You Might Want to Rethink

Two ex-Clemson players claimed a white assistant coach used the n-word during a 2017 Tigers practice ... and now, the guy has fessed up to using the racial slur -- and has issued an apology.

"Three years ago on the practice field, I made a grave mistake involving D.J. Greenlee," said Danny Pearman, a 55-year-old, white assistant head coach on Dabo Swinney's staff.

"I repeated a racial slur I overheard when trying to stop the word from being used on the practice field. What I overheard, I had no right to repeat."

Here's the backstory .. former Clemson player Kanyon Tuttle on Tuesday claimed Swinney "allowed a coach to call a player the N-word during practice with no repercussions."

Tuttle's allegations were somewhat backed by former Tigers tight end D.J. Greenlee, who explained the whole situation in an in-depth interview with The State.

Greenlee says he had missed a blocking assignment on a play ... and had a conversation with Pearman about it. Greenlee says when he broke it all down to his fellow teammate Milan Richard, he used the n-word himself.

“[Milan] was asking me what happened? ‘What’s coach getting on to you about?’” Greenlee said. “I was just like, ‘Man I got the [n-word] that came in my gap.’ I was talking to my teammate."

"That was all that was said. Then the next thing you know coach Pearman starts coming over there. He was repeating what I just said. He’s like, ‘[n-word] this, [n-word] that. The [n-word] wasn’t there.’”

Greenlee emphasized Pearman did NOT call him the n-word, but rather just repeated what he had said.

D.J. said he believes Swinney had a talk with the coach about the incident ... and he claims Pearman also later apologized for it.

For his part, Pearman added in his statement Tuesday, "I apologized to D.J. at the conclusion of practice, who then appropriately raised his concern to Coach Swinney."

"Coach and I met to discuss the incident, and he reiterated that my language was unacceptable. I later apologized again as well as expressed my sincere regret to our position group the following day."

Pearman continued, "I love the young men who choose to come to our university, and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt them. I sincerely apologize to D.J., his family, our team and our staff."

An apparent agitator in the middle of a peaceful protest's car is burned out ... after the firework he tried to leave got thrown back into his car by a protester.

The crazy incident went down Tuesday in Riverside, CA after a man pulled into the middle of the street, stepped out and laid down what looks like a Molotov cocktail. You can see from the video the stunt immediately backfired on him because a protester -- trying to keep the march peaceful -- grabbed the smoking bottle and tried tossing it right back into dude's car!!!

The agitator made a failed attempt to get it out of the vehicle but ended up ducking for cover. The bottle never actually made it inside the car but it fired directly into the car's interior and you can see the fireworks go off. You can also see the unattended car roll in reverse before some good folks jumped in and put the car in park.

It's a stark illustration of what's been happening in a lot of the protests over George Floyd's death at the hands of ex-cop Derek Chauvin.

Peaceful demonstrations interrupted by agitators trying to amp up violence. This time peaceniks fought back.

A housekeeping employee who used to work for the Trump Hotel in Vegas claims she was kept out of church (and on the clock) for years, despite being a devout Christian ... now, she's suing.

The woman's name is Sonia Torres, and according to a lawsuit she just filed against her former bosses in Sin City ... she'd been working in the hotel's housekeeping division without issue for years. That's until a new housekeeping regime came in, and allegedly screwed up her Sunday appointments with God by switching up her schedule.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Torres claims she was hired in 2010 with an explicit understanding she would not work Sundays, so she could observe her faith. Torres says management, at the time, said no problemo ... and hired her.

Fast-forward to 2015, and Ms. Torres alleges a new boss started giving her Sundays off to a dude who had less seniority than her. Torres says she complained to her superiors and HR, but nothing changed.

Eventually, she says the issue came to a head, and after talking it out with union reps ... they suggested she go on call for Sundays, but she refused. Torres says she just stopped showing up on Sundays, which got her fired in 2018.

NYPD officers allegedly urged police to shoot and run over protesters -- at least that's what was heard over the citywide police scanner ... but the question now is whether those words came from a cop or someone who stole a radio.

As protesters marched toward the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn, you could hear someone on the scanner calling in to describe the scene before another voice urges cops to, "Shoot those motherf*****s."

Later in the evening, the scanner picked up what sounded like officers saying they were surrounded by protesters near the intersection of Albany and Dean Streets in Crown Heights. A voice on the scanner responds, "Run them over."

Obviously, the scanner broadcasts are beyond alarming IF they really came from police officers. NYPD tells us ... they're aware of the comments and are looking into it.

TMZ independently found the radio transmissions on a website that records police scanners -- so the audio is legit. However, law enforcement sources tell us ... during this latest wave of civil unrest, police radios have gone missing, and there is a possibility the transmissions on the scanner did not originate from police.

