Viral

Lil Nas X delivered a memorable performance at the BET Awards, but at least one person on Twitter hated it ... so the rapper put them in their place.

The "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" singer crushed it on stage Sunday night, not only with his hit track but also with a tribute to Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time."

The stage appearance ended with Lil Nas planting an intense kiss on one of his male backup dancers.

Clearly, a major moment -- especially as Pride Month wraps up -- but one Twitter user was outraged, tweeting ... "DONT USE AFRICAN CULTURE FOR S***S LIKE THIS!!!!!!! RESPECT OUR ANCESTORS."

Never one to ignore criticism, Lil Nas X defended his decision while making a historical point, saying ... "y'all really like to pretend homosexuality didn’t exist in african culture."

Other than the one hater, the rapper received widespread praise for his bold move, including from Diddy ... who applauded him for being fearless.

Fans of Lil Nas X -- who came out on the last day of Pride Month in 2019 -- were initially disappointed when the 2021 BET Awards nominees were announced and he didn't make the list, and some accused the show of being homophobic.

A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are riding off into the sunset -- or the sunrise, rather ... and we mean it in every sense of the word, 'cause a late-night date night turned into just that.

The A-list couple kept their love fest going Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning ... where we're told they popped up in the lower east side of NYC after a night out, walking hand-in-hand -- and, before long, body-in-arms thanks to A$AP swooping her up.

Check out the video we got of that exact moment ... it's like straight out of a movie, and RiRi seemed to be digging every minute of it. Eventually, they drove away in a waiting SUV.

BTW, we're told this was shot around 5:30/6 AM Sunday -- so yeah, it was definitely a marathon date they were on. Eyewitnesses also say they came across a dude who seemed drunk and sprawled out over the floor ... to which A$AP/RiRi said ... yo, help him out!

Unfortunately for him, his buddies seemed to be starstruck with this sighting ... and for good reason. It's not every day you might spot this -- but then again, maybe that's changing.

Frankly, A$AP and Rihanna have been spotted out and about all over town lately ... and are NOT shy to show off their PDA, this weekend included, it seems. They're clearly gaga for one another -- and apparently want the whole wide world to know it.

John F. Kennedy Jr. was incognito among a MAGA crowd this weekend and happily posed with Trump fans at his first public rally in a while ... that is, if you buy what QAnon's selling.

Different photos have sprung up from Saturday's gathering in Wellington, OH -- where DT held his first MAGA party in an official capacity and spewed falsehood after falsehood about the 2020 election ... while also teasing his inevitable return to politics in the near future.

It was a lot of the same stuff he's regurgitated in his speeches of late -- but one of the quirky headlines to emerge from the red hat forum was photo-ops with a fella Q'ers apparently believe is the REAL JFK Jr. ... who, of course, is long dead and buried (at sea).

The dude's name is Vincent Fusca, and he's definitely a Trump supporter from what we can see on his social media. However, somehow, he's also been labeled as John John in disguise ... and is a bit of a celeb among the QAnon crowd whenever they get together.

Folks seem more than happy to snap selfies with Vince if they spot him out -- and he's kind of hard to miss ... as he always seems to be rocking the black hat and matching outfit, not to mention his signature shaggy 'do and beard. It doesn't appear Vincent has openly embraced the wild story, but based on his Twitter feed ... he ain't batting it down either.

While we will acknowledge there might be *some* sort of a resemblance to JFK Jr. (barely one, really) ... it doesn't take a genius to know, this is obviously NOT the real McCoy.

Like we said, John died in a plane crash in 1999 (along with his wife, Carolyn, and her sister) ... and was laid to rest by the Kennedy family. It's an absolutely absurd conspiracy theory -- one which we've detailed in the past -- but Q'ers, for some reason, think he'll re-emerge after faking his death, and "re-take the country" alongside Donald Trump.

The people have spoken, and they say Bow Wow beat Soulja Boy in a "Verzuz" -- which begs the question ... can Shad get a little respect on his name now??? Sheesh!

That's exactly what we asked BW Saturday in WeHo as he was leaving Catch ... this after his highly-anticipated showdown with his 2000s contemporary, which was put on in front of an audience at the Hollywood Palladium (where "Verzuz" battles have gone down lately).

Check out what Mr. Moss had to say when we asked if him (unofficially) winning the faceoff solidifies his contribution to music and culture ... something that's actually been in question in recent years, as Bow Wow's often been the butt of many online jokes/challenges.

Bow Wow had possibly the best answer to the question of relevance ... all you gotta do is punch his name into a search bar, and you'll quickly learn who he is. Well said, sir.

