Viral

Too Short is circling back to apologize for a convo he had with Saweetie that made a lot of people accuse him of being a colorist, and in addition ... he's adding context to his remarks.

The Bay Area hip-hop icon tells TMZ ... he's sorry if he offended anyone with his words from 2020 during an IG Live chat between Saweetie and himself -- noting it wasn't his intention to come off favoring lighter-skinned Black people over darker-skinned folks.

You'll recall ... Short Dog told Saweetie he loved interracial relationships, and had actually only fallen in love with mixed women. He didn't say he wasn't into non-mixed Black women, per se, but many made that leap ... and claimed his remark was anti-Black.

Well, TS is here to set the record straight ... further explaining what he was touching on in his OG comments -- namely, that the Bay Area is very diverse and that race simply isn't at the forefront of many folks' minds there ... be it for hate, division or anything else.

There's another point from his Saweetie talk that he clears up with us as well ... saying beauty -- and ugliness, for that matter -- is found in ALL walks of life, regardless of skin tone or shade.

Important to say, because initially ... it sounded like he was implying only mixed babies come out looking gorgeous -- as opposed to, perhaps, Black infants or any other race of babies. That's not the case, though, as Too Short says here in clear terms.

Meek Mill's album art plastered on the side of a bus is triggering the hell out of a man on Hollywood Blvd. ... and ya gotta see his epic rant, which is all on video!!!

The guy dives right in, shouting and pointing at the bus wrapped with an advertisement for Meek's album, "Expensive Pain" -- which features artistic depictions of naked Black women. Some of them bending over, and it's all too much for this guy to take.

The meltdown seems to center on the imagery being plastered on a bus that's driving through his neighborhood. He also thinks it's disrespectful to Black women, and laments the fact tons of eyeballs are gonna see the ad.

The epic rant continues as the guy walks all around the outside of the bus, pointing out all the things he doesn't like about the artwork ... and then he tries to tie it in with vaccines and face masks.

This video is peak Hollywood Blvd, an infamous spot for bizarre rants -- but we gotta ask?

Gabby Petito's cause of death is about to be revealed after weeks of waiting on a coroner's findings -- and TMZ is streaming the highly anticipated results live.

The autopsy report is being discussed Tuesday during a press conference and comes several weeks after investigators found her remains at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last month.

As you know by now, the coroner ruled her death a homicide.

Now, the last pieces of the puzzle in this tragedy are finally coming together -- and may very well back up what her family suspected all along ... that she was brutalized, and left out in the wilderness to perish.

Of course, the one answer that remains elusive ... who's responsible, and obviously why? The prime person of interest is Gabby's fiance, Brian Laundrie, who has gone missing and for whom a manhunt has been launched.

Laundrie remains unaccounted for, despite a handful of alleged sightings in different parts of the country.

There was a suspected sighting nearly 500 miles away from where he was living in North Port, FL -- with a man claiming to have spotted somebody on his deer cam who looked like Brian -- but cops have said they have no reason to believe, for now, Brian's in the area.

Most recently a hiker claimed to have seen Brian on the Appalachian Trail ... but nothing concrete there either. Dog the Bounty Hunter also joined the nationwide manhunt.

As we reported ... Dog's hitting the pause button on his search -- this after injuring himself on the job.

As for Laundrie's family ... they say he went hiking sometime in mid-September, but never returned. This follows an already incredibly suspicious return back to Florida without any trace of Gabby. Her family's blasted Brian and his family for clamming up on providing answers.

The feds issued an arrest warrant for Laundrie but NOT for Gabby's death -- it was for Use of Unauthorized Access Devices. Prosecutors claimed Laundrie used a Capital One Bank debit card from August 30 to Sept. 1 to purchase stuff totaling at least $1,000.

The feds haven't said it was Gabby's card, but that doesn't seem like much of a leap.

Just a few days later ... the FBI visited the Laundrie residence to retrieve some personal items in hopes they might have his DNA on them.

