You Might Want to Rethink

The NHL investigation into Flames coach Bill Peters using the n-word was pretty swift and decisive -- the team fired him Friday morning.

The probe started 4 days ago, when former NHL player Akim Aliu, who is black, tweeted about Peters managing him on a minor league team in 2009. Aliu said Peters walked into the Rockford Ice Hogs locker room and complained about his pre-game music choices -- saying, "Hey, Akim, I'm sick of you playing that n***** s**t."

Aliu says Peters added, "I'm sick of hearing this n*****s f**king other n*****s in the ass stuff."

Flames general manager Brad Treliving addressed it immediately after Aliu's tweets and said the team took the allegation very seriously and would be investigating.

Peters didn't deny the incident and wrote an apology letter to the Flames. He said the "statement was made in a moment of frustration and does not reflect my personal values."

Peters also claims he apologized to Aliu and the whole team shortly after making the remarks.

Gabrielle Union's claims of a toxic workplace at 'AGT' has Ellen Pompeo sounding off in support of Gabby -- but now someone's also defending Jay Leno, saying his Korean joke wasn't racist at all.

You'll recall, Gabrielle reportedly feels she was canned because she complained to producers and NBC about racially insensitive situations on the 'AGT' set -- among them a joke Leno made, while guest judging, about Koreans eating dogs.

We got comedian Alonzo Bodden -- himself a "Last Comic Standing" champ -- at the Laugh Factory and he stood up for Jay, explaining why he feels it was NOT a racist joke. In a nutshell, he says there's a big difference between playing off a "common stereotype" and attacking a specific person over race.

The Leno joke was edited out and never made air, but Alonzo still laughed off any thoughts of a 'Cancel Leno' movement. He also added Leno was the least of Gabrielle's issues on the show.

She reportedly also had issues with producers' "excessive notes" about her physical appearance, wardrobe and hair -- and Pompeo weighed in Thursday, calling Gabby courageous for taking a stand.

The "Grey's Anatomy" star also called out NBC for not changing "practices or culture" after Matt Lauer's sexual misconduct scandal.

Jay-Z has a problem with an Australian company using his name and lyrics to sell books ... and now he's taking the Aussies to court.

According to a new lawsuit obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, Jay claims Australian online retailer Little Homie is engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct to hawk a children's book titled "AB to Jay-Z."

In the suit, Hov reportedly claims Little Homie is infringing on his copyright for lyrics from his hit single, "99 Problems."

The book's back cover reads, "If you're having alphabet problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but my ABCs ain't one."

The phrasing is obviously a play on Jay's famous hook, "If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one."

Jay's legal team reportedly fired off a cease and desist to Little Homie back in March 2018, but his lawyers claim the retailer kept deliberately using his likeness and lyrics in a flagrant and glaring way.

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan's divorce has turned nasty ... all over child support, custody and allegations of FaceTime sabotage.

Our Jenna sources say she was stunned and super upset when Channing filed legal docs Tuesday asking a judge to come up with a holiday custody schedule. Our sources call it grandstanding, because Jenna had already signed off on the entire schedule. Our Channing sources counter Jenna agreed to some of the schedule but not all of it ... thus the need for the judge.

But, that's just the beginning. Several sources say, although Channing and Jenna had a custody schedule for 6-year-old Everly, there were times Jenna was working and asked to change the schedule but Channing refused.

Child support has also become a bone of contention. Our Jenna sources say Channing isn't contributing, but our Channing sources say there's a very specific, joint account with community funds that cover Everly's expenses.

And, yet another issue -- communication. We're told when one parent has Everly, that parent has to allow the other parent to FaceTime with the girl every day. So, Jenna sources say Channing doesn't allow her to FaceTime. They also claim when Jenna has the child Channing almost never FaceTime's with her.

Our Channing sources call BS ... saying Channing does indeed FaceTime with Everly when she's with Jenna, but they say Jenna's so difficult Channing just FaceTime's through the nanny.

Jenna's rep, Nicole Perna, tells us, "Jenna's priority has always been, and continues to be, her daughter's well-being."

Chicago Bears stud Akiem Hicks was PISSED after radio hosts joked about his elbow injury ... angrily hanging up the phone and saying he's NEVER coming back to the show again!

The 30-year-old D-lineman -- who's been out since Week 5 after gruesomely dislocating his elbow -- went on The Waddle & Silvy show to give a pump-up speech to Bears fans who are down on the team after its 5-6 start.

"Roll with us," Hicks said. "We didn't do this on purpose. We didn't try to get ourselves into this situation. But, we're doing everything that we can to climb out of this hole."

