Protesters are using all their might to tear down a statue of Andrew Jackson in our nation's capital ... just blocks from the White House.
The scene is playing out Monday night in the middle of Lafayette Park, with protesters attaching a chain to the statue of the former president in an attempt to topple the monument.
The statue has already been vandalized, with spray painters writing "KILLER" on one side of its base. Other protesters are throwing rolls of toilet paper over the statue, while some have attached ropes to the statue and are trying to pull it down.
Jackson, who is on the $20 bill, served as the 7th president of the United States and was responsible for the Trail of Tears, a policy that removed Native Americans from their ancestral lands. He's also one of President Trump's heroes.
St. John’s Church has been vandalized with spray paint reading BHAZ (Black House Autonomous Zone) pic.twitter.com/8D7UITVTK0
Nearby, more protesters are surrounding St. John's Episcopal Church, the site of Trump's bizarre photo op earlier this month, when he ordered law enforcement to clear the area with tear gas and helicopters.
Law enforcement is on hand in riot gear, and various videos posted on social media show violent clashes with protesters.
As you know ... protesters across the country and globe have been tearing down statues of various historical figures many consider to be racist, or as Taylor Swiftsays, "villains."
Barcelona's Liceu opera is back in business after more than 3 months of silence, but its return concert leaves a lot to be desired ... mostly, a human audience.
In a truly bizarre sight, the musicians for Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu opera put on a show for nearly 2,300 nursery plants placed in the seats instead of people.
Organizers of Monday's concert say the goal was to raise awareness of how important audiences are in post-lockdown life, and to reflect on the absurdity of human life amid a pandemic. Check and check!
As an added bonus -- all the plants will be donated to frontline health workers.
The Concert for the Biocene comes one day after the end of Spain’s state of emergency. The country has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19, at least in Europe, with more than 28,000 deaths.
The Liceu says it hopes the show reaffirms the value of art, music and nature and paves the way for returning to normal activity.
Of course, replacing the sound of leaves rustling with actual applause would be another step in the right direction.
Baton Rouge School Board member Connie Bernard's lost the confidence of her colleagues after she was called out for ignoring an intense discussion about race -- and that's A-OK with the guy who dragged her in the first place.
Activist Gary Chambers Jr. came on ''TMZ Live'' Monday to talk about his verbal ass-whooping of Connie last week. The viral video ended with Connie storming out of the public meeting after Gary went in on her.
@GaryChambers/Twitter
ICYMI ... Connie was dragged over the coals Thursday by Gary who called her out for apparently shopping online while members of the public passionately shared why they wanted to remove Robert E. Lee's name from a local high school. Connie had already condescendingly spoken out against the name change.
Welp, Gary tells us why Connie's just a microcosm of what's wrong with government at large in this country -- specifically, elected officials simply not listening to the plight of people they rep. He also had an update on the renaming debate itself ... it's good news.
In the wake of Connie's snafu, the Baton Rouge School Board at large is now calling for her resignation. Member Tramelle D. Howard -- who reps District 3 in BR -- tells TMZ ... "Myself and other members are asking for the immediate resignation of our colleague this week."
Now, bear in mind ... despite the fact her own Board members are asking her to scram, Connie doesn't technically have to quit. According to their own rules, she either has to be kicked out via a petition from her own constituents ... or resign on her own.
BTW, this isn't the first time Connie's been asked to step down over embarrassing public actions. About a year ago, she was captured on camera putting her hands on a young person's neck after walking over and demanding he and his buddies stop partying.
She got charged in that matter and is currently fighting it in court.
The church where President Trump will host his latest rally since the pandemic has made some bold claims about its facility and coronavirus, and it sounds too good to be true.
Dream City Church
Faith leaders for Arizona's Dream City Church -- which has 7 locations, including a Phoenix and Scottsdale location -- hopped online with a promo video hyping up this new technology they say they got their hands on ... which can, allegedly, wipe out nearly 100% of COVID-19 molecules in the air.