One thing we do know about Gabby and Brian's recent past is that they had a confrontation in Utah ... something that was briefly investigated by a police officer, who recorded one of the final images of her alive, and crying.

And, a witness called 911 shortly before Gabby's disappearance, telling the dispatcher he saw Brian slap and hit Gabby during an argument.

Now, we're going to learn what happened to her after that ... once and for all.

Smash Mouth's lead singer is calling it quits after his shot at one final show went off the rails ... because he says health challenges have become too much for him.

Steve Harwell tells TMZ he's retiring, saying ... "Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of being a Rockstar performing in front of sold-out arenas and have been so fortunate to live out that dream. To my bandmates, it’s been an honor performing with you all these years and I can’t think of anyone else I would have rather gone on this wild journey with."

His decision comes after video of the band's performance this weekend in upstate New York went viral due to Steve's behavior on stage ... in which he slurred his words, yelled at the audience and at times seemed completely disassociated with the event.

A source close to the band tells us ... Steve knew it was time to hang it up after the show, because it's impossible for him to keep performing as his health continues to deteriorate.

We're told he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy 8 years ago, which has led to other medical setbacks like heart failure and Wernicke's encephalopathy ... a condition that impacts his motor functions, including speech and memory. He's also battled substance abuse over the years, which is further contributing to his health crisis.

Our sources say Steve was going through an episode during the live show, and it greatly impacted how he felt, at times not even understanding his surroundings.

Steve says ... "To our loyal and amazing fans, thank you, all of this was possible because of you. I’ve tried so hard to power through my physical and mental health issues, and to play in front of you one last time, but I just wasn't able to."

He adds that he's incredibly grateful to everyone who's contributed to Smash Mouth's success over the years, and to "those who have kept 'All Star' relevant as one of the top memes on the internet today."

Steve concludes, "I cannot wait to see what Smash Mouth accomplishes next and am looking forward to counting myself as one of the band’s newest fans."

"Squid Game" is Netflix's surprising, massively successful survival drama out of Korea, but its popularity could pay dividends for people in India too.

Geoffrey Giuliano -- the actor who plays 'VIP 4' on the hit series -- tells TMZ ... he's planning to auction off the robe he wore on the show, as well as his copy of a "Squid Game" script and storyboard, to raise money for widows and children living in West Bengal.

Geoffrey says his auction will be held by a memorabilia dealer in North Carolina, and all the proceeds from it will go to the organization Sri Radhe International.

The actor says he doesn't usually hold on to scripts, but he happened to for "Squid Game" ... and he also asked to keep his robe because he liked it.

Seems like a shrewd move, but Geoffrey points out that nobody knew how big the series would become. Still, he hit the jackpot.

Giuliano tells us he hasn't set a date for the auction yet, but when the bidding starts he expects to see six figures for the robe and at least $10k for the script.

The Philadelphia Eagles fans initially believed to be banging in a bathroom stall at the Carolina Panthers' stadium Sunday were NOT arrested over the incident ... TMZ Sports has learned.

A rep for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tells us officers were dispatched to a men's bathroom during the Eagles vs. Panthers game at Bank Of America Stadium ... but they could not confirm if the couple was, in fact, engaging in intercourse.

Instead, we're told the cops simply arrived due to reports of a woman in the men's bathroom -- which, they say, is a violation of stadium policies.

The CMPD spokesperson says the couple was taken out of the stall and escorted out of the venue ... but they were not ultimately arrested.

Still, video from the scene showed the whole incident created quite the spectacle regardless.

In clips filmed by witnesses in the bathroom, you can see several males crowded around the stall while the two were in it.

Unclear exactly what was going down behind the closed door -- cops only said the two were fully clothed when they arrived on scene.

Here's Blac Chyna having a very public freakout in an airport terminal ... yelling at folks to "go get f****** vaccinated!!!"

