You Might Want to Rethink

Britney Spears and Beyonce fans are bickering over who is the real Queen B for no good reason ... so says the artist whose painting ignited the whole beef.

Here's the deal ... Britney kicked the Beyhive Wednesday when she posted a painting of a bee with a crown and said, "To all my fans who call me Queen 👑 B …. I believe this would be more accurate."

Naturally, Britney's post sent Bey fans into a tizzy, and the hive sounded off by the thousands, letting Brit know there's only one Queen B in their eyes -- and she's from Houston.

Not to be a buzzkill, but Jenna Paddey, the artist who painted the image, says neither Britney nor Beyonce was her inspiration.

Translation: stand down, fan armies!!!

Jenna tells us she painted the illustration in 2018, and it was only intended to reflect a play on words for the phrase, "queen bee." She says she's not sure how Britney came across her work -- she does sell prints on her website -- but only found out about the IG post when friends started tagging her in comments.

A "Karen" in Sacramento got her ass handed to her when she stupidly accepted a challenge to call a black woman the n-word ... and it's all on video.

The heated exchange unfolded this week at a convenience store in California's capital, where a middle-aged white woman started arguing with the black woman   ... and it quickly turned racial and violent.

It's unclear what started the confrontation ... the white woman insisted she'd only said "excuse me" -- but the black woman heard something different, so tempers were already high. Then, "Karen" dropped the n-word.

The black woman promised to beat the hell outta the white woman if she used the slur again and, for some reason, "Karen" took her up on the dare and said it ... loud and clear. That's when the punches flew ... haymaker after haymaker putting the racist woman down on her ass.

On social media, the black woman's husband is claiming she was arrested for assault. We haven't been able to confirm that yet.

The crazy scene is similar to another racist "Karen" getting slapped earlier this month inside a Phoenix gas station.

Bad as that was ... the Sacramento incident is way more violent.

Three Wilmington PD officers in North Carolina have been canned after a video recording revealed "extremely racist" comments and disturbing conversations.

The 3 cops -- Cpl. Jessie Moore, Kevin Piner and Brian Gilmore -- were fired Wednesday for violating standards of conduct and using inappropriate jokes and slurs ... including Piner saying he's ready for a Civil War to wipe Black people off the map.

The racist comments came to light during a monthly inspection video audit in which footage from Piner's patrol car was reviewed, including convos between Gilmore and him ... and Moore and him.

While talking with Gilmore, Piner began criticizing the department, saying its only concern was "kneeling down with the black folks." He then got a call from Moore, in which Moore used a racial slur to describe a woman and a Black magistrate ... about whom he also used a gay slur.

Piner later expressed to Moore that he feels a civil war's coming and he plans to buy an assault rifle to "go out and start slaughtering them (expletive)" Black people. He added ... "I can’t wait. God, I can’t wait."

Piner also said civil war is necessary to "wipe them off the (expletive) map. That’ll put them back about four or five generations." Moore told Piner he wouldn't do that and called him "crazy."

Police say the 3 officers admitted it was their voices on the video recording and didn't deny the content, but denied being racist and blamed the comments on the stress of the job in wake of George Floyd's killing and subsequent protests.

While announcing the officers' terminations, Police Chief Donny Williams said ... "When I first learned of these conversations, I was shocked, saddened and disgusted. There is no place for this behavior in our agency or our city and it will not be tolerated."

Guy Phillips -- the Scottsdale City Council member who mocked George Floyd's final words and got blasted by Arizona officials -- is apologizing, claiming he meant no disrespect.

The councilman addressed a crowd of anti-mask protesters Wednesday by wearing a mask and saying "I can't breathe" ... before removing it to disgusting cheers.

Of course, those were the 3 words Floyd repeated as he pleaded with the Minneapolis cops who were kneeling on his neck and back as he died.

Phillips' comments were swiftly blasted on social media, including by AZ Gov. Doug Ducey who called them "Just flat out wrong. Despicable doesn't go far enough." Ducey also suggested Phillips should lose his position for mocking Floyd's death.