BTW, Lil Romeo came out as a surprise guest during the jam-packed "Verzuz" and gave both Bow Wow and Soulja their respective props ... which many say were long overdue considering their legacy and impact as it pertains to pretty much everything hip-hop.

It made for a sweet moment ... but it was just one of many highlights. At one point, Bow Wow busted out the Harlem shake -- which he made famous as a little tyke -- right around the time he was blowing up from his "Like Mike" role. We gotta say ... he hasn't lost a step!

The show ended up being an awesome walk down memory lane for pretty much anyone who was born in the '90s and grew up on Soulja and Bow Wow's music.

God help the poor soul high on weed who sees this thing cruising the waters.

Check out the powerboat designed to look like a sports car ... and guess what? There's a plan to make it amphibious.

A dude name Karim Amin and 2 of his buddies were tooling around the ocean in Alexandria, Egypt in cars that were, well, sort of James Bond-y.

The "boats" can hit speeds of up to 40 MPH. They even have Bluetooth and a GPS. They say it rides more like a jet ski than a traditional boat. There are only 12 of its kind, but it seems there are plans to expand. They're working on a 2.0 which would function on land and on the sea.

As for the price ... they start at $19,000 (no power windows) and go up to $44k.

It seems that massive crash Saturday during the Tour de France might have been downright criminal ... because French authorities are now on the case.

As we reported, a spectator with a cardboard sign was apparently mugging for the TV cameras when she got way too close to the racers ... striking German rider Tony Martin who was at the front of the pack.

She stepped in front of the racing pack holding the sign, appearing to display a message for the television cameras.

The sign hit Martin who was cycling near the head of the pack. Martin tumbled to the ground, setting off a chain reaction as nearly 2 dozen other cyclists ate it.

So now, law enforcement is on the hunt for the woman they say caused "unintentional injuries by manifestly deliberate violation of an obligation of safety or prudence." Translation, recklessness.

Authorities are asking witnesses to come forward who can ID the woman -- who quickly left the scene before investigators arrived.

Olivia Rodrigo's latest cover art looks an awful lot like something Courtney Love put out years ago -- and the latter isn't afraid to point that out ... not to mention demand credit.

The 18-year-old singer -- who's blowing up right now from her "drivers license" hit, plus her debut album "SOUR" from earlier this year -- teased a new visual project tied to her record, which will apparently be all about prom ... and OR never being able to attend her own.

She posed for a shoot in which she's in a prom dress, a tiara and mascara running down her face ... with a bouquet of flowers in tow. If that looks familiar, it's 'cause it is ... Courtney's band, Hole, released "Live Through This" in the '90s, and it's got a very similar aesthetic.

CL poked fun at this ... reposting Olivia's photo, and captioning it with, "Spot the difference! #twinning! 🥸@oliviarodrigo 😉👸👸." Seems like it was all in good fun, but it would appear Courtney is legit upset about this ... and perhaps rightly so.

Olivia eventually responded in Courtney's comments, writing ... "Love u and live through this sooooo much." Not really an apology or acknowledgment of inspiration (in our minds) ... and it looks like Courtney thought so too, because she told Olivia to send her flowers and a thank you note, while making sure to note her favorite florist. Indeed, it's deliciously petty.

Some are saying Courtney's expecting too much here -- as there's an argument that artists (especially ones from vastly different generations) are ripping each other's style all the time, consciously or unconsciously. It's also unclear if Olivia was aware of Courtney's work when she/her team were putting this whole concept together. Either way, Court doesn't care.

She dug in, writing ... "Does Disney teach kids reading and writing? God knows. Let's see. Yes this is rude. Rage inducing? Honey if I had a dollar for everyone this happens? I'd be real rich!"

Yungblud took to the stage this week for a momentous event since the pandemic began -- welcoming back concertgoers (in-person) ... who came flocking in, mostly without masks.

The rocker held his first public show at WeHo's Whisky a Go Go, which was packed to the gills with folks dying to get out and catch some tunes up close and in the flesh. It's all kosher, obviously -- the state of California is open again, and masks are largely optional.

However, it's interesting to see that the majority of people here chose not to wear a face covering ... especially because we've heard it was all basically on an honor system in terms of vaccination. We've heard from people who went that there were no vaxx card checks ... so it's a little dicey. Some may have been vaccinated, others easily might not have been.

That might make you squirm a bit when you see just how huddled and close people got during the performance -- especially when Yungblud got down low to the ground level.

At this point, it appears enough people are getting vaccinated that these people felt comfortable enough to take the chance ... to which we say, rage at your own risk. Word around town is that a lot of these smaller venues aren't checking vaccine status, so ... 🤷🏽‍♂️

BTW, Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox were in attendance for this shindig -- they're pals with Yungblud -- and of course, they were doing their thing up in the upper deck ... making out and stuff.

