You Might Want to Rethink

The creator of "The Simpsons" appears to be suggesting that the blowback over having a white actor voice Apu for all these years really isn't all that big a deal ... in his eyes.

Animator Matt Groening did an interview with USA Today in honor of the upcoming 700th episode, and he was asked about the controversy -- namely, not having an Indian actor voice the Indian character ... not to mention claims Apu was portrayed as a walking stereotype.

Groening had some interesting answers ... for starters, he says he embraces bringing on new voice actors in the name of diversity -- the more the merrier, he explains. However, you can tell Matt's not nearly as up in arms as some have been about Apu's handling.

He was asked if he would change the nature of Apu's character and/or stories in light of the criticism that he lacks depth, and MG says this ... "I think the Apu stories are fantastic, and he's one of the most nuanced characters on a silly two-dimensional cartoon show. So, yeah, I'm proud of Apu."

He also adds this knowing he might get blowback, "I'm trying not to open up another chasm of criticism, but it doesn't matter what I say. I'll get it anyway." Matt goes on to say that the idea of having white actors voice non-white characters -- which is what 'Simpsons' opted to do in the end -- was not his idea, but that he's "fine with it."

Matt also says that the original intention was not to have some actors voice some characters -- they were just trying to use everyone's talent to the max, but he says he gets it. As to whether 'Simpsons' brass shoulda embraced this change years ago, he says ... "Yeah. And I hear they want to take the guns away from Yosemite Sam. He’s a little hot-headed."

This guy definitely ain't winning Dad of the Year -- a man brought his 2-year-old INSIDE a caged elephant habitat at the San Diego Zoo... and fumbled the kid trying to make a run for it.

Check out this absolutely wild video of a father entering an enclosure that houses one of San Diego Zoo's African elephants, Shaba. The footage picks up with him already on dangerous ground with his toddler daughter in hand ... as shocked spectators look on.

He has his back turned to the elephant -- which is idiotic -- and before you know ... the beast is charging at him and his baby. Luckily, he notices in time and scrambles to get out -- but he almost forgets one important thing before fully exiting the area ... his damn kid!!!

Watch ... he actually drops the child on the ground, face-first, and it's left incredibly close to the elephant's feet -- which easily coulda crushed her. The dad picks up the baby in time, and makes a not-so-clean escape. All the while, the agitated elephant is roaring.

Now, if you're wondering if her pops -- aka Jose Manuel Navarrete -- had to pay a price for his stupid stunt ... the answer is a resounding yes. He was arrested by San Diego PD and booked on child endangerment charges -- Navarrete is being held on $100k bail.

Rick Moranis seems to be wanted by the FBI for storming the Capitol -- at least that's what a lot of people are thinking based on photos the agency posted of the actual guy they're after.

Check out this dude that the FBI flagged and posted pics of on Sunday -- he's one of the several unidentified rioters who have since flown under the radar and escaped justice (for now) following the Jan. 6 insurrection. He's still out there, and Uncle Sam wants a chat.

The feds need help finding him, so they threw up a digital WANTED poster, writing ... "You can help the #FBI identify individuals involved in the January 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol. Visit http://tips.fbi.gov if you recognize this person. Reference photo 268 in your tip."

While he isn't a dead ringer for Moranis, tons of folks think this man bears a passing resemblance -- and, sure, we can admit ... they look similar.

The funny thing is ... Moranis is actually known for rocking helmets throughout his film career, especially in his heyday back in the '80s and '90s. Here's a quick rundown of movies he's in where he wears helmets/hard hats -- 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,' 'Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,' 'Honey, We Shrank Ourselves,' 'Ghostbusters,' 'Strange Brew 1 & 2,' 'Little Giants,' 'The Flintstones,' 'Big Bully' and of course ... the king of them all, 'Spaceballs'!!!

It's weird the Capitol rioter who looks like him was also wearing a helmet at the time.

The old adage is true -- no good deed goes unpunished ... and Kylie Jenner is learning that first-hand this week after trying to do something nice for somebody she cares about.

Get a load of this ... Kylie promoted a GoFundMe a few days ago for a celeb makeup artist named Samuel Rauda, who's worked with tons of famous people like Bella Thorne, Bebe Rexha, Olivia Culpo, Doja Cat and many more. Kylie knows him too, apparently.

Sam was recently in a bad car accident that left him with major brain injuries and in need of surgeries. He's in the hospital now -- and, of course, his medical bills are certain to be immense ... so his family started a fundraiser, and his celeb clients have been plugging it.

Kylie wanted to get the word out as well, so she posted something on her IG story that led folks to the GFM, asking anyone who wanted or could to donate ... while also sending kind words to Sam and his loved ones. She also donated herself -- $5,000.