Ya gotta see the video ... Blac Chyna's standing in the terminal with her bodyguards when she yells at someone to get vaxxed and "stop being stupid, hoe!"

Folks who saw BC go nuclear in Miami International Airport tell TMZ ... the incident went down late Sunday night, and she was apparently set off by a fan's request for a picture.

We're told a lady holding a baby went up to Chyna to ask for the photo, and that's when BC started ranting about how the woman better be vaccinated.

Blac Chyna, BTW, is vaccinated ... she got her jab earlier this year while live streaming.

As you can see, most of the airline travelers just sit there in stunned silence ... and no one seems to react much to the animated, blue-haired Blac Chyna as she keeps going off. By the end of the rant, she's not even talking about vaccines -- instead, she was going off about her Washington, DC roots. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Chipper Jones' baseball skills have apparently deteriorated over the years ... 'cause the MLB legend just embarrassingly fumbled an attempt at catching a foul ball Monday.

The former Braves star's gaffe just went down in the second inning of Atlanta's playoff tilt with the Brewers ... when Milwaukee 2nd baseman Luis Urias hit a pop fly toward the ex-3rd baseman, who was sitting just a few rows behind home plate.

The ball was hit sky-high ... and despite camping underneath it and having a Hall of Fame baseball resume -- Chipper muffed the grab!!

The ball clanked off the 49-year-old's mitt ... and it ain't hard to see in the broadcast footage that he was pretty embarrassed.

The game's announcers had fun with the moment, with one ruling it an error -- and the other adding, "Poor Larry. That's going to be all over the place today."

In Chipper's defense, he hasn't played in a Big League game in 9 years ... so the debacle is at least kind of forgivable.

Hopefully Justin Bieber's watched the "60 Minutes" special on deepfakes by now, so he can tell when he's complimenting -- or challenging -- the real Tom Cruise.

JB got totally fooled by the @deeptomcruise TikTok account recently, believing the "Tom Cruise" created by artificial intelligence was the real deal playing guitar and singing.

Justin was impressed, so he shouted out Tom for his musical skills ... and then reminded him of their previously rumored fight-to-be that never was ... with the Biebs suggesting he'd still wallop Cruise.

JB even went a step further later on by posting his own cover of the deepfake Cruise's song to show his respect.

But, it was all for naught, because Justin was fooled -- like so many others -- by the deepfake account that's existed since February, created by Chris Ume ... who uses A.I. technology to merge Cruise's face with impersonator Miles Fisher's to create the realistic effect.

An old Jorja Smith cover has reignited a fierce debate among music lovers -- namely, whether she can actually sing or not ... but the evidence will make you shake your head.

The English singer-songwriter did her own rendition of TLC's "No Scrubs" in 2018, which for some reason resurfaced on Twitter this weekend ... and got folks chattering (again) about her pipes, or alleged lack thereof.

It's been an ongoing thing with her ... but there's really no question in our minds -- especially when you consider the full breadth of work and live performances, not to mention her background.

First, the claim ... people are taking this specific cover, as well as others she's done over the years, and suggesting her throaty, raspy vocals are a sign that she can't really carry a tune. Some argue this style of singing is one employed by a lot of modern-day singers/pop stars ... and that it's become the standard for what industry types look for. It's a running joke.

The "smoky" turn is something some folks claim Jorja has done a lot of lately ... but many more were quick to surface a plethora of clips that prove definitively -- she's a master of her craft.

Somebody posted a snippet of her performing live with the WDR Funkhausorchester orchestra from last year, and wrote ... "y’all can sit the F*** down and realize that Jorja Smith is and always will be a good singer…"

Others posted even more clips of her singing live, pointing out the range she has ... and the falsettos she can hit with ease. Of course, when you factor in the fact that she's a classically trained vocalist -- having gotten her tutelage at Aldridge and raised and schooled by her dad, who's a singer/musician himself -- it blows all allegations of bad singing out of the water.

