You Might Want to Rethink

J.K. Rowling choked down some crow by apologizing for her rant about a viral video of President Trump seemingly ignoring a handshake from a disabled boy at the White House.

J.K. blasted the Prez for the video, saying ... "This monster of narcissism values only himself and his pale reflections." She added it was "horrible" he couldn't bring himself to shake the little boy's hand.

After the 'Harry Potter' author ranted, the boy's mother said the video was misleading -- and she wanted to make it clear Trump had not snubbed her son, and the boy wasn't even trying to shake the President's hand.

J.K. tweeted an apology to the mother and her son, saying she didn't intend to cause them any distress.

Wale doesn't mind people calling him out for literally showering his baby girl with cash on her birthday ... because he's used to the cultural ignorance.

We got the D.C. rapper -- who's Nigerian-American -- at LAX and asked what he made of haters criticizing the video of his daughter sitting in a pile of bills at her first bday party. Some people likened it to "making it rain" at a strip club.

Instead of getting pissed off though ... Wale's using this as a teachable moment. He explained the Nigerian custom of "spraying," and encouraged his haters to broaden their horizons.

12:08 PM PT -- The Press Secretary has just released a statement, saying, "Anthony Scaramucci will be leaving his role as White House Communications Director. Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team. We wish him all the best."

That's a wrap for Anthony Scaramucci -- he's officially out as White House Communications Director after only 10 days on the job.

There are conflicting reports as to whether Donald Trump fired him or if Mooch tendered his own resignation -- but the bottom line is he's done.

The move comes just days after his profanity-laced interview with a New Yorker reporter in which he trashed Reince Priebus as a "paranoid schizophrenic" and had some explicit insults for Steve Bannon.

The 53-year-old is also going through a divorce.

Scaramucci's time as Communications Director is believed to be the shortest run in White House history.

It's shorter than Kim Kardashian's marriage to Kris Humphries (72 days).

It's shorter than the run of "Doubt" on CBS (2 weeks).

It's shorter than Conan O'Brien's tenure on 'The Tonight Show' (7 months).

It's shorter than El Chapo's time on the run after escaping prison (7 months).

It's shorter than the time the Chilean miners spent trapped (69 days).

It's LONGER than Carmen Electra's marriage to Dennis Rodman (9 days).

Lil Duval is doubling down on saying a transgender woman would be "dying" if he found out she'd deceived him -- but he also insists he has no problem with gay or transgender people.

The comedian was on "TMZ Live" Monday to address the protests against him and "The Breakfast Club" after he made the controversial and violent remark last week. Duval says his only issue with the LGBT community is the idea of someone lying about their sexuality to get into bed with him.

Apparently Treach has some questions about whether the Geto Boys' Bushwick Bill is down with O.P.P. ... so he pushed him off the edge of the stage they were sharing.

We're kidding about the reason, but Treach and Bill did take a tumble during Naughty by Nature's set of their "I Love the 90s" stop in Houston. Bill was rapping his verse to "My Mind Playing Tricks on Me," and Treach decided to join him, but tripped on his way.

Clearly, Treach believes the more the merrier -- 'cause he wasn't going down alone!

It's all good. Bill was smiling afterward, but we're guessing he didn't stick around for "Hip Hop Hooray."

Amber Rose doesn't think people from her South Philly 'hood are ugly, they're just not exotic ... at least that's the defense her pal N.O.R.E.'s tossing up for her.

The rapper was out in NYC when we asked him about Amber's remark about people she grew up with not being "traditionally attractive." She said it on N.O.R.E.'s "Drink Champs" podcast, and has been slammed for it ever since.

But he thinks everyone's got her words twisted. N.O.R.E. adds, Amber has a pretty good body ... of evidence for his "exotic" theory.

Not sure Kevin Hart's ex, and Philly native, Torrei Hart will buy that, but worth a shot.

Drake's thirsty burglar amped things up with her latest attempt to enter his Hidden Hills mansion ... going off on cops and getting her ass pepper sprayed.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the 24-year-old woman -- who previously got busted sipping Sprite in Drizzy's mansion -- returned Thursday morning, and told security she was on the list. The attempted Jedi mind trick didn't work, and when a guard told her to beat it ... she refused.