Scottsdale Mayor W.J. "Jim" Lane also expressed his disappointment and said he hoped Phillips would recognize his fault and sincerely apologize.

Phillips is trying to do both, we guess. He's now saying ... "It was a stupid and insensitive comment that I shouldn’t have made, and I had no intention of disrespecting anybody."

He also directed his apology to the Floyd family, saying George "didn't deserve what happened to him, and I by no means was trying to make light of it by saying I can't breathe in a mask. Please accept my sincerest apology and that goes out to anyone who became offended."

And, just a reminder ... the councilman made his "stupid" comments at a rally against wearing face masks in a state and county with one of the nation's highest COVID-19 infection rates.

If you had 3 guesses to figure out who was behind the "Defund NASCAR" banner over the weekend ... what would you do with the other 2 guesses??

The lieutenant commander-in-chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans -- yes, that's a thing -- is taking full responsibility for the Confederate flag that flew over Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

"During and before the start of the NASCAR race in Talladega, Alabama, race, our plane flew a banner announcing a drive to 'defund NASCAR,'" Paul C. Gramling, Jr. told the Columbia Daily Herald.

The head of the SOCV says the group strongly believes NASCAR's new Confederate flag ban is simply unconstitutional ... and they're clearly very bothered by it.

"NASCAR's banning the display of the Confederate battle flag by its fans is nothing less than trampling upon Southerners' First Amendment Right of free expression,"

"This un-American act shall not go unchallenged."

May we add ... boohoo, crybabies?

Despite the backlash, NASCAR isn't budging on its ban -- which has been widely applauded by pro racers and athletes from all sports, including LeBron James.

Bubba Wallace had been leading the charge to remove Confederate flags from NASCAR -- saying it made Black people feel uncomfortable at races because of the connection with slavery.

"No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race," Wallace said.

"So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them."

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie is not having it after one of his songs was played at President Trump's rallies ... and he's telling the campaign to kick rocks.

Brendon went off on the Prez and his campaign after one of his most famous tracks -- the 2018 hit "High Hopes" -- was used at Trump's campaign rally Tuesday in Phoenix. Brendon quickly took to Twitter to unleash on the campaign before lashing out at Trump personally ... labeling him a "monster" who "represents nothing we stand for."

In a follow-up tweet ... Brendon added a link to the nonpartisan org HeadCount, which uses "the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy." The org's mission is to reach young people and music fans and inform them and empower them.

The song was also famously used by Mayor Pete Buttigieg during his run for president. BTW, this isn't the first time Brendon's spoken out against Trump. Back in 2018, Brendon didn't mince words when he told a British magazine Trump is "a f***ing asshole" who is "encroaching on people's rights."

Brendon's just the latest artist to tell Trump's campaign to stop playing their music. Most recently, Tom Petty's family members asked the campaign to stop playing "I Won't Back Down" after it was played at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Walmart's under fire for selling All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter gear on its websites ... but the company says a third party seller's to blame, and it's looking into it.

The outrage began to spread Tuesday on social media, when people noticed the Walmart Canada site was featuring a black, All Lives Matter t-shirt and some other Lives Matter slogan gear along with its Black Lives Matter items.

Walmart Canada responded to the criticism by saying, "This item is sold and shipped by a third party seller. We've forwarded your comments to the appropriate department to look into further. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Of course, this didn't stop customers from firing their own complaints, saying the availability of these items goes against the Black Lives Matter movement and the items are dogwhistles to those who really don't want to end racism and police brutality.

The company later added in a statement, "We stand against any form of racism or discrimination. We promote listening, seeking to understand and embracing individual differences." It says it's reviewing its third-party marketplace items to make sure they comply with its terms and conditions.

Several All Lives Matter t-shirts are also available on Walmart's U.S. site, being sold by a company called Old Glory.

Kodak Black is pissed at Walmart -- claiming the megastore is letting someone sell a knockoff version of one of his famous chains, and he's threatening a lawsuit if it doesn't stop -- but the retail giant is putting the blame on third-party sellers.

