You Might Want to Rethink

TV is something else in Russia, where they're running bits with actors dressed in blackface portraying Barack Obama.

The skit aired as part of a satirical show on Russia's NTV channel ... and it's roughly 90 seconds of pure racism. The actor playing Obama is in blackface, wearing a red bandana and a bunch of bling, plus black gloves and an oversized t-shirt.

It's pretty much stereotype bingo.

The skit's entirely in Russian, but 3 English words come across clearly -- Black Lives Matter. As for what they said about it ... the host begins: "We now go live to the dark side of America's history, Barack Obama."

After the Obama character's BLM chant, the host says ... "Can you please stop shouting? We don't have racism. You could be taken for a gypsy."

There's also a reference to Obama's recently released memoir, with the blackface actor calling the book an achievement because "none of my relatives that came before me could write."

Tekashi 6ix9ine had deep concerns about COVID when he was in prison, which is why he got out early ... but those concerns have evaporated in a big way, 'cause dude hit a packed strip club ... and didn't seem too concerned anymore about catching the 'rona.

The New York rapper celebrated his girlfriend Jade's birthday Sunday by walking into a gentleman's club with two human-size sacks full of cash ... which he and the crew dragged over to a VIP section and started unloading singles on dancers.

Based on what we can see ... it looks like they might've rolled in there with upwards of $200k on hand -- at least that's what Jade's claiming.

Speaking of her, 69's GF documented much of their good time on IG -- where she was seen wearing a body-hugging, green bodysuit ... while Tekashi was decked out in all black with a ton of bling and a new mustache. One thing they weren't seen wearing at all ... face masks. Nobody in the video seems to be rockin' one.

We should note that it looks like they were somewhere in Florida here -- just the night prior, there were reports that 6ix9ine and co. had been spotted in Miami.

It's perfectly legal there to be up in the club right now -- even without face coverings, although it'd be wise to wear one. That said ... it's funny how Tekashi's urgent fears of catching COVID-19 just earlier this year have vanished.

You'll recall ... part of the reason why Tekashi was even allowed to finish his sentence from home was because he cited asthma and other underlying conditions he claimed made him susceptible to contracting the disease from inside prison walls -- and a judge believed it and let him out early.

One of the most famous Santa impersonators says COVID-19 has run lots of his jolly-bearded pals back to the North Pole ... 'cause they couldn't make the virtual pivot.

TMZ spoke to Santa-for-hire Ed Taylor -- founder of the Worldwide Santa Claus Network, with more than 3,000 members -- and he described for us just how he and his red-suited comrades have had to make do this COVID-riddled year.

Lots of folks are hesitant to bring their kids to malls for some face time with Santy -- despite plexiglass ideas we've seen rolled out -- while many others still don't have the option of going to a mall at all ... 'cause they ain't open.

Ed gets into all of that with us -- detailing how difficult it's been -- but he also talks about how Santas-for-hire have had to get creative just to get by ... meaning personal Zoom-like bookings through sites like Jingle Ring and others.

Fortunately for Ed, he was able to hop on the technology train early and adjust well enough in time. BUT, not every Saint Nick was able to catch that sleigh ride this year ... Ed says a lot of 'em couldn't hang (perhaps because of age, or 'cause their elf IT department sucked) and decided to skip Xmas 2020 entirely 😢.

George Clooney's been on the DIY-haircut hype long before the pandemic hit -- but he's resorted to what many consider a gimmick product to do it ... and he's been doing it for decades!!!

The actor made the revelation on CBS Sunday Morning -- he told Tracy Smith he's been using Flowbee for quite a while now. So all those dreamy Clooney 'dos you've seen of late ... all Flowbee.

If you're unfamiliar with what the hell that is ... it's a hair cutting device that's been getting hawked on infomercials since the late '80s. Flowbee is part hair clippers and part vacuum -- all you do is run it along your head, and presto!

It might look pretty damn goofy, but hey ... it works, according to George, anyway. And, the best part -- it's only 4 easy payments of $9.99 (prices subject to inflation).

In all seriousness, folks are shocked that George's great looks -- much of which can be attributed to his haircuts -- are the result of a device like Flowbee. You'd think the guy would be spending $200 to $300 per cut at some exclusive stylist in Italy, but no ... he does it himself and gets the job done in 2 minutes.

Funny enough, the Twitter account for George's new movie -- "The Midnight Sky" -- got in on the joke and dropped some Flowbee insight of their own ... writing they could neither confirm nor deny the use of Flowbee on the set.