Things went south quick when cops arrived -- we're told she spit at 3 deputies. When she tried to reload her saliva ... cops blasted her with pepper spray, and arrested her for trespassing and assault on a police officer.

Drake wasn't home at the time ... same as her April arrest in his bedroom. As we reported, Drake's peeps contacted the L.A. County D.A. to get them to cut her a break.

Floyd Mayweather's ex-GF is FURIOUS at Conor McGregor over a "trolling" stunt that mocked her domestic violence incident with Floyd ... saying he's shamelessly profiting from her pain.

The woman is Josie Harris -- who Floyd was convicted of attacking during a 2010 domestic violence incident at the boxer's Vegas home in front of their 3 kids. Mayweather spent 2 months behind bars for the attack.

McGregor "trolled" Floyd over the incident last week by wearing an NBA jersey of C.J. Watson -- the man Floyd accused Josie of secretly texting in 2010, which led to the violent altercation.

Josie wasn't laughing when she saw Conor's stunt -- and claims CM's doing nothing more than exploiting her trauma to promote his superfight with Floyd next month.

"[The stunt] demonstrates not only an insensitivity toward the emotional wellbeing and privacy of the victim of Mayweather’s dom. violence, but also a general disregard for the physical and emotional trauma and long-lasting psychological impacts suffered by victims of dom. abuse," Josie's attorney, Dan Friedlander, tells TMZ Sports.

"On behalf of Josie Harris, her and Mayweather’s three children, and all victims of domestic violence, we ask that Conor McGregor refrain from capitalizing off of the trauma suffered by her and other victims of domestic abuse."

Michael Phelps isn't taking a shred of blame for viewers' disappointment over him not racing an actual great white shark, and says he stands by the "incredible" made-for-TV event.

The 23-time Olympic gold medal winner opened himself up to his critics on Facebook and addressed the backlash from his Discovery Channel special. You'll recall, no doubt, Phelps lost to the shark ... but it was a CGI shark.

Phelps claims everyone involved in the man vs. beast production made it very clear what the "race" would entail, but people chose not to listen and now they're hatin' ... which he calls "shocking."

Speaking of shocking -- Michael didn't race a real shark, but REALLY did swim in 53 degree water!

It is too late for Justin Bieber to say he's sorry to members of his tour crew ... who feel he totally let them down without the slightest hint of a warning ... according to sources close to the Purpose tour team.

We're told Biebs' crew members were blindsided when they got word he was calling it quits. They claim there was no explanation given along with no heads-up ... and now around 200 people are out of work and pissed.

Our sources say the crew also didn't believe Bieber when he said he needed to rest, because he just had a month off in Laguna Beach and L.A. ... and regularly played sports and partied during that downtime. As we first reported, the real reason Justin bailed is because he's dedicating himself to Christ.

Still, tour members feel betrayed, and think this is more bratty behavior from Bieber, and his lack of sympathy for them is on full display.

Lucky Whitehead was telling the TRUTH -- he was not the man arrested for shoplifting on June 22, this according to Prince William County officials who say the REAL perp was an imposter.

We spoke with Commonwealth's attorney, Paul Ebert, who says the case against ex-Dallas Cowboys WR Lucky Whitehead has been dropped after an internal investigation into the arrest.

Long story short ... Ebert says the man was only "verbally identified" by the arresting officer at the crime scene. The arrestee did not have I.D. on him.

The man told cops he was Lucky Whitehead and gave them Lucky's information, including birthday and social security number, Ebert says.

The officers ran the information through the DMV system and believed the man they had arrested matched the photo of "Lucky Whitehead" that was on file.

After Lucky publicly declared his innocence, claiming he wasn't even in the state of Virgnia at the time of the arrest, officers went back and reviewed surveillance video at the convenience store. Footage showed the suspect was NOT Lucky Whitehead.

Cops are now on the hunt for the man in the video.

Lucky's agent, Dave Rich, tells TMZ Sports, "Lucky is thrilled justice was served and his name was cleared. It's a shame that he came into town to do a camp for kids and he ended up getting cut by his professional football team."

