You Might Want to Rethink

Jeff Bezos pouring tons of money toward fighting climate change is all fine and good in AOC's eyes -- but he's still got a hot mess on his hands when it comes to his own company.

We got the freshman congresswoman Wednesday in NYC and asked her about Bezos' big announcement this week -- that he's dumping $10 billion of his own fortune toward a new fund to pay for scientists, activists and NGOs working to manage the climate.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says it's a nice gesture, but in reality ... the guy's company, Amazon, leaves a major carbon footprint -- which he needs to address first and foremost before becoming a champion of the cause. There's other issues too, BTW.

AOC points out Bezos' Amazon workers have complained about wages for a long time, so she thinks he needs to get his house in order here domestically before taking on the world.

Interesting insight from the Congresswoman -- she's been very outspoken about climate change and is trying to push through the Green New Deal. Doesn't sound like she believes Bezos is on the front lines of this fight -- regardless of his funding powers.

Oh, and check out the insane number of posters and pics she signs here for a bunch of fans (and constituents?). AOC even gives a little girl an exclusive interview on the spot.

Awesome.

'Sonic the Hedgehog' took a cue from the fan base -- and rightly so, because the movie's rolling in the dough as a result ... so says one of the film's stars.

Actress Tika Sumpter was leaving Craig's in WeHo Tuesday night, and she weighed in on the massive box office haul her new flick pulled in over the weekend -- upwards of $70 million here at home, and projected to make a lot more than its estimated $85 mil budget.

According to her, the secret formula for success here was the fact Paramount Studios listened to the feedback from potential viewers on social media earlier last year ... when everyone ripped Sonic's original look, and his eery human-like teeth that nobody seemed to like.

Tika says the proof is in the pudding in terms of Paramount's reward for taking note -- and it sounds like she thinks other studios may follow suit with future projects.

Funny enough, Tika invokes another animated classic with teeth issues of its own. She says we've advanced beyond the one-block denture depiction, but aren't quite ready to see cavities, it seems.

Chris Harrison isn't one to discriminate when it comes to love, which applies to age too -- 'cause he all but confirms producers are bringing senior citizens into the 'Bachelor' fold.

We got the longtime host of the ABC dating series Tuesday at LAX and asked him about this casting call one the supervising producers posted in search of men and women aged 65 and older who are in their "Golden Years" ... and who won't fall over and die on camera.

Chris definitely won't deny they got something cooking in the kitchen -- if anything, his coy response pretty much guarantees they're working on it ... and for good reason too.

Apparently, one of the biggest questions/requests Chris gets asked about all the time is from the elderly community ... who say they want a shot at love too! Awwwww!!! Wait, what about Fantasy Suites and stuff, you may ask??? Chris has an answer for us on that as well.

Long story short ... love is love, whether it's brought on chemically or not. Bring what you need to get it on, ya old farts! Kidding.

As for this rumor about Peter ending up with 'Bachelor' producer Julie LaPlaca at the end of this current season --  which appears to be true -- Chris won't shoot that down either.

Mark Richt said to hell with a steak dinner at a 5-star restaurant for his birthday ... the ex-Georgia and Miami coach is going with "hot dog delight" for his big day.

And, it looks horrific.

Of course, the 60-year-old broke down the unique dish during Miami media day back in 2018 ... saying it's a combo of 2 pieces of bread, a sliced hot dog and American cheese HAMMERED with baked beans and ketchup.

Richt says it's "delightful." We're calling BS.

But, the birthday boy proved he's really about that HDD life on Tuesday ... and you gotta appreciate his dedication to the meal.

"Hot dog delight! My favorite birthday dinner!" the coach tweeted.

Naturally, the Twittersphere opened fire in the replies ... asking if the coach is okay, calling the dish a "dumpster fire" and predicting a long night in the bathroom is in his future.

