You Might Want to Rethink

Bill Maher put a bow on the 20th season of "Real Time" with words of hope ... how 'bout Dem midterms!!!

Bill is blown away by the election ... if you followed him, he thought it would be a deathblow to democracy, but it was the opposite. As he said, Donald Trump may get credit for putting up a slate of whackos who were so scary ... voters opened their eyes and rejected them in force.

Now B.M. isn't suggesting America is out of the woods ... paraphrasing Mark Twain, he said "Reports of our death were slightly exaggerated." Nevertheless, Bill tipped his hat to voters, who helped us revert to some semblance of sanity.

He then leaned into one of his mantras ... reject the extremes on both sides, noting they account for only around 7% of us, yet they get 90% of the media's attention. And how 'bout this -- 90% of all tweets are courtesy of only 10% of users. As he says, if we let them control our country, it's like letting the crying baby fly the plane.

Bill ends with sage advice for both sides ... start compromising, especially on the extremes.  His examples are hilarious.

Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted to practice free throws after his Bucks squad lost to the 76ers ... and when several arena employees got in his way, he lost it, knocking over a 10+ tall ladder.

And the whole incident was captured on video by some fans who were still in the Wells Fargo Center Friday night in Philadelphia.

The Bucks lost to the Sixers, 110-102 ... and Giannis dropped 25 points. But, he was awful from the free throw line, shooting 4-for-15 (27%) from the charity stripe.

So, after the game, Antetokounmpo clearly wanted to work on his free throws. But, several employees (unclear if they're with the arena or team) were standing next to a large ladder, seemingly about to do something to the hoop.

Giannis walked up to the ladder and pushed it under the basket. A worker, appearing confused, moved the ladder back near its original spot. Antetokounmpo, clearly pissed, approached the ladder again, emphatically yelled something to the guy, and tossed the ladder, causing it to fall.

The video ends a few seconds later as GA is putting up a free throw.

Another video on social media appeared to show Sixers forward Montrezl Harrell's reaction to Giannis ... and he was hot.

Flavor Flav has a few reasons to give Spirit Airlines another shot after flipping out on the air carrier over a missed flight -- he's not only getting his money back, he's getting big-time perks.

A rep for Flavor Flav tells TMZ ... Spirit finished the investigation into FF's angry incident in Las Vegas, and decided to give the rap icon a full refund.

We're also told Spirit is upgrading his frequent flier status to "Gold" ... which is the airline's highest frequent flier tier. That status means Flav will never have to pay for any of the budget airline's add-on charges, like the ones for baggage and seat selection.

TMZ broke the story ... Flav narrowly missed a flight earlier this month in Sin City, and we got video of him flipping out on the gate agent who shut the door in his face.

Flav's camp said he typically waits to board flights after all the other passengers because folks like to take pictures with him and he doesn't want to hold up the boarding process. So, he waited, but the gate agent closed the door, shutting out Flav and 2 others.

FF eventually apologized to all the folks who witnessed his airport rant.

Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball could be yours -- the record-setting baseball is about to hit the auction block -- after the fan who caught the historic piece of memorabilia turned down a whopping $3 million offer!

The ball will soon be on the block at Goldin Auctions ... one of the most prominent online sports sellers in the world.

As we previously reported, Cory Youmans caught the baseball on October 4th ... while he was seated in the outfield for the Yankees vs. Rangers game in Texas. The Yanks tried to convince the fan to give up the ball that night, but the fan refused to part ways with it.

In the weeks since, Youmans -- who's been living it up -- has received increasingly larger offers for the ball ... culminating in a massive $3 million offer.

Clearly, the fan believes he can make even more at auction ... and he's got company.

“The ball has the potential to become the highest-priced baseball ever sold,” Ken Goldin said, adding ... “Three million plus would be my estimate.”

Of course, Judge set the NY Yankees and American League single-season home run record this season ... topping the 61 HR mark set by former A.L. MVP and Yanks star, Roger Maris, in 1961.

If the baseball is to set the record, it'll need to sell for at least $3,005,001 ... in order to surpass the sale price of Mark McGwire's 70th home run (the slugger played in the National League), which he smashed during his historic 1998 season in which he went toe-to-toe with Sammy Sosa.

Screw a cage ... two Jiujitsu practitioners fought inside a convertible, and one of the men nearly choked his opponent unconscious using an actual seat belt from the car -- and the video is wild!

The competitors were Kalinkin Kir and Leonid Fedorenko ... and the event was Punch Club Car Jiujitsu. The location isn't known ... but Russia is a good bet.

