Weird News

Don't worry ... this didn't end like the Harambe situation, but it did get extremely tense.

An 8-year-old girl in China was rescued by a courageous security guard who hung upside down in the giant panda living space ... pulling her to safety. And, all the drama was caught on video.

The girl reportedly fell backward off a fence last weekend, dropping more than 6 feet into the enclosure at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Check it out -- the panda bears approach the girl as the guard attempts to pull her up with a bamboo pole to no avail ... and the crowd begins to really panic. He eventually ditched the pole and stretched upside down to reach the girl with his bare hands ... and pulled her up to safety.

Three pandas -- which aren't always super cuddly and friendly -- were creeping closer at the time, but never got to the girl. They seemed more curious than vicious.

This is NOT what they mean by turn the other cheek -- but a New Zealand-born singer couldn't pass on getting Harry Styles all over her face.

Singer Kelsy Karter carved out some serious real estate on her cheek for an in-your-face tattoo of the former One Direction singer's pretty mug. The 26-year-old called it a birthday gift for Harry, who turns 25 on Friday. Thing is ... it's unclear if she actually knows Harry but one thing's for damn sure -- she's hell-bent on working with him.

The New Zealand singer -- who has dubbed herself the musical female version of Harry -- once reportedly said, "Mark my words: I'm getting a song on his album."

She's so obsessed with Harry, her first post on IG is a video of him performing onstage ... and she just released a song entitled, "Harry."

Kelsy got the ink work done in L.A. over the weekend and posted the results with the caption, "Mama, look what I made me do." An L.A. artist named Romeo Lacoste did the honors, but c'mon ... Harry's better looking than that!

Well, this is random.

Turns out, when former "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen came up with the money needed to get charges against him dropped for writing bad checks, he got a huge assist from a guy he never met ... with a troubling background.

Bob Romanik -- radio DJ for the St. Louis area station 1190 KQQZ-AM, best known for calling Waka Flocka the n-word -- tells TMZ ... he reached out to Hansen when he heard about his financial troubles and offered to help him out.

Romanik says he thinks Chris is a good guy who's done good work, so he gave him nearly $13,000 to square up with a mom-and-pop shop in Stamford, CT. We broke the story ... the cash got Hansen out of a jam with prosecutors, who decided to drop his larceny case.

Romanik isn't looking for Hansen to return him any favors either, but he does tell us if Chris starts another project busting predators and helping children ... he'd like to invest in the noble cause.

What's not noble ... is Romanik's history of dropping racial slurs on the air. As we told you, he went on a racist rant back in 2017 after Waka Flocka wiped his ass with a Trump jersey. Bob called the rapper a "greasy black n***** son of a bitch" -- and he hasn't stopped using the n-word since.

In fact, Romanik has responded to criticism for his racist comments by saying it's his First Amendment right ... and he'll stop saying the n-word when rappers stop saying it.

Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed called for the FCC to remove Romanik's license last year for his hate speech, but as far as we know ... he's still on the air.

Bobby Beausoleil -- one of Charles Manson's followers who's been in prison for murder for almost 49 years -- is on the verge of getting out, and he might have a Lady Gaga documentary to thank for helping his case.

If you don't know, Beausoleil's not considered part of the Manson "family," but he was an associate and was convicted of first-degree murder in 1970. Despite an initial life sentence, he was recommended for parole by a California parole panel earlier this month ... after being rejected 18 times before.

According to transcripts from his parole hearing, Beausoleil was asked several questions about his music and art in relation to his connection to Manson, and he made it clear ... his art stands alone.

To prove his point ... Beausoleil pointed out the soundtrack he provided for the 1972 short film "Lucifer Rising" was sampled in the 2017 documentary about Lady Gaga, "Gaga: Five Foot Two."

Beausoleil told the parole board ... "The Lady Gaga documentary used a portion of it ... and it has been used in other films." He added ... "It is respected on its own merits as art ... I think it is important to try to see it as something that is not representative of something that is related to Manson."

We looked into it, and his story checks out ... 2 tracks from "Lucifer Rising" were used in the Gaga doc, and Bobby is credited as the writer.

It's unclear if Lady Gaga had any input about the musical selections for the doc -- which was directed by Chris Moukarbel -- but we reached out to her rep ... no word back so far.

A local Brit tried his darndest to hawk debris left behind from Prince Philip's car crash last week -- and got pretty close to the finish line before eBay pulled the plug.

An eBay user known as morbius777 put the listing up sometime over the weekend and advertised it as "Prince Philip Car Crash Parts." The items for auction included three plastic parts from the car wreck, and what looks like a bunch of broken glass that the user apparently picked up off the side of the road, where Philip crashed on Thursday.

morbius777 also claimed that some of the debris "may even have Phil's DNA on it, if you wanted to clone him or something." Prior to eBay yanking the listing on Tuesday, bids had gone as high as £65,900 ... which is a little more than $85,000 with 5 days left.