The Prince William County Police Dept. has also issued a statement:

"Upon reviewing the June 22, 2017 arrest of an individual named 'Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr.', the police department is confident that the man charged with petit larceny, and who is subsequently being sought on an active warrant for failure to appear in court, is not Lucky Whitehead of the Dallas Cowboys."

"The man charged on the morning of June 22 was not in possession of identification at the time of the encounter; however, did verbally provide identifying information to officers, which included a name, date of birth, and social security number matching that of Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr."

"Officers then checked this information through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database. The DMV photo on file was then used to compare to the man who was in custody."

"Officers acted in good faith that, at the time, the man in custody was the same man matching the information provided. At this point, the police department is also confident in confirming that Mr. Whitehead’s identify was falsely provided to police during the investigation."

"The police department is currently seeking the identity of the man involved in the incident. Since the identifying information provided by the arrestee during the investigation was apparently false, the police department is working with the Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to clear Mr. Whitehead from this investigation."

"The police department regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family."

Tempers are flaring on the set of 'Little Women: Couples Retreat' after a white cast member called a black cast member a "monkey ass."

TMZ got this clip of Lifetime's "Little Women: LA" spin-off where Lila is basically asking to get dropped ... by repeatedly hurling the racial slur against Tonya Banks.

Nicolas Cage's facial expression has done it again ... and it's melting the Internet.

Nic was in Kazakhstan Sunday attending the opening of the 13th Eurasia International Film Festival ... and this picture -- posing next to the country's First Lady -- has everyone laughing their asses off.

The Oscar winning actor wore a traditional Kazakh robe over a shirt and tie ... but it's his holy-hell-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into-and-where-did-it-all-go-wrong look that's sparked memes all over social media.

The guy can't catch a break ...

Kim Zolciak raged out on Kenya Moore because she thought Kenya said something about her son, who was horribly injured by a dog bite -- and it took several cast members to hold her back.

Multiple 'RHOA' production sources tell us Kim went all Mama Bear while they were shooting over the weekend at a home in Atlanta. We're told Kenya and Kim were throwing shade as soon as they saw each other -- but when things got personal, it got out of hand.

Kim made comments about Kenya's new marriage being fake ... and Kenya fired back that Kim had pimped out her daughter to get John Legend tickets. Everyone we spoke to agrees to that much, but here's where it gets messy.

We're told Kim thinks Kenya said the Legend tix were for "your injured son." Others in the house say they never heard Kenya say the son part. Doesn't matter ... Kim was convinced and lost it ... rushing at Kenya, knocking over and breaking glasses on the way.

Cast members and production staff grabbed Kim and calmed the situation. We're told Kim immediately bounced, and is genuinely pissed -- not just "for the show" drama ... like last season.

O.J. Simpson's still untouchable in the literary world -- most major publishers will NOT be scrambling to offer him a book deal after he gets out of prison.

We spoke with multiple major publishers who said ... despite being granted parole, and all the interest in recent O.J. projects -- like the "30 for 30" documentary and 'The People vs. O.J.' -- the book world will take a hard pass. We're told publishers fear a major backlash, or boycott, that could impact their roster of authors.

Another reason he's considered toxic is publishers don't see people rushing to put money in O.J.'s pocket, because the public still considers him guilty of double murder. As Keith Urbahn, president of publishing giant Javelin, put it ... "Consumers won't spend 20 bucks on a self-aggrandizing book about how he's turned his life around."

Last time O.J. landed a book deal was 2007's 'If I Did It' ... which cost mega-publisher Judith Regan her job at HarperCollins. Our sources say that fiasco is fresh in the minds of publishing execs.

Bottom line -- don't hold your breath for O.J.'s tell-all memoir.

Beyonce's controversial wax figure got a little makeover ... and maybe a little sun too.

Bey's wax figure at Madame Tussauds in NYC was briefly removed from the museum amid criticism it looks like a white woman, but was back on full display Friday ... with some slight modifications.

Tussauds reportedly updated its wax Beyonce by adjusting the styling and lighting of her figure. Take a look at the side-by-side pics ... definitely some changes to the hairstyle and complexion.

Still not a dead ringer, but look at this video -- the closer ya get, the more Bey-ish it gets.