The fight started with the two men each sitting in a front seat. When the bell rang, Kir was somehow able to wrap the passenger side seatbelt around Leonid's neck ... as KK squeezed as hard as he could.

The belt looked incredibly tight, but somehow, Leonid didn't tap and was eventually able to fight out of the position.

The final violent touch ... the promotion uses Grand Theft Auto-style text and graphics.

Seatbelts are nothing new in jiujitsu ... but not like this.

In traditional jiujitsu, a "seatbelt" is a position of control when the person in the dominant position (top) locks their hands across the chest of the competitor much like a seat belt strap.

Of course, choking your opponent with an actual seat belt is very different.

Car jiujitsu isn't the only crazy event Punch Club has put on. They've also done car MMA and phone booth boxing (it looks exactly like you think it would).

Jeffrey Dahmer's father says there were at least a couple opportunities to stop his son's murder spree in its tracks -- which he described in gruesome detail to Dr. Phil.

Lionel Dahmer's interview with the TV host is included in a 3-day Dahmer special Phil and co. are airing this week ... and TMZ got a hold of a couple clips from the sit-down addressing two different times when Lionel felt he should've realized something was amiss with his kid.

First, Lionel tells about the time when Jeffrey was still living with his grandmother in Milwaukee -- a period during which he'd already started to kill people -- and how there was a mysterious wooden box Jeff kept that Lionel suspected had pornography inside.

When he tried opening it up, he says Jeffrey was able to buy himself a day ... and then sneak out a severed human head, which he replaced with porno magazines and the like. Lionel says he wishes he would've pressed the issue the day he wanted it open -- because if he did, he says Jeff told him post-arrest that the jig would've been up, potentially saving lives.

Lionel was also asked about what he thinks set Jeffrey down this dark path, and he discusses how when he was young and going through puberty -- he'd mutilate animals and apparently get a sexual thrill by playing with their innards. In hindsight, the signs were there.

The elusive NBA YoungBoy isn't exactly outside -- due to his legal issues -- but he's peeking his head out into public to pop s**t at his rivals!!!

The Lousiana rapper has been on house arrest since October 2021 and dedicates more focus to the studio than social media these days. He's making an exception, though, to shade a select few artists who sold their music catalogs just to keep up with his bankroll!!! That's how he sees it, anyway.

Making good on his nickname "Never Broke Again," YoungBoy dove into a mini rant while parking his whip ... bragging about owning more cars than one person could ever drive.

Future and Public Enemy's Chuck D are some of the latest rappers to cash in their catalogs ... but one particular rapper YB tends to pick bones with is Kodak Black.

The "Super Gremlin" rapper recently switched to Capitol Records from Atlantic ... and made it clear to his fans he wasn't about to be eating YoungBoy's dust.

Kodak addressed the need to level up on YB in an Instagram Live ahead of the release of his latest album "Kutthroat Bill Vol. 1" -- but will need to kick his studio time into overdrive to truly catch up.

YB has had an extremely prolific year ... releasing 4 solo mixtapes "Colors," "Realer 2," "3800 Degrees," "Ma' I Got a Family" as well as "Better Than You," his collaborative project with DaBaby.

He has another tape scheduled with his artist Quando Rondo, but fans may have to wait until 2023 for that one.

Patrick Beverley says an OKC ball boy was so furious he injured Russell Westbrook during the 2013 NBA playoffs the guy actually threatened to kill him over the controversial play!

Beverley told the story during a recent episode of The Pat Bev Podcast ... sharing the wild story with his co-host, Rone, and guest Dave Portnoy.

PB says it all went down during the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs ... when the Rockets played the Thunder.

During the 2nd quarter of game 2, Westbrook, who was taking the ball up the court, was about to signal for a timeout when Bev, guarding Russ, lunged in an attempt to steal the ball, inadvertently contacting Russ' knee.

Westbrook suffered a torn meniscus, ending his season, and turning Beverley into public enemy #1 in the eyes of many OKC fans, including the ball boy, who presumably blamed Pat for the injury.

"I had a ball boy threaten to kill me over the Russell Westbrook injury," Pat said. "I get to OKC the next game, the police officers in front."

"They put a police car in front of my house in Houston. I get to the hotel, I'm on the floor by myself. They passing out papers of a young guy's face ... he threatened to kill me."

Pat says his head coach at the time, Kevin McHale, warned him Westbrook's injury had become a hot topic ... and the attempted steal was at the center of the controversy.