DCC's CFO Brendon Zastrow and Pastor Luke Barnett stood shoulder-to-shoulder in this bizarre clip, claiming Clean Air Exp -- an air purification org -- has a way to scientifically zap away 99.9% of the virus that might be floating around while people breathe.
They chalk it up to ionization, which they (and Clean Air EXP) say cluster pollutants in the air and attacks them ... which these fellas claim make it impossible for COVID-19 to live.
Zastrow and Barnett say this air purification system is up and running in their megachurches, and assure us it's safe for people to swing by and worship. The timing is anything short of suspicious -- DT's heading to their Phoenix site Tuesday for another rally.
The CDC hasn't weighed in on the efficacy of Clean Air EXP's method -- it certainly hasn't approved it as effective -- but the company itself is pumping up the claim.
A statue of Teddy Roosevelt that has greeted visitors for nearly a century at NYC's Museum of Natural History is set to be removed ... at the behest of the museum.
Honchos at the AMNH broke the news Sunday, saying a statue of the great trust-busting President that has stood at the foot of the entrance doors since 1940 will soon be gone.
In case you haven't seen it, the sculpture shows Teddy -- who once served as Governor of New York -- on horseback, with a Native American man on one side, and an African man on the other ... both of whom are below him.
Mayor Bill de Blasio says the museum asked the City for permission to remove the statue, because ... "it explicitly depicts Black and Indigenous people as subjugated and racially inferior." He added, "It is the right decision and the right time to remove this problematic statue." It goes without saying ... New York's City Council has approved the request.
The statue has been a hot-button issue for a while -- some folks saw it as promoting imperialism and colonization ... which was alive and well in Teddy's day.
The museum justified the move, explaining ... "Over the last few weeks, our museum community has been profoundly moved by the ever-widening movement for racial justice that has emerged after the killing of George Floyd." They added, "We have watched as the attention of the world and the country has increasingly turned to statues as powerful and hurtful symbols of systemic racism. Simply put, the time has come to move it."
While Teddy's officially out ... another historical statue in our nation's Capitol, no less, is currently on the hot seat -- and may very well be the next slated for removal, unless protesters get to it first. Out in D.C., the Emancipation Statue featuring Honest Abe is being discussed as the next to go ... because of racial insensitivity.
There's a slave below Abe breaking free from his shackles, with AL hovering above him. A petition's circulating to remove it.
10:43 AM PT -- 6/22 The Queens DA reportedly says the man who was placed in a chokehold by an NYPD cop will NOT face any charges.
UPDATE
4:13 PM PT -- The officer who was caught on camera applying a chokehold to a man he and other cops were trying to detain has now been suspended from the force ... and won't make a dime while he's out.
UPDATE
2/2
While a full investigation is still underway, there is no question in my mind that this immediate action is necessary.
We are committed to transparency as this process continues.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea made the announcement Sunday, saying ... "Accountability in policing is essential. After a swift investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, a police officer involved in a disturbing apparent chokehold incident in Queens has been suspended without pay."
UPDATE
He added, "While a full investigation is still underway, there is no question in my mind that this immediate action is necessary. We are committed to transparency as this process continues."
UPDATE
3:52 PM PT -- The NYPD just released body cam footage of the minutes leading up to the chokehold out by Rockaway Sunday, and it's incredibly telling.
UPDATE
The face-off with officers actually started with three different men, two of whom were white, and they were all talking trash to the cops trying to understand why they were out there approaching them to begin with. The guy who ended up getting cuffed was among the group too, but he was the only one to get tackled and roughed up in the end.
UPDATE
UPDATE
It's not entirely clear why the cops decided to bum-rush him -- you hear in the body cam footage that one of the officers felt he "squared up" and got into a fighting stance, and apparently the cops felt threatened. It doesn't look like he did though from what we can tell.
UPDATE
In any case, after the police pounced ... one of the officers wrapped their arm around the guy's neck, which caused his buddies to scream in a panic. He was only held down for a few seconds, and it does not appear he lost consciousness during the ordeal.