One of the radio hosts responded by making a joke about Hicks' elbow injury, saying, "You mean you didn't put your arm in between those two Raiders and it popped out of joint on purpose?"

The radio host added, "No, I'm joking."

But, Hicks clearly wasn't laughing ... and in fact, the 6'4", 352-pounder got super ticked and berated the hosts live on air!!

"That’s a joke?!" the Pro-Bowler said. “You think that’s a joke!? You don't joke about somebody’s injury!"

Hicks then told the guys this would be the last time he EVER appears on the ESPN affiliate station ... and hung up the phone.

Later, Hicks wrote on Twitter, "You don’t joke about someone’s nearly season ending injury. It’s just not funny. Shouldn’t have lost my cool but 'To err is human, to forgive divine'"

This is concerning ...

Steelers star JuJu Smith-Schuster posted video appearing to show him in the driver's seat of a BMW, hitting 104 MPH ... less than 2 weeks after suffering a severe head injury.

The Pittsburgh WR posted the video on to his Instagram stories late Tuesday night ... seemingly wanting to show off his fancy ride and the Travis Scott banger that was playing over his car's speakers.

The problem for JuJu? He suffered a serious concussion in the Steelers' game against the Browns on Nov. 14 ... and speeding down the highway with a phone locked in his hand ain't exactly the smartest call.

Hell, even if he DIDN'T have a concussion, ya shouldn't IG and drive (especially at 104 mph).

JuJu has since removed the video from his IG page.

Of course, this ain't the first time a young NFL superstar has tried to flex behind the wheel at breakneck speed ... back in March, Lamar Jackson did the SAME THING!!!

The Ravens QB -- who topped out at 105 MPH -- eventually apologized for the dumb move ... and went on to become the best player in the NFL this season.

Seems JuJu should learn a thing or two from the league's (likely) MVP.

Papa John's founder says his former pizza chain ain't the same without him -- but the way he got to that conclusion is a little troubling ... and kind of a heart attack waiting to happen.

John Schnatter sat down with WDRB in Kentucky to discuss how his life's changed since getting ousted from the company last year following his n-word controversy. The big takeaway -- he's pigging out on PJ pizza, and bitter as hell about his exit.

Schnatter says he's eaten more than 40 pies over the last 30 days to sample how the taste has changed since he's left. According to him, they simply don't have the same magic as when he was in charge.

He goes on to say he feels his coworkers were out to get him last year by allegedly releasing audio of him saying the n-word in a private conference call. He also vows for a day of reckoning -- but more importantly, he weighs in on Shaq being hired.

As we reported, the big man was tapped to join the Papa John Board of Directors this year. Despite Schnatter's firing for shamelessly using the n-word -- he says he's a fan of Shaq getting involved ... with a caveat.

Warning to Schnatter: If the bitterness in your heart doesn't kill ya, your clogged arteries might. Lay off the pizza, bruh. We get your point ...

Offset plus a new bright red Ferrari on the streets of L.A. has to add up to a run-in with cops and a big fat ticket, right? Well, that equation is half right.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Migos rapper was pulled over Monday in WeHo by sheriff's deputies after they stopped him for speeding in a red Ferrari Superfast ... yes, that's the name of the model. Thing is, we're told he wasn't going much faster than the posted speed limit ... which is a paltry 35 MPH.

Our sources say Offset was cooperative, and ultimately he was let off with a warning after getting out of the vehicle and having a chat. The cop just told him to slow down a bit, and we're told they even hugged it out.

From the pics we got, it appears Offset was almost saying "My bad" on the scene. If he did ... the polite approach definitely worked.

Besides crushing his insurance premiums, a speeding ticket would've been a sort of christening. Offset just bought the Superfast last week to celebrate the Grammy nom he and Cardi B got for Best Rap Performance.

The company behind M&M'S ice cream bars is bamboozling its customers into thinking its "vanilla" filling is on the up-and-up, when it isn't ... so claims a new class action lawsuit.

A woman named Sherise Richardson is suing Mars, Inc. -- the food manufacturer that runs the M&M'S brand, as well as its ice cream bar products. Sherise says the M&M'S vanilla ice cream bar is a sham, 'cause allegedly ... the flavor doesn't come from real vanilla.

In her suit, Sherise goes into EXTREME detail about the history of vanilla -- describing how, according to lore, Thomas Jefferson jacked it from Europe and brought it to the States -- and then goes on to explain federal regulations surrounding the highly coveted flavor.

According to her, any companies here in the U.S. of A. that are trying to peddle vanilla-like products or any such derivative (like reduced fat vanilla ice cream) must derive their flavor exclusively from real vanilla -- and if it doesn't, the company must disclose that. Also, she says they can't advertise it as actual "vanilla" -- like the M&M'S box does.

