You Might Want to Rethink

Justin Bieber might need a lesson in "know your audience" ... 'cause fans booed the hell out of the singer during his tour stop in Montreal on Tuesday for dissing the hometown Canadiens.

Bieber -- a MASSIVE fan of the Habs' hated rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs -- showed love for his team right before his final song of the night ... saying, "How about those Leafs though, huh?"

The "Ghost" crooner even gave a shoutout to his close buddy for scoring a goal against the Canadiens on Saturday ... saying, "Auston Matthews is really doing some work here in Montreal."

Of course, the Canadiens are hot garbage this season ... sitting at the very bottom of the standings with an 18-38 record, despite beating the Leafs over the weekend.

Biebs made sure to let the crowd know he was well aware of their struggles this season ... adding, "How's that playoff spot looking for you guys this year?" and "Maybe next year, maybe next year."

The fans weren't having it -- letting the boo birds fly and even shouting expletives as Bieber continued to diss the hometown team ... even starting a "Go Leafs, Go" chant.

The stunt comes one week after the Leafs debuted their Bieber-designed Drew House jerseys ... which they wore on the ice for their Next Gen game.

Bieber eventually got real and stopped the trolling ... saying Montreal is truly one of his favorite places to perform in the world.

Boston Bruins star Taylor Hall -- a former league MVP -- was so pissed about being shoved into the boards during a game Tuesday night ... he retaliated by sucker punching the dude who pushed him.

The wild scene all went down late in the second period of the Bs' tilt with the Maple Leafs -- after Ilya Lyubushkin hurled Hall face-first into the wall as the Boston winger was trying to cross the midline.

You can see in footage of the play, Hall clearly thought the shove was unnecessary and dirty -- so he ran up from behind Lyubushkin and socked him in the jaw.

The Leafs defenseman went down hard -- and stayed on the ice for several seconds before he wobbled off into the locker room.

No word on if Lyubushkin suffered any serious injuries in the play -- but he was unable to return to the game. Toronto said in a statement afterward that the 27-year-old was being held out for "precautionary reasons."

The NHL, meanwhile, has already announced punishment for Hall over the swing -- saying it's fined the 30-year-old $5,000 "for roughing" Lyubushkin.

O.J. Simpson apparently sees a little bit of himself in Will Smith after his Oscars slap -- saying that he, too, wanted to put hands on people back when he was in the spotlight.

The Juice sounded off on the whole saga, and his main takeaway is in his Twitter caption ... "He was wrong but I understand the sentiment." In the video, he elaborates ... explaining, yeah, Will made a mistake -- but he kinda sympathizes with him.

Check it out ... O.J. says he's also been through a lot of "crap," and on the other side of that -- presumably in reference to his acquittal in the '90s -- was often the butt of tons of jokes.

He makes no bones about how he felt about those "O.J. routines," saying he wanted to "b-slap" at least a couple of those comedians -- but acknowledges he restrained himself, almost drawing the contrast between him and Will ... which, to many, is the ultimate irony.

Bottom line ... O.J. defends Chris Rock here, saying it's comedy -- and no matter how it makes you feel, you (and Will by extension) have to accept it.

Now, here's the kicker ... O.J. theorizes that if he woulda pulled the same stunt after his Las Vegas arrest/conviction -- he believes he would've gotten life in prison without the possibility of parole, seemingly pointing out that Will's getting a pass because he's Will Smith.

In a truly shocking moment, Will Smith just smacked Chris Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith at The Oscars.

Chris was up on stage Sunday presenting for Best Documentary, but before he started naming the nominees ... he was firing off zingers to the crowd, and eventually landed on Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Chris made a comment about Jada's shaved head ... saying he couldn't wait to see 'G.I. Jane 2' -- which got some groans from the crowd, to which he just sorta shrugged off.

Chris didn't think he'd crossed a line, but Will clearly did ... because he stormed the stage and literally socked the dude in the face. A stunned Rock exclaimed, "Wow. Will Smith just smacked the s*** outta me."

The American broadcast on ABC muted, and even froze, but in other countries it continued ... and Will shouted "Keep my wife's name out your f****** mouth" twice to Chris.

Chris eventually gained his composure again and carried on with handing out the Oscar, but the room was left tense with a sense of unease.

Jada has been public with her alopecia diagnosis for a good while, documenting her struggle with hair loss.

As of now ... Will and Jada are still sitting in the crowd.

Nick Lachey got violent toward a photographer during his night out ... reaching in her car and trying to rip the phone out of her hands.

Nick and his wife, Vanessa, went out to eat at Mastro's in Beverly Hills Sunday night ... after seeing a photog taking pics of him from her car, he made his way across the street, allegedly punching her window and calling her a "p**** mother f*****." Vanessa was yelling for her to open her car door.