This is INSANE ... a YouTuber decided it was a good idea to scale a bridge and then jump from the very top ... and it did NOT go well.

Saa Fomba told his fans his goal was to chase his dreams and "leave a mark." Well, leave a mark is what he did, as he hit the water with thunderous force.

He climbed the Pennybacker Bridge ... high above the Colorado River. You see him, on the top of the bridge, throwing his fists up in the air as he waited for a boat with rescuers to show. Once it did, he made the leap and got fully submerged. A few seconds later, he reappears.

Apparently, the rescuers realized Fomba was hurt and called EMT's. Fomba says he suffered a fractured skull and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Fomba's video caption reads, "You might see it as jumping for views, but I see more. I wasn't built for just normal, I’m a dream chaser, I don’t settle for less, I will leave my mark on this planet we call earth our home. chase yours and leave your mark."

A road rage incident that involved two vehicles decked out in MAGA gear and a third civilian car sent the latter toppling over after it lost control and crashed ... and the video is insane.

TMZ has obtained footage of the scary wreck that went down late Saturday afternoon in Hermosa Beach, CA -- which is thought of to be a pretty liberal part of town. Welp, for some reason ... there were two drivers who wanted to put on a mini caravan down the narrow beachside streets ... with Trump flags waving high and proud.

Eyewitnesses tell us while they were stopped at an intersection -- with both cars taking up the two lanes on the one-way road -- a third car (possibly a Mustang) pulled up behind them and that driver started jawboning at the MAGA convertible.

You even see the guy get out of his car for a bit and cuss out the MAGA convertible driver. He eventually got back in his car ... and drivers of the three cars gunned it, almost like they were racing each other.

The convertible went up ahead, and it was just the Mustang and the MAGA Jeep next to each other for a second -- all of a sudden, you see the Mustang lose control and clip a long row of parked cars on its left-hand side ... and then completely flip over. It's terrifying -- and you can tell in how bystanders reacted.

Cops responded quickly -- but even before that, eyewitnesses claim people standing by and watching jumped into action ... because there was supposedly a baby onboard. We're told one of the MAGA vehicles -- the convertible -- appeared to have fled the scene, while the Jeep stayed behind ... because it too was damaged.

Lil Wayne will NOT be performing at the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight after all -- even though he signed a contract saying he would ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... organizers for the mega event this weekend had a flight booked for Weezy so he could take the stage Saturday ahead of the fight set to go down at Staples Center in L.A. in just a few hours. We're told LW simply never got on the plane.

Sounds like it was a last-minute cancelation -- we're working on getting more info about why that happened, but in any case ... it's a no-show for Wayne, and our sources say folks at Triller are working on adding another big name to the lineup.

So far, rapper SAINt JHN has stepped in and signed on to perform at the fight. We're told there's a real possibility Snoop Dogg could get on the mic, too. He's an investor at Triller, so it's feasible he'd do that.

Even with Weezy out, there's a stellar entertainment lineup -- featuring performances from stars like Ne-Yo, Wiz Khalifa, French Montana and YG.

Plus, THE FIGHTS! Both Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. have said they're gunning for knockouts -- and they looked in incredible shape during Friday's weigh-in.

Plus, the undercard features Jake Paul vs. ex-NBA star Nate Robinson -- and those dudes HATE each other. Should be a good scrap.

As for Wayne, it's strange that he wouldn't follow through if it wasn't an emergency -- the dude was literally plugging his involvement in the fight just on Friday night (on the heels of him dropping his 'No Ceilings 3' mixtape, to much fanfare).

We've reached out to Wayne's camp as well for an explanation and to make sure everything's okay ... so far, no word back.

Selena Gomez was the butt of a couple of jokes on the 'Saved By The Bell' reboot that many consider in bad taste -- and which even more are raging over.

Mega fans of the pop star found two references to Selena's 2017 kidney transplant in the new Peacock series that just dropped in full this past Wednesday ... and then made "RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ" trend online Saturday as a result of their fury.

The first scene features one of the new characters roaming the hallways of the high school and passing 2 classmates discussing Selena's kidney transplant in an incredibly cavalier manner ... with one girl insisting Justin Bieber's mom was the real donor, while the other girl refutes that by saying it was actually Demi Lovato.

A Selena fan account responded by saying, "Saved by the Bell, that's disgusting. Selena almost lost her life, jokes about her kidney transplant is NOT FUNNY. Respect Selena Gomez." The second Selena dig is more subtle.

