You Might Want to Rethink

6:37 PM PT -- Donald Trump Jr. just threw some major shade at Avenatti at his father's political rally in Michigan, joking that Michael's presidential ambitions took a serious hit this week.

Junior jokes that Michael went from "Avenatti 2020 to Avenatti 20 to 25" ... clearly hoping his foe is going to prison for his role in the alleged extortion plot.

Michael Avenatti was loaded for bear Wednesday night, proclaiming his innocence in the extortion case, proclaiming that the R. Kelly case would be unaffected by the extortion case and proclaiming it's only a matter of time before top Nike execs would be led away in handcuffs.

We got the embattled celeb attorney in WeHo Wednesday night ... and we strolled along with him on a long, long walk ... where he unpacked his outrage.

Avenatti said all the talk that his indictment will torpedo the R. Kelly prosecution is BS ... because the evidence is the evidence is the evidence.

And then, he talked Nike. As you know, he's been accused of trying to extort the shoe co. for more than $20 million in return for keeping his silence on alleged misdeeds -- specifically, Nike secretly paid off the families of star high school basketball players in order to direct them to Nike-sponsored colleges.

He goes after Nike execs with a vengeance, saying they are corrupt to the core and it will be exposed. He also insists any money he may have demanded was not a quid pro quo for his silence. Avenatti says he was going to expose Nike regardless of whether the company paid him or not.

The U.S. Attorney claims he has a videotape from a March 21 meeting between Avenatti and Nike attorneys in which he allegedly says, "If [Nike] wants to have one confidential settlement and we're done, they can buy that for $22.5 million and we're done."

George Clooney is calling for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of the Asian country of Brunei -- even the L.A. ones -- a week ahead of the day they'll start killing gay people by stoning.

The actor posted an impassioned open letter on Deadline Thursday, asking consumers not to do business with the 9 hotels owned by the autocratic country's ruler, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, including the famed Beverly Hills Hotel, as well as the Hotel Bel-Air.

Clooney's plea with would-be hotel dwellers comes less than a week before the day Brunei as a nation will implement capital punishment on citizens who are proven to be gay or commit adultery. Those folks will be stoned to death.

That's no joke -- Brunei lives under Islamic sharia law ... one of the few countries in the world to do so.

Interestingly, Clooney notes that there was widespread outrage about this a couple years ago, and people successfully boycotted the two L.A.-area hotels ... if only for a short while. Now, he's asking for renewed attention in light of the looming deadline.

One of Jussie Smollett's "Empire" costars doesn't want to answer for pulling her support when things were hot ... especially now that the case has gone ice cold and been dropped.

We ran into Tasha Smith -- aka, Carol Hardaway (Jussie's aunt on the show) -- leaving Chelsea Studios in NYC Thursday, where our camera guy pointed out that she was one of many "Empire" stars who yanked their initial supportive IG posts when Jussie was arrested.

Of course, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office decided to drop the charges altogether just this week.

Before our photog can get around to a question, Tasha jumps in to jokingly berate him, asking why in the hell he'd ask that about her "family" ... and turns the question on him.

It's a pretty hilarious back-and-forth here -- which ends with her telling us to kiss it where the sun don't shine. And, while Tasha and our guy made peace by the end of it ... she skated around a serious question, and seems to be pulling back from her initial pull-back.

Lil Wayne is demanding the return of a notebook filled with his old lyrics, but the guy trying to sell it for $250k says the rapper's just gonna have to buy it like anyone else off the street.

We broke the story ... Weezy's 1999 notebook is being sold by Moments in Time for a quarter-million dollars, and the dude claiming ownership says he found it lodged in a car that once belonged to Cash Money Records.

Now Wayne's trying like hell to get his work back ... his attorneys fired off a warning letter to Moments in Time, claiming Wayne's the rightful owner, and the broker doesn't have permission to sell or transfer the notebook to anyone.

In the letter, obtained by TMZ, Wayne's legal team says he never abandoned his notebook -- he simply misplaced it and is thrilled it's been found. Weezy's team claims the guy who found it "absconded with the notebook" and hid it for years ... waiting to cash in.

