You Might Want to Rethink

Cleveland Indians pitcher Nick Wittgren says fans hurled homophobic insults at him and threatened to kill his family after he had a poor outing during a game over the weekend.

The comments that Wittgren says he received after he gave up five earned runs in the Indians' loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night were deeply disturbing.

In one of them, Wittgren says a fan wrote to him after Cleveland's 10-5 loss, "I know where you live. I will get you tonight and kill your family."

Wittgren says the fan continued, "I will get your home at midnight. I will shot your family and stab your necks."

The 30-year-old says another fan also called him "f****t" repeatedly.

"Sadly this is considered 'normal' in professional sports," Wittgren said of the vile comments. "It’s happened to 90% of players I know and basically after every bad outing a player has."

"But there is nothing normal about threatening someone and their families lives."

Wittgren's wife says she, too, received threats and heinous remarks over Nick's game ... saying in a statement on social media, "Y’all I get it, my husband had a bad day at work."

"But sending both of us very explicit death threats aimed at him, me, and our children is absolutely inexcusable."

The Indians say law enforcement has been contacted over the messages ... adding the team is investigating the threats as well.

"We continue to work through all available security channels in an ongoing attempt to identify individuals who engage in this type of behavior towards our team members and eliminate future instances," Indians officials said.

"Abusive and threatening language undermines the ability of social media platforms to create positive, healthy connections."

DOH!!! A TV reporter in Germany was caught redhanded smearing mud on herself moments before going on air to pretend she'd been helping with a massive flood cleanup effort.

It all unfolded on a report covering the aftermath of torrential floods in Germany and across Europe. But little did the reporter, Susanna Ohlen, know ... some onlooker secretly recorded her casually smearing mud on herself before going live.

The network had apparently been so impressed with her faux effort, it posted a story with the headline "Cleaning up after the flood: RTL presenter Susanna Ohlen lends a hand in Bad Muenstereifel."

Ohlen is seen during her report talking about the extensive damage caused by the flooding. She's holding what appears to be a shovel and some gloves ... presumably to telegraph they were the tools she used before going on the air.

The secretly-recorded video was eventually uploaded on Twitter ... and just hours later the story applauding her help was yanked and Ohlen was suspended.

A spokesperson for the network said, "Our reporter's approach clearly contradicts journalistic principles and our own standards. We, therefore, gave her leave of absence on Monday after we heard about it."

So, what gives? Ohlen, who later apologized, explained it this way -- "After I had already privately helped out in the region on previous days, on that morning I was ashamed to appear on camera in front of the other aid workers with a clean upper body."

She added, "So I unthinkingly smeared mud on my clothing. This should never have happened to me as a journalist. It happened to me as a person whose heart was touched by the suffering of all those affected."

Coi Leray had to deal with an age-old adage of show biz -- and that would be, sometimes you gotta deal with a tough crowd ... and, boy, did she deal at Rolling Loud.

The female rapper -- who's relatively new(ish) to the scene but definitely an up-and-comer -- took the stage Sunday for the multi-day music fest in Miami, and let's just say, her many spectators were ... well, less than enthusiastic as she started getting into her set.

As soon as Coi started rapping ... there were a lot of people toward the front of the stage who were just standing around and looking on -- this while CL did her thing with gusto.

The deer-in-the-headlight stares apparently went on for quite some time ... and the performance started trending, with jokes flying at Coi's expense. Some people were making cracks about her, but the sleepy audience was also getting grilled ... rightly so, frankly.

Who knows why the people weren't as hyped as they perhaps could've been. Again, Coi isn't as recognizable of a name just yet -- but still ... you'd think if that many people came to and/or stuck around for her performance, they'd at least show some love/basic signs of life.

No matter, though ... because Coi, professional as she is, powered through the performance -- and eventually found a way to jumpstart the RL zombies who were watching. She ended up jumping down to their level, and at that point, got some reactions and cheers.

In other words, she stuck to her guns and stayed the course ... regardless of what was going on -- or not, rather -- around her, making sure to put on a good show for concert-goers.