There's another scene where a football player is talking to a girl, and right behind him ... there's graffiti or paint on the wall that reads in big bold lettering, "DOES SELENA GOMEZ EVEN HAVE KIDNEYS?" The eagle-eyed fan who spotted this one noted the joke wasn't funny -- and went so far as to call it disgusting.

Here's what we'll say ... the Selena cracks are weird, and definitely cringe-worthy. Also, they're super dated. Selena had her procedure done three full years ago ... so bringing it up as a running gag in 2020 is tired, especially when everyone knows her friend, Francia Raisa, was the true donor ... which was well-documented.

More importantly, her fans are right here ... Selena's kidney transplant was, in fact, a matter of life or death -- and something that probably shouldn't be joked about, especially on a new streaming service from a major network.

Peacock hasn't addressed the backlash just yet, and neither has Selena. Stay tuned ...

Kevin Hart's personal appearance in a mass public convo about his new Netflix special has received all types of interpretations -- but one that Kevin himself says isn't true is that the chat was in any way about Black women or belittling them.

The comedian hopped on Instagram to address the scrutiny and backlash he's received for joining a live Clubhouse chat room earlier this week titled "Is Kevin Hart funny??" and engaging with dozens of real people on the subject.

The reason the group was started in the first place is because of Kevin's new comedy special, "Zero F***s Given," in which at one point he jokes about his 15-year-old daughter, saying he's already seeing "hoe activity" from her.

Of course, Kevin referring to his daughter as a hoe -- even jokingly -- raised eyebrows, and folks on Clubhouse decided to have an honest dialogue about whether he was promoting, wittingly or unwittingly, the degradation of Black women by evoking a trope about none other than his own kid, who's still a minor.

Welp, Kevin caught wind of the Clubhouse chat room and joined himself -- and part of that conversation was captured by a third party and posted online. It looks like this thing went at least 15 minutes, if not more, and there's a lot of voices in the room ... sometimes all talking at once or over one another at various points.

There were lots of topics covered, but one that kept getting revisited -- and which was later dissected on Twitter as well -- was the idea that Kevin's male fans have a tendency to shut down, write off and silence Black women who criticize Kevin whatsoever ... which they felt was part of a toxic culture he perpetuates.

Fast-forward to Kevin's response ... and it's pretty clear he saw it as a constructive conversation with actual people who had different viewpoints on him and his comedy. He insists the narrative that the whole Clubhouse chat was aimed at Black women or meant to pit him against Black women is completely false.

You can listen to the conversation for yourself and decide what's what, but it seems like Kevin liked talking it out with people ... but just didn't enjoy the analysis that followed -- much of which was critical of him and his supporters.

Alexa -- Amazon's popular virtual helper -- is spewing out hateful anti-Semitic conspiracies and even lies about the Holocaust ... according to the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism.

The APPG political group claims the Alexa voice service is offering messages from anti-Semitic websites to people asking about Jewish people and the Holocaust ... without clarifying that the information comes from "selective quotes and misleading sources."

Examples include Alexa allegedly responding to the question, "Do Jews control the media?" with ... "Jew Watch claims that Jews control the world's financial systems and media," while only pointing out that this is from an article it found on Wikipedia.

Likewise, when asked if the Holocaust was a hoax ... the UK officials claim Alexa replied that deniers claim "the Holocaust is a hoax -- or an exaggeration -- arising from a deliberate Jewish conspiracy designed to advance the interest of Jews at the  expense of other people."

The APPG notes that Alexa pulled this selective line from an article, without warning that the full article describes Holocaust denial as propagating several lies about the Holocaust.

Finally, Alexa allegedly responded to a question about whether Israel's guilty of war crimes with "something I found on the web" that says ... "ethnic cleansing on a massive scale and serial human rights abuse, including war crimes, yes -- Israel is guilty of these atrocities."

Officials at the APPG sent a letter to an Amazon exec in the UK asking for an explanation and what will be done to rectify this situation. The group also claims it will be contacting the police about possible "racial incitement legislation."

Florida is experiencing enormous increases in COVID illnesses and deaths, but the State is still allowing big events, so the City Girls performance in Orlando on Thanksgiving Day was perfectly legal ... and perfectly dangerous.

The Girls packed Gilt Nightclub, and that's fully in line with the State's COVID plan. According to the regulations, bars, pubs and nightclubs that derive more than 50 percent of sales from booze are allowed to operate at full capacity. There are social distancing regs, but it seems inconsistent with the notion of packin' 'em in.

Florida, like the rest of the country, is out of control. New cases have increased by 47%, hospitalizations are up by 17% and deaths have increased by 21%.

