You Might Want to Rethink

Jim Jones has words for Pusha T after the dude dissed him on Pharrell's high-fashion runway last week -- and it sounds like things are getting personal ... and possibly even ugly.

A new clip of what appears to be JJ's response to PT leaked online this week ... it's a brief snippet of Jim dropping bars, and perhaps even shooting a video. Like we said, it's just a small sample of the overall track -- but on its face, he's getting in the mud to fire back.

Check it out yourself ... Jim references/makes fun of Push's collaboration with McDonald's while going on to slam his last album, "It's Almost Dry," by essentially calling it trash.

He then mentions Clipse -- Pusha's rap group with his brother, No Malice -- and has this to say ... "Trying to bring the Clipse back // Talking ‘bout your brother, what happened to that boy? // It looking like they be selling crack to that boy."

Yeah, on its face ... Jim is accusing Malice of once being a drug user. Him and Push have made a name for themselves by rapping about selling drugs -- but Jim's suggesting at least one of them did more than that. Considering Malice has, by and large, left rap behind ... ya gotta imagine his brother is gonna take this one to heart, and most likely respond with more venom.

Now, as for how all this started ... it dates back to April, when Jim hopped on a podcast and said Pusha T shouldn't be considered a Top 50 rapper of all time -- pooh-poohing his music.

During Pharrell's debut LV men's line in Paris this past week ... Push and Malice dropped a new Clipse track, and many considered his bars aimed at Jim directly -- presumably in response to what Jim had said in the spring.

James Cameron is going to catch a lot of heat for this ... he just blamed the Titanic-bound submersible tragedy on the captain, callously comparing it to the famous shipwreck.

The "Titanic" director shared his hot take on the submersible's deadly implosion, which killed all 5 people onboard, with ABC ... and it's shocking to hear.

James says ... "I'm struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field."

In short, James is blaming the tragedy on OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush .. who piloted the Titan submersible on the ill-fated mission.

James is considered a bit of an expert in this field ... in addition to winning Oscars for "Titanic," he also made 33 dives to the bottom of the Atlantic to see the shipwreck up close.

Some folks are critical of OceanGate and Stockton for exploring 2.5 miles below the surface in a tiny submersible navigated with consumer product parts, and James seems to be in that camp.

Travis Kelce says Ja'Marr Chase gave the Kansas City Chiefs some prime bulletin board material after dissing Patrick Mahomes last week ... warning the Bengals receiver he better back up his words on the field -- or it's gonna get ugly.

Remember, the former LSU star sparked some drama over his "Pat who??" comments when he was asked about the best player in the NFL ... to which Mahomes responded with a pic wearing his Super Bowl rings, saying, "That's who."

Kelce addressed the beef on his "New Heights" podcast with his brother, Jason, this week ... saying, "I thought it was a little bold. The guy is a two-time league MVP, two-time Super Bowl MVP."

"It is what it is, dog. Who doesn't love some good locker room banter, man?" he added. "Shoutout to Ja'Marr Chase for holding it down for his QB, but don't you ever disrespect Pat Mahomes, now."

"If you wanna talk your s***, talk your s***, pimp. You just better back it up."

Unfortunately, the Chiefs will have to wait until New Year's Eve to get revenge on Chase and the Bengals in an AFC Championship Game rematch ... but we're sure the guys in K.C. aren't going to forget about his words anytime soon.

DaBaby is frowning on the flying phone assault Bebe Rexha just suffered ... and yet found a way to turn the topic into a plug for his new song. We can't front, it was pretty damn clever.

TMZ Hip Hop chopped it up with the Diamond-selling rapper out in Bev Hills in the wake of Bebe’s comeback show following a fan hurling a phone, leaving her with stitches and a black eye.

DaBaby says it hurt his soul to hear about that kinda fan foul play.

He's no stranger to fan-on-artist violence himself ... he once had a shoe flung at him during Rolling Loud, but is now advocating for peace. Ya gotta see how he made a quick pivot from discussing onstage violence to his new 3-song EP “Call Da Fireman."

DaBaby suggests fans should never throw their phones, and instead offers a better alternative -- which is using them to push play on his project!!!

It's not exactly a cry for justice for Bebe, but it's a fact streaming music won’t leave anyone injured ... so, overall definitely a better option for phone usage.

On the justice tip, though, Nicolas Malvagna is facing felony assault charges. TMZ broke the story, his attorney says Malvagna never intended to harm Bebe when he threw his phone at her, and he was just hoping she'd use it to snap a selfie.