The OG target amount was supposedly around $60k -- but it has since been bumped because of the flood of donations that have poured in. The fund has raised north of $97k as of now.

Innocent enough, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least that's what Twitter justice warriors are saying a whole three to four days later ... giving her s*** for having the audacity to ask her followers to chip in, even though she's incredibly wealthy and could technically cover his fees on her own. That's the outrage -- with the main criticism being ... "she's out of touch."

For starters, anyone who follows Kylie and saw this wasn't forced/obligated to do anything. Second ... the logic that rich people/celebs are heartless heathens for trying to raise money when they could just as easily fund the whole damn thing is absurd. Hardly any celeb does that -- even the richest among them -- and it's unreasonable to expect them to anyway.

By that rationale ... every issue in the world should be remedied with celebrities' bank accounts, which is silly. Point is, Kylie donated ... and so did a bunch of others. It's possible she also kicked in even more anonymously or offered help elsewhere -- WE DON'T KNOW.

Kylie, specifically, is dealing with this horse crap is because she's pegged a billionaire. So with that in mind -- she should probably consider keeping these sorts of things on the DL ...  because people are downright ridiculous. And if she DGAF, even better. Do you, boo boo.

The headmaster of a Long Island Catholic school reportedly made a black, 11-year-old student kneel and apologize.

An English teacher at the St. Martin de Porres Marianist school reportedly caught 6th grader Trayson Paul working on the wrong assignment in English class ... this according to the New York Daily News. The teacher reportedly ripped up his paper and sent him to the Headmaster's office.

Enter Headmaster John Holian, who allegedly told Trayson to get on his knees and confess his wrongdoing. Holian reportedly said he ordered the child to kneel because the father of a Nigerian student said it's the "African way" of apologizing.

The boy's mother, Trisha Paul, says her son was humiliated and feared he was punished more harshly because of his race.

Paul told the Daily News ... “Once he started mentioning this African family, that’s when it just clicked. Like, this is not normal procedure. I felt there was no relevance at all. Is he generalizing that everyone who is Black is African? That’s when I realized something is not right with this situation.”

Robin Williams' cult classic comedy, 'Mrs. Doutbfire,' could indeed have been rated R if studio heads wanted -- so says the film's director ... but don't expect to ever see it in full.

Chris Columbus -- who was at the helm of the 1993 flick starring Robin as a man disguised as a female nanny -- confirmed to EW that, yes ... there are 3 different versions of 'MD' that exist in the universe, including an R-rated version that got left on the cutting room floor.

Unfortunately for those hungry for an even raunchier cut, there is no NC-17 version -- contrary to what a now-viral tweet suggested earlier this week.

Chris explains the NC-17 quote he once gave in an interview was only made in jest -- but he did say that because of Robin's improv onset and the massive amount of takes they'd do for a given scene ... the team was left with a ton of material, including something just for adults.

He explained it this way ... "[T]here was a deal between Robin and myself, which was, he'll do one or two, three scripted takes. And then he would say, 'Then let me play.'" Chris adds they would go on to do 15 to 22 takes, with new lines and not-so-kid-friendly jokes.

CC doesn't quite recall all the details of Robin's material at the time -- since it's been such a long time since they shot -- but he does say it was funny stuff, in classic Robin fashion.

So the question then becomes ... is he ever planning to release the "true" version? The answer is no -- at least not how overzealous fans want it, anyway. Chris does say he's open to doing a documentary about the making of 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which he suggested could include some of the R-rated outtakes so folks can watch them for themselves.

But, he's resolute ... the definitive version of 'Doubtfire' is out, and it's the one we all know and love. That's probably a bummer to the Snyder crowd -- but the OG creative has spoken!

Joey Bada$$ has a bone to pick with Mickey and co. -- he claims the Mouse House wouldn't let his autistic cousin into the park without a mask ... to which he calls foul.

The rapper posted a video Saturday which shows three Disney World employees on camera who appear to have been dispatched to deal with a situation. As Joey narrates and gets the names and positions of each worker ... it becomes clearer what's going on.

He says he came to DW with his family -- about 30 people or so -- to celebrate his daughter's birthday. Thing is, one of his relatives is an autistic child ... whom Joey says doesn't understand the concept of mask-wearing and finds it suffocating.

Joey adds, "These guys have completely ruined my family’s trip. We came out here 30+ for my daughter's bday and they turned my lil cousin away, can’t even enjoy this experience anymore" ... going on to tag a number of Disney handles on social media.

We checked Disney's official policy on mask-wearing in their parks that are open -- which, at this point in the States, is only in Florida -- and aside from kids younger than 2 years old ... there are no loopholes for the rule other than eating/drinking, which is standard.