Sounds like word of the memes and whatnot eventually made its way to Coi, because she seemed to have responded to the fact she'd gone viral over this. There, too, she showed grace ... and took the high road, showing off her thick skin and sense of humor.

Coi said she appreciates all the love she gets, and that the love actually outweighs any hate. She also added this ... "It's about over 100 artists who performed on that lineup and all people wanna do is eat up my cack. Lol. Gotta love this shit fr I got good problems 😂🖤🤙🏼."

Kyle Richards had quite the scary run-in with Mother Nature this weekend -- and by that, we mean she got stung up by a bunch of bees at her house ... which sent her to the hospital.

The 'Real Housewives' star posted a terrifying update to her IG Story Sunday ... saying she'd been sent to the ER the day prior after apparently coming across a full-blown hive at her home in Encino ... and the black and yellow buggers went after her in an attack.

Kyle actually posted surveillance footage from the episode ... and you can see her making a run for it across her backyard, with the bees apparently giving chase. She says they were in her hair, her face and literally stinging her. All the while, she was screaming for help.

We kinda buried the lede ... Kyle says she's not only terrified of bees, but she's allergic to them. So, this was truly a life or death moment ... as she says she couldn't get her EpiPen to work for some reason. In the end, she warded off the bees by hopping in her pool.

Kyle says she can laugh about it now(ish) because she ended up being rescued and attended to by the local fire dept., whose firefighters bolted to the scene when 911 was eventually called. Speaking of those guys, she made sure to give them a major shout-out the next day ... posting a photo she took with them, and offering her thanks for their help.

A robot basketball player has made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics -- and it turns out, the thing is pretty damn good at shooting baskets ... almost scary good. Actually, just scary.

Check out this robot that Tokyo officials rolled out Sunday for what appears to be a halftime show during a basketball game there between Team USA and France ... which the U.S. ended up losing 83-76.

Besides that news, reporter Ann Killion captured the real headline-grabber ... and that would be this hunk of metal slowly and inartfully sinking shots from a fair distance -- including one basket it made from half-court!

Watch the clip ... the robot starts by swishing a 3-pointer, this after lining it up perfectly and eventually launching the ball straight through the net. Then, it heads down to the mid-court logo, where it does the same thing -- picking the ball up by itself, and then chucking it.

Sure enough, that ball goes through as well. Obviously, the robot can get buckets, and even though it's slow to the draw ... it's clearly quite accurate. Shoot, maybe Team USA shoulda recruited this thing to be one of their wingmen! They sure needed the help.

All jokes aside ... the fact this robot can actually make its way up and down the floor and put up shots on its own is pretty incredible. It's a testament to technology, but also ... perhaps a sign of what may come in the future. Who's to say they won't make a full-blown team of robots one day???

Considering what Boston Dynamics is doing with their robots and how far they've come in making them move seamlessly, like humans, something tells us that possibility is one that could come about. We certainly have the tech to do it -- but do we actually wanna???

A couple of New York cops are being hailed heroes after this INSANE encounter where they saved a baby girl who was pinned underneath a car -- and after watching this video ... you might give 'em a round of applause yourself.

This wild episode went down Friday in Yonkers ... where a vehicle that was cruising through a not-so-busy street lost control while trying to make a simple left turn at a stop sign -- slamming into a parked car, then accelerating into a woman carrying an infant ... and then into a building.

The car actually crashed straight into a barbershop ... where this lady and her 8-month-old ended up getting dragged into after the vehicle came barreling through the wall, with them on the hood. The 2 cops who saved the day, Officers Fusco and Samoyedny, were at a nearby shop ... and responded after hearing the commotion. Luckily, they sprung into action as quickly as they did ... 'cause the kid ended up getting trapped underneath somehow!!!

You gotta watch this body cam footage to see what they did. With the help of bystanders, they lifted the car enough to be able to grab the girl and pull her out from under the rubble. You can hear her crying, and her mother screaming, as they finally lift her to safety.