But, despite at least one threat to his life, Beverley says he was never phased and was actually upset he didn't come face-to-face with the ball boy.

Paris Hilton and her hubby Carter Reum are still working on having their first child, but she doesn't see it as a difficult journey -- and she can't figure out why her mother said it was.

We got Paris and Carter Tuesday at LAX and she was glowing about their first year as a married couple ... their anniversary was Nov. 11. The happy couple's spoken openly about wanting to start a family, via IVF, so we asked how that process was going.

Again, Paris couldn't sound more positive -- she said they're stockpiled on embryos and ready to go ... almost making it sound like it's just a matter of them deciding the time's right to get pregnant.

Her take seems 180 degrees from what Kathy Hilton recently expressed about her daughter's baby-making process, telling E! News ... "It breaks my heart because I know she is trying and trying and I always say, 'Just relax.' So many people, they struggle and it doesn't just happen like that."

Paris told us she has no idea why her mom would have that idea about her and Carter. Watch the clip ... she also seems slightly annoyed Kathy was even discussing it publicly.

She did offer some words of wisdom for anyone else in the same boat as Carter and herself.

They say the NFL is a copycat league, but Vikings defensive back Kris Boyd isn't trying to hear that ... especially when it comes to teams mimicking postgame celebrations.

Boyd unleashed on the Commanders and Taylor Heinicke ... after video surfaced of the QB iced out in chains, celebrating his team's stunning upset over the Eagles on MNF.

Kris' issue ... Heinicke's celebration was reminiscent of Kirk Cousins', when the Vikings signal-caller rocked a bunch of big chains, topless, on the plane after beating the Commanders (Taylor's team) in Week 9.

Cousins, typically a mild-mannered guy, was an entirely different person on the plane, and social media couldn't get enough.

Well, Boyd wasn't fond of Heinicke and the Commanders seemingly imitating them ... and he didn't hold back, calling out the team and player for seemingly copying his squad.

"Stop trynna f***ing be us…Lames…He couldn’t hold Kirk jockstrap!! Find your own trend!…Y’all shit don’t even look like y’all having fun enjoying it," 26-year-old Boyd tweeted.

Sheesh!!! 😲😲😲

Kris isn't apologizing for what he said, either, explaining ... "I go hard behind my team man….There is no other way around it. These guys are like my brothers. A huge family from all corners. And it’s nothing but major love!! Minnesota Vikings is my family and I don’t play when it come to us!! Point blank period!💜💛💜💛"

Unfortunately, the Vikings and Commanders already played each other ... but with Minnesota at 8-1 and Washington at 5-5, there's an ever-so-slight chance the two could meet in the playoffs.

And, if they do play ... Boyd has a prediction for how the game will go.

"Idgaf! We gone whoop both they ass they cross our path again!😤💜💛💜"

Candace Cameron Bure wants to keep things old-fashioned at the new cable TV network she's working at ... which is drawing the ire of the LGBTQ community.

The "Full House" star recently said she'd be focusing on "traditional" families when it comes to future programming at the Great American Family network ... of which she's now the chief creative officer ... this after parting ways with her longtime home at the Hallmark Channel.

What she means by that ... portraying heterosexual relationships, and not same-sex couples. Of course, her remarks are catching a lot of backlash from a number of people and orgs ... perhaps most notably from GLAAD, which famously advocates for LGBTQ interests.

GLAAD slammed Candace, saying ... "It's irresponsible and hurtful for Candace Cameron Bure to use tradition as a guise for exclusion. I'd love to have a conversation with Bure about my wife, our kids, and our family's traditions." They went on to say CCB is out of touch, while calling on GAF stakeholders to take a stand if they cared about equality/representation.

A GLAAD rep adds, "If GAC Family's plan is to intentionally exclude stories about LGBTQ couples, then actors, advertisers, cable and streaming platforms, and production companies should take note and seriously consider whether they want to be associated with a network that holds exclusion as one of its values."

JoJo Siwa -- who's gay, and who also publicly feuded with Candace a few months ago -- also spoke out ... as did Candace's ex-costar Jodie Sweetin, who showed solidarity with JS. Hilarie Burton went so far as to call Candace a "bigot" ...

Zak Bagans has a ton of ghost stories, and believes he's caught the latest one on camera ... an allegedly haunted doll tumbling off a shelf in a room with a creepy track record.

Zak tells TMZ ... the spooky moment went down Monday morning inside his haunted museum in Vegas. He says, as soon as a tour group passed by the doll room ... one of the dolls flew off the shelf, tumbling to the ground.