A Louisiana man has been charged over claims he used Grindr to prey on unsuspecting gay men -- one of whom he's accused of gruesomely torturing ... almost to the point of death.

The suspect's name is Chance Seneca, who was arrested last summer over the alleged incidents -- which authorities say amount to 3 total ... an attempted kidnapping and two actual kidnappings ... one of which prosecutors claim led to an 18-year-old getting choked and having his wrists sawed down to the bone in what sounds like a horror movie.

According to newly released docs that go into the gory details, obtained by The Daily Advertiser, prosecutors allege Seneca -- who's 19 himself -- confessed to using Grindr as a "hunting ground" to lure young gay men to his father's home, where he allegedly said he had planned to kill them and use their body parts as "trophies" and "food."

Prosecutors say on June 19, Seneca attempted to kidnap one man he'd met on Grindr but failed -- only to successfully kidnap another later that night. It's unclear what Seneca might've done to that guy, but the next day ... he allegedly picked up his 3rd and final victim.

That would be Holden White of Kaplan, LA -- whose name has been publicly released and whose family has been attempting to raise money, saying he's lost the use of his hands.

As for what Seneca allegedly did ... it's horrifying. Prosecutors say Seneca picked up Holden and took him to his dad's property ... where they'd be alone. Once there, prosecutors say Seneca got Holden to handcuff himself, and then pulled a gun on him.

He then allegedly brought him to the bathroom, where prosecutors say he strangled Holden from behind until he passed out ... only to place him in the bathtub and proceed to hack away at his wrists with a knife -- until he stopped when he saw bone and freaked.

Seneca came to his senses, calling the cops on himself and allegedly tried getting admitted to a mental institution. Holden came to at one point, and Seneca allegedly said, "let go… I’m setting you free." Officers finally arrived and saw the bloody mess.

Holden was taken to a hospital, and Seneca was arrested. On a state level, he's facing an attempted murder charge and a hate crime charge -- he's pled not guilty to the former. Federally, he's facing more ... another hate crime charge, kidnapping charges and others.

Donald Trump's 757 jet is in mothballs in upstate New York, missing parts with one of its engines shrink-wrapped.

The jet is far, far away from the former President, who now calls Florida his home. The plane was a crown jewel in Trump's empire. It was called "Trump Force One" -- a status symbol he prized for years, yet now it seems the plane has been abandoned.

It's missing engine parts, according to CNN, and it's been exposed to brutal winter weather. To make it airworthy again, it's gonna cost a fortune, and it doesn't seem Trump's into it anymore.

As we reported, he flew in a relatively tiny jet from FL to NYC recently.

Trump was famously pictured chowing down on McDonald's during a flight in day's past ... when he didn't have to worry if the smell of fries would drive others on board crazy.

The plane hasn't been flown since Trump was elected ... he had another mode of transportation after that.

The NCAA delivered on filling in the women's weight room ahead of the start of the big tournament in San Antonio -- but even this isn't quite enough by comparison to the men.

The "upgraded" weight room was revealed Saturday on ESPN's College GameDay show, where correspondent Holly Rowe showed off the new digs. Yes, there are more weights and equipment scattered about ... but it still feels pretty hollow compared to Indianapolis.

Here's another weird thing ... Rowe goes out of her way to point out that the area that Ducks forward Sedona Prince filmed in her now-viral video isn't technically meant to house weights or be a training room, per se -- but rather, a place for players to confer and "loosen up."

Rowe says she'd been told the carpeted space Prince panned across is actually the compliment area to the practice court -- and yet, even that has been littered with more dumbbells, racks and row machines ... albeit sparingly. Rowe then showed off what she described as the actual weight room -- implying that Prince mighta been misinformed.

She says the space Prince was in was always meant to be a complement space next to the court, despite the fact there was a meager set of dumbbells in the middle of the floor to begin with. Weird way to spin it.

The "real" weigh room, as it's now being described, looks super slapped together and about as makeshift as can be -- and doesn't seem much different than where Prince filmed. All these rooms look like conference rooms, so who the hell knows. That said, there is a bit more equipment here ... but again, it's not nearly as robust as the men's facility at all.

It's interesting ... Rowe seems to be saying the actual weight room she's showing off was there all along, but she does say the NCAA upgraded that space too. So the question then becomes ... what's the truth??? In our eyes, it seems the weight room(s) -- whether it was the one Prince thought she was in or the one Rowe's showing now -- both sucked.

The NCAA admitted as much, saying they did, indeed, fall short in providing equitable equipment/space to the men's and women's teams ... and that they'd try to fix it ASAP.