Sherise also claims the M&M'S vanilla ice cream bar box doesn't have any mention of vanilla in its ingredients list on the back, and thus ... Mars, Inc. is allegedly pulling a fast one.

She says that rather than paying a premium rate of no less than $5.99 per 9.78 fluid ounces -- not including tax -- she insists that it should be cheaper than that. Sherise is outraged about this alleged false advertising, and wants a judge to award her damages.

A$AP Rocky says he would love to perform for the people he was locked up with in a Swedish jail, but has his doubts it would ever happen ... however the facility could actually grant his wish.

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service tells TMZ ... they haven't received any formal request from A$AP regarding a potential performance for the inmates, but they say they would take any such request seriously and at least discuss how they could make it happen.

In other words, prison officials tell us it's not an automatic no on their end.

You'll recall ... A$AP told us earlier this week he's going back to Sweden to help immigrants in the European country, and also said he wants to do a show inside the jail he spent a month in after he got into a street brawl in Stockholm.

Rocky told us he doubted a potential jail gig would even be possible because prisoners there aren't allowed out of their cells for more than an hour each day ... but it sounds like the Swedes are willing to work with him if he goes through the proper channels.

In the same convo, A$AP claims some immigrants in the jail wait between 10 months and 2 years to go before a judge ... but Swedish officials tell us Rocky's got his facts wrong, and only 15 percent of inmates go 4 months or more without seeing a judge.

Keep that in the memory bank for your next world trivia game!

Hilary Duff seems to have a few tricks up her sleeve about her new "Lizzie McGuire" reboot on Disney+ -- and by that, we mean Miranda MIGHT be coming back. Maybe ...

Of course, we could be totally wrong -- 'cause the answer really isn't all that clear based on what HD told us Saturday in L.A. That said, you better believe we asked -- in our own roundabout way -- about Lalaine Vergara-Paras possibly being brought back.

ICYMI ... Disney+ announced it's doing a 'Lizzie' reboot as part of its upcoming content, and just last week ... Adam Lamberg -- who played Gordo -- was confirmed to be onboard.

The only remaining question -- as far as die-hard fans are concerned -- is whether Lalaine would be reprising her role as Miranda Sanchez. After all, the 3 of them were an inseparable trio during the original series' 2-season run. So, you'd think it's a no-brainer, right?!?

Check out the clip ... Hilary doesn't let anything slip about any future characters making a comeback. But, based on her tone here, something tells us there certainly may be.

Considering Miranda's character was mysteriously written out of the movie in 2003 -- Lalaine supposedly went on to pursue a music career in real life at the time -- we're pretty certain viewers would like nothing more than to see her back together with her old TV gang.

It looks like the feeling might be mutual on Lalaine's part as well -- she recently posted a throwback photo of her, Hilary and Adam together on set. So, she's definitely got 'Lizzie' on the brain.

One of R. Kelly's alleged sex slaves/live-in girlfriends is breaking her silence on the nature of her relationship with the jailed singer ... and it seems she's turning on him.

Joycelyn Savage -- whom her family believes has been under R. Kelly's control for years now -- posted on Instagram Saturday, saying that she's partnered with a paid-content site called Patreon to put out her side of the story, despite breaking an NDA she says she's signed.

JS's IG caption read, "I am risking my life for many others. ‪This story is 18+ and only for mature audience. I want to make sure my story is very detailed as I can remember." She also used Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" to tease her new venture ... pretty telling if you ask us.

It looks like the first chapter -- "Where It All Started" -- is out. According to the Daily Beast -- which says it's read Joycelyn's debut Patreon post -- Joycelyn seems to be throwing R. Kelly under the bus in her initial recounting and is airing his dirty laundry.

She gets into how she met him at a concert when she was 17, going on to say that it was a fun experience that left her with "mixed emotions." Joycelyn also reportedly added that R. Kelly promised her a music career, allegedly saying he'd make her the next Aaliyah.

Joycelyn then goes on say that she dropped out of college and moved in with him, but says things turned ugly fairly quickly ... as she claims he became incredibly controlling.

For example, Joycelyn reportedly writes ... "After these couple of months Robert started giving me commands, and making sure I call him by certain names. Like 'Master' or 'Daddy' which I didn’t really care for at the time." She continues, "If I wasn’t getting paid or pursuing my dream I would’ve went home, but all of that didn’t stop just yet."

Joycelyn adds, "But It started getting worse by day by day, he would raise his voice at me if I didn’t call him by those two names. If Robert called me I would have to reply with ‘Yes, daddy’ or 'Please daddy' he was so controlling."

