 6-year-old boy in Michigan who was shot outside a neighbor's home while picking up his bike is struggling mentally to recover, and will absolutely need professional help ... according to his father.

Arnold Daniel tells TMZ ... his son is showing obvious signs of mental scars, and has not been able to sleep alone in his own bed -- something he'd been doing since he was 2.

Coby tries to sleep in his bed, but Arnold says he always ends up next to him ... and sometimes asks troubling questions like, "Why would [the alleged shooter] do that?"

As we reported, the neighbor, Ryan Le-Nguyen allegedly shot Coby in the arm after chasing him with a sledgehammer. Coby put on a brave face describing the incident to a reporter for FOX 2 Detroit -- but Arnold says his boy is utterly confused about why anyone would want to hurt him.

He says he's set up an appointment for Coby to see a therapist next week to help him make sense of everything.

Physical therapy is also on the horizon, but only after Coby's gunshot wound fully heals.

Arnold says he's taking time off from work to care for Coby, and cope with his own anxiety. He says it subsided a bit once Le-Nguyen's bond was revoked, and police took him back into custody.

As we reported, there was a massive outcry over Le-Nguyen's initial release on a $10k cash bond. His bail has since been increased to $100k.

Big album launches are nothing new, but Migos is redefining big by hitting 4 major cities -- all at the same time -- to promote its new record.

Quavo, Offset and Takeoff are slated to have a simultaneous hologram appearance Friday at 3 PM PT to talk about "Culture III" ... the highly-anticipated album they just dropped. They'll appear in life-size fashion as a 4K interactive hologram.

The group will physically be live from a studio in Atlanta, and they'll be beamed to holoportation machines at Underground Atlanta, crypto-art community BitBasel in Miami, Drai's Beachclub in Las Vegas and the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

If the hologram technology sounds familiar it's because it's similar to the one Diddy used back in April to show up from Miami at his son Christian Combs' 23rd birthday bash in L.A.

PORTL, an L.A.-based startup, is pulling this off for Migos ... and considers it the world's first and only single-passenger holoportation machine. It ain't cheap either -- costs around $60k. No biggie for Migos, but slightly over budget for the average bar mitzvah.

Jeffrey Toobin's back on the air at CNN ... 8 months after the network pulled him off the air, and The New Yorker canned him, for exposing himself during a Zoom meeting.

Toobin's back in his capacity as Chief Legal Analyst, and appeared in a "CNN Newsroom" segment Thursday with anchor Alisyn Camerota. He was discussing a legal matter, but they also had to discuss the elephant in the Zoom room, if you will.

Clearly referring to what went down -- Toobin allegedly masturbating back in October while on a Zoom call with New Yorker colleagues -- Alisyn said, "To quote Jay Leno, 'What the hell were you thinking?'"

Toobin admitted it was "deeply moronic and indefensible," and added he's been miserable since it all went down. However, he says he also started directly apologizing to his New Yorker co-workers on the day of the incident.

Toobin -- whose book "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson" is the basis for the hit FX true crime anthology 'American Crime Story' -- also apologized to his wife and family ... and said he's working to be a better person and mentioned he's in therapy.

Montana Tucker's dropping a new single that's all about self-confidence, but make no mistake ... she has vivid memories of bullies tearing down her confidence and forcing her into bathroom stalls.

The singer dug into her pain locker to reveal what fueled "Be Myself" ... her new single featuring Todrick Hall. The track aims to inspire self-acceptance and inclusivity ... something Montana says she works hard to convey on social media, and in real life.

On Thursday's "TMZ Live" she told us high school bullies called her MAN-tana because she was "a little bit bigger than the rest of the girls."

The bullying got so out of hand, Montana tells us she was relegated to sitting in the bathroom for lunch every day.

Her official "Be Myself" music vid -- which includes a flash mob routine in Times Square -- drops Friday, and Montana says it will also draw on some of those experiences she and Todrick had in school.

Work is separating Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez for the time being, but he's still making time to have some fun on his own ... he's in Las Vegas, hitting the tables and directing a project.

Check out this video we got -- Ben was at the Wynn Resort and Casino early Wednesday morning, standing alone at a table ... just the dealer and him. Unclear what game he was playing, but witnesses tell us he was in the high limit room. Naturally.

We're told casino staff was standing guard to shoo away any fans who happened to notice one half of Bennifer laying down bets around 3 AM.

The witnesses say there were no camera crews during his time at the tables ... an important detail, because Ben is actually working in Vegas too. We got more video of him Wednesday afternoon shooting something over at The Palazzo, but we're told the actor shot a ton of other scenes in the working casino, too.

You can hear someone yelling, "action" as he started walking through the casino, but a source tells us Ben is also directing the project.

