You Might Want to Rethink

You punch a horse ... you're outta the Olympics.

That's what happened to a modern pentathlon coach when she put hands on Saint Boy during the jumping competition.

Annika Schleu was having big problems controlling Saint Boy ... who appeared spooked. Her German coach, Kim Raisner, was trying to help Annika, but the horse wasn't cooperating.

The way the competition works ... the riders only have 20 minutes with the horse before the competition ... she apparently had never ridden Saint Boy before, and the horse wasn't having it. In fact, the rider before Annika also had big problems ... Saint Boy wouldn't trot on command and even bucked.

Enter Annika, who was the leader in the competition when she entered the arena in tears, clearly knowing the ride would be super difficult.

That's when Kim allegedly punched Saint Boy ... unclear if the point was to get the horse to obey commands or if it was just frustration. Nevertheless, officials disqualified her from the Games. BTW ... Kim competed in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The race did not go well for Annika ... Saint Boy meandered around the course and refused a couple of jumps.

Annika used her whip to get the horse to comply, to no avail. Saint Boy cleared 4 hurdles but the 5th was a fail, which eventually took Annika from 1st to last.

Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell is suggesting Britney Spears be wary about what she throws up on her social media, because this is a very precarious time for her ... a clear reference to her conservatorship battle.

ICYMI, Britney's been very active on Instagram lately -- sharing thoughts, memes, topless photos and odd tales about locking herself in the bathroom -- so Friday at LAX, we asked Brian what he thinks about her posting spree.

He tells us Britney's under the microscope right now -- more so than usual -- due to her conservatorship case, so he thinks she should be more "cautious" and professional with what she posts.

Brian says, just like everyone else, he wants the best for Britney, but in order to get there she needs to be "diligent" about social media.

We broke the story ... Britney's personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, has acknowledged she has concerns about her mental health, following Britney's dad, Jamie, claiming Jodi referred to her as "mentally sick."

Meanwhile, Brit wants Jamie removed as conservator of her estate immediately and replaced by Jason Rubin.

Brian's right about one thing -- with all the legal battles being waged, there is way more interest in Brit's posts, it's really the only way she speaks out, but Brian's advice seems to be ... say less.

A Kanye West fan tried to join the show during the rapper's second "Donda" listening event ... but got taken down by security before he got too close.

About midway through Ye's performance Thursday night at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- his second in as many weeks -- a man dressed in orange breached security in the stands and made a break for the stage.

As the guy made his way through the large crowd of backup dancers, that's when a security guard came out of nowhere with the big tackle. Unfortunately, it looks like he may have been injured in the collision.

While we hope the guard's okay, the fan was apprehended by several other guards after the take-down and hauled away. However, it seems police were not involved because we're told they have no record of the incident.

As we told you ... Kim Kardashian and all their kids attended the "Donda" listening party 2.0, which was supposed to lead up to the public release of Kanye's 10th studio album after already being delayed.

Turns out, the second time around yielded the same result, as of Friday 7:30 AM PT ... "Donda" is still not out.

R. Kelly's lawyers submitted a list of questions for potential jurors ... and it's clear they're trying to eliminate anyone who might judge Kelly's sexual preferences or lifestyle.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the disgraced singer's legal team wants the judge to include 6 additional questions for prospective jurors to answer during the jury selection process.

Here's the first one on the list, just to paint the picture -- "Do you have any views about heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual people that would affect your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?"

From there, the questions focus on specific gay, lesbian and bisexual scenarios and ask the potential jurors if they have views on them that would affect their ability to be fair and impartial.

This all stems from the latest development in Kelly's case, in which the judge ruled he will allow the new allegations -- that Kelly groomed and molested a 17-year-old male he met at McDonald's -- to be presented during trial.

The Juventus FC Women's Twitter decided to send out a picture of a player wearing a cone on her head and making a wildly racist gesture on Thursday ... and now, the team is apologizing.

The Italian club's social media team kept the post live on their Twitter account for roughly 25 minutes before it got taken down ... but it received more than 7,500 negative replies before it was deleted.