She then claims R. Kelly threatened to torpedo her career if she ever left him or tried talking to her parents in private. Joycelyn claims R. Kelly said, "All this can stop today, you want a career? Or do you want to live a normal life."

R. Kelly is currently incarcerated and facing several sex abuse charges from different states.

Tommen Baratheon is backing up what Tormund Giantsbane has said about an alternate ending to their hit show, "Game of Thrones" ... and goes further by demanding its release.

We got Dean-Charles Chapman Saturday in NYC and asked him about what costar Kristofer Hivju recently said to a British outlet about a different version of events for the 'GoT' finale -- which he said was mostly for fun, and something he probably couldn't talk about.

Dean plays it close to the vest here, not revealing the content of any such ending. But, he certainly seems to be confirming there was actually a second ending that was shot.

Granted, Dean's character -- who was prematurely crowned King of Westeros -- was killed off in season 6. Still though, he appears to know about the secret ending -- and is down to see it out there. Check it out ... he says the fans deserve at least that after being let down.

Of course, tons of people were pissed over the actual ending to the series -- including AOC and Senator Elizabeth Warren -- because they felt it was rushed and poorly written.

The Netherlands appears to be reaching a crossroads on a longstanding, controversial Christmas tradition of dressing in blackface -- with some cities halting the practice, while others keep it going amid growing protests.

Of course, we're talking about the Sinterklaas parades that take place throughout the European country each year ... which has been going strong for at least a century. If you're unfamiliar, people take to the streets dressed as Zwarte Piet -- AKA, Black Pete.

He's supposed to be a helper for their version of Santa Claus, and he's always depicted in blackface -- with white folks all over the Netherlands donning the dark makeup.

Over the past few years though, more and more protesters have been taking to the streets decrying the tradition ... calling it insensitive, outdated and racist. The parades got started nearly a week ago, and most of them have been met with demonstrators ... as seen above.

As far as we can tell, only one major city thus far has yanked its plans to put on an official Sinterklaas parade -- that would be in the city of Utrecht -- but most haven't pulled the plug yet. Cops have been on standby to make sure things stay peaceful.

Interestingly enough, Amsterdam usually hosts a Black Pete pageant to judge who can put together the best version of the fictional character. However, as of this year ... they're not sponsoring one, making it the second year in a row that they've refrained.

Scooter Braun says Taylor Swift's attacks on him and the Big Machine Records label have thrown his entire family into extreme peril, and the death threats have become so intense he's going public, pleading with Taylor to sit down with him and resolve their conflict.

Scooter posted his statement in the middle of the night after something clearly happened. He noted there have been numerous death threats directed at his family, but something even more ominous and imminent caused him to break his silence ... "I came home tonight to find my wife had received a phone call threatening the safety of our children .."

He posted one threat, which is chilling ..."Hi, why dont you just die withyour children??? I will buy a gun tmr and them shoot you allin the head."

Scooter then addresses Taylor directly, saying, "I assume this was not your intention but it is important that you understand that your words carry a tremendous amount of weight and that your message can be interpreted by some in different ways."

He goes on to extend an olive branch, asking Taylor to sit down, wherever she wants, and resolve their beef. He says he and Big Machine never tried to block her from singing anything at Sunday's AMAs, but then he said this ... "While I am frustrated with your accusations and respectfully disagree with many of your statements, it is important that I am clear -- no artist should ever feel cornered or bullied.  I have spent my entire career in service of creatives and artists, never the other way around."

But, finally, there's something of a parting shot ... "Many have told me that a meeting will never happen as this is not about truth or resolution but instead a narrative for you. I am hopeful this is not the case."

Myles Garrett is officially done for the season ... and perhaps even longer.

The Cleveland Browns superstar was banned indefinitely by the NFL after he attacked Mason Rudolph with the Steelers QB's helmet at the end of "Thursday Night Football" last week.

But, the 23-year-old met with league officials Wednesday (in his swaggiest blue outfit) with the hopes of getting the suspension reduced.

Turns out, the NFL wasn't buying what Garrett was selling ... and upheld the ban -- saying Garrett is still barred from the league for all of this season and maybe some of next.

"[Appeals officer James Thrash] has upheld all discipline issued to Myles Garrett," the league said in a statement.

It's a huge loss for the Browns ... Garrett was considered a Defensive Player of the Year candidate with 10 sacks in 10 games.

It's also a big financial bummer for Myles ... the former No. 1 overall pick was slated to make $4.6 MILLION this season, but because of the suspension, he'll lose over $1 MILLION of that.

For his part, Garrett did apologize for the Rudolph altercation ... but ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Thursday that Myles claimed the whole thing started because Rudolph hurled a racial slur at him.

Rudolph, through his attorney, has ADAMANTLY denied that accusation.