The Wisconsin police department that had one of their own accused of planting drugs in a Black man's car says the claim is BS -- and they say they got the full video to prove it.

The Caledonia Police Dept. posted an update into their investigation -- which they say isn't done yet -- but based on what they've found so far ... they feel confident saying the officer who was caught on video tossing a baggie into the back seat is being wrongly blamed.

The Chief of Police, Christopher Botsch, says the car was pulled over for speeding in a 45 MPH zone, and after the front seat passenger refused to ID himself -- and finding the rear passengers weren't wearing seat belts -- the cops apparently decided to conduct a search.

CPD uploaded portions of two body cameras from what appears to be 2 different officers -- the first shows the cop in question being handed a little baggie -- which the department says was an empty "corner tear" -- by another officer who was checking it out and then going back to the car and throwing it back in ... which is where the OG video picks up.

The police say that little baggie -- which, again, they say was not illegal in and of itself since it was empty, albeit indicative of drugs -- was found when they searched one of the rear passengers, something they say you can see in a second body cam video they uploaded.

Since there was nothing in it, CPD says the cop essentially discarded it back into the car, which they say probably wasn't a great idea, but note ... nothing sketchy happened. Their video also shows the convo that happened after ... something GlockBoy Savoo's didn't.

Caledonia Police say there's over 6 hours of footage to review since there were four officers present -- so they say they're gonna need more time to get the full picture. However, they reiterate that thus far ... it doesn't appear as if anything criminal was done -- on either end.

Now, this is weird -- a Black man caught a cop on camera apparently tossing a baggie of drugs into his car ... but the police department in question is saying there may be more than meets the eye here.

A guy who goes by GlockBoy Savoo on Facebook -- who appears to be a musician of some sort under a label called TrechKids -- posted this video that's now going viral. It shows what appears to be a traffic stop underway in a car that Savoo is in ... and captures an eyebrow-raising moment.

You see a police officer -- who has since been identified as belonging to Caledonia PD out of Wisconsin -- approaching the car and quickly tossing something into the back seat. The photog, who appears to be Savoo, questions what it was ... and the cop kinda plays dumb.

The camera man jumps to the back seat for a close-up shot of what it is ... and it looks like a little baggie, indicative of drugs. It's a quick 16-second clip, and you can't see what happened after or before this strange moment. On its face ... it looks kinda sketchy.

Savoo is flat-out accusing this officer of what sounds like planting drugs on him as a way to get probable cause to search the rest of the vehicle. He writes, "First time ever seeing a cop try to throw sum on me just to get reason to search the car💯 he ain’t even know I was recording 💯 you can tell he was nervous 💯." Caledonia PD has another POV.

This what they have to say ... the cop does appear to be one of their own, and they've located the report for this incident. They're doing a full investigation as well into the insinuation something was planted -- including pulling body cam footage, dash cam video and testimony from this officer as well as others on the scene. They say it'll take some time.

A white lady approached a Black woman selling hair products to see if a drug deal was going down, and then suggested she scram ... and, of course, she's being called the new "Karen."

Check out this encounter from TikTok user @prettii_tb, who posted this clip a couple days ago out of Sacramento, CA -- in the Natomas neighborhood. It appears Pretti was attempting to buy some hair products from the woman on the bike ... who was hawking her goods -- extensions and the like -- from a basket, and seemed to be making her sales on the go.

The transaction was interrupted by this so-called "Karen" ... who asked what the heck was going on, and who also went on to say this looked like a good old-fashioned dope drop.

That was not the case, as the woman on the bike calmly and politely explained. You gotta watch this interaction -- the Black woman making the sale had every right to go off if she wanted ... but she kept her wits about her and broke down in detail what was happening.

The white lady says she's just giving her a "heads up" that what she's doing looks a certain way to certain people in the neighborhood, and that the cops might be called if she's not careful. The Black woman welcomes it, though, insisting she's doing nothing wrong.

A snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has COVID ... and zoo officials are worried about an outbreak among the cats.