Others were actually open to the idea ... asking how to copy the travesty.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry can't call themselves Royals anymore -- even on their own websites -- after Queen Elizabeth reportedly dropped the hammer.

Meg and Har have been told to drop the word "royal" from their online branding "Sussex Royal" ... according to the Daily Mail. They've been trying to lock down international rights for that brand, as they roll out their own post-Megxit ventures, but HRH's new rule would send them back to the drawing board.

As we've reported ... there were substantial discussions with the Palace, pre-and-post-Megxit, about which titles they can use. We already knew they'd been stripped of their HRHs.

The Royal command about using "royal" is reportedly because QE2 feels it is inappropriate for Meghan and Harry since they've decided to go their own way.

As of Tuesday, their Instagram account and personal website still bear the "Sussex Royal" title. It's unclear if the Queen gave 'em a hard deadline, but it's a sign she's taking a hard line with royal defectors.

Message to the next generation, perhaps?

H.S. hockey players in Illinois turned themselves into human missiles over the weekend, launching their bodies at each other in a wild brawl ... and footage of the fight is insane.

Evanston's varsity squad was facing off with Lake Forest on Saturday at a local college rink in the Chicago area ... when a fight broke out and escalated IN A HURRY.

You can see in the video ... there's pushing and shoving. At one point, a Lake Forest player LAUNCHED himself into an Evanston player ... who crashed head first into the boards.

Later in the fight, ANOTHER Lake Forest player did the same thing ... violently throwing his body at the pile and sending two Evanston players crashing to the ice.

In another angle of the scrap ... you can see the massive magnitude of the brawl -- with haymakers, wrestling and pulling going down all over the rink.

Eventually, order was restored ... but it's unclear if any injuries were suffered. It's also unclear what started the melee. We reached out to reps from both programs, but so far, no word back yet.

In a bulletin post on Evanston's website Tuesday ... an official wrote, "Dear All - please do not share photos or videos from last weekend's game."

Julius Erving's one of the GREATEST DUNKERS in the history of basketball ... and he tells TMZ Sports that Aaron Gordon deserved the dunk contest win!!

We talked to Dr. J -- who was in the building for the dunk contest -- at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. on Monday ... and we asked the hoops legend if the Orlando Magic star was robbed by the judges in Chi-town.

"I don't know if robbed is the right term, if it had ended in a tie, I don't think anybody would've been upset. But, a contest like that going into basically 2 overtimes. Third overtime. You hate to have a loser."

BUT, forced to pick a winner, Dr. J -- who won the inaugural ABA Dunk Contest in 1976 -- says Gordon's final dunk was justtttttttt a little better than Derrick Jones Jr.'s jam.

"I think [Gordon's] last dunk was cleaner. Neither one of them were 50's because they had shot their load in terms of their best stuff."

Of course, AG literally jumped over the biggest dude in the NBA -- 7'5" Boston Celtics giant Tacko Fall -- but somehow, someway, Scottie Pippen, Chadwick Boseman and Jones’ ex-teammate Dwyane Wade only gave him a 9.

Gordon missed tying Jones and forcing another round of dunks by 1 point ... and flat-out beating him by 2 points.

The bank under fire for its Harriet Tubman debit card design says its sales are the only thing on fire ... 'cause new and old customers are clamoring for the new debit card.

We're told OneUnited Bank -- claiming to be America's largest black-owned bank -- is seeing exponentially larger volume than usual after debuting the Harriet Tubman card. We're told the bank is seeing 10x their normal volume in terms of bank account sign-ups, account holders requesting to switch to the new debit card design and banking inquiries.

It's only been 72 hours ... but OneUnited knows when they've got a huge winner 'cause they saw similar numbers back in 2016 after partnering with Killer Mike's #BankBlack movement.

The goal back then? Move money to black-owned banks. OneUnited claims more than $50 million in deposits was moved to black-owned banks across the country. This time around, OneUnited feels it's got a hit on its hands based on the early numbers.