The team released a statement on the disgusting tweet shortly after ... saying, "We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone."

"Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination. #DifferencesMakeTheDifference."

No word on why the team -- which was founded in 2017 -- decided to post a super racist pic out of the blue on a random Thursday ... but the screenshots will certainly last forever.

It's not the first time the club has been at the center of controversy -- back in 2019, men's player Moise Kean was on the receiving end of racist abuse from fans.

DeRay Davis says Louis C.K.'s controversial decision to tour again, a few years after his sexual misconduct scandal, is ultimately his right ... but it's up to the public to decide if his return is a success.

We got the comedian at LAX Thursday afternoon and he had an interesting take on Louis announcing his comeback tour ... telling us a man's gotta work, no matter what the situation is.

DeRay suggests Louis might need to tour again to cover legal fees or pay his alleged victims ... but he admits that's speculation. If you don't recall, Louis was accused of sexual misconduct by at least 5 women, and he admitted the allegations were true.

Now -- after mostly keeping a low profile other than a few random stand-up sets and a surprise special titled "Sincerely Louis CK" released last year -- the disgraced comedian's embarking on a 30-city tour slated to begin August 13 in NYC.

According to DeRay ... there's nothing wrong with C.K. attempting his comeback, but that doesn't mean people have to accept it.

Aaliyah fans who've been waiting years to be able to listen to her music on digital streaming platforms, are about to get it.

According to Blackground Records -- which owns the late singer's masters and is rebranding as Blackground Records 2.0 -- it's partnering with the independent label EMPIRE to bring her songs to streaming services worldwide ... along with catalog material from Timbaland & Magoo, Tank, Toni Braxton and JoJo.

The catalog will be released in near chronological order, starting with Aaliyah's "One in a Million" album on August 20 ... though physical vinyl and CD pre-orders, as well as digital pre-orders and pre-saves, are available now on Blackground's site.

In September, the late singer's self-titled album will be released to streaming, followed by "I Care 4 U" and the "Ultimate Aaliyah" compilation albums in October.

If you didn't know ... her songs have notoriously never been available to download or stream, except for her 1994 album "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number." But, now -- 20 years after Aaliyah tragically died in a plane crash -- her music finally will be available for fans to enjoy.

The big news isn't welcome from everyone, though. As you may know, the reason for the hold-out is a long-standing rift between Aaliyah's uncle, Barry Hankerson -- founder of Blackground Records who owns her masters -- and her mother, Diane Haughton, who controls the rest of her estate.

That contention is still there, as it seems Blackground Music is behind the digital streaming release of Aaliyah's music.

This resulted in the Estate of Aaliyah issuing this response -- "For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish." The Estate also calls the streaming deal an "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate."

"Completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw!!!"

That's legendary track star Carl Lewis going OFF on the U.S. men's relay team for the sloppy performance that disqualified them from the Tokyo Olympic finals ... holding nothing back after their not so good performance.

The 4x100-meter team had trouble with the baton exchange on Thursday ... with sprinter Ronnie Baker grabbing Fred Kerley's uniform the first time ... and on the second exchange, Baker missed.

The third was the charm -- Baker shoved the baton into Kerley's hands -- but Lewis was clearly not happy with their performance.

"The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay," Lewis said.

"The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership."

Team USA finished in 6th place and fell short of making the Finals, ruining their chances at a gold medal -- something the 4x100m relay team hasn't won since 2000.

Lewis -- who won 8 Olympic gold medals and 10 World Championships during his 16-year career -- set records in the 4x100m and many more ... so the guy knows his stuff.

"It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw."

Justin Bieber is apologizing for plugging Morgan Wallen's album -- saying he didn't know about Morgan's n-word scandal, but now that he does ... he admits it's bringing back bad memories for him.

The controversy started Wednesday morning when Justin posted an Instagram story saying he loved Morgan's "Dangerous" album, a post that was quickly deleted ... presumably after he got some backlash, and some knowledge about Morgan's incident.

Justin's been explaining himself ever since ... claiming he had no clue about Wallen's n-word scandal, saying he doesn't support or tolerate racism or discrimination and apologizing to anyone he may have offended by initially supporting Morgan's record.