A 9-year-old snow leopard named Ramil caught the attention of zoo staff Thursday, after noticing the cat had a cough and runny nose. The COVID test came back positive, confirmed by 2 labs.

They're doing another test, but the staff expects the result to be the same -- positive.

Here's the problem ... Ramil shared an enclosure with 3 other cats -- a female snow leopard and 2 Amur leopards, all of which have been exposed to COVID. So, the 3 big cats are in quarantine now, although real talk -- they're always in quarantine. In this case it means the public won't be able to go near.

Fortunately, Ramil's symptoms haven't gotten worse. Zoo staff is mystified as to how the cat caught the virus. Zoo keepers must wear masks if they're not vaccinated. Eight gorillas caught COVID in January, though none were symptomatic.

Scientists have known for months that cats can contract COVID. Most cases are not serious, but snow leopards are fast dwindling in population. Estimates put the number of wild snow leopards at 4,000 to 6,500.

Morgan Wallen explaining on 'GMA' his rationale behind using the n-word is gibberish ... so says the NAACP Nashville chapter president.

Sheryl Guinn tells TMZ ... she believes Morgan's sit-down with Michael Strahan is the result of Morgan being sorry not for what he said but for getting caught using the racial slur. She says it's a travesty Morgan never thought about the meaning behind the hateful word.

What's more ... Sheryl says his white privilege was on full display for never caring to learn the hurt that word causes. And, she's is dismayed by Morgan trying to contextualize the word ... saying he used it in a "playful" way.

Sheryl does believe Morgan can turn things around ... and she has a punch list.

According to Sheryl ... Morgan can make amends by addressing serious issues, like inequality. Morgan broached the subject a bit when he told Strahan "it would seem" country music has a race problem ... though he hasn't thought about it too much.

Sheryl says he can start in his hometown of Nashville ... where Morgan is hugely influential.

The NAACP honcho says while Morgan's at it, he should encourage his community to get vaccinated. Less than 40% of Nashville got the shot ... and it's devastating marginalized communities.

Morgan Wallen says when he used the n-word after partying with his friends, he thought it was "playful" ... but he admits that's ignorant, and he now knows it's wrong.

The country music star gave his first interview about the scandal, the result of a video shot by a neighbor on January 31 in Nashville and obtained by TMZ ... showing Wallen casually dropping the slur while making fun of one of his friends.

Morgan tells Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America" ... he wasn't using the racial epithet in a derogatory manner, because he insists up until that point in his life he had never thought about it being wrong.

He repeats he was simply ignorant about what it meant, but says he knows now ... after conversations with Black leaders.

Wallen admits he can't fully understand why it makes Black people so upset because he's not in their shoes ... but says he's done a lot of thinking and soul-searching about it, along with a 30-day stint in rehab.

Morgan may have stirred up one more controversy before he was done answering questions, too. He told Strahan "it would seem" that country music has a race problem ... but he hasn't thought about it too much.

As we've reported ... the country singer has mostly remained out of the public eye since the video came out, but has gotten back to performing a little in recent weeks.

No, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner did NOT apply for unemployment benefits ... but some goon in Michigan managed to defraud the state out of thousands of dollars using the famous names.

So, check this out ... someone filed a couple of unemployment claims back in May 2020 under "Kimberly Kardashian" and "Kylie Jenner" with an address in Traverse City ... four hours northwest of Detroit.

Thing is ... nobody checked if the claims were legit before paying "Kimberly" and "Kylie" some 8 weeks of backdated unemployment pay ... to the tune of more than $7,000 each.

The payouts, BTW, hit the bank accounts just days before the state's fraud management software flagged the claims because the agency needed additional ID verification. But by then it was too little, too late.

Apparently, the unemployment agency's been rife with fraud. As the Detroit News first reported ... the agency approved thousands of claims at the height of the pandemic well knowing nearly 10% would be fraudulent claims.

So, why approve all the claims? Because if the agency had to sort through it all and ID fraudulent claims it would have held up thousands of legit claims.