This appears to be a quick Band-Aid fix -- unclear if they plan to bring in even more stuff as the tournament kicks off Sunday. Either way ... this was a complete blunder on the org's part.

Now that old movies have warnings at the beginning so viewers can brace themselves for what people dared to do and say back in the day, Bill Maher decided to do some of his own handiwork with warnings ... and it's f***ing hilarious!!!

Maher mused on 'Real Time' Friday night how Turner Classic Movies have such warnings regarding racism, sexism, etc, so he decided to lend a helping hand.

"Sleeping Beauty" -- WARNING: "A prince kisses an unconscious woman without consent."

"The Wizard of Oz" -- WARNING: "A powerful woman of color is murdered by a rural white girl."

"Rosemary's Baby" -- WARNING: "Fails to present Planned Parenthood as a viable option."

And, you gotta see the "Braveheart" warning.

'Real Time' is the best political show on TV, and Friday night was maybe his best show in a long time.

Justin Bieber's crossed a line with his new album, "Justice," and he's getting called out for it -- turns out mixing pop love songs with snippets of Martin Luther King Jr. speeches was not a great idea.

JB dropped the album Thursday night, and the first voice you hear on it isn't his ... it's MLK saying, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Powerful and true words ... no one's questioning that, but it's the fact the speech is used to introduce the love song, "2 Much" that's pissing off a lot of people.

Twitter's teeing off on Justin for the "tone deaf" use of MLK, because, despite its title, the album isn't about social justice. It's filled with Bieber's signature pop ballads and dance tunes -- and they're pretty good -- but MLK Jr. has NO connection to them.

There's even a nearly 2 minute "MLK Interlude" track in the middle of the record, which leads into a song called "Die For You." If you're thinking there's a tie-in because of MLK's assassination ... nope! It's just an upbeat diddy about a hot chick.

While no one's gonna question Justin's chops in pop music, he's way off the mark here as a historian.

Britney Spears is now the target of one of the harshest dance critics in the world ... Abby Lee Miller.

As you know, Britney posts lots of Instagram videos of herself dancing, but a clip she put up Thursday crossed the line ... at least it did for Abby, who couldn't hold her tongue, and commented, "Close your rib cage!"

The real shocker here? Plenty of people seemed to agree with Abby ... but yeah, lots more are defending Brit and coming for ALM.

For what it's worth, a closed rib cage is said to help dancers with movement, making transitions more fluid and with less effort.

While her approach in critiquing Britney might've been off ... it's hard to argue with Abby Lee's success when it comes to producing dance talent. Miller was certified by Dance Masters of America in the '80s and opened her own studio which later became "Dance Moms" ... which, of course, gave us JoJo Siwa and Maddie Ziegler.

Sean Hannity's guilty of breaking the golden rule: Puff, puff, put down the e-cig before coming back from commercial break, damn it!!! But, at least it created this priceless moment.

Not since the election has the Fox News anchor been this shocked -- looks like Sean was chilling, vaping and reading something during a commercial break of his show Thursday night. Typically, someone would give him at least a 5-second heads-up before coming back live to the studio.

You can tell, Sean totally missed the warning, and then -- looking like a teen caught in his parents' liquor cabinet -- made a poor attempt to hide the evidence. All you could hear for 5 seconds was the stage manager loud whispering, "Sean!" ... trying to get his attention.

He recovered, but the worst part had to be taking some crap from Laura Ingraham when his show wrapped, and hers began.

The Georgia sheriff under fire for saying the Atlanta spa shooting suspect was having a "really bad day" is having a bad day himself ... he's OUT as the spokesperson for the case.

Captain Jay Baker will no longer be giving updates and briefings on the case, according to a CNN report from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Baker's been catching tons of heat for Wednesday's news conference, when he said shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long "was pretty much fed up and had been kind of at the end of his rope. Yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did."

Long has been charged with 8 counts of murder for Tuesday's mass killing of 8 people, including 6 Asian women. Long told cops his alleged attack on massage parlors was motived by his sex addiction, not racism ... a point that has left many unconvinced.

There's a deep-seated hatred for Asian people that goes well beyond Trump's COVID-19 rhetoric ... according to Rep. Andy Kim, who says -- in the wake of the Atlanta shootings -- it's time to confront the issue.

The U.S. Congressman joined TMZ Live Thursday to talk about the mass killing of 8 people, including 6 Asian women, by Robert Long -- who told cops his sex addiction, not racism, motivated his attack on massage parlors.

That claim doesn't sit well with Kim, who says it's not up to Long to make that determination, investigators need to dig and find his real motive.

He also believes the shooter fetishized, over-sexualized and objectified Asian women ... something Asian women live in fear of every day... according to the Congressman.