As you know by now, Morgan was caught on video saying the n-word back in January after a night out in Nashville with friends.

Once Justin heard about that, it immediately reminded him of his own infamous, on camera, use of the n-word when he was 14. He substituted the epithet in one of his early hits, singing ... "There'll be one less lonely n***er."

Jenna Dewan claims she was "without a partner" after giving birth, but Channing Tatum did everything he could to make sure his wife and baby were fully taken care of and safe -- even when he couldn't be there physically ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the former couple tell us Jenna's recent comments about Channing not being "available" in the weeks after delivering their daughter, Everly, have been misconstrued ... and don't convey what actually went down after she gave birth.

In a recent episode of Dear Media's "Dear Gabby" podcast, Dewan opened up about her postpartum anxiety after giving birth to Everly, her daughter with her now ex-husband, Channing. Jenna says, "I had to travel with her and at the time, Chan wasn't available to be with us for the most part."

She continues, "I was breastfeeding. I was pumping. I was without a partner. I mean, it was just craziness."

Sources close to the former couple tell us they were living in London -- while Channing shot "Jupiter Ascending" -- when Jenna gave birth. Six weeks later, Jenna was needed in Vancouver for a project she booked while she was pregnant.

We're told Channing chartered a private plane for Jenna, Everly and a doula -- and rented out a nice home in the city -- to make sure everyone was safe and comfortable.

Our sources say once "Jupiter Ascending" moved from London to Chicago, he traveled to Vancouver as much as he could, sometimes making less than 24-hour trips just to get in as much time as possible with Jenna and their newborn.

Channing has certainly been a doting dad over the years, even writing a children's book inspired by his daughter. In an interview before she was born, Channing said he went to YouTube to figure out how to braid a girl's hair to make sure he was prepared to be the best dad he could be.

Matt Damon's homophobic f-slur controversy is drawing a firm response from a leading voice in the LGBT community, and its response is simple ... everyone should get the word out of their vocabulary, period.

GLAAD has spoken out on all the chatter this week about how and when Damon ever used it, and whether he's just recently retired it. Damon is now clarifying, saying he did not retire it because he's never hurled it at anyone -- but to the folks at GLAAD the debate is kind of irrelevant, because the end game is the same.

A rep for the non-profit tells TMZ ... "The conversations that have arisen after Matt Damon’s original interview and subsequent remarks today are an important reminder that this word, or any word that aims to disparage and disrespect LGBTQ people, has no place in mainstream media, social media, classrooms, workplaces, and beyond."

They add, "There needs to be accountability at a time when anti-LGBTQ slurs remain rampant today and can fuel discrimination and stereotypes, especially when used by those outside of the community to defame or describe LGBTQ people."

That last part is interesting ... they seem to be suggesting that Matt even uttering the word in a joke is harmful -- even if it wasn't hurled as an epithet at someone. GLAAD's basic point is ... STOP saying it.

Like we mentioned, Matt addressed what most people perceived he was saying in his interview with the Sunday Times ... that he'd nixed the phrase and any variation of it from his lexicon only after one of his daughters called him out. Frankly, that is exactly how it came off from the quote attributed to him.

Matt Damon says he didn't need to retire the homophobic f-word after all ... because he says he never used it in the first place.

The actor just tried to dig out from under an interview, where he was quoted as saying he only recently stopped using the f-word after his own daughter checked him hard.

Matt attempted to clear the air Monday, saying the quote from his interview with The Sunday Times was him recalling a discussion he had with his daughter where he tried explaining lots of progress has been made since he was a young kid growing up in Boston and hearing the f-slur used on the street before he knew what it meant.

MD told Variety ... "I have never called anyone 'f****t' in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind."

As we reported ... The Sunday Times reported Matt said in an interview his daughter called him out when he used the f-word in a joke -- she explained how the word is dangerous and he told her, 'I retire the f-slur!'