'Bachelor' contestant Victoria F is finally addressing a controversy that's been dogging her for a minute now -- issuing a mea culpa for being part of a 'White Lives Matter' campaign.

The model -- who's currently still in the running for Peter Weber's final rose -- took to social media Saturday with a Notes-written apology for her eyebrow-raising shoot, which she posted on her Instagram story. It says, "I would like to sincerely apologize for my involvement with We Love Marlins. My intention was only to support an endangered species."

She continues in her post, "I want to say that I unequivocally reject the beliefs of the white lives matter movement or any propaganda that supports racism of any kind. I would like to specifically apologize to people of color that are affected by racism daily."

VF finished by saying, "It was never my intention to add fuel to the racial fire in this country. This has truly been an educational moment for me and I hope to be a voice against racism moving forward. I hope I can be shown grace as I navigate through this process."

The timing of her apology is interesting ... as we reported and as 'Bachelor' nation now knows, Victoria is in the final four group of girls who are taking Pete to their hometown.

We knew about the 'WLM' campaign -- which was meant to be a 'BLM' pun to raise awareness about over-fishing white Marlin -- but it went unaddressed as the show continued. About a week ago, however, Cosmo scrapped Victoria from their digital cover because of it.

Keanu Reeves is back as The One for the upcoming 'Matrix' movie -- but oddly enough ... his new Neo looks a lot like another action hero he's been playing lately, to much acclaim.

TMZ obtained new photos of Keanu, Carrie-Anne Moss (who played Trinity) and director Lana Wachowski on the set of "The Matrix 4," which has been filming in San Francisco these past couple weeks or so. These latest pics were shot Friday in the Financial District.

You can see Keanu here, and it looks like Lana and co. have Mr. Anderson rocking a fresh look we're not used to when it comes to Neo -- who was clean-cut in the OG flicks. Now, The One has a striking resemblance to the widowed hitman John Wick. Like, to a T.

He's got the same shoulder-length hair JW has, and the same messy beard too. Shoot, Neo's even got the same dark outfits John wears -- although, Neo did it first, technically.

Other shots of Keanu on set have surfaced lately, and it seems to confirm Lana's got Neo in a bummy state within the Matrix. Who knows what his "real-world" appearance will be.

Even cooler than seeing Keanu back in action ... getting a glimpse of Carrie-Anne on set, who's reprising her role as Neo's love interest. We're told she too was on set Friday, and we got a shot of her with her back to the camera, sporting her signature short hair.

Oh, and Keanu's girlfriend, Alexandra Grant, was spotted hanging around as well. Supporting her man, it seems.

Now, we're told this latest scene consisted of a SWAT team going in and out of a building -- with a black SUV parked out front under green neon lighting. Very 'Matrix'-esque, right?!

Still no sign of any of the other stars who've been tied to the project, including Jada Pinkett, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ... or Laurence Fishburne.

Ryan Garcia says he knew he was going to knock out his opponent on Friday night -- which he did, BTW -- so he sent a little prayer up to the man upstairs on behalf of the guy.

We talked to the lightweight boxing sensation Friday at an after-party following his vicious one-punch, first-round knock out of Francisco Fonseca -- and Ryan tells us point blank ... he knew it would happen, and actually asked God to wake the dude up sooner than later.

ICYMI, it was a spectacular hit, and now Ryan's the talk of the town in boxing. People are calling him a phenom, and also the new poster boy of the sport. You can see why.

Word around the ring is ... Floyd Mayweather's protege, Gervonta 'Tank' Davis, took about 8 rounds or so put down Fonseca not too long ago -- and Ryan did it in a matter of seconds.

Obviously, the chatter about a potential matchup here is in full swing -- but Ryan doesn't wanna rush things, and actually wants to prove himself first with other opponents. Check it out ... he gives a list of names of guys he'd like to see first before Tank.