After he walked away, the photographer puts her window down and asks him what's his problem, making him dart back to the car. After noticing her filming him, he quickly reaches into the car and tries to pry the phone from her hands.

Later in the night, Nick was with Vanessa and another woman, walking back to a hotel ... Nick was yelling and sticking his middle finger up to photogs as they walked by.

The photographer claimed she could smell alcohol on his breath ... a possible factor in his erratic behavior.

Sunday night showed a similar situation with celebrity violence ... as you recall, Will Smith walked on stage at the Oscars, slapping Chris Rock across the face after a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith set him off.

We reached out to Nick's rep ... so far, no word back.

The entertainment world wasn't the only one shaken up by Will Smith's Oscars slap on Sunday night -- notable sports figures, including Deion Sanders and Patrick Mahomes' wife, also couldn't believe what they saw.

Just minutes after Will smacked Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards over a joke the comedian made about Jada Pinkett Smith ... Sanders commended Rock for taking the blow.

"Chris took it like a STANDUP GUY LITERALLY!!! WOW WOW WOW!" Sanders said on Twitter, before adding, "Lord help us please help us Love each other especially in front of company."

Brittany Mahomes, meanwhile, chastised Smith for letting his anger turn into physical violence.

"You. Don’t. Slap. Someone," the Kansas City star quarterback's wife wrote on Twitter.

Others in the sports world commented on Will as well ... with Steph Curry even cracking a joke on social media over it.

The Golden State Warriors point guard made the quip while praising the Stanford women's basketball team for its big victory on Sunday night.

"This was loud!!!" Curry wrote. "Like that slap on that other channel."

New Las Vegas Raiders star Chandler Jones made a 'Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' jab after seeing the on-stage swing ... writing on Twitter, "Got in one little fight and we all got scared."

NBA star Bradley Beal added, "Smack the taste out his mouth," while Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson wrote on Twitter in disbelief, "He slapped that boy fr ? Or I’m trippin."

President Biden has been saying a lot during his Euro trip -- but on a few occasions, he's misspoken about our intentions with Russia ... including the idea that Putin has got to go.

POTUS sparked a lot of headlines Saturday following a rousing speech he gave in Poland reaffirming the U.S.'s commitment to helping out Ukraine -- the reason ... he ended his remarks with an eyebrow-raising statement about what should happen to Russia's leader.

Biden says, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power" ... this after listing all the atrocities Putin has committed during this war.

Might not sound like a big deal on its face, but for U.S. officials and military strategists -- those words signaled a call for a regime change in Russia ... which is one helluva policy change from what the Biden administration has thus far touted and publicly backed.

While Biden's words were fairly clear, a White House rep has since re-explained what the Commander in Chief was trying to say -- namely, that he was NOT calling for a regime change. They clarified that JB just meant ... Putin can't be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. That's definitely not was Biden said, but fair enough.

Not just that, but following his speech ... WaPo reports that the Prez went off-script in that moment, calling it another "inarticulate" moment when he shoots from the hip.

There's another incident that sounded alarms -- it was on Friday when 46 was meeting with U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Poland (with whom he broke bread, or pizza dough rather) and he told them they would see "when you're there" the Ukrainian resilience first-hand.

There, too, he appeared to be implying we'd be sending boots on the ground in Ukraine -- which has been viewed as a terrible move by many, as it could elevate tensions with Russian and spark a full-fledged war of colossal proportions -- but that isn't the case, it seems.

When reporters heard this, they went back to the WH yet again for clarity -- and a spokesperson said, "The President has been clear we are not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine and there is no change in that position."

An Applebee’s franchise executive had a bright idea on dealing with inflation ... pay employees less.

Wayne Pankratz -- a bigwig at American Franchise Capital, which owns and operates 50 Applebee’s locations throughout the Midwest -- spewed his corporate fat cat vision to his colleagues over an email, which leaked and has since gone viral.

In the memo, Pankratz muses that the higher gas prices being felt across the country could actually benefit their Applebee’s business -- namely, by forcing more people into the workforce out of desperation, which he thought would be great to exploit in lower wages for new hires.

Yep, it’s as bad as it sounds ... take a look for yourself -- he says as much clear as day here.

There’s more ... the guy goes on to describe much of their employees as “paycheck to paycheck” people -- and that too, he says, can help them in putting a little extra squeeze on their hourly rate. Since their disposable income would be depleted amid these higher prices, he theorized their Applebee’s restaurants would likely see an increase in applicants, who would be more likely to take less money than other hospitality jobs that might pay better.