You'd think Kamala Harris would have widespread support among African-Americans if she runs for President in 2024 -- but that's no guarantee ... so says Tamika Mallory.

We spoke to the world-famous activist -- whose speech about George Floyd stirred the nation just a few months back -- and she was clear ... Vice President-elect Harris doesn't get the Black vote just because of the color of her skin.

Tamika says Kamala will have to earn the Black vote by living up to the promises she and Joe Biden have been making to African-Americans ahead of this year's election --  an election she says was do or die to get Trump out of The White House.

Bottom line for TM ... 2024 will be a normal primary cycle, and she says Black America will have a better chance to vet a candidate that best serves its interests ... regardless of identity politics. If that's Kamala, great -- but don't bank on it.

We've heard this logic before -- Ice Cube was saying something similar not too long ago regarding his "Contract with Black America." Sounds like Tamika has a hard-line she won't cross when it comes to DT, but the sentiment is similar.

A funeral worker tasked with preparing Diego Maradona's body for the soccer legend's wake is out of a job ... after posing with the body for a disgusting selfie.

The funeral worker allegedly crept up to Maradona's open coffin and gave a thumbs up in the selfie ... sparking outrage from the owner of the Buenos Aires funeral parlor who promptly fired the guy.

The English tabloid Mirror Sport, which first reported the story, obtained the photo but opted not to post it on its website. As we reported ... the soccer legend died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack. He was recovering from emergency brain surgery earlier this month.

As mourners paid their respects around the world with touching tributes ... all hell broke loose Thursday in his native country where violence erupted as thousands of mourners tried to force their way into the presidential palace where Maradona is lying in state.

Cops tried stopping folks from entering the building following orders from the family. Fans clashed with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control the violent crowd.

A woman went ham inside a UK supermarket ... obliterating the liquor shelves.

She apparently was acting erratically while waiting in the checkout line, and when one of the shoppers told her to calm down, she went nuts and started breaking more than 500 -- THAT'S FIVE HUNDRED -- bottles of booze.

The tantrum went on for 5 long minutes, according to The Sun. At one point she slips and slashes her right hand, but continues her rampage with her left.

The lady was arrested and taken into custody. A police spokesperson said she was taken to a hospital for treatment of her injured hand.

President Trump just absolved his former national security adviser and convicted perjurer Gen. Michael Flynn ... which might be the start of a last-minute blitz of forgiveness.

After rumors swirled this week he'd do this, the Prez announced the pardon Wednesday, tweeting ... "It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!"

It could be the first of several lame-duck pardons to come out of the Oval during Trump's remaining time in office. As we first reported ... Joe Exotic's people say they've gotten word he could be next.

As for Flynn ... the writing's been on the wall. -- the Prez has time and again said Flynn got a raw deal and was rung up on charges over technicalities rather than anything actually wrong or harmful to the nation. Trump even had Attorney General William Barr go to bat for Flynn in court -- with the DOJ filing to dismiss the charges.

Gen. Flynn signed a plea bargain during Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian collusion by the Trump campaign -- admitting he lied to FBI investigators about conversations he'd had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during Trump's transition to power. He allegedly told him to tell Putin to chill over Obama's lame-duck sanctions against Russia.

Flynn also lied to Vice President Mike Pence about those convos -- and Pence parroted those to the media. As a result, Trump canned him, but openly denounced the move.

There are a few other Trump campaign people POTUS could bail out if he wants -- Paul Manafort comes to mind.

The COVID-19 vaccines are already injecting renewed confidence into the decimated travel industry -- travelers are taking the news as a green light to pack their bags.

Although most of us won't have access to one of 3 potential vaccines until next spring, Cruise Brothers -- one of the largest family-owned cruise travel agencies in the country -- tells TMZ, it saw a 60 percent spike in new itineraries compared to election week ... when bookings were few and far between.

The big change between then and now, of course, is Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca all announced highly-effective vaccines are going to the FDA for approval.

That's enough to get folks thinking summer vacations -- but they're still steering clear of current COVID hotspots. We're told Alaska is the most popular destination getting booked now, while the least popular is Europe.

Antarctica, the only continent untouched by COVID-19, is attracting luxury travelers ... Cruise Brothers says trips there are up 100 percent compared to what was on the books before the pandemic.

They do expect people to start booking more traditional European getaways though ... once the current COVID surge there dies down.

TripAdvisor says 65 percent of consumers are already thinking about traveling. So, once vaccines are widely available, it's looking like the travel industry will be inundated with bookings.