The user claimed in his post description that the proceeds would've gone to cancer research efforts in the U.K., but eBay wasn't having it. They pulled the post, citing a policy of theirs that'd been violated.

An eBay spokesperson reportedly said, "This listing has been removed in line with our policy relating to the sale of any item that seeks to profit from human suffering or tragedy."

As we reported ... police are investigating the crash and will take any "appropriate action" by the time they're finished. One of the people who was injured in the other car claims police have been ignoring her and that her injuries were seriously downplayed.

Ikumi Yoshimatsu -- who repped Japan when she won Miss International in 2012 -- is at war with a huge-ass bird that's been feasting on expensive koi in her pond ... and TMZ's got video of the flying beast eyeing its prey.

Ikumi was baffled for weeks that 5 of her koi fish disappeared from the pond in her backyard at her Beverly Hills property. She thought maybe someone was stealing the pricey fishes (some valued at more than $10k) so she placed a net over the pond.

Turns out that didn't solve the problem ... more fish just disappeared. Then, one day, she spotted the culprit ... this massive bird (possibly a Crane). Ikumi says she saw the bird eating one of the koi. She grabbed her drone and captured the bird perched on her roof.

We're told Ikumi -- who, BTW, is an actress -- says she doesn't know how to abate the problem. The only thing that seems to keep the bird away is her Kangal Shepherd dog. As you can see from the video ... the bird keeps its distance from the pond when the pooch is around.

#FirstWorldProblems

It's official ... more people like a photo of an egg (handsome in its own right) than they do a pic of Kylie Jenner's baby, Stormi, latching onto mama bear.

Kylie lost the coveted title of Instagram's most liked post on Sunday to an account called world_record_egg ... which was created earlier this month with only one goal -- beat Kylie on IG. The account features just one post on its timeline ... a pic of a brown egg.

The photo of the egg just passed Kylie's milestone of 18,186,810 likes on Instagram, and the number's still rising. Prior to the defeat, Kylie's post from last February showing Stormi squeezing her mom's thumb with her tiny baby hands was the record holder.

Congrats to the egg gang for ... this ... we guess. Kylie's still rich, and we're sure she'll be back with something even cuter soon enough.

Snow White isn't heading for a fairy tale ending this time around ... because a woman dressed as the famous Disney character got shoved in the back of a police cruiser after cops say she was way too belligerent begging for money.

Someone shot this video of Snow White getting busted for aggressive panhandling Thursday afternoon on Hollywood Blvd., and the photog clearly thinks the LAPD is playing the role of the witch.

It's kinda funny ... there's a Batman character standing idly by as cops handle the situation. Guess the Dark Knight has a soft spot for Disney princesses.

We've seen panhandlers get aggressive on Hollywood Blvd. before ... back in 2011, a man dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants started squaring up with 2 women!!!

A Notre Dame fan became a human perch at the Cotton Bowl Classic after a bald eagle swooped down and landed on his shoulder.

The incredible (and probably incredibly painful) moment went down Saturday ahead of the Fighting Irish's game against the Clemson Tigers at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. Sports Illustrated writer Ross Dellenger caught the landing on camera.

Somewhat surprisingly, the fan was able to keep his composure as the bird stood on him for nearly 20 seconds. It flapped its wings a bit as people whipped out their phones to take pictures, and the guy kinda seemed more giddy than terrified in the moment.

The eagle eventually flew away ... and obviously left the crowd wowed by its close encounter. For the record ... an adult bald eagle's talons can exert a force of up to 400 pounds of pressure per square inch when hunting. They're also really, really sharp.

This is one clever way to avoid visiting family during the holidays -- Jean-Jacques Savin has boarded a vessel in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean relying only on the current and wind.

After spending months to build a barrel-shaped capsule, the 71-year-old Frenchman jumped in his vessel off the coast of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. His mission -- to cross most of the Atlantic and ultimately reach the Caribbean ... either Barbados or the French islands of Martinique or Guadeloupe.

According to reports ... Savin's gonna spend the next 3 months inside his vessel that's already 11 miles away from his origin. He's reportedly gone just 1 to 2 miles per hour since leaving Wednesday.

Savin -- who funded the $66k trip through crowdfunding and a sponsor -- calls the expedition a "crossing during which man isn't a captain of his ship, but a passenger of the ocean." He reportedly loaded up his 10-foot by 6-foot vessel with a bottle of Sauternes white wine and a block of foie gras to celebrate New Year's Eve. He's also got a bottle of Saint-Émilion red to celebrate his 72nd birthday in January.

Someone was really feeling a little too much holiday spirit -- Friday night a man climbed the National Christmas Tree near the White House.

After a stalemate with U.S. Park Police, the man finally came down and was taken to a hospital for mental evaluation. No injuries were reported, and Park Police described the climber as being in "emotional distress."

The wild scene started unfolding around 5:45 PM Friday night at the Ellipse, which is across the street from the White House.