Liam Neeson is still saving the day onscreen -- even at the ripe age of 69 -- which is something he can't believe ... but might need a history lesson on, 'cause it's been done before.

The legendary actor -- whose legend only continues to grow with each new action flick he's cast in, including his latest for Netflix, "The Ice Road" -- did an interview with EW, in which he dissected the phenomenon of him getting tapped to play the hero time and time again.

He says, in part ... "I just turned 69 years of age, and the conversations I have with my agent now are, 'Liam, have you read this script? It's an action script,' and I say, 'Chris, let me ask you this, they do know what age I am, right?' 'Yes, they do.' 'Okay, that's all I want to know, thank you.'" So, yeah ... everyone seems to be in on the secret -- he's a senior citizen!

Liam adds, "That being said, I keep reasonably fit, and you just have to for some of these films. If you're playing the lead in any film, you have the responsibility; you're in practically every scene, it behooves you to be fit. You don't have to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger at the age of 35, but you have to have stamina."

Of course, Liam as the modern-day Stallone/Willis/Schwarzenegger can largely be attributed to his standout action film, "Taken," which became a cultural hit ... and apparently led to Hollywood honchos thinking LN would be THE perfect guy to whoop on baddies going forward.

And, hey ... the dude's not complaining either. Seems like he's taking this bizarro typecasting in stride -- but he'd be far from the first mainstream actor to be playing an older gun blazer.

Yes, we're aware Harrison Ford is once again donning the brown fedora for "Indiana Jones 5" -- and he's 78, so he might be the king in this convo -- but the one and only Charles Bronson seems to have been one of the early few to pave the way for both HF and Liam.

The man was acting in action flicks -- including a fifth installment of 'Death Wish' in 1994 at age 72/73 -- until he was in his late 70s, before passing in the early 2000s at age 81.

A hot-air balloon ride in New Mexico quickly turned into a deadly nightmare -- as the gondola that was carrying the riders snapped clean off ... and plummeted to the ground below, killing several.

This tragedy happened Saturday morning in Albuquerque, where at least 5 people were riding in a hot-air balloon above the city ... when, according to preliminary investigations, their basket carrier somehow detached from the balloon -- leaving them in a free fall descent.

The balloon itself floated down after them -- crumpling under its own weight in the air -- which was captured on video by several different bystanders. Important to note -- the people are not seen falling in these clips ... presumably, they'd already hit the ground by this point.

Reports say the basket crashed into some power lines ... which sent the carrier up in flames, and caused an electrical outage in the area, not to mention a crazy crash scene in the road.

Four people are said to have died from the fall -- reportedly in the ages of 40-60 -- but one was transported to the hospital in critical condition ... and docs are working on saving them. Unclear, for now, what exactly went wrong up there for something like this to happen, but it's terrifying nonetheless.

The Miami condominium building that partially crumbled to the ground -- leaving at least 4 dead and dozens of others unaccounted for -- seemed to be an accident waiting to happen ... at least that's what an engineering report suggested as early as 2018.

The city of Surfside -- where this awful tragedy happened -- released a number of docs related to the building, known as Champlain Towers South, and its architectural history ... and one report from engineering firm Morabito Consultants has some potentially damning findings.

According to the study, the experts found "major structural damage" to a concrete structural slab below the building's pool deck -- where the waterproofing had been laid flat as opposed to at an angle (which would help drain water from the place) ... something MC thought needed to be addressed, and which would require extensive and costly repairs.

Here's what the engineers thought could happen if this wasn't nipped in the bud ... "The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas." They add ominously, "Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially."

There's more ... the report also found "abundant cracking and spalling" in the concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Not just that, but what cracks had been found before were apparently repaired with shoddy labor, including slapping epoxy on top.

The Pentagon's UFO report has landed, but it ain't gonna leave much of a mark -- because our government's story is it doesn't know what the hell most of these objects are.

The highly-anticipated report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, was supposed to shed light on a rash of recent sightings -- many seen by U.S. military personnel -- but instead, all it definitely noted is 143 of the 144 flying objects spotted since 2004 remain ... unexplained.

The report could be read on the toilet -- the damn thing's only 9 pages -- and doesn't even rule out the U.S. government's involvement. Think about it ... the U.S. government issued the report, but can't rule out itself. 🤔

According to the docs, the UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) "could be attributable to developments and classified programs by U.S. entities" -- meaning, the government or private industry.

Now, the report does say 18 sightings "appear to have some sort of advanced propulsion or advanced technology." Of course, the question we all have is ... who or what's behind that technology?