UPDATE
You can also hear multiple people standing around and watching, openly asking why the black guy was the only one to get arrested -- when the other two guys (one in particular) was mouthing off just as much, if not more so. No clear answers for that one, but check it out for yourself.
Less than a week after New York City said no more chokeholds to cops, an NYPD officer used one while making an arrest ... to the point the person he's subduing loses consciousness.
A handful of NYPD officers were filmed Sunday near Rockaway Beach attempting to detain and arrest a black man -- with one of the cops wrapping his entire arm around the guy's neck and putting his body weight on him from the ground, while the others put cuffs on.
You hear bystanders -- who are filming the whole thing -- start to scream out in a panic, telling the officer to stop choking him, which eventually gets him to release.
At that point, it appears the man being arrested has gone limp and is unresponsive -- some of the folks standing around say "he's out." He had indeed passed out and was led away by police moments later.
It's unclear if and when he regained consciousness -- his current condition is also unknown. We also don't know why he was being arrested, and the NYPD isn't saying.
The NYPD did say, "We are aware of the video and there is an active investigation underway by the Internal Affairs Bureau. This matter is taken extremely seriously and we expect to have an update this evening as the investigation unfolds."
Bear in mind ... the City JUST made it illegal for cops to do this, unless their lives are in immediate danger. They even named the law after Eric Garner.
Again, and again ... what is so remarkable about these encounters is that cops know they're being videotaped but it doesn't seem to deter much.
Skaters from Cali to Texas hopped on their boards in unison this weekend to peacefully protest and show support for the Black Lives Matter movement -- and the scene is unreal.
This weekend proved to be another few days filled with anti-racism demonstrations to decry the death of George Floyd and others, but none were quite as creative as skateboarders coming together and going for a communal ride through the streets of S.D., L.A. and Austin.
They call it Skate for Peace, or Push for Peace. Pretty straightforward.
Sounds cool, right? Wait till you see it in action ... it's like something out of a movie, honestly. Nothing but the sound of wheels rolling across the pavement -- purely awesome.
Now, these types of get-togethers have been going on for weeks nationwide -- but this weekend's skate protest was especially noteworthy because of the sheer numbers -- and the fact that they took up entire streets without too much pushback, it seems.
Ja Rule has made his services widely available to the general public -- the dude's offering up private party bookings now ... something his old foe, 50 Cent, finds awfully hilarious.
The rapper made an appearance this weekend at a private house party in New Jersey, where it looks like he was hired by a bunch of hotties to perform a few hit songs and hang out for a bit. One classic jam of his that he got around to playing ... "I'm Real," featuring J Lo.
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Everyone was having a good ol' time, and Ja certainly had no shame in announcing that, yes, people CAN book him for gigs like this now. He's partnered up with ICONN, and there's an official way you can go about getting Ja to come to your shindig ... for a pretty penny.
Sounds neat, but of course ... there's always haters lurking in the back ready to pounce. In this case, Ja's nemesis, Fitty, came with a bag of jokes ready to fly at JR's expense.
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He took to IG and wrote, "if you don’t want to end up doing private birthday parties for 15 people. 🤷🏽♂️stay out of my way, OK." Some folks credit 50 with stunting Ja's career -- at least that's how 50 sees it -- and he rides that narrative to no end ... constantly clowning the guy.
We'll say this -- it ain't 2003 anymore, for either of these fellas. Now, play nice!!!
Florida Man is back with a vengeance -- this time, he's fighting his way into a Walmart, which has a mandatory face mask policy ... but FM NEEDS his discounts, 'rona be damned.
This wild scene went down Saturday in Orlando, and it starts off right in the thick of the action. An elderly man tries storming his way into a Walmart without a face covering -- but gets stopped by an employee at the front door. That wasn't gonna stop gramps here though.