After the man climbed about 15 to 20 feet up, the 74,000 LED lights covering the giant spruce were turned off, creating an eerie scene. By the time the climber started heading down, the lights were turned back on and police officers rushed inside to track him down.

“I think, total, that thing has seen 33 countries, four IEDs, and two combat zones.”

That's Ken Brasington -- a Washington superfan and Marine Corps veteran -- describing his beloved Nationals cap that he nearly lost ... and yeah, the story of him getting it back is incredible.

Ken was at the Caps-Hurricanes game in Raleigh last Friday ... when his favorite hat -- that he had worn during his tours of duty across the world since he bought it back in 2004 -- was snatched off his head and thrown onto the ice in celebration of Alex Ovechkin's hat trick.

Brasington says he watched the beat-up headwear hit the ice in horror ... and described the ensuing panic to get the cap back as "a nightmare."

"Everybody that knows me knows me for wearing that Nationals hat," Brasington told The Washington Post, who first reported the unbelievable story.

"It’s the ugliest. It probably has to be washed once a week because it ends up smelling so bad. It’s a special piece of where I’ve been and it kind of describes me."

Ken says he immediately tried after the game to get the cap back from Hurricanes officials ... but was told it couldn't happen -- even after he described where the hat had been and how much it meant to him.

But, Brasington didn't give up ... and thanks to the help of a Hurricanes beat writer -- Ken got in touch with the Hurricanes' manager of communications and team services, who helped get the hat back.

"There was a good amount of hats in the bag, but his hat was right on top," Pace Sagester said ... “From the way that he had described it to us, we pretty much knew right away that that was the hat."

"It’s super beat up; the bill has, like, chunks missing out of it. It’s almost pink it’s so faded. It’s not something I would want to put on my head, but it’s special to him."

Pace was able to ship the cap from Carolina back to Brasington in Washington ... and even sent him a brand-new Hurricanes one in case Ken wanted to officially retire the Nats cap.

As for the hat's future ... Brasington says after the close call -- he might consider hanging it up, or even putting it on display in a shadow box.

"That way, everybody wins," Brasington says ... “I keep my hat, and [my wife] doesn’t have to see me wearing it."

A federal judge in Brooklyn says New York state's nunchucks ban -- made wildly popular in the U.S. by Bruce Lee in the '70s -- is unconstitutional because it violates the 2nd Amendment.

The judge says the right to bear arms is not limited to guns ... it applies to all weapons that have some legal purpose. In the case of nunchucks, Judge Pamela Chen says they have been widely used over many, many years for martial arts training and defense -- a perfectly legal activity.

Judge Chen says a weapon that has a legal purpose cannot be summarily banned under the 2nd Amendment. She says, the "relative dangerousness of a weapon is irrelevant when the weapon belongs to a class of arms commonly used for lawful purposes."

Her Honor draws a distinction between nunchucks and, say, pipe bombs, because the latter is really targeted for lawbreakers.

'Rock of Love' star, Lacey Sculls, got an earful during a road rage incident, as in she allegedly chewed some guy's ear ... and now, as you might expect, he's suing the hell out of her.

Lacey, who tried and failed to lure Bret Michaels on his mid-2000s reality show, is being sued by Jorge Magana ... who claims Lacey and her hubby, Jonny, beat him to a pulp back in January.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Jorge says he was sitting in his car when Jonny charged at him, pulled him outta the car and repeatedly punched and bit him. During the skirmish, he claims Lacey jumped on him, scratched his face and bit off a portion of his ear.

Cops investigated the incident ... leading to Lacey and Jonny's arrests on multiple felony charges, including battery with serious bodily injury and assault. Jorge's suit offers no explanation for the altercation.

Lacey and Jonny are countersuing, however, and tell a much different version. They say Jorge repeatedly brake-checked them, trying to trigger a collision. Once both parties stopped, they claim Jorge got out of the car and sucker punched Jonny as he sat in their car ... and then Jonny sped off.

The investigation into who threatened to shoot up an NYC screening of "Surviving R. Kelly" -- the documentary about his alleged sexual abuse of women -- has led cops to someone in R. Kelly's hometown.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... NYPD's person of interest is a man with Chicago's 773 area code. We're told cops aren't ready to release the man's name yet, and it's unclear if he has any direct connection to Kelly.

'Surviving' was screened Tuesday night at NeueHouse in NYC, but 20 minutes into it someone made a phone threat. The male caller said someone was in the audience with a gun and would open fire if the screening continued. The venue was immediately evacuated.

R. Kelly's ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, told Variety she thought the singer was connected to the threats. Andrea was at NeueHouse and she and several other accusers were scheduled to hold a Q&A session immediately following the screening.

The docuseries premieres in January on Lifetime.

Monica says anyone shocked to learn she's a mortician should understand one thing ... she's more than just a Grammy-winning singer.

We got Monica at LAX on Monday and had to talk to her about recently revealing she's a legit mortician. She revealed her side hustle's actually something she's been doing for YEARS. It's true ... she's been working at her uncle Gus Thornhill's funeral home since 2013.