Penny Hardaway has been suspended for the first three games of the Memphis Tigers' upcoming basketball season after the NCAA says the head coach violated recruiting rules.

The NCAA says the violations happened when Hardaway and a Tigers assistant coach each made an in-home visit with a recruit -- a junior in high school -- during the 2021-2022 academic year.

"NCAA rules, as adopted by members, require any in-person contacts with recruits during the fall months of their junior year of high school to be made at the prospects' schools, not in their homes. As a result, these visits violated recruiting rules," the NCAA said on Wednesday.

"Due to his personal involvement in the violations, failure to monitor his staff's violations, and his failure to consult with the Memphis compliance department before making an in-home visit, the head coach also violated head coach responsibility rules."

The first visit was made by an assistant coach, and then two weeks later by Penny, who was hired as Memphis HC in 2018.

The Division I Committee on Infractions panel announced the three-game suspension, bluntly saying, "Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse."

Of course, this isn't Hardaway's first recruiting scandal ... the 51-year-old former NBA star was accused of giving then-prospect James Wiseman over $11k in 2017.

On the heels of the Bebe Rexha incident ... another performer, Ava Max, is feeling the brunt of an overzealous fan -- and this time the guy jumped right onstage with her.

The singer was doing her thing during a live show Tuesday night in L.A., when all of a sudden some clown rushed the stage and swiped at her, making contact with her forehead.

You can see he manages to slap her, even as security was dragging him off the stage -- and while Ava played it off well in the moment, she later explained she suffered an injury ... a scratch to her eye.

Of course, this follows the much uglier incident in NYC with Bebe -- where she took a harder hit from a tossed phone ... and ended up with a black eye and stitches.

That perpetrator was arrested and criminally charged -- and, for what it's worth, he's apologized.

Cardi B is going off on the stepson of the British billionaire aboard the Titanic submersible, saying he pulled a wildly inappropriate move by going to a live show amid the drama.

The rapper sounded off on Brian Szasz for recently going to a Blink-182 concert in San Diego -- something he proudly touted and defended online, but Cardi sees it the way many others online have ... which is to say, that's messed up dude.

Of course, she says it the way only Cardi can ... asking the rhetorical question she figures Brian might have asked himself before deciding to go see Tom DeLonge and co. in the middle of a family crisis -- uh, should I really be doing this???

According to her, the answer is obviously no ... as she believes the dude oughta be at home crying and saying his prayers for his stepfather -- who, by most experts' accounts, has a slim chance at survival with less than 24 hours left of oxygen in the deep-sea vessel.

As we've reported ... Hamish Harding is one of the 5 people inside OceanGate's Titan. Brian acknowledged the family link online -- and then proceeded to let the world know he was ready to rock with Blink-182, arguing his family would want him to enjoy himself.

While he certainly seemed comfortable with the excursion, a lot of folks in the Twitter-verse were giving him an earful ... and calling him out for what they perceived as insensitivity.

And, of course, there were even some callous jokes cracked that Brian might be stoked to know he's got a fortune of inheritance coming his way soon.

As for CB, she's got a unique final takeaway.

In a nutshell, better to be poor and loved, than uber-rich and seemingly uncared for ... so sayeth, Cardi.

Originally Published -- 6:42 AM PT

Bebe Rexha's alleged attacker wasn't trying to hurt her with his phone throw -- but rather, just attempting to get her to use his phone personally for some snapshot fun ... so says his attorney.

Todd A Spodek, a lawyer for Nicolas Malvagna, tells TMZ ... "As a fan, Mr. Malvagna's sole intention was to have Ms. Rexha take photos with his phone, and return it as a keepsake. It was never his intention to injure Ms. Rehxa."

Spodek says Nicolas deeply regrets his actions Sunday night ... and hopes Bebe has a speedy recovery.

Of course, this new explanation seems to contradict what the Manhattan D.A.'s Office claims a witness told them Malvagna said after the incident, allegedly claiming he just wanted to see if he could hit her, thinking it'd be funny.

We should note ... in the video, there's no indication whatsoever that Bebe was even aware of Nicolas in the crowd -- let alone his supposed desire to have her use his phone.

As we reported, BR was in the middle of performing when the phone was flung at her from the crowd, striking her in the face and sending her to the ground in serious pain.

Zion Williamson can breathe a sigh of relief for now -- his alleged former fling just had her Twitter account suspended after threatening to release a sex tape involving the NBA star.