We know what you're wondering, and the report never uses the words aliens or extraterrestrials. Instead, it says if and when they can resolve what these UAPs are, they expect they'll fit in one of these categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government or industry programs, foreign adversary systems, or a catchall “other” bin.

We're guessing alien life would be "other."

The one incident they did resolve required 6 months of combing through hundreds of reports in order to find out one UAP was a large deflating balloon.

Ok, here's one positive thing we can say: The government says it's now established a procedure for reporting these sightings to military officials, which should help collect better data to study such objects in the future.

For now, though, leaving so much unanswered will surely fuel greater speculation, especially since parts of the report remain classified.

The collapse of a 12-story Miami condo building has left 4 people dead and more than 150 feared dead as search and rescue efforts continue ... but a lawsuit's already been filed over the disaster.

A class-action suit has been brought against the Champlain Towers Condominium Association following Thursday's tragedy in South Florida, seeking to "compensate the victims of this unfathomable loss."

According to the legal docs, obtained by TMZ ... "repair needs had been identified" concerning certain structural elements with the building, but allegedly those repairs were not done.

The condo association is accused of failing to protect the people and property "through the exercise of ordinary care, safety measures, and oversight" that could have prevented the catastrophic collapse.

The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages.

As we reported ... the building's collapse destroyed at least 70 units of the 135-unit structure. At least 4 people were killed, and as many as 159 people are unaccounted for.

So far, the authorities have not released a possible cause for the collapse, but there are reports that the building has been sinking into the ground since the '90s.

The person who supplied the tortillas that were thrown at Latino players following a high school basketball game has come forward ... but he's adamant it was never meant to be racist.

Luke Serna -- who says he's half-Mexican -- admits he handed out tortillas to players, cheerleaders and fans at the big Coronado vs. Orange Glen basketball game as part of a "celebratory action" if Coronado won the game. Serna is a Coronado alum.

The problem ... the Orange Glen basketball team (and the OGHS student body as a whole) is largely Latino.

So, when Coronado -- a predominantly white school -- won the game and people began throwing the tortillas after the final buzzer, many players, coaches, staffers and others were offended ... claiming it felt racist.

But, Serna claims his tortilla plan was inspired by a tradition he learned as a student at UC Santa Barbara, and he had "absolutely no racial intent."

"The tossing of tortillas is used as a celebratory action by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at various sporting events including basketball and soccer," Serna said in a letter to the Coronado Unified Governing Board.

"There was not a shred of ill-intent or racial animus in carrying out this celebratory action."

Serna continued, "Those who have enflamed this issue into a racially charged issue should be utterly ASHAMED of themselves."

There has been fallout since the incident ... Coronado head coach JD Laaperi was fired following a school board vote.

Serna believes Laaperi should NOT have been terminated.

"The people who have fallen for this frame-up to smear Coach Laaperi are not worthy of being any part of the discussion regarding this event as it is their intent to try and fan the flames of racism where none existed.”

Serna later told FOX 5 in a separate statement ... "I realize the tortilla throwing has been perceived as racially insensitive. I do not condone racially insensitive behavior, and that was not my intent."

The Montreal Canadiens punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals on Thursday night ... and the fans went absolutely insane!!!

Moments after the Habs defeated the Vegas Golden Knights at the Bell Centre in Canada, thousands of fans swarmed the streets ... and pandemonium ensued.

Cops say fans were just rowdy as hell -- setting off fireworks, fighting and even attacking police officers.

At one point, a group of Habs fans -- still wearing Habs gear -- smashed up a police car and flipped it upside down!!

Police used tear gas to break up the chaos -- and eventually arrested 15 people ... while issuing citations to an additional 60 people!

By the way, officials had only allowed 3,500 fans inside the arena for the game -- but the situation outside was so crazy, they locked down the venue and refused to let fans out in fear people could get hurt.

If you're wondering why the fans went so wild, it's the first time the Canadiens have reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1993 ... and you know how people in Canada feel about hockey!

Jon Rahm chugged from his U.S. Open trophy and then punished a glow-in-the-dark golf ball to the moon ... and the awesome scene was all captured on video!!

The golf superstar -- who just took home the U.S. Open crown after an amazing four days at Torrey Pines last weekend -- hit up a restaurant patio somewhere in the world this week ... and then magic ensued.

Check out the video ... Rahm slurped down some sort of drink (odds are pretty solid it was an alcoholic beverage) and then he absolutely hit a missile off the floor!!!

Seriously, watch that golf ball go ... it was annihilated.

Of course, Rahm has every reason to celebrate this way ... the U.S. Open title was his first-ever major victory -- so keep on chuggin', Jon!

By the way, if this all looks familiar ... it's 'cause it kind of is -- Phil Mickelson famously drank out his PGA Championship trophy earlier this month just days after winning it.