Gary Zimet, the owner of Moments in Time, is firing back ... he says if the Young Money honcho wants the notebook, he'll have to pony up, because the guy who found it "has crystal clear title."

Wendy Williams isn't batting an eyelash about rumors regarding her husband allegedly having a baby with another woman ... but she is batting her ring finger at photogs.

The talk show host was leaving a Pilates studio Wednesday in NYC, where paps were at the ready to fire off questions about how she was doing ... without asking point-blank about her hubby's alleged mistress. It seems they didn't need to though ... based on her reaction.

Wendy told the paps that she was fine and was carrying on with her business -- in fact, she says she was just on her way to a book signing. When one photog asked about her wedding ring, Wendy was happy to flash it ... so it's pretty clear she's not sweating cheating stories.

We know that too. Sources close to the production of her show tell us her hubby's still working on set as an EP, and that he and Wendy have even interacted civilly behind the scenes.

You know what goes horribly with a steak burrito ... STAPLES!!!

But, that's exactly what MMA announcer Jimmy Smith claims he found in his food on Tuesday when he took a bite out of a burrito he bought at a Chipotle in Delray Beach, Florida.

"I took one bite and it was something hard in there and I pulled it out of my tooth and it was 14 staples," Smith says ... "A brick of staples!"

Smith -- who's called fights for the UFC and Bellator -- says he called the restaurant and "freaked out" on the manager ... because he realizes how DANGEROUS swallowing a staple could be.

Smith also says he's LUCKY he didn't ingest the office supplies because he eats like a wild animal -- usually tearing through his food as fast as he can.

Fortunately for Smith -- and Chipotle -- Smith says it does not appear he injured his tooth or his mouth ... or suffered any other injuries from the fully loaded burrito.

Smith says the situation was escalated to Chipotle's corporate offices -- and he has already been contacted by a rep looking to make things right.

Smith says he's not looking for free food or money and does NOT plan on filing a lawsuit -- he just wants the problem corrected so nobody else chows down on 14 STAPLES!!!

"This can't happen to someone else."

Jussie Smollett got off in his criminal case simply because he's a celeb -- so says Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel ... who stops short of calling this a corrupt move, but certainly insinuated it.

Mayor Emanuel went on GMA Wednesday morning following his blistering attack on the Cook County State's Attorney's Office the day before, after they dropped all 16 charges against Jussie and let him walk scot-free.

The Mayor said flat-out ... if he did the same type of thing, he'd have the book thrown at him.

First Assistant to the State's Attorney Joseph Magats says they decided to drop the charges because it wasn't a violent crime -- and thought Jussie coughing up $10k and doing community service sufficed as punishment. Hizzoner says no one on the outside can make sense of it.

Ariana Grande is laying down the law on concert photographers for a perfectly good reason -- she's been taken advantage of by greedy photogs in the past ... and she's over it.

Sources connected to the "thank u, next" singer tell TMZ ... Ariana's new concert photo policy stems from years of being exploited by a number of photo agencies that would often shoot photos of her in concert ... and then turn around to use those to make a profit.

Here's how it would happen ... we're told Ariana would perform, photogs would take as many pics of her as they wanted ... and then, shortly after, merch she didn't approve of would hit the streets with those photos emblazoned on the items. AG never saw a dime from any of it.

A few examples include calendars, photo books, memorabilia and other items that never got the green light from Ari, or her team.

Our sources say after multiple incidents, she and her camp made the decision to tighten things up in the pit. Of course, the National Press Photographers Association doesn't like this new policy one bit -- which is pretty strict -- but we're told Ariana couldn't care less.

Aside from the new rules she has in place, Ariana and her team also have their own in-house photog, and are happy to distribute whatever photos these publications want ... so long as they're approved by her.

While we're told it was only a handful of bad apples who crossed the line with their photo privileges, it was more than enough for Ariana to switch things up.

Dana White says he will not offer Conor McGregor a stake in the UFC to lure the fighter out of retirement ... telling us, "That's never gonna happen."

McGregor announced his retirement on Twitter Monday night -- days after he reiterated his demands to get a slice of the UFC as a part owner instead of a fight paycheck.