While he and Jennifer have been nearly inseparable since reuniting last month, y'know what they say ... duty calls. Even they gotta pay the bills.

A Tennessee woman busted out some spray paint to cover up a rainbow on a bridge, because as she puts it ... "I'm sick of you all's s***."

The video speaks for itself -- the latest "Karen" was apparently upset that 2 teens painted a rainbow on the spot the community reportedly designates for people to express free speech ... and she made her point in a very bigoted way.

The lady drops the obligatory "I'm an American who works hard and pays taxes" spiel as her reason for painting over the rainbow, which the teens had put there to celebrate Pride Month.

If that wasn't enough, she expresses her disdain for what she feels is the teens' -- and apparently all gay people's -- desire to stand out and get attention, when she just wants them to shut up.

It's unclear exactly where this went down in Tennessee, but it's almost certain to add to the stigma of the name Karen ... which has plummeted in popularity over the past year thanks to incidents like this.

Team USA Soccer has Mark McKenzie's back ... it released a statement Wednesday saying the racist trolls who spewed hate toward the USMNT player are NEVER welcome in the sport.

The org. stood up for the defender after he claimed that following the U.S.'s huge win over Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final in Denver on Sunday, he received tons of racist comments from fans online.

22-year-old McKenzie -- who struggled in the huge 3-2 win -- said the "racial abuse" and "personal attacks" were rampant ... and even affected family members.

But, on Wednesday, his team ripped all of the vitriol ... saying anyone sending the comments McKenzie's way (and any other player's way, for that matter) needs to stop ASAP.

"This type of behavior should not and cannot be allowed to continue," the org. said.

"If you make racist, homophobic, vulgar or disrespectful comments while hiding behind the anonymity of social media, you are not a true fan. And you are not welcome. Ever."

USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter echoed those statements in a meeting with the media Tuesday ... calling the racism flat-out "disgusting."

"We support Mark 100% and we don't stand for any of that stuff," Berhalter said. "We have absolutely zero tolerance for things like that."

While the East Coast is dealing with the cicada plague, some L.A. towns are dealing with their own shrieking nightmare ... hundreds of peacocks running amok!!!

The beautiful-until-they're-in-your-backyard birds are delivering sleepless nights for folks in the L.A. County cities of Arcadia, Pasadena and San Marino. If you haven't had the pleasure ... peacocks reliably sound off at dawn with a noise so piercing, some neighbors described it as babies being tortured ... next to a very large microphone.

The birds -- which often travel in packs -- are everywhere, from sidewalks and streets to yards and roofs ... and they're damaging cars and yards.

They've been roaming the towns since a pair were brought back from India in the 19th century by a wealthy man named Lucky Baldwin. It's unclear exactly how many birds are in the area now, but their numbers have grown exponentially during the pandemic.

Things are so out of control, neighbors have reportedly gotten into heated arguments over how to deal with the birds.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is trying to get a handle on this ... beginning with drafting an ordinance that would prohibit feeding the peacocks.

President Biden kept his cool while having every right in the world to bug out ... this as a creepy-crawler tried making itself at home smack dab on his head!

46 was at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday AM ahead of his international trip to Europe -- where he's slated to meet with other world leaders, including Vladimir Putin -- and before takeoff ... the guy had to play defense against a freakin' cicada, brushing it off his neck.

The gross-out moment was caught on camera as JB talked to one of the men in uniform -- as was Biden's grossed-out face after he flicked the little bastard onto the ground ... where it belongs.

Joe trotted over to the press afterward and confirmed ... cicadas were around, and that he'd just taken care of one personally. His warning did NOT go unheeded -- as the folks following him around had to deal as well. Reports say the press plane was chock-full of cicadas.

Apparently, a swarm of the insects found their way into the engine area of the aircraft ... and actually caused a delay Tuesday night before they could hit the skies.

These buggers are all over D.C. ... CNN's Manu Raju had to fend for himself during a live shot from Capitol Hill. He reacted a little more frantically than ol' Joey here did.

Waka Flocka Flame is getting the next generation ready for their next step by delivering the commencement address at a Chicago high school graduation ceremony.

The "No Hands" rapper will appear virtually at Chicago's Soldier Field when graduates from Innovations High School get their diplomas after a challenging school year that required them to learn virtually while overcoming a pandemic.

Waka Flocka Flame tells TMZ ... he's honored to be speaking to the kids, and plans to let them know how proud folks are of them for graduating despite a rough and very abnormal year.

The charter school's executive director, LaShaun Jackson, tells TMZ ... Waka's the right speaker for this graduating class because he's a success story from the streets, and his life has been all about overcoming adversity.

Remember, Waka got a lifetime achievement award for his charitable efforts before former president Donald Trump left office ... and in October he got his honorary doctorate degree in philanthropy and humanitarianism from the Bible Institutes of America.