Spoiler ... sounds like he's confident he can take all of them down, and has a message for Floyd too.

BTW, Ryan had a subtle tribute to the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, on his trunks during the Valentine's Day bout -- and he broke it down for us here too.

Two cops walk into a bar, but they're refused service ... this ain't a setup for a joke, it allegedly happened in Vegas ... and now police are PISSED!!!

Here's the deal ... two Las Vegas Metro Police Department graveyard patrol officers say they were refused service from the bartender at The Lodge Cactus in Enterprise, NV when they stopped by Thursday for a bite on duty.

The officers say the bartender started shaking his head "no" as soon as they approached the counter, and motioned his fingers across his neck as if to say, "stop." The officers say they asked to take a seat and order some food, but claim the bartender told them, "We don't serve you guys here any more."

At first, the cops say they thought the bartender was joking ... but when they realized it was for real, they left the establishment without further incident.

Las Vegas Police Protective Association President Steve Grammas tells TMZ ... they are "disgusted" this happened, but believe restaurant management supports law enforcement and they're actively talking with ownership to resolve the issue.

The Lodge tells us folks from the corporate office came to the restaurant Friday, grabbed surveillance video and interviewed the bartender.

LVMPD also tells us ... it's a private restaurant and they can refuse service to who they want.

Harriet Tubman's image on a debit card would stir plenty of debate -- but Harriet Tubman doing the "Wakanda Forever" pose on that card is really pissing off a lot of people.

OneUnited Bank -- which says it's America's largest black-owned bank -- announced the limited edition card Thursday ... in honor of Black History Month. The image on the card shows Harriet making fists, with her arms crossed over her chest.

It's the pose that was popularized in the movie, "Black Panther" a couple years ago. Y'know ... the gesture of solidarity for all citizens of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.

Despite the fact OneUnited is black-owned, the bank got dragged online, almost immediately after announcing the card. Most of the hate ripped the bank for making a buck off Tubman's image and pandering to black customers.

There's just one problem with all the outrage -- Harriet's NOT shouting out King T'Challa on the card. Not according to OneUnited Bank ... which says the gesture is American Sign Language for love.

They ain't lying ... that is ASL for love, although that fact is probably lost on millions of Marvel movie fans. Of course, that doesn't address the "cashing in" criticism.

We got "Dear White People" actor Obba Babatunde to weigh in on the issue, and his take is interesting. He tells us it very much seems like good intentions, but in this day and age ... it's easy for the message to misconstrued.

A Michigan Wendy's employee is out of a job after "power" soaking in a kitchen sink full of suds ... and so are his coworkers who helped post video of the bath on TikTok.

Several workers of the Greenville Wendy's location have been canned  ... after a young male who, at the very least is shirtless, was bathing in the fast-food joint's sink while yukking it up with other employees.

He certainly looks "fresh, never frozen" ... but ya gotta think that's not what Wendy's corporate had in mind with the slogan.

According to the franchise owner of the location ... the restaurant has been cleaned and inspected since the video was posted on social media earlier this week and racked up tens of thousands of views.

The Wendy's store says ... "This egregious behavior is completely unacceptable and counter to our safety, training and operational standards. Upon learning of this situation, all employees in the video were terminated immediately and the restaurant has been completely sanitized. The health department visited the restaurant today and no violations were reported."

No word on how many times Dave Thomas spun in his grave.

Well, this is pretty shocking ... the head honcho at Delta seems to think the woman on the American Airlines flight who reclined her seat -- only to have the passenger behind her treat her seatback like a punching bag -- was out of line.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian appeared on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday, said it's an etiquette issue ... if a passenger knows a tall person is sitting behind them, they should ask permission before they recline. Presumably, that means if the person declines then the passenger can't recline.

That certainly isn't the way our users feel -- by a 2-1 margin they support the woman on an AA jet who put her seat all the way back, only to have the dude behind her attack the seat like a boxer in training.