Here's the deal ... Walmart is getting dragged online because its website features a cheap chain that looks nearly identical to the Sniper Gang bling Kodak usually rocks.

Kodak’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... "We have been aware of the situation and have prepared a cease and desist letter to Walmart and the seller on the Walmart website."

The rapper's legal team adds ... "If Walmart refuses to recognize that the seller is not a licensed authorized dealer of Sniper Gang products, we will be proceeding with a lawsuit against both Walmart and the unauthorized seller."

Kodak is currently serving a 46-month prison sentence for gun possession.

Kodak's protege, Jackboy, has also called out Walmart for selling the Sniper Gang chains ... and he too is threatening legal action.

It appears the company has gotten wind of Kodak's anger, they tell us they're taking steps to remove the knockoffs and the chains are strictly from a third-party seller.

It's more like the not-so-Immaculate Conception now -- a botched restoration of a famous Baroque painting has left the artwork unrecognizable, and its private collector stunned.

Here's the deal ... a private art collector in Spain shelled out $1,355 to get a famous painting of the Immaculate Conception -- by Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo -- cleaned up by a furniture restorer. Unfortunately, the job was a total botch!!!

The amateur restorer made 2 attempts to fix the art, according to Spain's Europa Press, but as you can see ... it only got worse and worse. We shoulda put a graphic warning on this image for art fans.

The artistic disaster is drawing comparisons to other recent restoration attempts in Spain, where there are no laws governing who is allowed to restore artwork, no matter their skill, or lack thereof.

For example, take this botched 2012 restoration of a prized fresco painting of Jesus Christ by an elderly parishioner of a church near Zaragoza ... she tried to paint over it and now it's infamously known as, "Monkey Christ."

And, just last year, a 16th-Century statue of St. George, which stood at a church in Navarre, drew headlines after an alleged restoration some say looks like a Playmobile figure.

Spain's Professional Association of Restorers and Conservators (ACRE) ripped the country's government in a statement, condemning a lack of restoration regulation and calling the Immaculate Conception incident not a restoration, but a "vandalism."

ACRE says ... "We should be alarmed by the fact that part of our heritage is disappearing due to these disastrous interventions."

To that we say ... Si, si, si!!!

A cop enjoying his Starbucks Frappuccino says he got a nasty surprise halfway through, when he discovered a tampon floating around in his drink ... and there's now an official police investigation.

An off-duty LAPD officer purchased his Frapp Friday at a Starbucks inside a Target in Diamond Bar, CA. He used his police credit union debit card to buy the drink, and says he found the feminine hygiene product inside ... before marching back into the store to confront the staff.

We've confirmed the L.A. County Sheriff's Department took a report and is now investigating it as a possible food tampering incident. Deputies are pulling surveillance footage.

A swimmer in Delaware clearly thinks Chuck Norris has got nothin' on him, because he tried subduing a shark with his bare hands ... apparently all for what could have easily been a fatal photo op.

The scene unfolded over the weekend at Henlopen State Park Beach. You see the swimmer dragging the shark in shallow water, and then, as people on the shore stand in shock, the swimmer opens the foreboding mouth of the shark. It's pretty clear ... the mouth trick was for the cameras.

Unclear what the swimmer did with the shark, but in Delaware fishermen/women are required to return them to the waters.

Either way ... aside from being dangerous, it's not a great idea to play with these creatures and scare them for the sake of Instagram.

Oh, in case you didn't get the Chuck Norris reference ... well, enjoy.

"WIGHTE LIVES MATTER."

That's the all-important message one spray painter is sending in this crazy footage from a TikTok user, which was shot Sunday in Sunbury, PA and is now going viral.

The person behind the massive sign could use some grammar and spelling lessons, because they're not even close to spelling out what we can only assume is their intended message -- White Lives Matter.

Usually, folks who are still confused about the meaning behind the Black Lives Matter movement resort to stating, "All Lives Matter," but this person is coming in hot with their own slogan, which is either an epic troll job or just a hilarious misspelling.

Ya gotta wonder ... did the spray painter do this on purpose?!? If they didn't, when did they realize "white" was badly misspelled?!? Have they realized yet it's spelled wrong?!?