As you know ... NYPD officers have been physically clashing with protesters for days, with an officer appearing to pull a gun on demonstrators, and cops appearing to drive a police car into a crowd of protesters behind a barricade.

Additionally, 2 NYPD officers were injured -- one of them seriously -- Monday night in separate incidents in the Bronx.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has also ripped Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD for their response to protests.

"They’ll Do ANYTHING for Clout!! Cardi and Offset tried to tell y’all."

That's LeBron James taking aim at two women who used the chaos in L.A. as photo opportunities ... and yeah, the King is BIG MAD over it all!!

Here's the deal ... rioters and looters wreaked havoc on stores and shops in Santa Monica all day and night Sunday -- and on Monday, two women showed up to take pics with the rubble.

While citizens aided in the rebuilding effort ... one woman faked the use of a power tool on storefront plywood and then bolted off.

"This lady stopped someone boarding up a store in Santa Monica so she could hold the drill for a picture, then drove away," one witness said of the scene. "Please don’t do this."

Another woman posed in front of a store that had been ransacked just hours earlier ... with a witness there saying, "This girl is making her boyfriend take a picture of her in front of a smashed T-Mobile. Oh my God!"

Both scenes were blasted HARD on social media ... with LeBron calling them out as clout chasers -- and P!nk lashing out at the fake power drill woman as well.

"What is wrong with these entitled a**holes?!" the "What About Us" singer said. "Who the f*ck are you and who are your parents you horrible person. How can anyone defend this???!!!"

For their part, the alleged women in both videos have yet to go public explaining their sides of the story.

USC athletic director Mike Bohn just went scorched-earth on a school booster for "abhorrent and blatantly racist" tweets ... revoking the person's privileges to Trojan season tickets.

A Twitter user operating under the handle "@SoCalMAB" -- an account that has since been deleted -- fired off several disturbing tweets over the weekend during national protests.

In some, the user -- whose account had a profile picture of former USC receiver Michael Pittman standing next to a female fan -- advocated to "shoot the protestors."

The tweets got so nasty ... Pittman himself felt the need to intervene, telling the account to remove his picture from the profile ASAP.

"@SoCalMAB if you truly believe the things you have said, I politely ask you to take me out of your profile picture," the Indianapolis Colts rookie said. "This is disappointing, I know my true Trojan family would never. In times like this, it is important for us to stand together."

Bohn said on Monday the school launched an investigation into the tweets after they were made aware of the disturbing content ... and after they identified the fan as a school booster, they dropped the hammer.

"Following an immediate investigation into the matter, we informed the individual that their season ticket and Trojan Athletic Fund membership privileges have been revoked and their payments will be promptly returned," Bohn said. "Their account has been flagged in our system to prevent future purchases."

Bohn added, "Thank you to the USC community for helping us identify this individual so that we could move swiftly to terminate our relationship. We stand in solidarity with the Black community."

Here's video of Conor McGregor eating bees straight out of a jar ... all while saying what everyone else is thinking -- "WHAT THE F**K IS THIS?!?!?"

It's unclear why the UFC superstar decided on the unique snack Monday morning ... but the video of his chow down is pretty wild.

Check out the jar the Champ Champ opens up ... it's straight-up dead bees -- and on the label, it says they're flavored with macadamia nuts from Australia and Jamaican pepper.

You can see in the clip ... Conor ain't exactly stoked to taste the insects -- and when he accidentally drops some on his stomach, it'll send a shiver down your spine!!

It's also pretty hilarious when he asks his infant son if he wants a piece of the snack ... 'cause Baby McGregor wants ZERO PART of it all!!

As for how they tasted ... it didn't seem too awful -- at least judging by Conor's reaction -- 'cause after he finished chomping down, he had a very "meh" reaction.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are going after a former bodyguard for talking smack about them -- something he's done before -- and warns if he opens his mouth again ... he can expect a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The couple fired off a cease and desist letter to Kanye's ex-bodyguard, Steve Stanulis, claiming he went on the "Hollywood Raw Podcast" a few weeks back and made "false and defamatory" statements ... while also breaching their confidentiality agreement.

According to the letter, Kim and Kanye claim Steve signed the agreement in February 2016, and it prohibits him from blabbing any personal or business info about them ... something they say he did big time on the podcast.

If you missed it, Stanulis claimed Kanye had "ridiculous rules" -- like walking 10 paces behind him on city streets, and claimed he got angry if Steve blocked a paparazzi shot. He also called Yeezy the "moodiest" and "neediest" celeb who's hired him.

Kim and Kanye don't specify which of Steve's statements are false and defamatory, but they're threatening to sue him for at least $10 million for breaching their confidentiality deal ... if he does it again.