And that's how this "Kardashian" and "Jenner" got paid ... not to mention some other goofball's fraudulent claim ... which included copies of a fake ID with a photo of "The Office" star John Krasinski.

Michaela Coel is rumored to be in the new "Black Panther" sequel -- now being filmed after Chadwick Boseman's death -- and it's got fans wondering ... curtains for Letitia Wright???

Word of the casting just came down Wednesday via Variety, which says the "I May Destroy You" star is definitely in it ... but that her role, for now, is unknown/unnamed and being kept under wraps. The studio itself isn't confirming either ... SOP for stories like this.

The report -- assuming it's true -- might not seem like much on its face ... but there's a lot of background here causing some eyebrows to be raised in suspicion. Fact is, Marvel's been slow to formally announce who the heck is actually going to be in the new movie, like for sure for sure -- which is weird, because the flick is literally filming in Atlanta right now.

The assumption is that a majority of the cast from Pt. 1 will return -- like Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, etc. -- but none of them, including Letitia (who had a major role the first time around) are sure things at this point ... and in light of this news, it's giving folks pause for LW's sake.

Here's the deal ... Letitia is the only member of the OG cast who's been embroiled in controversy lately -- and there's a ton of circumstantial evidence that seems to point to her having bad blood with Marvel and perhaps Disney at large.

Based on tweets she's liked in the recent past -- before scrubbing all her social media entirely not too long ago -- all signs point to her possibly not returning ... and that recasting her might be on the horizon, which is why the Michaela addition is fueling theories.

Pile on the fact she was accused of being an anti-vaxxer just this past December -- this after retweeting what many called conspiracy theory videos questioning the legitimacy of the jab -- it just adds even more reason to believe that Letitia may be done with the franchise.

That's a huge deal, and a potential huge blow (for Letitia) if it turns out Michaela is, in fact, going to play an older version of Shuri (T'Challa's sister in 'BP'). The reason ... Shuri actually becomes the new Black Panther after T'Challa passes on the torch in the comic book series.

While the plot details of the "Black Panther" sequel have yet to surface -- ya gotta imagine they're going to go that route since their lead man isn't around to do it anymore.

Sam Asghari appreciates the congrats for his "engagement" to Britney Spears, but notes it's a tad late, 'cause they've been man and wife for a minute now ... insert tongue in cheek here, please.

Britney's BF was getting showered Wednesday with well-wishes from a pap outside a Jeep dealership in Westlake, CA. The photog was under the impression the couple would be walking down the aisle soon -- all 'cause of some pics that surfaced over the weekend.

ICYMI ... Britney was photographed flashing a big rock on THAT finger Sunday while picking up some java at a Starbucks -- which so very OBVIOUSLY means Sam popped the question, especially in light of Brit making it clear recently that this is exactly what she wants.

Well, that's certainly what this photog thought when he caught Sam on the way out -- but rather than correct him ... SA played it gracefully, busting out his acting chops and going along with the gag pretty convincingly. He even dropped (alternative) facts that the pap -- and the rest of us, for that matter -- are learning for the first time. #BREAKINGNEWS!!!

You gotta watch the clip to see what we mean -- long story short, Sam says the pap is about 5 years tardy on giving him props.

Before the #FreeBritney folk start celebrating too hard .. Sam's kidding, especially about the pair of mini-mes they brought into the world. 💀

Beary scary situation in Tokyo ... 'cause a wild bear has broken into the Olympic softball stadium -- and it's STILL ON THE LOOSE!!!

Officials in Fukushima are furiously searching for the wild animal with games underway ... after the Asian black bear was spotted twice inside the Azuma Sports Park earlier this week.

Security at the venue is reportedly trying like hell to find and capture the bear -- blaring music on the speakers and even letting off firecrackers in hopes of scaring it out of hiding ... but so far, no bear.

Of course, there are no fans in the stands at the games ... but ya gotta give props to the teams for being brave and still playing!

Fortunately, the bear didn't make an appearance as the opening round kicked off on Tuesday ... but here's hoping all the rest of the games don't get an unexpected visitor!