What's creepier, he says it rolls over -- without anyone touching it -- after a few moments on the ground. The only explanation in Zak's eyes ... there's some scary business going down!

The "Ghost Adventures" star is no stranger to these haunting situations. He tells us, he's had a similar moment back in 2019 when a different doll randomly fell off the shelf.

One time he says a female voice was heard from the doll's closet saying "stop it" to a photog a few years ago ... when he was alone in the museum, taking photos of the dolls.

Apparently, the doll room was originally a secret room for a prominent guy in Las Vegas named Cyril Wengert. He built the home in 1938. Zak says, now the room is the go-to place for all haunted dolls ... including the ones people send because they are too afraid to sleep with them.

Celebrated lyricist Denzel Curry jumped out in front of the inevitable "Grammy snub" convo as noms came out Tuesday, and with just a few exceptions ... he says the Recording Academy missed again.

Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, DJ Khaled, Jack Harlow and Future were all nominated for Best Rap Album but aside from the first 2, Denzel insisted he could name 10 acts more deserving of slots in the category -- and then he did!!!

He cited fellow MCs Freddie Gibbs, Joey Bada$$, JID and Smino as clear-cut snubs, and said he feels the Grammys care more about money, mainstream acts and "half-ass s**t" than actual culture.

Denzel's acclaimed 2022 "Melt My Eyez See Your Future" also didn't earn any nominations ... which seems like the real reason he was pissed, but the Florida rapper says his rant was bigger than himself.

If the Academy cares, DC did have one more positive note -- giving GloRilla her just due as her "FNF (Let's Go)" hit is up for "Best Rap Performance." Baby steps?

Mariah Carey won't be getting everything she wants for Christmas this year ... her attempt to trademark the phrase "Queen of Christmas" was just rejected, TMZ has learned.

The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied MC's attempt to trademark "Queen of Christmas" on Tuesday ... along with her attempts to lock down the rights to "Princess Christmas" and "Christmas Princess," according to a release given to TMZ.

As we reported ... Mariah Carey applied for the trademarks back in March of 2021 but quickly faced some backlash.

Despite having some support ... legends like Darlene Love and singer Elizabeth Chan pushed back on MC -- Elizabeth filed an opposition, arguing no one should "monopolize" the word "Christmas."

As for what Mariah wanted to TM for, in her filing she said she planned to use the title for fragrances, lotions, nail polish, jewelry, cups, mugs, chocolate milk, coconut water ... as well as ornaments, toys, dog clothing, masks, lingerie and sweatshirts.

Dr. Phil is uncovering a terrifying Jeffrey Dahmer tale -- 2 men raped, beaten and tortured by him who say the Dahmer in the Netflix series is not the "cold-blooded killer" they encountered.

Dr. Phil joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" ... telling us about several interviews he conducted for his 3-day series about Dahmer, his victims and their loved ones. He says many family members were hurt by Netflix's decision to create the show ... which has forced them to open up old wounds.

Case in point, the 2 men who knew Dahmer while he was in the army, and whose stories were not part of the 'Monster' series on Netflix.

Phil says they described their encounters ... which included getting drugged, and in one case, raped -- but according to them the military swept the attacks under the rug.

He's also featuring an interview with Dahmer's father, Lionel, where they dig into the killer's formative years ... and Phil says Lionel admitted missing several red flags.

As we've reported, the popularity of the Netflix series prompted ill-timed costume choices, pieces of Dahmer's ensemble going up for auction, and even a pizza special in "honor" of the mass murderer.

There's also been tremendous backlash, and Phil says his aim is to provide a platform for those most upset by Dahmer's macabre popularity.

Brian Laundrie's family wants an apology from "Celebrity Jeopardy!" after the game show used Gabby Petito's murder and Brian's suicide as a clue.

Laundrie family attorney, Steven Bertolino, tells TMZ ... "The entire Laundrie family is appalled and concurs with all of the comments on social media on how distasteful this was. I believe an apology is due."

As we reported ... social media users are up in arms over a "Celebrity Jeopardy!" clue on Monday's episode which brought up Gabby and Brian's deaths.

The clue reads ... "In 2021 Fugitive Brian Laundrie Ended His Days In Fla.'s Myakkahatchee Creek Area, Home to These Long & Toothy Critters." The answer was, "What are alligators?"

Tons of folks on social media have a problem with the clue ... the general feeling being it's making light of Gabby's homicide and Brian subsequently dodging a nationwide manhunt.