He immediately got physical and started pushing his way through -- even shoving the masked employee out of his way ... to some success, at first. The guy did get by him -- after taking a tumble during the struggle -- and then started heading for some aisles. But, this Walmart employee (of the year?) caught up to him and held his ground ... give him a raise!
On the second go, he had backup with him -- just a regular Joe, it seems -- who chimed in and told the guy to get the hell out. He also noted the dude was getting his germs all over the place by making such a big fuss -- meanwhile, almost everyone else had coverage.
It seems the two-man press was enough for the old-timer to call it quits and scram, empty-handed at that. Guess he'll have to wait to get his weekly batch of $5 DVDs ... too bad.
Anyway, the whole time you can hear the cameraman laughing it up -- and while we'll admit it's pretty funny watching this absurdity unfold ... it's also pretty jarring and surreal.
People just do not wanna play by the rules, even if the public's health is at stake.
One of the 4 ex-cops charged in the brutal killing of George Floyd was confronted by an angry shopper who bristled when he told her he was sorry she felt the way she did.
J. Alexander Kueng was shopping at Cub Foods in Plymouth, Minnesota Saturday when a woman spotted him. Kueng was captured on video standing by as Derek Chauvin mercilessly put his knee on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
Kueng acknowledged who he was as the woman recorded him, and when he told her he was sorry she was feeling the way she was ... she was more than eager to display her feelings.
Kueng is out on a $750,000 bond. He's charged with aiding and abetting, second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter. He's expected in court, along with the other defendants, at the end of the month.
Elon Musk's newest sweet ride has gone from the Tesla stage to the public stage -- 'cause his Cybertruck made what appears to be its public debut for the first time this weekend.
The Cybertruck was rolled out (literally) this weekend in L.A. and put on display for public viewing at the Petersen Automotive Museum -- where tons of cool and historic whips are featured for an up-close-and-personal viewing. And for now, the Cybertruck is one of them.
Sounds like this would be one of the few times anyone besides a Tesla employee has gotten to inspect this beast of a vehicle in detail and with their own eyes. Of course, Elon and co. did an up-and-down unveiling in November, but since then ... the car's been mostly MIA.
Welp, the good folks over at Electrek did the hard work of going to check it out for themselves ... and they did a proper write-up on what they found upon seeing it in person.
Long story short, they say it's about as cool as it looked the first time it was shown off -- and it's actually not all that intimating when you get a closer look. Electrek breaks down all the features that Tesla revealed in the fall -- and got some sweet close-up shots of the exterior.
They note it's pretty freaking big, but not all that imposing when you're right up next to this thing. Despite its out-of-this-world design, Electrek notes a lot of the car parts are very much so of our time and are quite practical. The steering wheel and side mirrors are bit different (or non-existent) which leads to questions about how it'll actually drive on the road.
Time will tell, we suppose. In the meantime ... LOOK 👀
An apparent newborn baby got dragged out to the crockpot of potential disease festering in Tulsa -- and like mother, the kid too is unmasked ... and surrounded by hordes of bodies.
This screenshot is from a video that was filmed and posted on social media Saturday outside of the BOK Center in downtown, where Trump is hosting a rally -- the first one he's held in months since the start of the pandemic, and which promises to be packed.
The person who posted this was documenting her day ahead of the actual rally later this evening, and one of the last posts on her IG story shows this woman with what looks like a recently born child. The woman who posted says 3 weeks old -- tagging it #BabiesForTrump.
It looks like she had a convo with the mother -- in her original story, the woman comes over and seems to mouth some words to her.
Needless to say, it's sad that the kid was brought out there ... as he/she has no say in the matter. Of course, newborns are susceptible to falling ill from COVID-19, as their immune systems are not fully formed.
A Louisiana city official who resisted taking Robert E. Lee out of a school's name got taken to task by a black activist, who forced her to leave a meeting in utter shame.
This epic take-down of words went down Thursday during a Baton Rouge School Board meeting, where District 8 member Connie Bernard was publicly called out by Gary Chambers Jr., who stepped to the mic and unloaded on what he described as her inherent racism.