Pro tip for those thinking about grabbing some spray paint bottles ... write down what you want to spray with a pad and pen BEFORE going to town. Spray paint doesn't come with erasers.

NYPD brass reportedly cooked up a story about officers getting poisoned at Shake Shack  ... because the trio of cops who complained about a funny taste in their milkshakes never even got sick.

The cops in the middle of the "poisoned" milkshake conspiracy were not targeted by rogue, police-hating Shake Shack workers as the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association would have you believe.

According to the NY Post ... the 3 officers from the Bronx were on protest duty in Lower Manhattan when they ordered the shakes. Mind you, the cops used a MOBILE APP to order the drinks, which were packaged and awaiting pickup -- so employees wouldn't even have known the shakes were for cops.

The worst thing that happened to the cops was reportedly a bad taste in their mouths after gorging on the shakes. So, they tossed 'em and alerted a Shake Shack manager, who said sorry and made good with vouchers for free food and drink, which the officers accepted.

Would you accept free food and drink from a burger joint you thought "poisoned" your order on purpose?!? Didn't think so.

According to the report, things got hairy when the cops told their sergeant about the shakes, and the sergeant sent the Emergency Service Unit to set up a crime scene at Shake Shake for an evidence search, some 2 hours after the cops' first sip.

Meanwhile, the cops were rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where they were reportedly examined and sent on their merry way without ever showing the slightest of symptoms.

At the same time, a lieutenant from the Bronx fired off an email to the police unions falsely claiming 6 officers "started throwing up after drinking beverages they got from shake shack on 200 Broadway."

Detectives were put on the case, but it was apparently pretty easy to solve after reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing 5 employees. The report says video showed the shakes were normally made. No poison or funny business.

The reason for the bad taste seems to have been from a commonly used cleaning solution that wasn't thoroughly rinsed off the milkshake machine.

But, for some reason, the mounting evidence of a big nothing-burger didn't stop the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association from declaring cops were "intentionally poisoned by one or more workers at the Shake Shack" and fell "ill."

And, the evidence, or lack thereof, didn't stop Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch from making a show of visiting the cops in the hospital at the same time his union claimed police were "under attack" from a "toxic substance, believed to be bleach."

The since-deleted social media messages initially spread like wildfire, causing the burger joint to trend overnight and birthing the #BoycottShakeShack hashtag, which is still being tweeted by accounts.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison finally tweeted 8 hours after the alleged incident there was "no criminality" and it was all much ado about nothing. Literally nothing. Zip. Nada.

With egg on their face, the police unions eventually deleted their tweets and put out statements walking back their claims.

Baton Rouge School Board member Connie Bernard's lost the confidence of her colleagues after she was called out for ignoring an intense discussion about race -- and that's A-OK with the guy who dragged her in the first place.

Activist Gary Chambers Jr. came on ''TMZ Live'' Monday to talk about his verbal ass-whooping of Connie last week. The viral video ended with Connie storming out of the public meeting after Gary went in on her.

ICYMI ... Connie was dragged over the coals Thursday by Gary who called her out for apparently shopping online while members of the public passionately shared why they wanted to remove Robert E. Lee's name from a local high school. Connie had already condescendingly spoken out against the name change.

Welp, Gary tells us why Connie's just a microcosm of what's wrong with government at large in this country -- specifically, elected officials simply not listening to the plight of people they rep. He also had an update on the renaming debate itself ... it's good news.

In the wake of Connie's snafu, the Baton Rouge School Board at large is now calling for her resignation. Member Tramelle D. Howard -- who reps District 3 in BR -- tells TMZ ... "Myself and other members are asking for the immediate resignation of our colleague this week."

Now, bear in mind ... despite the fact her own Board members are asking her to scram, Connie doesn't technically have to quit. According to their own rules, she either has to be kicked out via a petition from her own constituents ... or resign on her own.

BTW, this isn't the first time Connie's been asked to step down over embarrassing public actions. About a year ago, she was captured on camera putting her hands on a young person's neck after walking over and demanding he and his buddies stop partying.