As we previously reported, an adult model named Moriah Mills has gone scorched earth on the New Orleans Pelicans forward ever since he revealed he was having a baby with his girlfriend earlier this month ... claiming she, too, was in an intimate relationship with him at the same time -- and she was blindsided by the news.

Moriah aired out her frustrations with the 22-year-old on social media ... spilling tea about alleged wire transfers and moving plans ... as well as some other REALLY X-rated claims.

The whole Twitter spat lasted two weeks before Elon Musk's company pulled the plug on Tuesday ... with her page that sports more than a million followers getting scrubbed from the platform.

Moriah previously claimed Zion was begging her to stop posting ... which she didn't until she literally could not anymore.

"Good Times" star and "America's Dad" John Amos doesn't want any of the money his daughter crowdfunded on his behalf ... and now her GoFundMe has been taken down.

John's daughter, Shannon Amos, had been seeking donations for medical bills and attorney fees in the name of her famous father, who she claims is fighting for his life in a hospital after falling victim to elder abuse and possible financial crimes ... all of which John has called total BS.

As we reported, Shannon started a GoFundMe with a $500,000 goal earlier this month, but it's now been wiped from the internet ... and a spokesperson for GoFundMe tells us it's because John declined the funds.

A rep for GoFundMe tells TMZ ... "Ensuring that donors’ intentions are honored is our top priority. However, upon being informed that Mr. Amos wished to decline the funds raised on his behalf, the GoFundMe was put under review by our Trust & Safety team and then removed from our platform."

Shannon's GoFundMe reportedly brought in $13,000 from 300 people before being shuttered ... and the rep says the money is being refunded to donors.

Adele is raking in millions during her Las Vegas residency ... but she's not just growing her wealth in Sin City, she's also developed a nasty fungal skin infection.

Chatting with her fans at her show over the weekend, Adele got super personal -- telling everyone she'd recently been diagnosed with a case of good ole fashioned jock itch.

The way Adele explains it -- she wears Spanx during her shows to make sure all of her costumes fit -- combine that with the hot lights, and it's a recipe for sweat soup. The singer says she noticed the condition developing ... and was officially diagnosed with jock itch by her doctor.

In a hilariously-candid moment, she talked about her treatment for the condition, saying, "So it looks like I am an athlete basically, so I have to squirt it on myself. I don't know why the f**k I just told you that!"

Henry Cavill was nowhere to be seen in the new 'Flash' movie -- a strategic move courtesy of James Gunn and co. -- but strangely ... Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot got the green light.

THR dropped this news, reporting on what went into the final cameo that teased a new Batman. According to them, there were a lot of moving pieces/re-shoots that went on right down to the wire ... with the final scene being reshot in January to include the character people see at the end as the "new Bruce Wayne." Spoiler ... it ain't BA or Michael Keaton.

Apparently, the ending underwent 3 different iterations before landing on what people saw in theaters. First -- when Warner Bros. was still part of AT&T -- the final scene was going to feature Ezra Miller's Barry Allen seeing Keaton's Batman and Sasha Calle's Supergirl.

After WB merged with Discovery, however, a couple of new lieutenants tweaked that a bit ... to include Cavill's Superman and Gadot's Wonder Woman -- in addition to Keaton and Calle.

This 2nd iteration came together when WB still thought Cavill had a shot of reprising the iconic role -- which was spearheaded and somewhat cemented by The Rock/'Black Adam' last year -- but got completely undone when Gunn came onboard as the new DC chief.

When Gunn was hired, THR says he completely scrapped the new ending which featured Gadot, Cavill, Keaton and Calle -- and, instead, opted to insert a former Batman actor as a little nod to the canon ... George Clooney.

The reported rationale for this is that Gunn and co-DC chief Peter Safran didn't wanna give fans of the Snyder-verse any false hope about these characters returning in their new revamped universe ... so they got rid of the two cameos at the end and went another way.

Here's what's strange about this ... while Gunn and Safran might've nixed Gadot from the final scene -- they still allowed her to make a cameo earlier in the movie. And ditto for Affleck, obviously, as it'd been well-known for quite a while that he'd be in this flick.

So what we're getting at is this ... it appears there was selective casting for 'The Flash.' Gunn and Safran were ultimately cool with Gadot and Affleck getting some screentime (if not for the last time) but for whatever reason ... they don't seem to have been okay with HC getting a final bow as the Man of Steel. This looks to be backed by their huge about-face with him.

Now, the question ... what might Gunn and Safran have against Cavill, who really appears to have been screwed out of the DCEU in this transition? In reality, probably nothing, but what's become evident in the past few months is that Gunn has his sights on a new Supes.