Pankratz also gives the federal government a shout-out for finally putting an end to all the stimulus checks, which he believes has also forced people back to working for a living ... and which he also sees as a pro for his would-be plan.

It’s a bizarre economic philosophy, and it has NOT been well-received online ... frankly, people are tearing into this dude and Applebee’s by extension. Both his investment firm and Applebee’s corporate office have distanced themselves from him. Pankratz has reportedly been placed on leave, and each org has said his thoughts don’t represent their values.

Doja Cat's music career is dead ... thanks to Twitter.

Well, that's what the singer and rapper's claiming, at least, after going toe-to-toe with the Twitter mob over a canceled concert in Paraguay. Her first mistake was hopping online after playing Lollapalooza in Brazil Thursday night.

Doja copped to not putting on "a good enough show," but promised she'd do better Friday night. Well, her fans in Paraguay got all butt hurt because she'd never tweeted them over missing a festival show there earlier this week. Mind you, that concert was canceled due to a deadly storm and flooding ... so, certainly not DC's fault.

Anyway, Doja's response to the ridiculous outrage was "I'm not sorry," and that ignited the Twitter war with fans and even journalists in Paraguay. She eventually fired back, "I moved on I'm just gonna let everybody be mad" ... and changed her Twitter handle to "I quit."

Then she rage tweeted, "I can't wait to f***ing disappear and I don't need you to believe in me anymore." She added, "I'm a f***ing fool for ever thinking I was made for this this is a f***ing nightmare. Unfollow me."

Doja topped it off by declaring, "This s*** ain't for me so I'm out. Y'all take care."

BTW, she's supposed to hit the road with The Weeknd this summer in North America ... so, we seriously doubt she's done done -- but, way to go, Twitter. Ya happy now?

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin thinks he has a lot in common with J.K. Rowling ... saying cancel culture has gone from shutting out people to canceling his entire country.

During a call with officials and cultural workers Friday, the President of Russia talked about his country being shunned from the rest of the world, comparing it to Rowling's experience with backlash for her comments against the trans community.

He says, “They canceled Joanne Rowling recently -- the children’s author, her books are published all over the world -- just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights."

He thinks the west is trying to do the same to his country, calling it "progressive discrimination" toward Russia.

As we've reported, Rowling has been in the hot seat for a while, due to comments she's made throughout the past year that many perceive as transphobic ... remarks she's since tried to clarify.

Putin then compared cancel culture to Nazis burning books in the 1930s ... saying it's impossible to picture something like that happening in his country.

He claims Russia is no place for intolerance, saying, "representatives from dozens of ethnic groups" have lived together for centuries.

The moment Conor McGregor, driving his convertible Bentley, was pulled over by Irish cops for traffic violations was caught on video by a group of "Notorious" fans ... just minutes before the UFC superstar was arrested.

The video clearly shows 33-year-old Conor driving his $200K+ Bentley Continental GT neck-and-neck with another car on the Dublin highway ... when moments later sirens are heard, and a white squad car is behind McGregor.

It's unclear how fast Conor was going at the time of the video -- the two cars in the lanes next to him are going at the same rate of speed. Still, McGregor doesn't look like he's sweatin' the run-in with police.

The clip then ends ... but as we previously reported, Conor was taken into custody for several traffic violations. His pricey car was towed.

While at the station, McGregor was administered drug and alcohol tests, which he passed, according to his rep.

McGregor, who's still recovering from his broken leg, was later released on bail.

Although it's not the worst thing Conor's been accused of over the years, he could still face 6 months in jail, if convicted, according to the Irish Independent.

Devin Booker was so pissed off at a courtside heckler on Wednesday night ... he berated the dude and called him a "p***y" in the middle of a play!!!

The wild scene all went down at some point during the Suns' road game with the Timberwolves ... when Booker clearly had enough of a hearing a Minnesota fan's taunts.

The Phoenix superstar was dribbling up the court, and after the guy said something to him, Booker looked him in the eye and screamed, "Shut up, p***y!"

Video shows the fan and people around him were shocked by what they just heard ... especially after Booker calmly cruised past the halfcourt line to initiate the offense.

The fans giggled after the diss -- but Devin was able to get the last laugh on the scoreboard ... leading Phoenix to a 125-116 win.

Of course, the exchange is no doubt going to cost Booker some money -- because everyone from Kevin Durant to Jusuf Nurkic has been fined for their roles in recent heated interactions with fans.

Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkić's wallet is now significantly lighter ... the NBA just fined him $40,000 for tossing a fan's phone in a confrontation after a game on Sunday.

The league announced the punishment Tuesday morning ... reprimanding the 27-year-old for his actions in a postgame spat with a Pacers supporter.