One thing she may want to think about ... perhaps switching up her approach, as that's another critique often leveled her against her. Specifically, that even though she obviously CAN sing ... Jorja tends to dabble in the same types of riffs, runs and registers -- at least in some listeners' eyes, to the point where a lot of her crooning sounds repetitive or rehashed.

Southwest Airlines blames weather and tower issues for nearly 2,000 of their flights getting nixed this weekend -- but many think the real reason is ... a pilot strike over vaccines.

Here's the deal ... upwards of 1,800 SA flights (and counting) were straight-up canceled between Saturday and Sunday all over the country -- leaving even more would-be passengers stranded or without air travel for the holiday weekend.

Southwest has said poor weather conditions in FL and subsequent air traffic control roadblocks there were responsible for the mass cancelations -- but the FAA pushed back, admitting Friday was a bit of a mess in Jacksonville ... but noting Saturday/Sunday seemed fine. Other airlines also reported significantly less cancelations over the same time period.

So ... what gives??? It appears somebody's not being forthright on why so many Southwest flights continue to stay grounded -- but there's a theory that might have some credence.

On Friday, Southwest's pilot union filed legal docs seeking to halt a vaccine mandate that went into effect last week -- following Biden's order for federal workers and/or contractors, which applies to the airline. That was left unresolved heading into the weekend, it seems.

While Southwest hasn't spoken on a possible strike ... the union itself shot down the notion they were to blame, saying ... "[W]e can say with confidence that our Pilots are not participating in any official or unofficial job actions." Then ... some major shade.

They add... "Our Pilots will continue to overcome SWA management’s poor planning, as well as any external operational challenges, and remain the most productive Pilots in the world."

On the record, they're denying any sort of protest -- but there are reports, citing airline sources, that a massive "sickout" went down, and that ripple effects are still being felt.

Morgan Wallen is a bro, so it's no shock he got a wild reception onstage Saturday night in the City of Brotherly Love.

Wallen was a surprise guest during the Eric Church concert. Wallen walked on stage and told the capacity crowd, "What's going on, Philadelphia?!!?"

Church had been singing Wallen's song, "Sand in My Boots," when Wallen walked out to roaring applause and cheering,

The duo then sang more of Wallen's songs, including "Whiskey Glasses," "Somebody's Problem," "Silverado for Sale," and "Quittin' Time."

It's an interesting pairing. Wallen has long called Church his musical hero -- and Chruch even offered words of encouragement after Wallen dropped the n-word after a night of partying.

Church said at the time, "That was indefensible ... I was heartbroken when it happened.  I think Morgan's trying to work on that and on himself. And I hope he does." Wallen dropped out of sight for several months to deal with it.

Wallen is getting ready for 4 shows this fall ... 2 in Alabama, one in Georgia and another in Tennessee.

A crazed gunman on an alleged crime spree in L.A. ended his trail of terror by taking a woman hostage -- only to be killed by cops who stormed in ... all of which is on video.

LAPD says this guy was on a criminal tear before fleeing into the Santa Fe Loft & Apartments high-rise building in downtown Friday ... running into a lady in the halls as police were hot on his trail, and forcing her into her unit at gunpoint -- barricading himself inside.

From there, a tense standoff unfolded -- but even prior to what you see on video here -- captured by another DTLA resident from across the way -- cops say the gunman was running amok on the streets ... allegedly shooting folks in a business, trying to carjack someone and even attempting to shoot someone in the head, with the gun failing to go off.

Like we said, this was his final stop -- and as you can see ... it was truly life or death, as the guy clearly appears to have had his own gun at her head while she was on her knees.

Helicopters were zooming ... and within minutes, a SWAT team was at the door, trying to negotiate with the man -- but ultimately decided to bust in and take control of the sitch, which they did. Luckily, the victim was unharmed as they unloaded their weapons on him.

She'd been moved to another area of the apartment, and was taken to a hospital afterward for an evaluation. Considering the violence this man is alleged to have inflicted before this ... it's a miracle the woman was left relatively unscathed, and walked away with her life intact.