The new DC head has already said he's starting his new universe with 'Superman: Legacy' ... and due to that, it tracks that he'd wanna lose any trace of Cavill's Superman as soon as possible. In fact, if he'd been hired pre-'Black Adam' -- you could argue he likely would've nixed that whole post-credit cameo ... which, in the end, amounted to just fan service.

It seems like conservatives have just learned the Oscars will be different going forward -- namely, having new inclusivity rules for eligibility ... and, yes, the outrage is in full swing.

Here's the deal ... the Post ran a story citing unnamed Academy voters who are apparently angry about AMPAS's forthcoming rule change for Best Picture contenders. Starting in 2024, there are certain requirements films will have to meet to be considered for the category.

As the article notes ... there are revamped criteria for Best Picture nominees starting next year, not to mention every year after that. Those rules, in a nutshell, include -- 1) having a lead or significant supporting character from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; 2) having a main storyline that focuses on an underrepresented group; or 3) at least 30% of the cast must come from underrepresented groups (be it ethnic, LGBTQ+, disabled, etc).

There's more to it -- which you can read on AMPAS's site -- but essentially ... this is what the new classification boils down to. Movies have to reflect a diverse melting pot and POVs.

Right on cue, several right-wing media/Twitter personalities jumped on this news (which isn't actually new, but more on that later) and started to accuse the Academy of going "woke."

One such dude, Darren Grimes, writes ... "So it's no longer Best Picture then. It's now the film that appeases diversity tsars the most that wins. Award ceremonies are meaningless, Hollywood has slaughtered them on the altar of woke." Clearly, he isn't on board.

Another conservative figure, Charlie Kirk, reflected this position himself ... "Under new rules for the Academy Awards, no film can win Best Picture unless it hits arbitrary diversity quotas. Under this rule, The Godfather, Lord of the Rings, or Saving Private Ryan would all be ineligible.  This is what they mean by 'diversity' but it’s the opposite of diversity. They want a uniform, politically correct monoculture devoid of any creativity or free expression."

If you hop into the 'Best Picture' trend that's on Twitter right now ... you'll see more takes like this -- anger, indignation, outrage ... and on and on. Strangely enough, word of these changes have been reported on for a few years now ... so everyone's late to the party here.

As to their point about former Best Picture winners not being eligible under these new guidelines -- yes, that is technically correct. Whether that helps or hurts the film industry, at large, though is certainly debatable ... and we're sure this convo will continue as we get closer to the 2024 award show. Ya gotta figure ... AMPAS's heart is in the right place here.

BTW, a few notable celebs have actually sounded off on this issue too of late -- including one Richard Dreyfuss ... who was recently asked about it on a PBS-ran program.

The guy didn't bite his tongue on how he felt -- however if you listen to his response closely ... it becomes clear he either misunderstood the question or conflated it with another topic in Hollywood ... namely, accurate casting. In any case -- RD isn't a fan of this either.

Ezra Miller's "The Flash" has been getting hailed as the greatest comic book movie of all time -- but it seems audiences don't really care ... 'cause, so far, they're hardly going to see it.

The 1st-day box office numbers are in ... and they're not very hot. Between Thursday's previews and Friday's haul, "The Flash" has only grossed $24.5 million domestically -- which means this flick isn't even close to hitting the original estimates of $70 mil+.

At this point, 'Flash' is pegged to hit between $55-$59 million through the 3-day weekend -- which is a huge disappointment considering how much good word of mouth it'd generated. BTW, The Rock's "Black Adam" performed slightly better last year on opening day ... and that film was largely considered a flop big picture. With that in mind, this is truly a disaster.

You might've heard about the buzz over the past several months -- tons of screenings were held by Warner Bros., and some were walking away calling it one of the best DC installments to date. There was even an anecdote about Tom Cruise recently seeing it ... and calling the director to praise him and the film. Like we said, it's been the talk of the town for a while.

Despite all this favorable publicity -- outside of Ezra's personal scandals -- it would appear your average moviegoer doesn't give a rip ... but it's hard to say why at this point.

Some might attribute it to Ezra themself ... who's been mired in controversies for about 2 years now. It might also be the lack of a traditional press run the studio opted for -- there were hardly any interviews in the lead-up -- but others are pointing to James Gunn.

Of course, Gunn is at the helm of DC now ... and he's strongly suggested he's going to be rebooting the entire DCU, and sorta doing away with whatever Zack Snyder established.