White appeared on "TMZ Live" on Tuesday and said he's NOT trying to go to war with Conor -- but he ain't giving away ownership stakes either.

White says if Conor wants UFC ownership, he needs to BUY stakes in the company like everyone else.

"Listen, if you want to own a piece of the company, you have to put up the money to buy a piece of the company," White explained ... "That's how it works."

White says he was surprised by Conor's retirement tweet -- "it came out of nowhere" -- and insists he and Conor are still on good terms.

"I've never had a bad conversation with Conor McGregor since he's been in the UFC."

White is also not concerned about the state of the UFC if Conor is serious about retirement ... saying there will ALWAYS be big stars who take over when other stars leave.

Jussie Smollett had pals of his in the Cook County State's Attorney's ear early on in his case -- and, based on leaked correspondence, it looks like she acted on his behalf.

Texts and emails between State Attorney Kim Foxx and two Jussie allies -- one of which is reported to be a family member of his -- have been leaked, and they show that Foxx was asked to intervene in the case a few days after he'd reported the alleged attack to Chicago PD. It appears that she did exactly that ... and kept Jussie's camp in the loop.

The initial correspondence started when Michelle Obama's former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, emailed Foxx to say that she was reaching out on behalf of Jussie's family to express "concerns" they had with how the investigation at that point was being handled.

Jussie had not been charged with a crime yet, but it's believed Chicago PD was already doubting his story and leaking info to the press pushing that narrative.

Foxx responded to Tchen on Feb. 1, saying ... "Spoke to Superintendent Johnson. I convinced him to Reach out to FBI to ask that they take over the investigation. He is reaching out now and will get back to me shortly."

The same day, an unnamed relative of Jussie's texted Foxx herself, as well, and Foxx said she was working on getting the case sent over to the FBI. The relative replied, "Omg this would a huge victory." Foxx then responded, "I make no guarantees, but I'm trying."

Later, Foxx recused herself from the case when Jussie became a suspect. And, of course, her office just announced Tuesday that it was dropping all of the charges against Jussie, after coming out strong with a 16-count indictment just weeks earlier.

Her official reasoning for dropping the charges ... Jussie has done community service in the community, so we're good. Her office asked a judge to seal the case, and they obliged. Mayor Rahm Emanuel strongly hinted at corruption in the State's Attorney's Office.

The Chicago-Tribune first reported on the leaked texts and emails.

Aaron Donald doesn't seem convinced Rob Gronkowski's played his last game in the NFL ... 'cause the Rams superstar tells TMZ Sports, "He's retired right now ..."

Of course, the topic has been a huge talking point in NFL circles after the future Hall of Famer abruptly announced he's callin' it a career at just 29 years old.

Count Donald in as one of those who needs to see it to believe it ... but if it is, in fact, true, AD has HUGE respect for the Patriots legend's game, regardless.

"Great player, had a great career. Won a couple of rings -- one of the best to do it."

Donald also handed out some advice at the L.A. Sports Awards to a young fan who wanted some tips on how to make it big -- and, shockingly, Donald says it takes hard work!!!

"My main thing is just hard work. Getting the body working."

If ya need proof Donald practices what he preaches, here ya go. You're welcome.

No, this is not the new Republican party intern photo ... it's the NFL's annual head coaches pic -- and as you can tell, it's overflowing with diversity.

IMPORTANT FACT -- Mike Tomlin is missing from the photo ... but so are 5 other white coaches.

As you can probably tell, there is DEFINITELY not enough black representation in the head coaching ranks ... something the NFL has acknowledged.

The league has the Rooney Rule -- which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for every available head coaching job ... but as you can see, it ain't always effective.

The good news ... there seems to be a crop of talented, young black assistant coaches who are all making compelling cases for a head coaching gig in the near future, including guys like Kris Richard, Eric Bieniemy and Teryl Austin.

Dr. Dre had good reason to delete his post throwing shade on Lori Loughlin and her daughters ... because, just like Lori, it looks like Dre was pushing his own daughter to become a USC student.

Dre's daughter, Truly Young, posted last May, "Dad pushing me to go to USC." Her expression seems to tell the story.