The cops explained their actions on Twitter ... saying that based on what they'd been told the man had already done and the dire nature of the moment -- in addition to what they themselves were seeing via surveillance -- SWAT decided to take action ... and an officer-involved shooting occurred, killing the suspect on the scene.

Saweetie is denying partaking in colorism after an old chat she had with Too Short resurfaced anew -- pointing out that ... yes, she checked him and defended Black women.

This IG Live convo between the two rappers went down sometime last year, and for whatever reason ... it popped up on social media again this weekend, with folks criticizing both her and the Bay Area legend for many perceived as pitting biracial Black people against those who are 100% Black.

In the clip, you hear Short say that he loves biracial women ... and that he's never fallen in love with any woman who wasn't mixed. Saweetie -- at that point in the convo -- was just taking it in, without any real pushback in the moment ... and sorta yukking it up with him.

TS goes on to say that biracial babies are also the most beautiful ones, to him at least, and that no biracial baby can be ugly. While he didn't say this, per se ... the assumption is that other babies, perhaps, of one race or ethnicity could be less than cute, in his eyes.

It's worth noting ... the reason they got to talking about this in the first place is because Saweetie herself is half Black/half Filipino -- and she's also from NorCal, which they noted is pretty diverse, especially among the Asian community.

Despite that context, some felt Saweetie's reaction here -- in this particular moment -- was less than supportive of Black women, and many are even calling it anti-Black ... which she was apparently perpetuating by not speaking out against Short. She did, though ... just later.

Saweetie posted another clip from that same IG chat, and sure enough ... she notes to Too Short that Black women are beautiful babies, and do indeed make beautiful babies as well.

The Waffle House employee holding a baby while she worked didn't just take heat online, but an online scammer also made up a backstory about the incident for financial gain ... TMZ has learned.

As you may know ... a TikTok of the Waffle House worker went viral last weekend, because she was holding a baby while it appeared she was helping the cooks prepare meals.

In researching the incident, a person contacted us claiming to be the employee and gave us a tragic backstory explaining why she was holding the child in the video -- claiming the baby was the child of her dead brother.

This person posing as the employee also told us she was suspended for a week by Waffle House ... all of which we now know is NOT TRUE.

Waffle House's VP of Public Relations, Njeri Boss, tells TMZ ... they investigated the TikTok video and "have determined that the media portrayals and social media posts are not accurate."

Boss adds ... "While an employee of ours was recorded holding a baby at work, she is not related to that baby in any manner, never identified herself as the person in the TikTok video, never provided a CashApp account to receive any donations, never gave an interview to any media outlet, and never was suspended from her job."

Fortunately, TMZ did not include any of the scammer's CashApp info in our story, but some people out there did ... and likely donated to a phony cause.

Waffle House further explains that the employee in the TikTok vid held a baby belonging to her co-worker in an attempt to quickly settle the crying child ... and she's been coached and re-trained on proper safety guidelines going forward.

The restaurant chain adds ... "We caution against further dissemination of that false story and the damages that might result, not to mention the help that might give to support an apparent fraud on the public."

Turns out the dude who sat behind home plate at the Dodgers game back in 2016 is NOT one of the most wanted men in the world ... he's just a regular ol' baseball fan who happens to look like the convicted felon who illegally swindled $325 million, authorities say.

As we previously reported, the U.S. Marshals believed they had a credible lead on John Ruffo after a relative believed they spotted him on TV sitting behind home plate at a Dodgers game in 2016.

FYI, Ruffo was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, but skipped town before serving his time.

The story recently came to light after ABC recently published a podcast on the case.

But, the U.S. Marshals now tell TMZ Sports the fan in question is NOT the fugitive ... he was just a dude who went to a baseball game and landed at the center of one of the biggest sports stories of the week.

After the story blew up, someone recognized their family member as the man in question, and contacted authorities ... who ultimately cleared the guy.