Here's the thing, though -- this isn't the first time they've threatened Stanulis for the same thing. It happened in May 2016 as well, but back then they also demanded a public apology. They didn't ask for an apology this time around.

We reached out to Stanulis, who switched careers in 2016 and is now an actor and director ... he has been working on a movie called "5th Borough" starring Tara Reid, which comes out June 3rd.

His publicist, Zack Teperman, tells us "... no breach of any confidentiality agreement was done. My client went on a podcast to promote his new film, and old stories that were already out there were brought up."

He adds ... "For Kanye and Kim's counsel to send out a threatening letter to bully my client against his rights is unwarranted. My client has already made it clear that he respects Kanye, their time working together."

Teperman says, "If Kanye and Kim wish to continue this further, that is up to them, but I think their time and money would be better suited helping out with more pressing matters in our society than what happened many years ago."

Two white protesters got called out by a black protester for tagging a Starbucks with graffiti repping the Black Lives Matter movement ... and the bizarre encounter was caught on video.

Check it out ... you see two white women decked out in all black and wearing face masks/coverings spraying 'BLM' along the side of a Starbucks in L.A., as well as other messaging. One African-American woman who's also protesting gets in their faces and questions what they're doing ... and why. Watch what happens when she confronts them.

The white gals were NOT down to stick around for answers, as they mumbled incoherent responses and abruptly scrammed as soon as they realized they were getting attention. The black protester tells them to stop, because the public will blame the peaceful protesters -- the ones of color, specifically -- for the defacement and destruction of property.

She tells them that nobody in the actual 'BLM' movement told them to tag the place, and that the message wasn't theirs to spread unlawfully. It's a pretty revealing interaction here.

Of course, it also lends credence to what some people have been saying on the ground at a lot of these demonstrations all over the U.S. -- that, allegedly, there are bad actors infiltrating these protests (which, by and large, start out peacefully) and turn them chaotic.

A reporter became a police target as she covered the protests surrounding the killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ... getting hit with pepper balls live on air.

Protests erupted in cities across the country Friday night, including in Lousiville, Kentucky. Reporter Kaitlin Rust of WAVE was on the ground covering the events when a police officer intentionally opened fire on her and her camera operator, seemingly striking them both with pepper balls.

Rust was certainly not in any type of disguise -- she was wearing a reflective vest, holding a microphone and not in a crowded group of people -- so it begs the question ... what the hell was the officer doing?

Luckily, Rust appeared to be okay and continued to broadcast from the scene.

As we reported ... a police car was set on fire in Atlanta and The White House placed on lockdown as protests continued Friday.

Elon Musk is having a rough week -- one of his SpaceX rockets ignited into a massive ball of fire Friday, and yet ... there's still some good news.

The company's 4th prototype of its Starship rocket was fueled up on a south Texas launchpad when it burst into flames. You can hear SpaceX engineers discussing something about a possible methane leak, though it's unclear if that was from the rocket or something nearby the pad.

Either way ... something lit Elon's baby on fire. Luckily, the test was unmanned -- unlike the Crew Dragon spacecraft, they hope to send into orbit on Saturday from Cape Canaveral.

As you know, Wednesday's launch was scrubbed due to crappy weather in Florida. Right now, the launch still only has a 50/50 shot of going off as scheduled. It rains a lot in FL and could get pushed to Sunday.

As for the Starship rocket ... SpaceX hopes that will eventually be able to carry large numbers of space tourists -- up to 100 at a time -- into space, and eventually to Mars.

Kylie Jenner's billionaire status just got yanked by Forbes -- which originally named her the youngest one ever -- and the mag claims it's all because the Jenners intentionally lied.

Forbes is blasting Kylie and her mom, Kris Jenner, for what it claims was a "web of lies" surrounding the success of Kylie Cosmetics. It all centers around the companies financials from 2016 to 2018.

Remember, Forbes crowned her the world's youngest-ever "self-made" billionaire in August 2018.

According to Forbes, the family invited them into their mansions and CPA's offices. Here's what the magazine says it was told: The Jenners provided documents showing Kylie's company's annual revenue from 2016 to 2018 was somewhere between $307 million to $360 million per year.

Forbes now says the real numbers were $125 mil for 2018, $177 mil for 2017 ... and Forbes doesn't provide a number for 2016, but claims it was still greatly exaggerated.

The magazine claims the Jenners had accountants create false tax returns "to help juice Forbes' estimate of Kylie's earnings and net worth." Important to note, Forbes is not saying she filed false tax returns with the government.