He caused a big commotion over the weekend when he posted a pic of him and his daughter holding an acceptance letter from USC with the caption, "My daughter got accepted into USC all on her own. No jail time!!!"

Dre took the post down after getting a rash of criticism ... as we reported, he and Jimmy Iovine donated $70 MILLION to the University. They funded and created the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. It was established to promote entrepreneurship, computer science and engineering, audio and visual design, and the arts.

This is not to say Truly didn't get admitted on the merits, but it certainly casts a shadow given the enormous donation.

As for the comparison to Lori Loughlin's daughter, Olivia Jade, you'll recall she really didn't want to go to college, but her parents had a different idea. The feds say Olivia got in after her parents paid $500,000 ... making it seem like she was going to become a member of the crew team when, in fact, she had never rowed.

WHOAAA!!!!!

Two pro motorcycle racers just got hit with 2-year suspensions over one of the CRAZIEST fights we've ever seen on a race track!!

It all went down at the National Motorbike Championship in February in Costa Rica -- where racer Marion Calvo got pissed after Jorge Martinez bumped him during the race and caused him to lose control of his bike.

Somehow, Martinez clung to Calvo's bike and forced Calvo to pull over, while Martinez was hanging off the back of his opponent's bike.

When the bike finally came to a stop, Martinez reached back and threw a HAYMAKER shot right at Calvo's face -- knocking the racer on his ass!!

But, kudos to Calvo ... who got up ... and ran back after Martinez, trying to continue the fight ON THE TRACK while other racers zoomed by.

Eventually, things broke up ... but wow. Insane.

Both racers were disqualified on the spot -- but now the Latin American Motorcycle Association has doled out the bigger punishment -- and it's 2-year suspensions for both fighters.

A meeting between R. Kelly's alleged "sex slave," Azriel Clary, and her family wasn't dictated by the singer himself, nor was it his fault the whole thing fell apart ... so says his lawyer.

Clary was supposed to meet with her family -- for the first time in years -- Saturday night in Chicago. R. Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, tells TMZ the plans fell through after Azriel insisted on changing the location last minute. We're told she wanted the meeting with her family to take place at Trump Tower Chicago in a conference room on the hotel side of the building -- not in R. Kelly's residence there -- as opposed to a previously decided spot.

The previous location was a different hotel, one block away, but Greenberg says Azriel made the switch the day before the scheduled meeting. It's been reported that Kelly was the one who pushed for the change -- supposedly wanting his security there too -- but Greenberg says that's false.

He tells us Azriel is the one who suggested Trump Tower as a means to control the media circus she thought her family would orchestrate around the meetup. She wanted say over who could get into the building by having it at Kelly's place, where she lives with him.

When her family got word on that, they pulled the plug entirely. Greenberg says the singer was never going to be at the meeting.

Michael Avenatti -- who reps Azriel's family in this matter -- tells TMZ ... "On Friday, R Kelly’s camp tried to abruptly change the terms of the meeting at which time my clients and I decided not to participate because the terms were not acceptable. We are now attempting to reschedule the meeting on agreeable terms so my clients can see their daughter."

Johnny Manziel's wife, Bre Tiesi, appears to have broken her silence on why she stopped following him on social media ... and all signs point to a looming divorce.

Bre responded to a number of comments on one of her more recent IG posts, which slapped down any notion that she was after money in the wake of their presumed split. As we reported ... Bre scrubbed her social media of all traces of Johnny Football.

There seems to be a more clear reason as to why now. She responded to one IG user, saying ... "maybe u should wonder why I would leave him instead of worrying about ‘money’ lucky for him I don’t air out personals and lucky for u you are behind a screen u low life."

In another comment, Bre made it crystal clear that there was alleged wrongdoing on Johnny's part ... saying in response to another IG user ... "u been married? U been betrayed? I don’t do betrayal for a person I was devoted to period. Vows were broken f*** money and f*** u and every other loser on here."

Bre makes no bones about it ... she believes Johnny betrayed her trust, and strongly suggests he cheated on her. She also bats off the idea that she's after any of his fortune by referring to a prenup they might've signed. No one has filed for divorce yet, but by the way she's talking here ... it looks like that may be in the cards for Manziel.