Now, Matt says he told his daughter the slur was uttered "constantly and casually" when he was younger and pointed out it was even used as a joke in his 2003 movie, "Stuck On You" ... adding she was incredulous the word was used so flippantly. He seems to be saying even though he heard it a lot growing up, he never used it himself.

Boxer Adrien Broner had to be restrained while furiously trying to get to a group of people ... after a night of clubbing in his hometown of Cincinnati -- and the whole incident was caught on cell phone camera.

TMZ Sports acquired video taken outside the Copa Lounge in Cinci on Friday, July 23. The 32-year-old former 4-weight class world champ is clearly agitated, and has to be held back.

At one point, the video shows 34-4-1 Broner squaring up to another man. He never throws a punch or makes contact with anyone.

We're told peace was ultimately restored ... cops were not involved, and no one was arrested.

AB -- for all his talent in the squared circle (and he's got a lot) -- has had a bunch of run-ins with the law outside it ... from DUI's to alleged assaults and robberies.

As for fighting inside the ring, Broner earned a unanimous decision victory against Jovanie Santiago in February. It was AB's first fight since losing to the legendary Manny Pacquiao ... a more than 2-year layoff.

The Weeknd might think he's living the "sober lite" life -- but a renowned addiction interventionist says the language isn't just contradictory, but downright harmful.

Ken Seeley said as much Monday on "TMZ Live," where he broke down why Abel's seemingly innocuous choice of words here can be triggering and counterproductive to people who are actually fighting for their lives to stay sober ... truly sober, that is.

Check it out ... Ken firmly challenged both The Weeknd and Demi Lovato -- who recently said they were "California sober," implying Demi just smokes and drinks in moderation -- telling us the definition of sobriety isn't up for interpretation or cute twists, as the singers seem to be trying to concoct.

He also says addiction is a serious issue -- and the severity of that battle seems to be get diluted by folks making up terms that include sobriety ... that's his take, anyway.

As someone who used to habitually use crystal meth, Ken says he knows the difference between actual sobriety and recovery ... and suggests TW and DL use the latter phrasing if they are actually on that path.

Both artists are admitted former heavy drug users ... but it's unclear if they consider themselves straight-up addicts, per se.

Wayne Brady was the target of a racist, expletive-laced voicemail left at the studio where he films his game show ... and it's disgusting.

TMZ's obtained the audio of the message left at CBS Studios in L.A.'s Fairfax District where the affable comedian and singer hosts "Let's Make a Deal." The voicemail's as deplorable as it sounds ... with the caller dropping a couple of "f***ing n*****" bombs.

The audio lasts only 9 seconds but the caller spews plenty of racism and hate. It's unclear exactly what he's ranting about ... but it's clear he's no fan of Wayne's.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the message was left on the studio's voicemail system. We're told CBS security filed a report and immediately notified the LAPD.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the LAPD looked into it but, in the end, we're told cops determined the VM didn't rise to the level of a crime.

In any event ... sad to think someone feels this way about one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. #SMH

The assistant manager caught on camera calling a Wendy's staffer a "bitch" is now out of a job ... TMZ's learned he got the ax.

So, here's the deal ... Sophia Cargill, who says she's a general manager in training, recorded an assistant manager named Michael going on a tirade -- calling her a bitch and "f***ing lazy" -- after the fast-food joint in Kalamazoo, Michigan had closed for the day.

She shared the video on TikTok, which was then re-posted by D.L. Hughley ... generating nearly 1 million views. In the video, you can see Michael shout the word before Sophia tells him she got him on video, and that it would be the end of the road for him. He defiantly fired back, "No it's not."

Michael also told Sophia he had the right to disrespect her, and yelled she doesn't have permission to record him. Sophia claims Michael had been screaming at her for 5 minutes straight after going on a "power trip."

The incident unfolded nearly 2 weeks ago. Sophia says in a separate TikTok she got suspended without pay, but Michael did not get suspended. A spokesperson for the burger joint tells TMZ ... Michael has now been fired and Sophia was reinstated with back pay.

The spokesperson added, "We have no tolerance for harassment in the workplace. Upon learning of this situation, we acted immediately following our protocols and suspended those involved to run a thorough investigation."