A bit of context ... part of the purpose for Thursday's meeting was to circle back to an issue that'd been discussed recently in the community -- namely, taking the "Lee" out of Lee High School, which was already a stripped-down version of Robert E. Lee High School.
Several members of the community have been calling for a full-blown name change of late, and School Board Member Bernard said last week folks offended by REL needed to brush up on their history. Welp, Mr. Chambers Jr. here had some things to say about that.
For starters, he addressed the fact that it appeared Ms. Bernard was captured on camera online shopping from her laptop during the meeting, while members of the public were airing out their grievances on the topic.
Chambers Jr. said her behavior and comments proved she was racist, and he demanded that she resign immediately. Ms. Bernard then got up and walked out of the room. She later apologized for her comments about Lee, and insisted she wasn't online shopping ... but simply came across a pop-up ad, which she wasn't able to close fast enough.
Some of the good people of Atlanta are pitching in to help Rayshard Brooks' wife and kids ... with some very generous and useful gifts.
Rayshard's widow, Tomika Miller, was surprised with a new car Friday, plus life insurance for their 3 children and full rides for them to attend Clark Atlanta University.
TMZ.com
Tomika's new ride is a Ford Escape, and it's already paid for ... she got the keys at her lawyer L. Chris Stewart's law firm.
A couple of Atlanta restaurant owners are picking up the tab on the car, life insurance and college tuition ... Slutty Vegan owner Pinky Cole, and Big Dave's Cheesesteaks owner Derrick Hayes.
As we reported ... Rayshard was shot in the back and killed by Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe last weekend in a Wendy's parking lot.
Rayshard left behind his wife and their kids ... 8-year-old Blessing, 2-year-old Memory and 1-year-old Dream. He also had a stepson, 13-year-old Mekai.
Being asked to wear a face covering was all it took for this Lyft passenger to unleash a rant chock full of racial slurs ... and the driver captured it all on video.
The racist rider got in the Lyft on May 28 in Reno, and things quickly turned racial and hostile after the driver asked him to wear a mask. ... for obvious reasons.
The passenger starts griping because he doesn't have a face covering, and tells the driver he doesn't believe in the coronavirus, despite the driver explaining he has family members who are infected.
After some bickering over the mask, the virus and the driver's route, the passenger starts making fun of the driver's accent and starts unleashing racial slurs.
The man seems to think he has a binding contract with the Lyft driver to take him home, but the driver takes a stand and ends the ride early, asking the man to get out ... and things keep going downhill.
The passenger calls the driver a "candy a** f****" and threatens to "crush your skull right now." And, he doesn't stop there.
The driver finally threatens to call the cops, and that's enough to get the man outta the back of his ride, but not before threatening to take his beef to Lyft.
We reached out to Lyft who tells us the rider has been banned and they're working with the driver to make sure he's alright. A rep tells us, "The behavior shown by the rider in this video is despicable and has no place on the Lyft platform. Lyft is committed to maintaining an inclusive and welcoming community, and discrimination is not tolerated."
A man in New York City launched into an epic tirade when he spotted a Black Lives Matter sign at a coffee shop, and his meltdown -- captured on video -- pissed off every other customer.
The guy absolutely berated the barista over the Black Lives Matter sign posted in the front window of Burly Coffee in Brooklyn. The dude also had a major problem with being asked to wear a mask in order to get a cup of Joe.
The standoff went down Thursday morning with the irate customer telling the shop to take down the BLM signage, and the barista firing back he needed to take a hike.
At one point, the man points at the sign and says, "This is the most racist thing out there. I'm not a racist ... this is offensive and I want you to take off this sign."
The poor barista even tried taking the guy to school ... explaining #BLM does not mean all lives don't matter. Then other customers started chiming in, begging the guy to stop causing a disturbance.
The guy refused to leave and argued for more than 10 minutes, before starting to chant "All lives matter." He also claims the pandemic is a hoax, and only sheep wear masks -- aka, the conservative greatest hits.