Now, don't get it twisted ... she ain't broke. Forbes' readjusted numbers claim she's actually worth just south of $900 million. So, she'll get to billionaire status at some point ... Forbes just thinks she cut corners to make it look like she got there early.

BTW, you'll recall Kylie sold off 51% of her company last year to cosmetics giant Coty. In somewhat of a final jab ... Forbes points out Coty's stock prices have plummeted more than 60% since the November 2019 deal.

Governor Tim Walz just addressed Trump's tweet.

Donald Trump has his own way of handling the civil unrest in Minneapolis, following the brutal cop killing of George Floyd -- he wants the looters shot.

True-to-form Trump tweeted his outrage, "....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"

That last threat -- "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" -- is lifted from a threat made by a former Miami police chief back in 1967 ... after brutal police practices resulted in civil unrest.

Now, check this out ... Twitter immediately tagged Trump's post, saying, "This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible." Translation -- Trump's appalling, yet predictable, call to violence is irresponsible, but we need to know that's his mindset.

And, he all took an insulting, gratuitous shot at Minneapolis' Mayor, "I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right....."

Mayor Frey shot back, "Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at somebody else during a time of crisis."

Minnesota Twins outfielder Max Kepler has apologized for wearing a Blue Lives Matter mask in the wake of George Floyd's tragic death ... saying he "had no idea that the mask had any underlying inferences."

The 27-year-old MLB player posted a picture of himself in a mask featuring a Blue Lives Matter flag ... just days after people accused a Minneapolis cop of killing Floyd by putting his knee to the man's neck.

The mask -- which had a black and grey American flag with a blue stripe in it -- caused tremendous online backlash for Kepler ... but the Berlin, Germany native brushed off the criticism.

"✌️wasn’t aware what the mask supported. still not into politics" Max wrote.

But, that only caused MORE criticism for the MLB player ... and he finally addressed the issue formally in a lengthy statement on his social media page Thursday.

"Earlier, I posted a photo of me in a mask that was sent to me by a company, to wear during the pandemic," Kepler said. "I had no idea that the mask had any underlying inferences -- I simply thought it looked good."

"After I was informed, I immediately took down the post. I take complete responsibility for not knowing what I was wearing. I am truly sorry for the hurt and pain my actions have caused, especially now."

Kepler continued, "Racism has no place in our world and I do not in any way support the actions that we all witnessed that led to George Floyd’s passing. My sympathies are with the Floyd family."

The Twins have not addressed Kepler's picture directly ... but did release a statement of their own Thursday, saying, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic and senseless death of George Floyd Monday night in Minneapolis."

"The Minnesota Twins send our deepest sympathies to the Floyd family, and join our Twin Cities community in mourning."

"The Vampire Diaries" star Zach Roerig was allegedly a mess in more ways than one over Memorial Day weekend -- when he got busted for DUI, cops say he urinated in his jail cell.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Zach was busted Sunday around 2:30 AM in Montpelier, Ohio. Police tell us, officers noticed Zach's pickup truck did not have a front license plate, so they pulled him over.

Our sources say when the officer went up to the driver's side window, cops noticed Zach's slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and say he reeked of booze.

We're told police conducted several field sobriety tests during which Zach told the officer, "This is very hard, I can't do this when I'm f***ing ..." and his voice trailed off. The cop asked what he meant, and we're told Zach replied, "When I can't have a beer."

Cops arrested Zach for misdemeanor DUI. When they took him to the station, our sources say he was placed in a holding cell, where he ended up peeing. Long night.

Tyler Judson -- a Tulane Univ. football player -- was arrested Monday ... this after he was accused of punching a woman so hard in the face at a Louisiana Waffle House, she required a trip to the hospital.

The mother of the alleged victim told WWL-TV her daughter was at the popular restaurant in Zachary, LA in the early morning hours of Memorial Day ... when a fight with Judson broke out.

The mom claims her daughter didn't know Judson prior to the incident and didn't start it ... but says she was punched by the Green Wave safety anyway -- causing severe injuries.

The woman says her daughter suffered "multiple facial fractures" and will require surgery to fix the issues. She also says the 18-year-old's eyes were still swollen shut as of Wednesday.

Jail records show Judson was arrested and booked on a charge of felony second-degree battery Monday. Records also show he bonded out shortly after.

Tulane Univ. said in a statement to media outlets it's suspending Judson immediately, saying, "Tulane Athletics is aware of Tyler Judson’s arrest."

"He has been suspended indefinitely from the Tulane football program. Tulane Athletics will have no further comment at this time."

Judson -- a redshirt freshman -- appeared in four games for the Green Wave in 2019, logging three total tackles.

He came to Tulane as a fairly touted national recruit, reportedly picking the school over offers from Baylor, Ole Miss and others.