If you missed it, following Portland's 129-98 loss to Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse ... Nurkić walked up to a fan, stared him down and then grabbed his phone and threw it.

Nurkić appeared to mutter some words to the guy -- before security ultimately separated them.

It's unclear what the fan said to piss off Nurkić -- but the NBA clearly didn't care either way, slapping him with the big fine.

Nurkić, who's been sidelined for several weeks while battling plantar fasciitis, has yet to address the incident publicly.

The Association, meanwhile, has been doling out a lot of fines like this one recently -- as NBA players have consistently fired back at fans throughout this season.

In fact, just days ago, Kevin Durant was hit with a $25,000 fine for cussing out a fan who was sitting courtside at a game earlier this month.

Miami Hurricanes head coach Jim Larrañaga not only saved the world from a shirtless Charles Barkley ... but then clowned Chuck during his post-game presser.

Yes, not all heroes wear capes.

It all started when Barkley, known for his larger-than-life personality as a commentator, joked he would take off his shirt if his alma mater, Auburn, beat the Hurricanes last night.

Jim got wind of Chuck's comments, and after knocking off Barkley's old school, had a hilarious reaction to it.

“I listened to Charles Barkley tell the CBS crew that if Auburn won, he’d take off his shirt. And, I thought to myself, no one wants to see that, Chuck," Larrañaga said.

Of course, Barkley has ties to Auburn -- he played for the Tigers for three years averaging 14.1 points per game -- so, it's safe to say he was a bit biased in his prediction.

But, Auburn was 7.5 point favorite over Miami, so Barkley, like most people, was stunned when the Hurricanes easily handled Auburn.

Miami dominated the Tigers, 79-61, to advance to the Sweet 16 ... and it seems coach Larrañaga and his team played with extra motivation thanks to Chuck.

After the game, Barkley was a good sport about Larrañaga's pot shot ... and even heaped praise on Jim for the way the Hurricanes beat up on his Tigers.

We also got video of the Hurricanes arriving back in Florida thanks to our intern, Ryan, and the scene on the ground in Miami was pretty incredible.

A group of passionate fans was there to greet coach as early as 2:15 AM ... and coach spent time high-fiving students as they chanted "It's great to be a Miami Hurricane."

Jusuf Nurkić didn't play a single minute Sunday night, but the Blazers big man got some action after the game ... walking over to a heckling Pacers fan and tossing his phone.

The incident went down following the Blazers' 129-98 blowout loss to Indiana ... when Nurkić apparently heard a fan say something he didn't like, confronted him with an intimidating stare-down, and chucked his cell.

The fan was completely shocked ... saying, "Why'd you throw my phone?"

Security staff intervened by stepping in between Jusuf and the fan ... and the Portland center ended up walking away before things escalated further.

It's unclear what exactly was said that led up to the altercation ... but it's clear whatever words were exchanged didn't sit well with the Bosnian hooper.

Nurkić -- who's sidelined at the moment due to plantar fasciitis -- wasn't required to talk to the media after the game ... so details surrounding what happened are minimal.

Nurkic's showdown with the fan is an ongoing theme this season -- NBA players have been clearly fed up with the hecklers "taking it too far" ... prompting the ballers to take matters into their own hands.

Guys like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony have had fans tossed from the arena ... and most recently, their teammate Russell Westbrook confronted a fan before a game for calling him "Westbrick."

Bill Murray is being labeled as an old and out-of-touch guy after seemingly lamenting the fact we've had to wear masks during this pandemic ... likening it to a fear of death. 🤔

The actor recently did an interview with The Independent about his concert film that was shot in 2018 at the Acropolis of Athens, and while discussing it ... Bill and co. mention how it's like looking into a time capsule due to how carefree he and everyone else was.

With that in mind, the author says there's nothing quite like a pandemic to put the kibosh on spontaneous interaction -- and then right after, Bill is quoted as saying this ... "We just went out with our friend to walk the dog, and you're wearing a mask, everyone's wearing a mask. The dog is the only one who's completely alive!"

He adds, "He's living the dog's life. The rest of us are afraid to die, and afraid to kill, so we're masked up and we're injected, and so forth. It's the most challenging time of this life cycle for us."

Finally, BM compares how we've dealt with the pandemic with how previous generations dealt with global events, saying ... "We didn't have a world war or a depression, the things our ancestors had. This is the hand we got dealt and if you fold, you can't win."

Pretty cryptic on its face, but Twitter seems to know what Bill means here ... and they're tearing him apart over it, with many saying his comments are incredibly tone-deaf.

Bill might be misunderstood in this sitch, because he's spoken about COVID quite a bit over the past two years ... and not once has he come off as resentful about how the world reacted to the virus. If anything, he's been kinda optimistic and impressed.