"The Flash" is one of the last few leftovers pre-Gunn ... so, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem like anything that happens in this movie really matters -- seeing how JG is going to start from scratch anyway. In other words, little to no stakes seem to be at play.

It's gotta be a bummer for the studio heads who were hoping cameos and reprisals would drum up excitement for "The Flash." Remember, Michael Keaton came to play Batman again ... and there's been word of lots of other Batman actors making an appearance as well.

In the end, though ... it doesn't seem like people were all that into it. Plus, if you watch the movie itself (which we have) then you'll come to realize -- there's a lot of time-jumping and universe rebooting ... and it's somewhat hard to follow what the hell is really going on.

For instance, the final question of who's Batman gets teased (and left as a cliffhanger). If you thought it'd be Keaton, Ben Affleck, or even Christian Bale ... you're dead wrong.

!!!SPOILER ALERT ... WE'RE ABOUT TO SPOIL "THE FLASH" ... SO LOOK AWAY NOW!!!

Anyone 'memba this guy??? Yeah, he's back too ... but again, to what end is anyone's guess.

President Biden ended some remarks he gave this week on a strange note -- wishing health and prosperity on the Queen of England ... even though she's already kicked the bucket.

Joe was at the University of Hartford in Connecticut Friday, where he was giving a keynote speech for the National Safer Communities Summit ... where he was in front of a crowd featuring a ton of gun control activists. All was going well -- until the very end.

Watch ... JB starts to joke around with the crowd, and right before he leaves the podium -- he says, "Alright. God save the Queen, man." The crowd, weirdly enough, loved it.

Unclear why POTUS ended his speech this way -- for 2 reasons. One, he wasn't in England or across the pond, and definitely wasn't talking to a UK crowd. These were just regular old Americans. Of course, more importantly ... Queen Eliabeth II has been dead for months.

A lot of folks are circulating this clip/roasting Joe for it. On its face, it's just another gaffe.

While the Prez had kind words for the late monarch, her son probably would've appreciated Joe's well-wishes ... especially heading into the weekend, where he celebrated his first Trooping the Colour parade -- which is a celebration of his first year as the new King.

Charles was out there in his red military uniform, and even rode on horseback with one of those tall funny hats that cover your eyes. Indeed, he looked very Royal and prestigious.

The people of London packed the streets to see their new King, but in the end ... the spotlight wasn't totally on him the whole time -- thanks in large part to his grandson, Prince Louis. The kid goes viral from time to time for silly poses he does on the balcony.

As the people of Great Britain came to see on Saturday, he was at it again ... soaking in the glory. The little guy was having the time of his life -- and striking a lot of different poses.

Kylie Jenner used a Tory Lanez song as background music in one of her latest social media posts ... and it's got people doing a double take -- perhaps rightly so.

The KarJenner influencer threw up a goofy TikTok Friday, where she's recording herself in the car and using a silly filter that makes her face look a little man-ish ... not to mention cartoonish. She's obviously enjoying it, hamming it up for the camera and posing.

It appears Kylie actually posted another video (without the filter on), but deleted it after.

Here's what's got folks scratching their heads ... a snippet of Tory's song, "Hurts Me," is playing over Kylie's vid -- and, yes, it would appear she chose it herself. We should note ... this filter is being used a lot right now -- and it's being coupled with TL's song ... for reasons beyond us. This appears to be some sort of a new challenge ... and KJ got in on it.

Of course, the reason Kylie's getting a little side-eye over her use of the song is the fact that she was tangentially tied to the Megan Thee Stallion shooting ... at least at first, anyway.

You'll recall ... the shooting took place after Tory, Meg and some other friends were hanging out at Kylie's house back in 2020 -- where they were chillin' in the pool and partying it up. In fact, attorneys during Tory's trial actually suggested he was flirting with Kylie that night.

As the story goes ... Meg appeared to be angry with Tory for seemingly trying to get with Kylie, and she left the kickback early ... with Tory staying behind. Eventually, Meg and her pal Kelsey came back for him -- and everything went downhill from there in the SUV.

As prosecutors argued in court, Tory allegedly shot at Megan ... and she was injured as a result. A jury found that to be true, and he was convicted on felony gun and assault charges.

Seeing how this whole thing kicked off at Kylie's crib ... some feel it's strange that she's publicly embracing Tory's song, even if it is in jest. On its face, at least to some, it almost feels like she's taking sides ... this after remaining relatively neutral throughout the saga.

The other weird thing here is ... Kylie actually made a cameo in Meg's 'WAP' music video with Cardi B -- and that, at the time, seemed to be a sign of solidarity with MTS.